Red Rose Speedway Sessions (Misterclaudel mccd-81/82)
Disc One: Big Barn Bed (Rough Mix), My Love (Promotional Film Soundtrack), Get On The Right Thing (First Remaster Version), One More Kiss (First Remaster Version), Little Lamb Dragonfly (First Remaster Version), Single Pigeon (Rough Mix), When The Night (Rough Mix), Loup – 1st Indian On The Moon (Rough Mix), Medley (First Remaster Version), (a) Hold Me Tight (b) Lazy Dynamite (c) Hands Of Love (d) Power Cut, I Would Only Smile (Rough Mix), Night Out (Rough Mix), The Mess (Studio Version Rough Mix), Thank You Darling (Unreleased Track Rough Mix), I Lie Around (Single Version), Country Dreamer (Single Version)
Disc Two: Hi Hi Hi (Promotional Film Soundtrack), C Moon (Promotional Film Soundtrack), Live And Let Die (Quadrasonics Version), Tragedy (Rough Mix), Mama’s Little Girl (Rough Mix), Seaside Woman (Rough Mix), Bridge Over The River Suite (Instrumental Backing Track), Jazz Street (Unedited Long Version), Jazz Street (Edit Version), Henry’s Blues (Amsterdam 20 Aug 1972), 1882 (Hague 21 Aug 1972), The Mess (Hague 21 Aug 1972 Soundboard), The Mess (Hague 21 Aug 1972 Audience), Best Friend (Antwerp 22 Aug 1972)
The first Wings album Wild Life was made in record time in 1971 with many of the songs recorded in one take to preserve the immediacy. Some remark that the songs sound unpolished and with the lack of Paul McCartney’s name on the cover the album received a lukewarm reception with the pubic and the press. To rectify the situation the second Wings album Red Rose Speedway was credited to Paul McCartney & Wings and it carried a long gestation period.
Recording began in Los Angeles in March, 1972 where they worked on “Big Barn Bed”, “My Love”, “One More Kiss”, “Single Pigeon”, “When The Night”, “Loup” and the closing medley. At this time, “Little Lamb Dragonfly,” which was begun during the sessions for Ram, was also completed. Other songs from these sessions include the unreleased “Mama’s Little Girl,” “The Mess,” “Tragedy,” “Night Out,” “Jazz Street,” and “Best Friend.” After a tour of Europe in the summer sessions commenced at Olympic Studio in London with final mixing at Abbey Road in October.
Red Rose Speedway Sessions on Misterclaudel gathers together all of the relevant alternate takes and outtakes from this era. This material has appeared before on Unsurpassed Masters Volume 1 (Strawberry Records – STR 002), Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 2 (Strawberry Records – STR 003) both in 1994, Red Rose Speedway Collector’s Edition (MBEP001) and The Alternate “Red Rose Speedway” Vol 1: The Original Acetate (Lazy Cat LC 004), The Alternate “Red Rose Speedway” Vol. 2: Outtakes & Rough Mixes (Lazy Cat LC 005) all from 2001 and The Alternate Red Rose Speedway (Pear Records PDP 018) in 2004.
In fact Misterclaudel is almost identical to the MBE version of these sessions except it lacks one of the “Tragedy” mixes, several live tracks and adds the audience recording of “The Mess.” Compared to the older releases, Misterclaudel is louder and more clear without any significant distortion.
The first disc presents the alternate mixes in album order beginning with “Big Barn Bed.” This mix has the vocals louder. There is also a faint shout by McCartney during the opening guitar riff, and the “da da dewey” scats are not present. “My Love” is the performance taken from “One Hand Clapping” and sounds identical to the studio version.
“Get On The Right Thing” was a track left over from the sessions for Ram and even features David Spinozza on guitar adding his sharp edged sound to the song. This is identical to the officially released version but is a “new remastered version.” “One More Kiss” and the gem “Little Lamb Dragonfly” are again identical to the commercial version but remastered.
“Single Pigeon” is a rough mix of the final track with a false start. “When The Night” is the same as the commercial version except with a false start and it is twenty seconds longer at the fade out in the end. “Loup – 1st Indian On The Moon” is the same except for a count in at the beginning. The medley is the same as the official version except is six seconds shorter at the end.
“I Would Only Smile” is a Denny Laine composition which would be released a decade later on his first post-Wings solo album Japanese Tears. This is the same as the final version except it is several seconds longer at the end.
“Night Out” was recorded in March 1972 and was omitted from Red Rose Speedway. It was remixed in 1978 and 1980 to be part of the Cold Cuts project. There are several remixes in existence but this one is the initial rough edit of this magisterial track. The studio version of “The Mess” follows, another song that was not used for the LP. A live version recorded during the summer tour at The Hague was used for the B-side to the “My Love” single issued by Apple on March 23rd, 1973.
“Thank You Darling” is a silly sounding studio outtake that has never surfaced in any form. Lasting three and a half minutes, it betrays McCartney’s love for all things vaudville. The first disc closes with straight transfers of two singles.
“I Lie Around” was the B-side to “Live And Let Die” released by Apple on June 1st, 1973. Sung by Denny Laine, it later appears on the 1993 remaster of Red Rose Speedway. The last song is “Country Dreamer.” This song was the B-side to “Helen Wheels” released by Apple on October 26th, 1973 and later included as a bonus track on the 1993 Band On The Run in The Paul McCartney Collection.
The second disc begins with the audio for two promotional films made for the “Hi Hi Hi” / “C Moon” single released on December 1st, 1972. The sound quality is very good mono but not nearly the quality of the soundtrack found on Misterclaudel’s Complete Promo Clips 1970 – 1979.
“Live And Let Die (quadrasonics version)” beings with the James Bond theme played by an orchestra before getting into the song. “Tragedy” is a outtake that was remixed for the unreleased Cold Cuts collection. This is an inoffensive Motown style ballad in excellent quality. “Seaside Woman” is the Linda McCartney penned song that was released five years after its recording as a single and again in the eighties as a video.
“Bridge Over The Water” suite is a three minute long, blues based instrumental that was never used by McCartney. This track is in excellent stereo. “Jazz Street” exists in its unedited form lasting eight minutes and edited form lasting about five. It is the same instrumental except for the difference in length. It is an interesting exercise and includes great riffs from Henry McCullough, but it ultimately goes nowhere. The disc ends with various live cuts.
“Henry’s Blues” is a seven minute blues dirge written and sung by McCullough and was recorded on August 20th, 1972 at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. “1882” is another unreleased track recorded the following night at The Hague and was intended for an uncompleted MPL film The Bruce McMouse Show. This track contains evidence of post-production with including double tracked vocals.
Following are two versions of “The Mess.” The first is the cut as it appears on the remastered edition of Red Rose Speedway, recorded live at The Hague on August 21st, 1972. Following is a boomy but good audience recording of the same song from the same show. The biggest difference is the additional dialogue at the beginning where McCartney encourages the audience to clap along with the song.
The final song in the collection is a live version of “Best Friend” recorded in Antwerp on August 22nd. McCartney gives his Elvis impersonation a heavy workout in this fun track.
Misterclaudel packaged this in a fatboy jewel case with a two page insert on the inside. The sound quality on this release is generally an improvement over previous issues and is a great way to obtain these outtakes.
