Sunday, December 18, 2016

Flowers In The Dirt

Winter for some is seen as such a miserable, dreary, time of year. It's the time of year that animals hibernate, birds fly south, freezing balls of rain mound in some of our yards, and when plants usually die. Spring however may come a little bit early this time around.

This week Paul McCartney and his great team announced that the Grammy-Award  and BRIT nominated album, Flowers In The Dirt, will be reissued this coming March. The album was McCartney's eighth solo album released on 5 June by Parlophone. Reaching number on in both United Kingdom and Norway. During this time McCartney released "My Brave Face" which was a natural hit in the United States. All things were falling into place, leading McCartney to embark on one of his biggest tours of his career, The Paul McCartney World Tour, which started hitting North America, Europe, Japan and Brazil from September 1989- July 1990.

The album features the talents of several producers, Elvis Costello, David Foster, Mitchell Froom, Trevor Horn, Steve Lipson, and McCartney himself. Also, EMI producer, Beatles producer, and friend, George Martin had work on "Put It There", as well as Pink Floyd guitarist, David Gilmour lending his skills on "We Got Married". A thirteen tracked album with artwork was photographed by, who else but Paul's then wife, Linda (Eastman); the canvas was painted by the World Tour backdrop artist, Brian Clarke.

In the Reissued, Deluxe Edition one can find all new configurations at Abbey Road Studios, digital downloads, three unheard cassette demos,  remixes, single edits, and original B-sides, eighteen bonus audio tracks, featuring unreleased demos from McCartney's co-writing with Elvis Costello;
"The demos are red hot off the skillet and that’s why we wanted to include them on this boxed set. 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.” -McCartney.  PaulMcCartney.com Paul Announces Reissue of 'Flowers In The Dirt'

 Paul McCartney's website also includes;

"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 – a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Flowers In The Dirt as well as featuring live performances from his 1989 World Tour."

Here are what you can expect;


FLOWERS IN THE DIRT
TRACKLISTING:
SPECIAL EDITION (3CD/1DVD)
DISC 1 (Plus HD audio download):
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 (Plus HD audio download):
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 (Plus HD audio download):
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)
DVD 
Music Videos:
1. My Brave Face
2. My Brave Face (Version 2)
3. This One (Version 1)
4. This One (Version 2)
5. Figure Of Eight
6. Party Party
7. Où Est Le Soleil?
8. Put It There
9. Distractions
10. We Got Married
Creating Flowers in the Dirt:
1. Paul And Elvis
2. Buds In The Studio
3. The Making Of ‘This One’
(The Dean Chamberlain One)
Put it There:
1. Put It There Documentary
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
---
SPECIAL EDITION (2CD)
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:
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)
---
VINYL (2LP)
Disc 1
Side A:

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)
Side B:
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) (**not on vinyl, this track will be available with the accompanying digital download). 
Disc 2
Side A:

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)
Side B:
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)

Make sure to Pre-Order your copy!
You can read more about the reissue at the McCartney website itself by clicking here.


Personal;

Personally, I believe this album defines how determined McCartney is to keep his legend alive. After Wings had split and McCartney had released a few albums without a great sensation, Flowers In The Dirt reclaimed that spark and wonder that we all have, making us ask the inevitable question, "How does he do it?". Also, in the psychedelic and creative film making of one of the favored tracks, "This One", had taught me hand motions and 'sign language', so yes, Macca once again, A+ for not only music education, but language.

"This One Video" follows via Youtube