Paul Is Live
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2011) |
| Paul Is Live | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Live album by Paul McCartney | ||||
| Released | 8 November 1993 | |||
| Recorded | 22 March – 15 June 1993 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 77:19 | |||
| Label | Parlophone/EMI | |||
| Producer | Paul McCartney | |||
| Paul McCartney chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
 This table needs to be expanded using prose. See the guideline for more information. |
|
Paul Is Live is a live album by Paul McCartney, released in 1993 during his New World Tour in support of the album Off the Ground. Its cover is a comment on and counter-argument to the Paul is dead conspiracy theory.
Contents |
[edit] Title and cover
The album's title and cover are a response to the "Paul is dead" rumours current in 1969 after the release of The Beatles' last studio album, Abbey Road:[2][3]
- The infamous "281F" on the Volkswagen Beetle's license plate – mis-read as "28IF", and purportedly saying that McCartney would have been 28 if he had lived – is edited to read "51IS", indicating his age at the time is 51.
- McCartney is wearing shoes; on Abbey Road he had appeared with bare feet.
- He is stepping with his left foot. In the original cover, McCartney was stepping with his right foot, instead of the left like the other three Beatles; this lack of synchronism was perceived as another eyecatch to the hoax.
- He holds the dog's leash in his left hand; since he is left-handed, many thought that another clue of the "dead Paul" from Abbey Road was the cigarette he held in his right hand.
- On the original Abbey Road cover, many conspirators said that if you were to connect all of the cars on the left side with a line, the line would go through Paul's head. On this cover, Paul is leaning forward, and his head falls out of such line.
- The police car was removed as well because on Abbey Road the police car was said to symbolise the policemen who had been bribed by the other three Beatles to keep quiet about Paul's death to stop fans around the world from committing suicide.
The dog appearing on the cover is Arrow, one of the offspring of Martha, the sheepdog Paul claimed was the subject of the song "Martha My Dear". The cover photo is from the Abbey Road cover photoshoot by photographer Iain Macmillan. There are differences between this and the photograph used for the Abbey Road cover; most notably, the taxi present in the Abbey Road cover photograph does not feature here. The retouching was done by CGI artist Erwin Keustermans, who erased the Beatles and put in McCartney and the dog, taken from 35 mm pictures by Linda McCartney.
[edit] Release and reception
Excerpted from his shows in Australia, as well as from various US cities, Paul Is Live followed the 1989–1990 Paul McCartney World Tour/Tripping the Live Fantastic extravaganza by only three years, confounding critics and fans as to its appearance, and some its necessity. As a result, Paul Is Live became McCartney's lowest-selling live set of his career, peaking at #34 in the UK and a lowly #78 in the US.
Afterwards, McCartney took a sizeable break from his solo career to begin the enormous Beatles Anthology project in early 1994 with George Harrison, Ringo Starr and George Martin. This took up much of his time for the next two years, before Flaming Pie in 1997.
[edit] Track listing
- Drive My Car* (2:34)
- Let Me Roll It+ (4:10)
- Looking For Changes+ (2:43)
- Peace in the Neighbourhood+ (4:50)
- All My Loving* (2:16)
- Robbie's Bit (Thanks Chet) (2:00) (by Robbie McIntosh; the track is a solo performance by guitarist Robbie McIntosh, "inspired by Chet Atkins")
- Good Rockin' Tonight -(by Roy Brown) (2:48)
- We Can Work It Out* (2:42)
- Hope of Deliverance+ (3:29)
- Michelle* (2:56)
- Biker Like an Icon+ (3:40)
- Here, There and Everywhere* (2:29)
- My Love+ (4:06)
- Magical Mystery Tour* (3:15)
- C'Mon People+ (5:38)
- Lady Madonna* (2:33)
- Paperback Writer* (2:39)
- Penny Lane* (2:58)
- Live And Let Die (by Paul McCartney & Linda McCartney) (3:51)
- Kansas City – (by Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller) (3:54)
- Welcome to Soundcheck (0:41)
- Hotel in Benidorm+ (2:00)
- I Wanna Be Your Man* (2:36)
- A Fine Day+ (6:18)
* : Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
+ : Written by Paul McCartney
All tracks after "Kansas City" were recorded during soundcheck in various locations and are most likely improvisations.
[edit] Band line-up
- Paul McCartney – lead vocals, bass guitar, guitar, piano, keyboards
- Hamish Stuart – guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals
- Robbie McIntosh – lead guitar, backing vocals
- Paul 'Wix' Wickens – keyboards, accordion, guitar, backing vocals
- Blair Cunningham – drums
- Linda McCartney – backing vocals, keyboards, autoharp, percussion
[edit] References
- ^ Paul Is Live at Allmusic
- ^ "Paul Is Dead – Conspiracy Theories – TIME". time.com. 20 November 2008. http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1860871_1860876_1860997,00.html. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
- ^ "Beatles CD's – Paul Is Live withdrawn issue". rarebeatles.com. http://www.rarebeatles.com/photopg3/pmlive.htm. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
