Unheard early mixes of Paul McCartney & Wings’ Band on the Run to feature on new reissue

Paul McCartney & Wings’ classic 1973 album Band on the Run will be reissued for its 50th anniversary in three physical editions, with two of them offering unheard early mixes without overdubs.

The album was an enormous critical and commercial success, topping the charts in both the UK and America and spawning multiple hit singles). Band on the Run became the yardstick from which all future Wings and McCartney albums would be measured (“his best album since Band on the Run” being an oft-heard refrain).

These so-called ‘Underdubbed Mixes’ are not newly created in the studio in 2023, rather they were prepared by engineer Geoff Emerick on 14 October 1973, less than two months before the release of the album. They are effectively unreleased rough mixes without any of the orchestral overdubs which were created by, in haste, by Tony Visconti (“I hardly slept for two days”, Tony recalls in his 2007 autobiography). Furthermore, the tracklisting for these ‘Underdubbed Mixes’ does not follow the sequencing on the original album, it mirrors the original analogue tapes discovered in the MPL archives.

These unheard mixes will be paired with the US version of Band on the Run (which features the additional track ‘Helen Wheels’) for 2CD and 2LP editions.

The 2LP vinyl edition features a half-speed mastered version of the album along with the ‘Underdubbed Mixes’ edition housed in a “premium slipcase”. The set also includes two Linda McCartney Polaroid posters. The 2CD set offers the same audio content with a 2-sided foldout poster.

The third and final physical edition is a single LP edition of the US version of Band on the Run, half-speed mastered.

Band on the Run has also been newly mixed in Dolby Atmos by Giles Martin and Steve Orchard. Unfortunately, as with previous Wings albums mixed in Spatial Audio, there is no physical edition (call me, Scott Rodgers).

These new editions will be released on 2 February 2024 via MPL/UMe. The 2LP is D2C only, but the 2CD and half-speed should be widely available.

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Paul McCartney & Wings

Band on the Run - 2CD edition

Shop Price gbp Stock Amazon uk   24.14 Order Amazon de   28.74 Order Amazon usa   17.41 Order Amazon fr   25.07 Order Amazon it   34.86 Order Amazon es   23.98 Order Amazon ca   30.2 Order JPC de   22.99 Order Rough Trade uk   14.99 pre-order

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Paul McCartney;Wings

Band on the Run - half speed mastered vinyl LP

Shop Price gbp Stock Amazon uk   35.17 Order Amazon de   31.8 Order Amazon usa   32.21 Order Amazon fr   42.11 Order Amazon it   43.9 Order Amazon es   36.99 Order Amazon ca   39.88 Order JPC de   44.99 Order FNAC fr   31.99 Pre-Order Rough Trade uk   29.99 pre-order

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Tracklisting

Band on the Run Paul McCartney and Wings / 50th anniversary edition

• 2CD or 2LP sets
  • LP 1 or CD 1: Band on the Run (US version)
    1. Band on the Run
    2. Jet
    3. Bluebird
    4. Mrs. Vandebilt
    5. Let Me Roll It
    6. Mamunia
    7. No Words
    8. Helen Wheels
    9. Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me)
    10. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five
  • LP 2 or CD 2: Underdubbed MIxes
    1. Band on the Run
    2. Mamunia
    3. No Words
    4. Jet
    5. Bluebird
    6. Mrs. Vandebilt
    7. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five
    8. Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me)
    9. Let Me Roll It