Paul McCartney / Flowers in the Dirt four-disc deluxe edition

Four discs, but also download-only content, in pricey deluxe set

Paul McCartney‘s 1989 album Flowers in the Dirt will be reissued in March next year in the usual ‘Archive Collection’ formats, including a four-disc deluxe edition which comes with lots of printed material (think Wings Over America).

Paul’s last album of the 1980s featured no less than nine different producers – amongst them Trevor Horn, Mitchell Froom and Chris Hughes – and includes four tracks co-written with Elvis Costello, including the lead single, My Brave Face (Paul’s last sizeable solo hit in America). The album was widely regarded as a return to form after the uneven Hugh Padgham produced Press To Play (1986) and served as a platform to launch Paul’s first tour in a decade – a jaunt around the world where he would abandon his previous reluctance to play Beatles’ tracks and embrace the Fab Four’s songbook.

Three further singles were issued in the UK – This One (#18, same as My Brave Face), Figure of Eight (#42) and Put It There (#32).

The audio has been remastered at Abbey Road Studios and in terms of bonus audio, the deluxe book edition includes nine demos of songs written with Elvis Costello, in both acoustic (with Elvis) and band (no Elvis) variations and a DVD which features promo videos, archive footage and Put It There, the 1989 documentary which covers the recording of the album and the preparations for Paul’s 1989/1990 World Tour.

Surprisingly, period B-sides and remixes aren’t being offered on CD at all, as part of the Flowers in the Dirt archive collection – there are 16 of them and they come as download-only tracks, but only if you buy the expensive deluxe set. This is inconsistent with all the other previous reissues, which started with Band On The Run in 2010. The content here includes Once Upon A Long Ago B-side (but not the A-side) Back On My Feet (the first Costello collaboration to be issued), My Brave Face B-side Flying To My Home, Figure Of Eight extra track The Loveliest Thing (produced by Phil Ramone) and all the commercially issued Ou Est Le Soleil? remixes. There are also three further demos taken from cassette.

The deluxe is a numbered edition and includes the usual 112 page ‘essay book’ (these are normally great), a 32-page notebook of Paul’s handwritten lyrics
and notes, 64 page photo-book featuring the music videos for This One, and a 32-page
Linda McCartney exhibition catalogue. The three discs are also included as downloadable high-resolution audio (it’s not clear what file type/resolution the download-only tracks are.

A word on the pricing. Amazon UK’s £170+ is clearly nonsense and this should drop dramatically. I’d expect it to settle at around the £100-£120. Undoubtedly expensive, which makes the ‘download-only’ element all the more unfathomable. Let’s have your views on not including this content on CD, by leaving a comment.

UPDATE: The deluxe is £104 on Amazon Italy.

Flowers in the Dirt will be reissued on 24 March 2017.

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Paul McCartney

Flowers in the Dirt - 4-disc deluxe book edition

Shop Price gbp Stock Amazon de   309.53 Order Amazon usa   299.99 Order Amazon es   484.43 Order Amazon jp   19250.00 Order

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Paul McCartney

Flowers in the Dirt - 2LP Vinyl edition

Shop Price gbp Stock Amazon jp   4400.00 Order

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Paul McCartney

Flowers in the Dirt - 2CD edition

Shop Price gbp Stock Amazon uk   18.54 Order Amazon de   21.79 Order Amazon fr   19.49 Order Amazon it   22.54 Order Amazon es   18.68 Order Amazon ca   53.09 Order Amazon jp   2446.00 Order JPC de   18.99 Order FNAC fr   30.00 Pre-Order

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Deluxe 3CD+DVD book edition

DISC 1:
1. My Brave Face (2017 Remaster)
2. Rough Ride (2017 Remaster)
3. You Want Her Too (2017 Remaster)
4. Distractions (2017 Remaster)
5. We Got Married (2017 Remaster)
6. Put It There (2017 Remaster)
7. Figure Of Eight (2017 Remaster)
8. This One (2017 Remaster)
9. Don’t Be Careless Love (2017 Remaster)
10. That Day Is Done (2017 Remaster)
11. How Many People (2017 Remaster)
12. Motor Of Love (2017 Remaster)
13. Où Est Le Soleil? (2017 Remaster)

DISC 2: (original Elvis Costello demos)
1. The Lovers That Never Were (Original Demo)
2. Tommy’s Coming Home (Original Demo)
3. Twenty Fine Fingers (Original Demo)
4. So Like Candy (Original Demo)
5. You Want Her Too (Original Demo)
6. That Day Is Done (Original Demo)
7. Don’t Be Careless Love (Original Demo)
8. My Brave Face (Original Demo)
9. Playboy To A Man (Original Demo)

DISC 3:
1. The Lovers That Never Were (1988 Demo)
2. Tommy’s Coming Home (1988 Demo)
3. Twenty Fine Fingers (1988 Demo)
4. So Like Candy (1988 Demo)
5. You Want Her Too (1988 Demo)
6. That Day Is Done (1988 Demo)
7. Don’t Be Careless Love (1988 Demo)
8. My Brave Face (1988 Demo)
9. Playboy To A Man (1988 Demo)

DOWNLOAD ONLY:
Original B-sides, remixes and single edits:
1. Back On My Feet
2. Flying To My Home
3. The First Stone
4. Good Sign
5. This One (Club Lovejoys Mix)
6. Figure Of Eight (12” Bob Clearmountain Mix)
7. Loveliest Thing
8. Où Est Le Soleil? (12” Mix)
9. Où Est Le Soleil? (Tub Dub Mix)
10. Où Est Le Soleil? (7” Mix)
11. Où Est Le Soleil? (Instrumental)
12. Party Party (Original Mix)
13. Party Party (Club Mix)
Cassette demos:
1. I Don’t Want To Confess
2. Shallow Grave
3. Mistress And Maid

DVD

Music Videos:
01. My Brave Face
02. My Brave Face (Version 2)
03. This One (Version 1)
04. This One (Version 2)
05. Figure Of Eight
06. Party Party
07. Où Est Le Soleil?
08. Put It There
09. Distractions
10. We Got Married

Creating Flowers in the Dirt:
01. Paul And Elvis
02. Buds In The Studio
03. The Making Of ‘This One’
(The Dean Chamberlain One)

Put it There:
01. Put It There Documentary

Flowers in the Dirt / 2LP vinyl

LP 1
1. My Brave Face
2. Rough Ride
3. You Want Her Too
4. Distractions
5. We Got Married
6. Put It There
7. Figure of Eight
8. This One
9. Don’t Be Careless Love
10. That Day Is Done
11. How Many People
12. Motor of Love
13. Où Est Le Soleil?* digital download

LP 2 (Original Elvis Costello demos)
1. The Lovers That Never Were (Original Demo)
2. Tommy’s Coming Home (Original Demo)
3. Twenty Fine Fingers (Original Demo)
4. So Like Candy (Original Demo)
5. You Want Her Too (Original Demo)
6. That Day Is Done (Original Demo)
7. Don’t Be Careless Love (Original Demo)
8. My Brave Face (Original Demo)
9. Playboy To A Man (Original Demo)

Flowers in the Dirt / 2CD Edition

CD 1
1. My Brave Face
2. Rough Ride
3. You Want Her Too
4. Distractions
5. We Got Married
6. Put It There
7. Figure of Eight
8. This One
9. Don’t Be Careless Love
10. That Day Is Done
11. How Many People
12. Motor of Love
13. Où Est Le Soleil?

CD 2 (Original Elvis Costello demos)
1. The Lovers That Never Were (Original Demo)
2. Tommy’s Coming Home (Original Demo)
3. Twenty Fine Fingers (Original Demo)
4. So Like Candy (Original Demo)
5. You Want Her Too (Original Demo)
6. That Day Is Done (Original Demo)
7. Don’t Be Careless Love (Original Demo)
8. My Brave Face (Original Demo)
9. Playboy To A Man (Original Demo)