George Harrison and Paul McCartney spotlighted on reissue projects

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Rock Music Menu: George Harrison and Paul McCartney spotlighted on reissue projects
By Michael Christopher, Delaware County Daily Times
POSTED: 03/09/17


Paul McCatrney, right, worked with Elvis Costello on ‘Flowers in the Dirt.’ Submitted Photo

Two Beatles are getting some serious deluxe edition treatment, as both George Harrison and Paul McCartney will have some of their previous works get expanded reissues.

Harrison’s autobiography ‘I Me Mine — The Extended Edition’ and ‘George Harrison — The Vinyl Collection’ box set, featuring all of the musician’s solo studio albums in one collection for the first time, came out late last month on the eve of what would have been his 74th birthday. McCartney will see the 10th release in his critically acclaimed ‘Paul McCartney Archive Collection’ with the focus this time being on his eighth studio album, ‘Flowers in the Dirt.’

‘I Me Mine’ was originally published by the specialist book publisher, Genesis Publications in 1980. It became the first of many collaborations between Harrison and Genesis founder, Brian Roylance. In conversation with his friend and former Beatles press officer Derek Taylor, and in a first-person commentary that accompanies his songs, Harrison’s own words recount everything from his upbringing in Liverpool, early Beatlemania, his spirituality and philosophy.

The new extended version of the book now spans the complete length of Harrison’s career in music, told in his words and through 141 songs with hand written lyric sheets faithfully reproduced in full color. Now stretching to 632 pages, it features lyrics to more than 50 songs not previously included, and new photographs, many unpublished until now.


‘Flowers in the Dirt’ was one of Paul McCatrney’s best-recieved solo albums. Submitted Photo

‘George Harrison — The Vinyl Collection’ includes all twelve of George’s studio albums with exact replicas of the original release track listing and artwork. Also included in the box set are George’s classic, 2LP live album ‘Live in Japan’ and two 12” single picture discs of “When We Was Fab” and “Got My Mind Set on You.”

All the discs are 180-gram heavyweight vinyl and are housed in a high-quality two-piece rigid slipcase box. The original analogue master tapes were used for the new re-masters and were cut at the legendary Capitol Studios to ensure exceptional audio quality throughout. The individual albums from the collection will also be available separately, with ‘All Things Must Pass’ as a limited edition title.



The long-awaited release of ‘Flowers in the Dirt’ is the latest in the ‘Paul McCartney Archive Collection’ and will come out March 24. The 1989 effort is the latest classic solo work to get the special treatment across a multi-format reissue and, as always, was personally supervised by McCartney himself.

One of the most critically acclaimed albums of the ‘80s, nominated for both BRIT and Grammy Awards, ‘Flowers in the Dirt’ saw Paul team up with Elvis Costello to co-write a third of the record, as well as boasting production credits from producers such as Trevor Horn, Costello and McCartney himself. Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour makes an appearance on “We Got Married,” and longtime Beatle producer George Martin’s string arrangement on “Put It There” is among the many album highlights.

The ‘Flowers in the Dirt’ deluxe edition box set will include a 32-page notebook of McCartney’s handwritten lyrics and notes, a catalog for Linda McCartney’s ‘Flowers in the Dirt’ photo exhibition, a 64-page photobook featuring the music videos for “This One,” and a custom-created 112-page book telling the complete story of the album through exclusive in-depth interviews. Along with expanded track-by-track information, the book contains album and single artwork and previously unpublished photographs by Linda McCartney.

The original 13-track album was remastered for all the new configurations at Abbey Road Studios. The deluxe edition contains 18 bonus audio tracks across two discs, featuring previously unreleased demos, written and performed by McCartney with Costello.

“The demos are red hot off the skillet and that’s why we wanted to include them on this boxed set,” McCartney said in a statement. “What’s great about these songs is that they’ve just been written. So there’s nothing more hot off the skillet as I say. So that was the kind of great instant thing about them. I hadn’t listened to them in ages but when I did I knew we had to put them out. We made a little tape of them and sent them to Elvis, who loved them too. We said we should put out an EP or something and now the moment’s finally arrived.”

The deluxe edition also includes, as digital downloads only, three unheard cassette demos, “I Don’t Want to Confess,” “Shallow Grave” and “Mistress and Maid,” as well as a collection of original B-sides, remixes and single edits.

The DVD that comes with the deluxe edition includes all the music videos from the album, three new short films with unseen archive material that show some of the creation process of the album and the documentary ‘Put It There’ originally released on VHS in 1989. It will also feature live performances from his 1989 world tour.

‘Flowers in the Dirt’ represented a bit of a career resurgence for McCartney, who spent much of the 80s involved in collaborations projects with the likes of Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder along with releasing a mixed bag of studio albums. The lengthy world tour in support of the album was not only McCartney’s first, official solo jaunt; it was the first time he had done any touring in North America in 13 years, since ‘Wings Over the World’ in 1976, which was the focus of the triple-live album ‘Wings Over America.’

Locally, Philly got two shows in the middle of July, 1990 at Veterans Stadium in the midst of the fourth North American led of the tour. Surprisingly, McCartney has been more active on the road in recent years than he was then. In fact, it’s hard to remember a time when he wasn’t touring; just last July he performed a sold out show at Citizens Bank Park. Late next month, he’ll be doing a three-night stand at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.