Last August, Paul McCartney announced his return to The Beatles‘ longtime home of Capitol Records, bringing all of his solo works beginning with the 1970’s McCartney into the fold of the Universal Music Group-owned label. Today, the long-awaited multi-format Archive Collection release of 1989’s “Flowers in the Dirt” has been announced for March 24th, 2017 .
Highlighted by four collaborations with Declan MacManus, a.k.a. Elvis Costello, Flowers in the Dirt featured productions by not only McCartney and MacManus, but also Mitchell Froom, Trevor Horn, David Foster, and Steve Lipson. Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour dropped in to lend guitar on “We Got Married,” and the legendary George Martin returned to write the string chart for “Put It There.” A Gold record in the U.S. and Platinum in the U.K., Flowers went to No. 1 in the U.K. and earned a Grammy nomination. A 1990 Japanese Tour Edition entitled Special Package added a disc of nine bonus tracks from throughout Macca’s solo career; a number of those tracks specific to Flowers, as well as other single versions, B-sides, and remixes, are present on the new set in download form only.
The upcoming reissue will, as per all titles in the long-running Archive Collection, be available in a variety of formats. All boast a remastered version of the original 13-track album (including the CD and cassette bonus track “Où est le Soleil?”) as the centerpiece, while the 3-CD/1-DVD Deluxe Edition Box Set and 2-CD Special Edition offer varying amounts of previously unreleased bonus tracks including the original demos performed by Macca and Elvis.
It’s a really special package featuring very cool and intimate demos made by Paul and Elvis Costello, who co-wrote a third of the album. We can’t wait to share those recordings with you, but until then, here’s Paul talking about what’s coming your way…
“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.”
Sessions for Flowers In The Dirt began in 1987 and the majority of the album was recorded at Paul’s Hog Hill Mill studio in East Sussex. During the sessions Elvis Costello convinced Paul to dig out his iconic Höfner bass for the first time in years – a suggestion McCartney recalls as, “unusual because I had sort of parked it. I had thought I had outgrown it. I started playing it again and never really looked back. It’s great that Elvis encouraged me to take it out.” In preparation for his first major world tour in years Paul was looking to capture songs he could take on the road with him. Paul told his band that he wouldn’t go out on tour unless he really liked the album. Looking back Paul recalls, “You’re always thinking, ‘Let’s get some new songs and take them on tour’ and you hope your new songs are going to work. Something like ‘My Brave Face’ would be a song that nobody knew at the start at the beginning of the tour and then everybody knew it at the end and it was the high spot of the whole tour.”
The original 13-track album was remastered for all the new configurations at Abbey Road Studios. The Deluxe Edition contains 18 bonus audio tracks across two discs, featuring previously unreleased demos, written and performed by Paul with Elvis Costello. Speaking about these tracks Paul said: “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.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk0G5qxT_CU
3-CD/1-DVD Deluxe Edition Box Set:
Remastered original album on CD 1;
Nine Paul and Elvis “Original Demos” on CD 2;
Nine “1988 Demos” on CD 3;
DVD featuring 10 music videos; three short films – Creating Flowers in the Dirt; and the original 1989 Put It There documentary as released on VHS;
Digital download of three “Cassette Demos” and 13 associated B-sides, single versions, and remixes;
Creating Flowers in the Dirt” and “Put It There” documentary;
112-page hardcover book;
32-page notebook of Paul’s original handwritten lyrics and notes;
Catalogue of Linda McCartney’s 1989 Flowers in the Dirt photo exhibition; and
64-page photobook of the music video shoot for “The One.”
2-CD Special Edition:
Remastered original album on CD 1; and
Nine Paul and Elvis “Original Demos” on CD 2.
2-LP Vinyl Edition:
12-track original vinyl album plus download of “Où est le Soleil?”;
Download card; and
Nine Paul and Elvis “Original Demos” on LP 2.
The Fat Angel Sings 