To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Wings’ Band on the Run, Paul McCartney has unveiled an “Underdubbed Mix” version of the hit title track.
50 years to the week of its original release, MPL and UMe announce the expanded 50th anniversary edition of Paul McCartney & Wings’ iconic Band on the Run, due 2 February 2024.
Speaking about the “underdubbed” version, Paul said: “This is Band on the Run in a way you’ve never heard before. When you are making a song and putting on additional parts, like an extra guitar, that’s an overdub. Well, this version of the album is the opposite, underdubbed.”
This special vinyl edition was cut at half speed using a high-resolution transfer of the original master tapes from 1973 by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios, London. The single vinyl album configuration mirrors the US tracklist, which features the song ‘Helen Wheels’ and includes a Linda McCartney Polaroid poster.
The 2LP vinyl edition features the original US album, remastered at half speed, and a second LP titled “Underdubbed” Mixes Edition, housed in a premium slipcase. The set also includes two Linda McCartney Polaroid posters.
A 2CD format will feature the original US album, “underdubbed” mixes, and a double-sided fold-out Polaroid poster taken by Linda McCartney. Band on the Run (Underdubbed) will also be released digitally. Full tracklist at bottom page.
Meanwhile only three left in Band on the Run album cover after Michael Parkinson's death.
Fifty years ago an imaginary band of celebrity convicts would be turned into one of rock'n'roll's most memorable album covers.
Paul McCartney’s recent tribute tweet to Michael Parkinson included the cover of the classic album Band On The Run by his group Wings, as the late chat show host was one of nine famous faces pictured on it.
But the passing of Parky meant only Macca, his then bandmate Denny Laine and the boxer John Conteh now survive.
Those who went before were Paul’s first wife Linda, actors James Coburn and Christopher Lee, broadcaster Clement Freud and entertainer Kenny Lynch. (Express)
The picture of this celebrity “band on the run” caught in a giant spotlight was taken on October 28 1973 by top snapper Clive Arrowsmith, who says it doesn’t seem like 50 years ago. Michael Parkinson, Kenny Lynch, James Coburn, Clement Freud, Christopher Lee and John Conteh, were on the album cover.
Paul formed Wings with Linda and Denny in 1971, a year after The Beatles broke up. Their third and most successful album, Band On The Run, was released on December 7 1973, topping the charts in the UK, US, Canada and Australia.
Clive recalls: “Paul asked me to do the album cover because I was taking photos for various magazines and Linda liked my work. We chatted about doing it against a wall with everybody caught in a spotlight like in an old James Cagney film.
The story of Band on the Run
Wings’ third album, Band On The Run, was released in the UK on 30 November 1973 and on 3 December 1973 in the USA. It marked the fifth album by Paul McCartney since his departure from the Beatles in April 1970.
Band On The Run was initially a slow burner, and it took eight months before it topped the UK album chart on 27 July 1974. It spent seven weeks at the top, was on the charts for a total of 124 weeks, and became the UK’s biggest-selling album of 1974.
Band on the Run: 8 Jun 1974 went to No.1 on the US charts but the single was released in the United Kingdom on 28 June 1974. The single, with ‘Zoo Gang’ on the b-side, peaked at number three on the UK singles chart.
In the USA, ‘Band On The Run’ was issued with ‘Nineteen Hundred And Eighty-Five’ on the flipside. It was a bigger hit there, topping the US Billboard Hot 100.
McCartney Band on the run - Although sales were modest initially, its commercial performance was aided by two hit singles – "Jet" and "Band on the Run" – such that it became the top-selling studio album of 1974 in the United Kingdom and Australia, in addition to revitalising McCartney's critical standing. It remains McCartney's most successful album and the most celebrated of his post-Beatles works.
“It started off with ‘If I ever get out of here.’ That came from a remark George made at one of the Apple meetings,” recalled McCartney. “He was saying that we were all prisoners in some way, some kind of remark like that. ‘If we ever get out of here,’ the prison bit, and I thought that would be a nice way to start an album. A million reasons, really. I can never lay them all down. It’s a million things; I don’t like to analyse them, all put together. Band on the run – escaping, freedom, criminals. You name it; it’s there.”
2LP / 2CD Tracklist
Disc One – Band on the Run
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
Disc Two – Band on the Run (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
1LP Tracklist
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
Digital Formats - Band on the Run (Underdubbed Mixes) Tracklist
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
