FORMATS INCLUDE PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED MATERIAL

The official reissues of Wings’ classic albums Venus and Mars and At The Speed of Sound (MPL/Concord Music Group) are out today as the latest releases in the Paul McCartney Archive Collection.

Both albums are available in a variety of physical and digital formats. Starting with a 2-disc (2 CD) Standard Edition, the first CD features the original remastered album and the second CD includes bonus audio made up of material including demos and unreleased tracks. The 3-disc (2CD, 1DVD) Deluxe Edition is housed in a hardback book featuring unpublished photographs, new interviews with Paul, material from Paul’s archives and expanded track-by-track information. The deluxe version bonus DVD is comprised of filmed material from around the time of each release, some of which has never been seen before. The albums are also be available on special gatefold vinyl editions (vinyl editions include a download card). Digitally, Venus and Mars and At The Speed of Sound are available as both standard and deluxe versions – including Mastered for iTunes and Hi-Res formats.

Wings are one of the most successful acts the UK has ever produced, achieving no less than 14 US Top 10 hits and 12 Top 10 hits in the UK. Following 1973’s Band on the Run the mid ‘70s were a commercial heyday for Wings. Venus and Mars, the band’s fourth studio album was released in May 1975 ahead of the legendary Wings Over the World tour. Preceded by the US Number One single “Listen To What The Man Said,” Venus and Mars hit the Number One spot in the album charts on both sides of the Atlantic and went on to sell over 4 million copies worldwide to date.  At The Speed of Sound was recorded in the midst of the same tour and released in March 1976. In the US it enjoyed the same chart success as its predecessor. Including the international smash hit single “Silly Love Songs,” the album went on to become Paul’s most successful American chart album spending seven consecutive weeks at Number One. In the UK it charted at Number Two, narrowly missing out on the top spot. Sales to date exceed 3.5 million worldwide.

As with all the Archive Collection, Paul has personally supervised all aspects of the reissues. The remastering work was done at Abbey Road by the same team who has worked on all the reissues as well as the Beatles’ catalogue.

Since launching the Paul McCartney Archive Collection in 2010, Paul has received two GRAMMY Awards for the releases. In 2012 he picked up Best Historical Album for Band on the Run and this year Wings over America picked up an award (Best Boxed or Special Edition Package) on the same night that Paul set a personal best by picking up five awards in just one night. In 2013 RAM was nominated for Best Historical Album.

Other titles released to date in the Paul McCartney Archive Collection are Band on the Run, McCartney,McCartney II, RAM and Wings over America.

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Buy it here:
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Watch the unboxing videos here:
Venus and Mars: http://youtu.be/DfiWic6FC7Y
At the Speed of Sound: http://youtu.be/Yivx0c48q64

TRACKLISTING:

Venus and Mars 
CD 1 – Remastered Album
1.    Venus and Mars
2.    Rock Show
3     Love In Song
4.    You Gave Me The Answer
5.    Magneto and Titanium Man
6.    Letting Go
7.    Venus and Mars – Reprise
8.    Spirits Of Ancient Egypt
9.    Medicine Jar
10.  Call Me Back Again
11.  Listen To What The Man Said
12.  Treat Her Gently – Lonely Old People
13.  Crossroads

CD 2 – Bonus Audio 
1.    Junior’s Farm
2.    Sally G
3.    Walking In The Park With Eloise
4.    Bridge On The River Suite
5.    My Carnival
6.    Going To New Orleans (My Carnival)
7.    Hey Diddle [Ernie Winfrey Mix]
8.    Let’s Love
9.    Soily [from One Hand Clapping]
10.  Baby Face [from One Hand Clapping]
11.  Lunch Box/Odd Sox
12.  4^th Of July
13.  Rock Show [Old Version]
14.  Letting Go [Single Edit]

DVD – Bonus Film
1.  Recording My Carnival
2.  Bon Voyageur
3.  Wings At Elstree
4.  Venus and Mars TV Ad

At the Speed of Sound
CD 1 – Remastered Album
1.   Let ‘Em In
2.   The Note You Never Wrote
3.   She’s My Baby
4.   Beware My Love
5.   Wino Junko
6.   Silly Love Songs
7    Cook Of The House
8.   Time To Hide
9.   Must Do Something About It
10. San Ferry Anne
11. Warm And Beautiful

CD 2 – Bonus Audio 
1.   Silly Love Songs [Demo]
2.   She’s My Baby [Demo]
3.   Message To Joe
4.   Beware My Love [John Bonham Version]
5.   Must Do Something About It [Paul’s Version]
6.   Let ‘Em In [Demo]
7.   Warm And Beautiful [Instrumental Demo]

DVD – Bonus Film
1.   Silly Love Songs Music Video
2.   Wings Over Wembley
3.   Wings In Venice

“Doing this for the students was such a special buzz for me. I hope it was for them too.” — Paul McCartney

At the behest of two-term U.S. poet laureate and senior distinguished fellow at the Winter Park Institute Billy Collins, Paul McCartney spoke Thursday night to a few hundred students at Knowles Memorial Chapel on the campus of Rollins College in Winter Park, FL.

Kept secret until the morning of the event, McCartney’s visit prompted so much interest that students had to win tickets in a lottery system.

“I’d say, ‘It’s getting better all the time,’ and he’d say, ‘It can’t get much worse,” McCartney told the students of his creative chemistry with John Lennon. “I would have never thought of that.”

When asked whether lyrics or music come first, he replied, “I tell students all the time, ‘Look, I don’t know how to do this.’ Every time I approach a song, there’s no rules. Sometimes the music comes first, sometimes the words – and if you’re lucky, it all comes together.”

McCartney described how his inspiration for “Yesterday” came in a dream. Certain an old melody was stuck in his head, he went around humming the tune, asking if anyone knew it. “After two weeks,” he said, “I claimed it.”

Collins brought up how McCartney’s songs have been covered by countless bands, prompting Paul’s gratitude. “If someone on the street corner is reading one of your poems,” he asked Collins, “is it going to bother you?”

Asked about the Beatles’ musical evolution in the late 1960s, McCartney drew applause and laughter recalling “a natural growing up we developed – and drugs.”

“At the beginning of the Beatles,” he said, “you’ve got to remember, we were a boy band… It was all really fan-oriented. It’s not a bad thing, but after a while you felt like you wanted to move on.”

McCartney and Collins found common ground at the intersection of lyrics and poetry. Sharing how he once read his own poems to a group of scholars in New York City, McCartney admitted “it was pretty nerve-wracking” and quite different than playing to record-breaking concert crowds. “I had to respect the silence as a great thing,” he said.

McCartney closed the night with a performance of “Blackbird.”

“This was a wonderful event provided through the generosity of Sir Paul McCartney,” said Rollins Acting President Craig M. McAllaster. “He wanted it to be intimate and mostly for students. That’s why they filled most of the seats. It’s a wonderful thing to have someone of his stature and significance give us his time and talent to Rollins College.”