Pure McCartney Deluxe

I got my preordered PURE McCARTNEY Deluxe 4CD package by mail just 3 days after the street day. I just opened it because I traveled this week...I haven't play the CDs but I know all the songs well and I don't want to miss this opportunity to write something about this exquisite selection of tracks. WHAT IS NOT: This is not WINGS GREATEST HITS (However PURE contains it entirely) This is not ALL THE BEST (But only C Moon from it is missing in PURE) This is not WINGSPAN (But half of it is contained in PURE) This is not greatest hits compilation as The essential or The Best of... This is not even a selection of the most beloved Paul McCartney songs to date. In my opinion this is a McCartney's own selection of the songs that best represent the man at this moment in of his career. The sticker says "Paul McCartney`s personal playlist of songs..." Please don't expect a hits compilation, this is much more. No song from Driving Rain album because it was too Heather Mills, now he's with Nancy so there's no reason to spoil the things...anyway, thanks Heather for those songs and that incredible come back tour. No song from Flowers On The Dirt album to avoid spoiling the end of this year release in the archive collection series. No songs from Run Devil Run album and also not any song from any of the incredible Live albums. If you are waiting for obscure not officially released songs or never-on-cd B sides or any of the countless collaborations, this is not the place to find them... PURE is much more... WHAT IT IS ...Instead you will find many well-known songs and some gems that may start your curiosity to deep into McCartney's vast discography. One song from Fireman alter ego...if you don't know about it...look for it...3 albums that are worth listening. Some tracks originally released only as singles that for sure will let ask yourself what more are in that part of McCartney's music. A track released recently for a popular video game, only find it in CD format here. One thing this compilation does well is to take you to the concert arena (even when it has not a concert track) since it has altogether several songs that has been part of the last 15 years of almost non stopping McCartney Concerts all over the world. If my memory doesn't fail, 35 PURE songs have been performed by Paul since his memorable DRIVING US- BACK IN THE US/WORLD tour of 2002, some of these songs seem to be permanent part of the concert list and I'm not talking precisely of 70s 80s or even 90s songs! Dig into McCartney's discography is not easy, you will always find songs that don't belong to any album but they deserve to be in a good compilation; the archive collection is giving us a good number of obscure songs and hard to find songs, unfortunately not enough for some. For any new, old or casual Paul McCartney fan, PURE is an extraordinary compilation... If you don't like it...don't buy it. If you argue that a better compilation can be made...go ahead and create a good playlist in your mp3 device...and enjoy it...for sure it'll be good. PURE is only a McCartney personal playlist...listen what the man said. My recommendation, go for the Deluxe 4CD (or Vinyl!!!!) edition All The Best... UPDATE Aug.07.2016 Definetely this compilation cannot be seen apart from the McCartney on Tour from 2002 to date. From the iconic Band On the Run it has Let Me Roll It, that has been in almost each concert since 1993. Band On The Run and Jet are always in the setlist; in the second decade on this new century McCartney added 1985 and Mrs. Vandebilt to his concerts...that makes the 50% of the album played live. Memory Almost Full incorporated Dance Tonight and Only Mama Knows...so Chaos and Creation, New, Flaming Pie and Kisses contributed with songs that people have been learning to sing in concert. I remember the 1993 Tour, even the 2002 Tour, when Paul played the songs of the album in turn (Off the Ground in '93 and Driving Rain in '02) most of the people, and I really mean most of the people took that time to buy some snack...most people went to the concerts to hear The Beatles or in the best case Wings tunes. Paul played few tunes of that albums in turn then invariable got back to 70's and 60's. But things changed, Nowadays Paul plays an interesting set of 60's,70's, 80's, 90's, 00's and 10's songs. I think McCartney never gave up and now people is going to the arenas to see and listen McCartney, Pure, with all the possible variables that make unique one of the most iconic musicians of our time. And that is captured very well in this set of 4 CDs.

Up until now, Paul McCartney has released five audio "best of" anthologies - 1978's Wings Greatest , 1987's ALL THE BEST! (in three different versions - U.S. here , U.K. CD here , and a longer U.K. LP version ), as well as 2001's Wingspan (Hits & History) , which also appeared with slightly different U.K. and Japanese track listings - but they all cover the 1970s and, in the case of the latter two, the early 1980s, and give short shrift to Macca's later career. A sixth anthology, the rare Japanese release The Greatest , does go up to 1997, but even that is a little behind the times. In 2007, Paul issued a 3-DVD video retrospective, The McCartney Years , which contained music videos and live performances from 1970 to 2005. That set filled the gap quite nicely for its time. In the liner notes for PURE MCCARTNEY, Paul states that its purpose was to provide a broad-based collection of songs from throughout his career, which people could enjoy in their car, at home, at a party, or wherever they happened to be. More likely, it was Concord Music requesting a best-of set; the ones listed above were all issued on Capitol/EMI (except for The McCartney Years , which was issued by Rhino Home Video/Warner Strategic Marketing). UPDATE: PURE MCCARTNEY will be Macca's last Concord Music release; in mid-August 2016, Paul - much like the Prodigal Son - returned to his original label (not counting early U.S. Beatle releases on Vee-Jay, Swan, and Tollie), signing a worldwide multi-year deal with Capitol Records, now a Universal Music company. The set does have a wide range, from 1970's "Maybe I'm Amazed" to 2014's non-LP track, "Hope For The Future," which makes its CD debut here (though the alternate mixes on the 12" single and digital download were not included). The 1984 British single "We All Stand Together" makes its U.S. commercial audio debut: a demo of the song appears on the 1997 Best Buy promo CD, Oobu Joobu - Widescreen Radio - Ecology . The cartoon "Rupert And The Frog Song," for which "We All Stand Together" was written, appears on the 2004 DVD set, Paul McCartney - The Music And Animation Collection . Most of Macca's hit singles appear here, along with many choice LP cuts. There are no live performances on the collection, and no instrumentals (which rules out the first two Fireman albums, Strawberries, Oceans, Ships, Forest and Rushes ). There are also no cover versions on this set, which means there is nothing from either 1988/1991's CHOBA B CCCP (Back in the USSR) or 1999's Run Devil Run , although there are a couple of McCartney originals on the latter, such as the title song and "Try Not To Cry," which could have been used on this set. Other albums that Paul overlooked are 1989's Flowers In The Dirt , because that album is scheduled to be the next release in the Paul McCartney Archive Collection (Paul confirmed this in a July 10, 2016 Washington Post interview, where he stated that Nancy Jeffries, the set's compiler, did not select any FITD tracks for that reason), and 2001's Driving Rain , which suffers from mostly poor material, and may bring back bitter memories of Paul's failed marriage to The Golddigger (Heather Mills). No classical (e.g., McCartney: Liverpool Oratorio ) or experimental (e.g., Liverpool Sound Collage , Twin Freaks ) material is included either. I would have chosen "Some People Never Know," rather than the silly "Bip Bop," as the selection from Wings Wild Life ; the 12" disco version of "Goodnight Tonight," instead of the standard single version; the complete version of "With A Little Luck," instead of the DJ edit; a few more tracks from Tug Of War , particularly "Ballroom Dancing" and "Take It Away"; both sides of the "Wonderful Christmastime/Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reggae" single; and a few more tracks from Off The Ground , such as "Hope Of Deliverance," "Get Out Of My Way," and "C'mon People." On the other hand, I'm delighted that the single edit of "Venus And Mars/Rock Show" was included; it appeared on Wingspan (Hits & History) , but should have been a bonus track on the 2014 Venus And Mars (Deluxe Book) reissue; unfortunately, it wasn't. I'd still like to see Paul assemble a rarities/anthology collection of his non-LP tracks, alternate 7" and 12" mixes, CD-single only tracks, alternate takes, unreleased songs, and guest appearances on other people's albums. Even with the bonus audio tracks on various CD album releases, Paul still has a lot of material that is only available on vinyl, out-of-print CD singles, or hard-to-find releases in distant markets, such as Japan. There is also a less expensive 2-CD edition available for the budget-minded. This 4-CD collection is in a nice hardcover book with plenty of archival photos. Not much text, though, except for Paul's intro, track listings, and production and publishing credits. Because of the excellence and wide variety of the music, I'm still going to give PURE MCCARTNEY five stars, despite my mild criticisms. And Happy 74th Birthday, Sir Paul! June 18, 2016 - "Will you still need me?/Will you still feed me?/When I'm SEVENTY-FOUR?" (I'm sure Miss Nancy [Shevell] will).

Normally I don't write customer reviews whenever I see, like 100 or more for fear of repeating something that other reviewers may have already mentioned and not having time to read through them all, but since I had really enjoyed this set, I'm going to give it a go ... Apologies in advance for repeating any other observations already made by previous reviewers! The way things are going with one, and sometimes two, Paul McCartney re-mastered/expanded editions of each of his albums being re-released each year, it was a real treat to be offered this amazing four-CD "best-of" release of Paul's magnificent music ... What appealed to me most was that some of the tracks that were not yet re-released have been newly re-mastered, or MASTERED, for the first time, as I am a huge fan of re-mastered sound quality. I can honestly say that both the "Beatles" and "John Lennon" re-releases were re-mastered to perfection and so were the tracks on this collection! Some of the first-time re-mastered tracks include "Live and Let Die" (Even though there already was a really good re-mastering job of the track on "Wingspan"), and the one or two tracks from albums that have not yet made it to the "Archive" series, such as "Red Rose Speedway," "London Town," and "Back to the Egg." The volume output to these re-mastered recordings (As well as the re-mastered editions from "Wingspan") is definitely greater than those of the 1993 McCartney re-masters, so that is a plus! Also worth noting was that fans are finally presented with selections from albums AFTER the "Give My Regards to Broad Street" album on a Paul McCartney/Wings "best-of" collection, for the very first time ("Wings Greatest," "All The Best" AND "Wingspan" do not cover any of Paul's highlights from after the mid-1980s), and each of those selections are definitely the memorable ones or the "hits," all wonderful choices. :) Lots of reviewers, as I'm sure, have suggestions on what they wish was included, and sometimes excluded from this compilation ... For me, I cannot complain about most of the choices, as each one is catchy and memorable in its own way, the kind of tunes that you love to get stuck in your head. I can do without "Temporary Secretary," which I was never a big fan of, plus I would rather the live version of "Coming Up" from "All The Best" and "Wingspan" in place of the studio version that was actually featured ... There is just so much more "energy" and "intensity" in the live version of the track for me, but that's just me. I was never a big admirer of the "McCartney II" album, as you can probably figure out by now, although "Waterfalls" was the silver lining on that album for me and one of my all-time MACCA favorites ... Very glad to know that the full version of the song was included in this set, as opposed to an edited version that was previously featured on "Wingspan" ... Same goes for "Junior's Farm," which was also featured as an edited version on "Wingspan." An added, amusing observation is also that while both "Uncle Albert" and "Listen To What The Man Said" featured "smooth" fade-outs on both "All The Best" and "Wingspan," "Pure" features them as presented on their original album releases with quick fade-outs at the very last second to each song ... The jamming guitars that lead into "Smile Away," (The track that follows "Uncle Albert" on the "Ram" album) are featured on the first of the two mentioned songs, plus "Listen To What The Man Said" includes the "New Orleans" dialog from the intro to the song, as presented on the "Venus and Mars" album, but omitted on the versions found on the other best-of collections. :) Speaking of "Wingspan," Paul McCartney's notes to that release mention what he believes to be some of his best work as presented on that collection, so it would have been nice had "Pure" included some of the extra tracks from that release, as there is room on each CD for two or more extra tracks ... "Pure" is definitely deserving of memorable favorites like "Daytime Nighttime Suffering," "Call Me Back Again," "Rockestra Theme," and "No More Lonely Nights, Playout Version," as well as the "Hey Diddle" rarity outtake, also from "Wingspan." I was also disappointed by the edit version of "Venus and Mars/Rockshow," (Previously featured on "Wingspan") and would rather the full versions of the medley be featured or not at all, to be replaced by some of the other "Wingspan" tracks ... Same goes for "With A Little Luck" ... Only "best-of" compilation to feature the full album version is "Wings Greatest," unlike "All The Best" and "Wingspan," which both leave out the beautiful fluttering synthesizer excerpts from the middle of the song. It will be nice to experience a re-mastered FULL version of that song the day it may happen,"With A Little Luck!" ;) Also would have liked "Pure" to include the bonus tracks from the 1993 re-masters that were omitted from the Archive re-masters, so far, such as "Simple as That" and "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reggae," but I think that, with all of my "could-haves," I am asking for a fifth disc of material! ;) Maybe there will one day be a "Pure: 'Flowers in the Dirt'" edition of this release?! ;) There is also a deluxe edition of the "Tug of War" release that features the original album mix on one of the discs, and I'm not entirely sure why there is a re-mix to the entire album that is favored over the original mix, including the selections that were taken from that album and used on "Pure" ... I would have preferred the original mixes be featured, although I must admit that the remixes aren't TOO different, and they sound a tad clearer in sound quality. As for the booklet, we are presented with a lot of great photographs of the featured artist ... Funny that I was actually most interested in going under the captions and credits to find out who re-mastered or MASTERED each of the tracks, just to see it in print and confirmed that each of that tracks were indeed "polished" in sound quality. :) On the whole, there really isn't much for me to gripe about as all who were involved in making sure that this compilation saw the light of day did a topnotch job, AND I wanted to add one more thing ... For those who complain about boxed-set packages that are on the heavy/bulky side, you will not be disappointed as this package is less than a foot in height and very easy/light to carry. If you have worries about not wanting to scratch up the CD's, as they are each housed by envelope-like pages, you may want to order some standard CD replacement cases to store the CD's once they are slipped out of the sleeves that store each of the discs. In closing, Paul McCartney's "Pure" is a collection that we can "Appreciate," while placing "Hope for the Future" in regard to the upcoming Paul McCartney Archive re-mastered, expanded re-releases! Thanks for taking the time to read and God Bless... O:) ~Best regards from "KevyGuy" :)

Amazing compilation of 67 tracks spanning almost 45 years (1970-2013) personally chosen by Paul for this 4 cd release.. Don't pass on this collection.. Buy it!! You'll be glad you did.. From "Maybe I'm Amazed" to "New" this is the ultimate, by far the best compilation of tracks the former Beatle has ever released!! The four cd's are encased in a hard cover book containing beautiful black and white photos of Paul In the studio, on stage, at home, at the beach as well as shots from album photo shoots.. A wonderful collection to enjoy in anticipation of Paul's new album "Egypt Station" due for release on September 7th (I've already pre-ordered my copy here in Amazon) and the Mac's new tour "Freshen Up" which kicks off in Canada on September 17th. This collection exemplifies some of the best of McCartney's work as we get rockers to ballads and everything in between.. Not all of Paul's best tracks are in this collection.. That would take a 7-8 cd release. As it is, the listener is getting tracks from virtually every studio album Paul has released since 1970's "McCartney" thru 2013's "New" so.. if a song your looking for is not in this collection, just go ahead and pull the cd that song is on.. and.. There you go! Personally, I wanted to see "Tug Of War/"Take It Away" in this collection however those songs were passed over in favor of other tracks.. I own all of McCartney's studio, live and compilation releases as well as his recently issued "Archive Collection" releases so I pulled out "Tug Of War" and listened to the above titled tracks. It's not a big issue that those songs aren't in the collection as this compilation does include plenty of other songs from his early 80's output anyway. As for Paul's recently released Double A Single "Come On To Me/I Don't Know" he once again demonstrates why for decades, he's been recognized as the greatest singer/songwriter/composer/musician/producer/recording artist (after The Beatles) in the history of popular music.. As a solo artist, Sir Paul, in his own right, is the greatest of all time, as stated above. Greatness must be acknowledged.. The Beatles never repeated themselves in style and sound from album to album and neither has Paul in the years since his breakout solo album "McCartney" released in 1970. Again the Mac is breaking new ground in style, composition and sound and personally, I feel "I Don't Know" is Classic McCartney with it's solid piano/acoustic guitar/percussion based backing track and Paul's soulful vocal.. A hauntingly beautiful song, clearly reflective of signature McCartney, both lyrically and musically. This ballad is an instant McCartney classic in this writer's opinion and I have no doubt the new album and tour will both be "one for the books" as they say!! The bouncy, somewhat reggaeish "Come On To Me" is also a lot of fun, though personally I prefer the very heartfelt and powerful "I Don't Know." Enjoy this collection of music.. It doesn't get any better than this! The former Beatle, now in his mid 70's is still that inspired artist who's capable of reaching new heights artistically and blowing us all away with new music that instantly captivates, amazes and moves us.. This compilation of sheer brilliance spanning almost four and a half decades is a testament to that and a must own! WAY TO GO PAUL! TWO THUMBS UP!! WAY UP!!

I think this is a great set. It contains a lot of my favorite McCartney tracks, and it also includes many that I didn't have before I got it. Paul has been the most prolific ex-Beatle by far --- of course, two of the Fab Four are sadly no longer among us --- and has put out tons of stuff over the past several decades, so even a set this size inevitably isn't going to please everybody, as a lot of people are bound to have too many favorite tracks that weren't included (and to dislike too many of the tracks that are here). As far as I'm concerned, this is the best McCartney comp to be put out so far. The CDs come packaged inside a book containing an opening "note" from Paul --- though no notes on Paul's musical history or any stories behind the songs --- as well as track credits (the names of the people who played, produced, etc.) and a lot of photos of Paul. The photos are cool (although they aren't in color), but I find it a bit odd that, despite the fact that the set spans Paul's entire career, none of the photos include any members of his group Wings --- in fact, that group name is never mentioned anywhere, except on Paul's shirt in one of the photos. Not even Linda is pictured anywhere. Of course, though, the photos have absolutely naught to do with the music, which is what really matters! Like I said, this set won't please everybody, but I think it's terrific, especially since it isn't super-expensive!

This is a very cool first time ever career-spanning post -Beatles cd box set from Paul. I give it 5 stars all the way simply because it's unique and it has versatility. Paul and team chose and hand picked these tracks for us. The sound quality is amazing. The book with photos is worth this set alone. This set is actually not meant to be a substitute for past compilations like Wingspan or the recent archive re-releases but it is exactly what Paul had in mind for this set: enjoyable for all settings. The sequencing of the songs together on the four discs is fun and interesting. The well known classics from throughout the years are here mixed in with the deeper tracks and gems. As fans, we notice some omissions...but that's ok...because many of those gaps are actually filled and found on the 3 DVD set from 2007 called "The McCartney Years"...which can actually serve as a nice companion piece to this set. That set included his footage and videos from the 70's, 80's and 90's as well as classic concert footage. So back to this set: there is basically not much I would change about this set at all...but..did notice each disc has some extra room for a couple of more songs or so for each disc if they were to be added for a cool total of 74 tracks or some possible subs for other songs ..but that's just minor stuff. Examples: would have like to see the songs: Young Boy & Letting Go(currently on his concert setlist) in place of: Waterfalls and Appreciate. Also would have like to seen Bluebird, Hope of Deliverance, and Take it Away in place of songs: Girlfriend, Winedark open Sea, and We all Stand Together. With the extra room, adding Ever Present Past, That was Me, Friends to Go or Follow Me would have been cool somewhere but as mentioned...minor stuff...all good.. Another note, my favorite McCartney album, from 1997, Flaming Pie, right off the Beatles Anthology, is highly represented here with 8 tracks. Although i do miss the track Young Boy for this set, it's really good to hear many of these songs mixed in. Next year actually marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Flaming Pie. Let's hope for an archive re-release for Flaming Pie. Thinkin of a 2cd/dvd set hopefully which would include the album, rare tracks/demos and the In the World Tonight documentary. Overall, this set: Pure McCartney, is a high thumbs up for the all time fans as well as anyone new who is discovering this great music for this first time. Enjoy!!

This is a real nice set. The CDs are in a book style CD holder with page after page of publicity photos. Probably the best set of Paul McCartney CDs you can get. It's that good.

Paul gets 5 stars no matter what. It McCartney. He states these are songs to play while driving in the car. Actually they play great anywhere. He really taps into the Albums, McCartney, and Ram. Ram is one of his best albums. Some say they were surprised at the songs left off this collection. I now understand why. All of those left out are on Wingspan. A fantastic collection. Took this collection , I'm a musician, over to a friend's studio, been playing since 1969, had a few others over as well and cranked it up. We still enjoy life as we did in late sixties, and in addition sat and enjoyed a few drinks as well, they most odd and fantastic result was with the playing on the song Mull Of Kintyre. Everyone just joined in on the first chorus as if it were New Years Eve. The more I listen the more enjoyable. What other direction could Sir Paul go ? I guess to please everyone his next collection of driving music would have to be a 15 cd collection. This 4 cd set shows Paul's diversity and growth as an Icon in music. No regrets at all.

Une fois rappelé que Paul McCartney est un pur génie et que l'on est donc exigeant avec lui, il convient de s'attarder sur le choix des morceaux retenus pour cette compilation. Leur qualité intrinsèque n'est pas remise en cause (si ce n'est l'effroyable "Say say say" composé avec Michael Jackson qui prouve que l'addition des talents de deux pointures de la pop peut déboucher sur une horreur qu'on ne souhaiterait même pas comme bande-son à notre pire ennemi). Chaque morceau présent ici ferait le bonheur de beaucoup d'auteurs-compositeurs. Depuis la séparation des Beatles, Paul McCartney a publié presque 600 morceaux. En sélectionner 67 implique forcément des oublis (parfois fâcheux). Alors certes, certains titres d'albums majeurs sont étrangement absents, des titres plus anecdotiques sont inclus ("Don't let it bring you down", "Press", "Winedark open sea", "Sing the changes", "Save us"), une chanson est même honteusement tronquée ("With a little luck" présentée ici dans sa version américaine, amputée de 2'30" par rapport à l'originale) mais il reste le plaisir de réécouter des bijoux méconnus mais absolus ("Dear boy", "Nineteen hundred and eighty five", "Little willow", "Too much rain"), et les pépites intemporelles qui ont fait la réputation de McCartney. Le son est excellent et le livret superbe.

Some people think McCartney has been over-hyped; some think he can only write specific types of songs. No matter what you think, he has to be acknowledged for both his role in history and his incredible talent. This set of four CDs is proof. This comes as a "book", with pages for each CD. It's a cute concept, but means this won't fit on most CD shelves. This is not a "greatest hits" or even a collection on a specific theme: more than anything else, this is McCartney choosing the songs he's done over the years that he likes to listen to when travelling, a McCartney Mixtape. As such, there's an interesting mix here. Some of the songs are immediately recognizable and loved; some are more obscure. All are great, and if anything, this shows how even his unknown songs can stand out. The music appears to have been remixed, based on comparisons from other CDs and LPs in my library, and the sound is excellent. All told, there's 67 songs on four discs, along with a nice collection of comments and photographs from the artist himself. No matter how you approach this music, you cannot help but be impressed by the skill and artistry involved, revealing McCartney to be one of the great musicians of our age. I always liked Wings, and listening to these discs brought back some memories, as well as let me discover a few songs I liked back then...a great set for everyone to listen to!

Must have for any McCartney/Beatle fan. Lovely packaging, sounds wonderful and great songs. Vinyl is 180 gms and thick. Whole package is well put together and quality. Highly recommended.

Entrega realizada antes do prazo,tudo perfeito!

４枚 次から次へと繰り出すヒット曲。しかし これは完全にさわり状態で各アルバムを聴きたくなる。一曲も入ってないアルバムも多数あるし、ビートルズもある。素晴らしいライブアルバムも複数あるし、イヤハヤ大変な人。ロック界最大の巨人だったな。取りあえず素晴らしい作品集でした。