Peter Cetera "You're the Inspiration: A Collection (USA, River North Records, 51416 1250 2)"

You're the Inspiration: A Collection is the sixth solo album by Peter Cetera released in 1997. It was the second album released by Cetera for River North Records. The album is a collection of previously recorded duets, a few new songs and a few re-recordings of old Chicago hits.

Following the release of One Clear Voice in 1995, Peter Cetera and his label began the task of creating a "greatest hits" type package to release. This proved to be challenging as many of Cetera's charting singles were from the four albums he had released under former label, Warner Brothers. Compounding the problem further, he had charting duet singles on albums by Agnetha Fältskog and Cher, which were the property of their record labels. In addition, many of his hits from his career as a member of the band Chicago were the property of either Warner Brothers or his old band mates. When River North approached Chicago and their self-run record label, Chicago Records, about licensing the master recordings, the band refused outright. In 1997 and 1998, Chicago Records used the songs on two The Heart of Chicago greatest hits packages put out in a partnership between Chicago Records and Warner Brothers.

While the label sorted out the licensing his duet hits with Warner, Geffen and WEA, Cetera stepped into the studio to record five songs for the compilation. The first two were original songs, "Do You Love Me That Much?" and "She Doesn't Need Me Anymore". The latter was a song about Cetera's daughter Claire, who turned 14 shortly after the album was released. The other three were new recordings of Cetera's Chicago hits, "If You Leave Me Now", "Baby, What a Big Surprise" and "You're the Inspiration". The song keys were lowered a whole step down to suit Cetera's loss of range. "You're the Inspiration" sounded country flavored while "Baby, What a Big Surprise" had a harder edge electric guitar than the original due to the lower keys and was missing the final verse.

In the end, the album featured all of Cetera's hit duets, along with two new songs and three re-recorded songs.

Unlike One Clear Voice, You're the Inspiration: A Collection made the Billboard Top 200 album charts, peaking at #134, higher than his last two studio albums and higher than his first solo album from 1981. The first single, "Do You Love Me That Much?" made the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart, hitting #6. This was followed by "She Doesn't Need Me Anymore", which hit #27 AC.

For the third single, the label remixed the new version of "You're the Inspiration" with backing vocals from R&B vocal group Az Yet. The group had scored a hit single remaking Cetera's "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" a year earlier, featuring Cetera's vocals at the end. An ocean side video was filmed featuring Cetera and the group, as well as Cetera's newborn daughter Senna in some scenes. The single peaked at #77 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #29 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.

Cetera did not go on tour in support of the album. When he finally returned to live concerts in 2002, he performed the original Chicago arrangements of the songs.

The album sold approximately 250,000 copies as of 1999 - a commercial disappointment by some standards, but was one of the top selling albums released on the small record label.

Track listing

1. "If You Leave Me Now" (Peter Cetera) (original key: B) (re-recording: A) – 4:21
2. "The Next Time I Fall" (with Amy Grant) (Bobby Caldwell, Paul Gordon) – 3:40
3. "Do You Love Me That Much" (Liz Hengber, Will Robinson) – 3:38
4. "Feels Like Heaven" (with Chaka Khan) (Mark Goldenberg, Kit Hain) – 4:47
5. "You're the Inspiration" (Cetera, David Foster) (original key: G#) (re-recording: G) – 4:06
6. "I Wasn't the One (Who Said Goodbye)" (with Agnetha Fältskog) (Mark Mueller, Aaron Zigman) – 4:04
7. "She Doesn't Need Me Anymore" (Cetera, Walt Aldridge) – 4:30
8. "Baby, What a Big Surprise" (Cetera) (original key: C) (re-recording: Bb) – 3:30
9. "(I Wanna Take) Forever Tonight" (with Crystal Bernard) (Eric Carmen, Andy Goldmark) – 4:34
10. "After All" (with Cher) (Tom Snow, Dean Pitchford) – 4:04
11. "S.O.S." (with Ronna Reeves) (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Stig Anderson) – 4:05

Peter Cetera "Solitude - Solitaire (2010 Reissue, Remastered, Forever Young Series, Japan, Warner-Pioneer/Fullmoon, WPCR-75548)"

Solitude/Solitaire is the second solo album by former Chicago bassist and vocalist Peter Cetera, and his first album after leaving the band in 1985. It was released in June 1986. The album includes the hits "Glory of Love" and "The Next Time I Fall" (with Amy Grant); both reached the No. 1 position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Solitude/Solitaire was produced by Michael Omartian, who later co-produced Cetera's 2001 album, Another Perfect World.

Cetera co-wrote eight of the nine songs on the album, "The Next Time I Fall" being the exception. Because Cetera had been a prominent songwriter for Chicago, many of the songs on Solitude/Solitaire were rumored to originally have been slated for Chicago 18, especially "Big Mistake" and "Daddy's Girl".

While "Big Mistake" was due to be the first single from the album, "Glory of Love", co-written by Cetera, David Foster, and Diane Nini, was released instead. That song, from the film The Karate Kid Part II, topped the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts, and helped Solitude/Solitaire to eventually go platinum. The follow-up single, "The Next Time I Fall", was also a major success and topped the charts. Later singles released from the album included "Big Mistake" and "Only Love Knows Why", which was co-written by the producer Michael Omartian and George Bitzer and reached No. 24 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. The song, "Daddy's Girl," is part of the soundtrack for the 1987 American comedy film, Three Men and a Baby.

The album was Cetera's greatest solo success, peaking at No. 23 on the Billboard 200 chart. It was certified platinum by the RIAA, selling over one million copies in the U.S.

Solitude/Solitaire marked a high point in Cetera's career, where he achieved success for the first time on his own. It sold more copies than Chicago 18, Chicago's first album without Cetera, which peaked at No. 35.

Track listing

1. "Big Mistake" (Peter Cetera, Amos Galpin) – 5:39
2. "They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To" (Cetera, Erich Bulling) – 4:04
3. "Glory of Love" (Cetera, David Foster, Diane Nini) – 4:19
4. "Queen of the Masquerade Ball" (Cetera, Michael Omartian) – 3:50
5. "Daddy's Girl" (Cetera, Mark Goldenberg) – 3:46
6. "The Next Time I Fall" (with Amy Grant) (Bobby Caldwell, Paul Gordon) – 3:43
7. "Wake Up to Love" (Cetera, David Wolinski, Omartian) – 4:29
8. "Solitude/Solitaire" (Cetera, Omartian) – 4:58
9. "Only Love Knows Why" (Cetera, George Bitzer, Omartian) – 4:29

Recording information:

Michael Omartian – producer

Terry Christian – engineer, mixing

John Guess – engineer, mixing

Britt Bacon – second engineer

Khaliq Glover – second engineer

Laura Livingston – second engineer

Ray Pyle – second engineer

Lion Share Recording Studios, Los Angeles, California – recording and mixing location

Lighthouse Studios, Studio City, California – recording location

Skyline Studios, New York, New York – recording location

Steve Hall – mastering at Future Disc, Hollywood, California

Herb Ritts – photography

Jeri McManus – art direction and design

Paul & Linda McCartney "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey (Single & Video)"

"Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" is a song by Paul and Linda McCartney from the album Ram. Released in the United States as a single on 2 August 1971, it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on 4 September 1971, making it the first of a string of post-Beatles, Paul McCartney-penned singles to top the US pop chart during the 1970s and 1980s. Billboard ranked the song as number 22 on its Top Pop Singles of 1971 year-end chart. It became McCartney's first gold record after the break-up of the Beatles.

"Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" is composed of several unfinished song fragments that Norwegian engineer Eirik Wangberg [no] stitched together in a similar manner to the medleys from the Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road. The orchestral arrangements by George Martin were recorded in New York at A & R Recording, along with other instruments by McCartney and his new band. The project was moved to Los Angeles where vocals were added by Paul and Linda McCartney – her first experience of recording in a professional studio. The song is notable for its thunderstorm and environmental sound effects added by Wangberg in Los Angeles; he had been invited by McCartney to mix and sequence the Ram album in any way he saw fit, and he copied the thunder from a monaural film soundtrack, then fashioned an artificial stereo version of it for the song.

McCartney stated that "Uncle Albert" was based on his uncle: "He's someone I recall fondly, and when the song was coming it was like a nostalgia thing." He also stated: "I had an uncle – Albert Kendall – who was a lot of fun, and when I came to write 'Uncle Albert'/'Admiral Halsey' it was loosely about addressing that older generation, half thinking, 'What would they think of the way my generation does things?' That's why I wrote the line 'We're so sorry, Uncle Albert.'" McCartney also told an American journalist, "As for Admiral Halsey, he's one of yours, an American admiral", referring to Fleet Admiral William "Bull" Halsey (1882–1959). McCartney has described the "Uncle Albert" section of the song as an apology from his generation to the older generation, and Admiral Halsey as an authoritarian figure who ought to be ignored.

McCartney talks to Uncle Albert on the telephone using "a posh British accent", apologizing but not overly concerned that he does not have time to talk.

McCartney said that the lyric, "'Hands across the water/Heads across the sky' refers to Linda and me being American and British."

"Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" appears on the Wings Greatest compilation album released in 1978, even though Ram was not a Wings album.

The song appears on several solo Paul McCartney compilations: the US version of All the Best! (1987), as well as Wingspan: Hits and History (2001), and on both the standard and deluxe versions of Pure McCartney (2016). It was also included on The 7" Singles Box in 2022.

Paul McCartney & Wings "Band On The Run (Single & Video)"

"Band on the Run" is a song by the British–American rock band Paul McCartney and Wings, the title track to their 1973 album Band on the Run.

Released as a single in April 1974 in the US and in June 1974 in the UK, it topped the charts and sold over a million copies in 1974 in the United States, and reached number 3 in the United Kingdom. An international success, it has become one of the band's most famous songs.

A medley of three distinct musical passages that vary in style, "Band on the Run" is one of McCartney's longest singles at 5:09. The song was partly inspired by a comment that George Harrison had made during a meeting of the Beatles' Apple record label. The song-wide theme is one of freedom and escape, and its creation coincided with Harrison, John Lennon and Ringo Starr having parted with manager Allen Klein in March 1973, leading to improved relations between McCartney and his fellow ex-Beatles.

The original demos for this and other tracks on Band on the Run were stolen shortly after Wings arrived in Lagos, Nigeria, to begin recording the album. With the band reduced to a trio consisting of McCartney, his wife Linda, and Denny Laine, "Band on the Run" was recorded at EMI's Lagos studio and completed at AIR Studios in London.

In a 1973 interview with Paul Gambaccini, McCartney stated that the lyric "if we ever get out of here" was inspired by a remark made by George Harrison during one of the Beatles' many business meetings. McCartney recalled: "He was saying that we were all prisoners in some way [due to the ongoing problems with their company Apple] … I thought it would be a nice way to start an album." McCartney added, referring to his inspiration for "Band on the Run": "It's a million things … all put together. Band on the run – escaping, freedom, criminals. You name it, it's there."

It was symbolic: "If we ever get out of here … All I need is a pint a day" … [In the Beatles] we'd started off as just kids really, who loved our music and wanted to earn a bob or two so we could get a guitar and get a nice car. It was very simple ambitions at first. But then, you know, as it went on it became business meetings and all of that … So there was a feeling of "if we ever get out of here", yeah. And I did.

– Paul McCartney, to Clash Music in 2010

In a 1988 interview with Musician magazine, McCartney noted the drug busts experienced by musicians of the late 1960s and early 1970s as an inspiration for the "Band on the Run", also referencing the "desperado" image he attributed to bands like the Byrds and the Eagles as an influence. McCartney, who had been having legal trouble involving pot possession, said, "We were being outlawed for pot … And our argument on ['Band on the Run'] was 'Don't put us on the wrong side … We're not criminals, we don't want to be. So I just made up a story about people breaking out of prison.'"

According to Mojo contributor Tom Doyle, the song's lyrics, recalled through memory following the robbery of the band's demo tapes for the Band on the Run album, were altered to reflect on the band's then-current status, "stuck inside the four walls of the small, cell-like studio, faced with grim uncertainty".

"Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five", the closing track of the Band on the Run album, concludes with a brief excerpt of the chorus.

"Band on the Run" is a three-part medley: the AllMusic writer Stewart Mason described the last and longest section as "an effortless mélange of acoustic rhythm guitars, country-ish slide fills, and three-part harmonies on the chorus" and compared its sound to that of California rock group the Eagles. The lyrics of the entire song, however, are related: all based on the general theme of freedom and escape. Music critic Robert Christgau characterised the lyrical content of the song as "about the oppression of rock musicians by cannabis-crazed bureaucrats".

The original demo recording for "Band on the Run", as well as multiple other tracks from the album, was stolen from the McCartneys while Paul McCartney and Wings were recording in Lagos, Nigeria. Robbed at knifepoint, they relinquished the demos, only recovering the songs through memory. Paul McCartney later remarked, "It was stuff that would be worth a bit on eBay these days, you know? But no, we figured the guys who mugged us wouldn’t even be remotely interested. If they’d have known, they could have just held on to them and made themselves a little fortune. But they didn’t know, and we reckoned they’d probably record over them."

The song was recorded in two parts, in different sessions. The first two were taped in Lagos, while the third section was recorded in October 1973 at AIR Studios in London. Orchestrator Tony Visconti was hired by McCartney, who liked his arrangements for T. Rex. Visconti was given three days to write arrangements for the whole album, including the 60-person orchestra for the title track. Visconti said that the arrangements were collaborations with McCartney, and was surprised he was not credited with his work until the 25th anniversary reissue.

Originally, Paul McCartney planned not to release any singles from Band on the Run, a strategy he compared to that used by the Beatles. However, he was convinced by Capitol Records vice president Al Coury to release singles from the album, resulting in the single release of "Jet" and "Band on the Run".

Al Coury, promotion man for Capitol Records, released 'Jet,' which I wasn't even thinking of releasing as a single, and 'Band on the Run' too. He single-handedly turned [Band on the Run] around.

– Paul McCartney

"Band on the Run", backed with "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five", was released in America in 1974 as the follow-up single to Paul McCartney and Wings' top-ten hit "Jet". The song was a smash hit for the band, becoming McCartney's third non-Beatles American chart-topping single, and the second with Wings. The single was later released in Britain (instead backed with "Zoo Gang", the theme song to the television show of the same name), reaching number 3 on the British charts. The song reached number 1 in both Canada and New Zealand. The song was also a top 40 single in multiple European countries, such as the Netherlands (number 7), Belgium (number 21), and Germany (number 22).

The US radio edit was 3:50 in length. The difference was largely caused by the removal of the middle or the second part of the song, as well as the verse that starts with "Well, the undertaker drew a heavy sigh …"

The single was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over one million copies. It was the second of five number-one singles for the band on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1974, Billboard ranked it number 22 on its Top Pop Singles year-end chart. Billboard also listed the song as Paul McCartney's sixth most successful chart hit of all time, excluding Beatles releases.

"Band on the Run" has also been featured on numerous McCartney/Wings compilation albums, including Wings Greatest, All the Best!, and Wingspan: Hits and History. The song is also performed in many of McCartney's live shows, with a live version being included on the 1976 live album Wings over America. In June 2022, one week after his 80th birthday, McCartney performed the song with Dave Grohl at the Glastonbury Festival. The performance was part of his Got Back tour.

An independent film produced by Michael Coulson, while he was a college student in the mid-1970s, was later included in The McCartney Years video compilation as well as the 2010 re-issue of the album Band on the Run. It served mostly as a tribute to the Beatles, featuring montages of still pictures from their career. Wings were not shown. The video ends with a collage of Beatles pictures much like the album cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

In 2014, a new video for "Band on the Run" was created. The video was designed by Ben Ib, an artist who created tour visuals for Paul McCartney (as well as Roger Waters and the Smashing Pumpkins) and the cover for Paul McCartney's 2013 solo album New. In the video, all of the objects, including the "band on the run" itself, are made up of words.

"Band on the Run" was praised by former bandmate and songwriting partner John Lennon, who considered it "a great song" from "a great album". In 2014, Billboard praised "Band on the Run" for having "three distinct parts that don't depend on a chorus yet still manage to feel anthemic". Cash Box said that the "excellent build to eventual power pitch, coupled with some fine music and vocals makes this another McCartney masterpiece". Record World said it "features changes galore, bringing a new dimension to top 40 radio". AllMusic critic Stewart Mason called the track "classic McCartney", lauding the song for "manag[ing] to be experimental in form yet so deliciously melodic that its structural oddities largely go unnoticed".

Paul McCartney and Wings won the Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus for "Band on the Run" at the 17th Annual Grammy Awards. NME ranked the song as the tenth best song of the 1970s, as well as the fifteenth best solo song by an ex-Beatle. In 2010, AOL Radio listeners voted "Band on the Run" the best song of McCartney's solo career. In 2012, Rolling Stone readers ranked the song as McCartney's fourth best song of all time, behind "Maybe I'm Amazed", "Hey Jude", and "Yesterday". Rolling Stone readers also ranked the song the fifth best solo Beatle song.

An underdubbed version of the song was released on 6 December 2023. McCartney explained "underdubbed" as follows: "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." The entire Band on the Run album was released in this manner on the 50th anniversary reissue.

Paul McCartney "Memory Almost Full (2CD Deluxe Limited Edition, USA, Hear Music, HMCD 30358)"

Memory Almost Full is the fourteenth solo studio album by English musician Paul McCartney. It was released in the United Kingdom on 4 June 2007 and in the United States a day later. The album was the first release on Starbucks' Hear Music label. It was produced by David Kahne and recorded at Abbey Road Studios, Henson Recording Studios, AIR Studios, Hog Hill Mill Studios and RAK Studios between October 2003, and from 2006 to February 2007. In between the 2003 and 2006 sessions, McCartney was working on another studio album, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (2005), with producer Nigel Godrich.

Memory Almost Full reached the Top 5 in both the UK and US, as well as Denmark, Sweden, Greece, and Norway. The Grammy-nominated album has sold over 2 million copies worldwide and has been certified gold by the RIAA for shipments of over 500,000 copies just in the United States. The album was released in three versions: a single disc, a 2-CD set, and a CD/DVD deluxe edition, the latter of which was released on 6 November 2007.

Nine demos were recorded at Hog Hill Mill studio in September 2003 by Paul McCartney and his touring band. A month later, in October, album sessions for Memory Almost Full began, and were produced by David Kahne and recorded at Abbey Road Studios. McCartney and the band recorded the songs "You Tell Me", "Only Mama Knows", "Vintage Clothes", "That Was Me", "Feet in the Clouds", "House of Wax", "The End of the End", and "Whole Life". However, the sessions were cut short and put on hiatus when McCartney started another album, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, with producer Nigel Godrich.

In the website constructed for the album, McCartney stated: "I actually started this album, Memory Almost Full, before my last album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, released September 2005. (...) When I was just finishing up everything concerned with Chaos and had just got the Grammy nominations (2006) I realised I had this album to go back to and finish off. So I got it out to listen to it again, wondering if I would enjoy it, but actually I really loved it. All I did at first was just listen to a couple of things and then I began to think, 'OK, I like that track – now, what is wrong with it?' And it might be something like a drum sound, so then I would re-drum and see where we would get to. (...) In places it's a very personal record and a lot of it is retrospective, drawing from memory, like memories from being a kid, from Liverpool and from summers gone. The album is evocative, emotional, rocking, but I can't really sum it up in one sentence".

Many songs from Memory Almost Full were from a group of songs, which also included songs from Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, and some intended for the former nearly ended up on the latter. Any songs that were started, but not finished, for Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, McCartney didn't want to re-do for Memory Almost Full. As sessions for the album progressed McCartney wrote some more songs, something that McCartney used to do when he was in the Beatles. An early version of "Ever Present Past" was recorded at either one of the three following studios: RAK Studios, AIR Studios or Ocean Way Studios; sometime between November 2003 and April 2005. Two years after the 2003 session, sessions for the album started again. The book Paul McCartney: Recording Sessions (1969–2013). A Journey Through Paul McCartney's Songs After the Beatles reports that the recordings of the album were started in September–October 2003 and resumed in February 2004 at Abbey Road, with other sessions taking place between March 2006 and February 2007.

New tracks were recorded at the following studios: McCartney's home studio in Sussex, Hog Hill Mill, Los Angeles' Henson Studios, London's RAK Studios and AIR Studios, and New York's SeeSquared Studios. The songs recorded at those studios were "Nod Your Head", "In Private", "222", "Gratitude", "Mr Bellamy", "See Your Sunshine", and "Ever Present Past". Of those songs, "Mr Bellamy", "Ever Present Past", "Gratitude", "Nod Your Head", and "In Private" were all recorded on the same day, in March 2006. As well as working on songs from the first Memory Almost Full album session in 2003, "Why So Blue" was re-recorded. In total, between 20 and 25 songs were recorded for the album. "Dance Tonight" was recorded, along with "Feet in the Clouds" and "222" being reworked, between January and February 2007 at RAK Studios, as the last song recorded for the album. The album was mixed by Kahne and Andy Wallace.

Some people mentioned that the album's title, Memory Almost Full, is an anagram of "for my soulmate LLM" (the initials of Linda Louise McCartney). When asked if this was intentional, McCartney replied; "Some things are best left a mystery". In an interview with Pitchfork Media, McCartney clarified, "I must say, someone told me [there is an anagram], and I think it's a complete mystery, because it's so complete. There does appear to be an anagram in the title. And it's a mystery. It was not intentional." The album's title was actually inspired by a message that came up on his mobile phone. He thought the phrase summed up modern life.

A significant proportion of the CD release of Memory Almost Full incorporated a cover insert whose top-right corner was intentionally folded down to the center of the insert, leaving the CD tray visible. The folded-down white corner covers up the corner of the armchair image, but has the artist and album names printed so that the text is complete despite the fold. Upon opening and flattening out the cover insert, the armchair is complete, but the portion of the text which is printed on the folded-down corner is not printed on the front of the cover, leaving the text incomplete. This was the first time such an artistic intervention occurred within a standard jewel-case, and at first glance had the possibility of being viewed as a mis-manufactured copy. McCartney on the CD case/album artwork: "I really wanted to make the CD a desirable object. Something that I know I'd want to pick up from the shelf, something that would make people curious."

The chair on the cover is the etching Black Love Chair by Humphrey Ocean printed by Maurice Payne and chosen by Paul McCartney after a visit to Miankoma Studio, Amagansett, Long Island.

The album was his first for Starbucks' Hear Music record label, after previously having a 45-year-old relationship with Capitol/EMI. The recording contract with Capitol/EMI ended a few months prior to the release of the album, after McCartney had found out that EMI were planning to take six months to set up a promotional plan for the album. McCartney was the first artist to sign to Hear Music. The Rock Radio website leaked a track listing for the album on 12 April 2007. A day later, producer David Kahne stated on the same site that the leaked listing was bogus. The first US single, "Ever Present Past", made its radio debut on 20 April. A music video for "Dance Tonight" premiered on 23 May via YouTube. The album was released on 4 June 2007 in the UK, and a day later on the 5th in the US, and with a vinyl edition later in the month on 25 June.

It was also McCartney's first album to be available as a digital download. The lead single for the rest of the world is "Dance Tonight", released on McCartney's 65th birthday in the UK, 18 June as a digital download, with a physical release a month later, on 23 July of a CD single and a 10" shaped picture disc. The music video features Natalie Portman and Mackenzie Crook, and was directed by Michel Gondry. The third single, "Nod Your Head", was released as a digital download single on 28 August via the iTunes Store. "Ever Present Past" was released as a single in the UK, on 5 November, as a CD single and 7" single.

Promotion for the album came in several forms, such as a worldwide listening party at over 10,000 Starbucks stores on the day of the album's US release, with an approximation of 6 million people hearing the album. At ten of the Starbucks stores, fans contributed in a video tribute, that aired on the internet on 18 June 2007. Other promotions included a limited edition Paul McCartney Starbucks card, similar to what they had done for Ray Charles's Genius Loves Company, the Starbucks-owned satellite radio station XM Channel made a program about McCartney and the album, released one song prior to the album on iTunes, performed at iTunes Festival: London, and playing free shows. On 6 November 2007, the album was re-released as Memory Almost Full – Deluxe Edition. The set included one CD and one DVD. The CD included the standard album plus the three extra songs from the 2-CD edition. The DVD contained five tracks recorded live at The Electric Ballroom in London, and two music videos.

Track listing

All songs written by Paul McCartney.

1. "Dance Tonight" 2:54
2. "Ever Present Past" 2:57
3. "See Your Sunshine" 3:20
4. "Only Mama Knows" 4:17
5. "You Tell Me" 3:15
6. "Mr. Bellamy" 3:39
7. "Gratitude" 3:19
8. "Vintage Clothes" 2:22
9. "That Was Me" 2:38
10. "Feet in the Clouds" 3:24
11. "House of Wax" 4:59
12. "The End of the End" 2:57
13. "Nod Your Head" 1:58

Total length: 41:59

Disc 2: limited edition bonus disc

1. "In Private" 2:08
2. "Why So Blue" 3:11
3. "222" 3:38
4. "Paul talks about the music of Memory Almost Full" 26:04

Total length: 35:01

Mixed at See Squared Studios New York, Soundtrack Studios New York and Hog Hill Mill Studios Sussex

Mastered at Gateway Mastering Portland ME

CD rim & back cover text:

All tracks published by MPL Communications Ltd. / Inc. ℗ 2007 The copyright in these sound recordings is owned by MPL Communications Ltd. under exclusive licence to Starcon, LLC. © 2007 MPL Communications Ltd. Under exclusive licence to Starcon, LLC.

Comes in a special 4-fold out digipak with photo, and a postcard-style booklet containing the lyrics for all the songs.

Track 2-4 contains samples from the tracks on the album, with Paul speaking about each one.

Hype sticker: Deluxe Limited Edition contains 3 Unreleased Bonus Tracks.

Recording information:

David Kahne – producer and programming

Adam Noble, David Kahne, Steve Orchard, Geoff Emerick, Paul Hicks – engineers

Jamie Kirkham, Eddie Klein, Adam Noble, Chris Bolster, Kevin Mills, Mirek Stiles – assistant engineers

David Kahne, Andy Wallace – mixing

Bob Ludwig – mastering

Humphrey Ocean – cover art front: black love chair (aquatint) and cover art back: black love chair (gouache)

Max Vadukul – inlay photography

Rebecca and Mike – ideas

Paul McCartney "Off The Ground (USA, Capitol Records, CDP 0777 7 80362 2 7)"

Off the Ground is the ninth solo studio album by Paul McCartney. It was released on 1 February 1993, through Parlophone in the United Kingdom and Capitol Records in the United States. The record was produced by McCartney with Julian Mendelsohn. As his first studio album of the 1990s, it is also the follow-up to the well-received Flowers in the Dirt (1989).

In contrast with the extensive list of personnel showcased on McCartney's previous albums, Off the Ground saw McCartney utilize a live-in-the-studio recording approach using only his touring band. Lyrically, the album sees McCartney delve deeper into social issues on songs such as "C'Mon People" and the animal rights anthem "Looking for Changes". Additionally, the record includes two tracks co-written with Elvis Costello, whom McCartney had previously worked with on Flowers in the Dirt.

Off the Ground was released to varying critical and commercial success. While the album reached number 5 in the UK and gained a top 20 hit with lead single "Hope of Deliverance", it only reached number 17 in the US, with the single stalling at number 83. The record was much more successful in Japan, where it sold better than its predecessor, and in mainland Europe, especially Germany, where it has become McCartney's most successful album.

After planning another world tour, the New World Tour, in 1993, to promote the album, McCartney chose to record Off the Ground with his touring band. Blair Cunningham joined on drums to replace Chris Whitten, who left to join Dire Straits.

McCartney decided to record the album "live in the studio", meaning that the band would rehearse an entire song then record it in one take, instead of recording each vocal track and instrumental track separately. This approach gave a raw, direct feel to the work.

The compositions, some of which were outtakes from Flowers in the Dirt, seemed less complex than those on the earlier album. "Mistress and Maid" and "The Lovers That Never Were", which emerged from McCartney's songwriting collaboration with Elvis Costello, made their appearance on this album. Costello, who had performed on Flowers in the Dirt, did not appear on Off the Ground.

McCartney chose co-producer Julian Mendelsohn to co-produce the album. He later told author Luca Perasi that McCartney "wanted spontaneity". The first two songs taped were "Biker like an Icon" and "Peace in the Neighbourhood", both derived from some album rehearsals in November 1991. Hamish Stuart played the bass on both tracks, using his Music Man Stingray 5-string.

Recording resumed in December 1991 and continued until at least July 1992, including overdubs. On 30 June 1992 George Martin arranged a large orchestra for "C'Mon People" , while a trio of Latin percussion was overdubbed onto "Hope of Deliverance" on 17 July 1992.

McCartney's increased interest in social issues came to prominence on this album, with the anti-animal cruelty rocker "Looking for Changes" (McCartney and his wife Linda both being long-time vegetarians by this time) and paeans for a better world ("Hope of Deliverance" and "C'Mon People"). The B-Side "Big Boys Bickering" lambasted politicians, with the phrase "Big boys bickering, fucking it up for everyone" showing a more aggressive side of McCartney and rare use of a swear word in the song. Another notable B-Side is "Long Leather Coat", a protest song co-written by Linda McCartney.

The CD's hidden track, a short excerpt of "Cosmically Conscious", was written by McCartney in 1968 during The Beatles' stay in Rishikesh, India. A full-length version of the recording was released as the B-Side of the "Off the Ground" single and later included on Off the Ground: The Complete Works.

McCartney would ask Youth, an electronic music producer, to remix tracks from the album for potential releases as 12" singles. These remixes would evolve into the Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest album, the first release by the McCartney and Youth collaboration, The Fireman. A remix of "Hope of Deliverance" by Steve Anderson would be released as a 12" single instead, titled "Deliverance"

The feet on the album cover are of McCartney, his wife Linda, and his touring band.

This album was the penultimate McCartney studio album to feature vocals and participation from Linda, who died of breast cancer in 1998.

The lead single, "Hope of Deliverance", was released on 29 December 1992, and the album followed on 1 February 1993. Off the Ground was the first Paul McCartney album to contain no sizeable US hit singles since Wings' Wild Life in 1971. The album's first single barely reached the top 20, hitting number 18, in the UK, where "C'Mon People" became a minor hit as well. In the US, the album's title track also entered the Adult Contemporary chart at number 27. Singles from Off the Ground floundered on the US and the UK charts. However, "Hope of Deliverance" achieved commercial success elsewhere. It became McCartney's first international hit single since "Say, Say, Say" with Michael Jackson in 1983, cracking the top 5 on the charts in over five European territories except his homeland and selling over 250,000 copies in Germany alone.

In the United Kingdom, the album itself debuted at number 5 and quickly fell off the chart, spending only six weeks inside the top 100. In the United States, it peaked at the number 17 on the Billboard 200 with the first-week sales of only 53,000 copies, managing to receive Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Although it met with mixed reviews from critics and suffered from lackluster sales in the UK and North America, the album fared better in other key markets such as Spain. In Japan, it surpassed its predecessor Flowers in the Dirt in cumulative sales. In Germany, Off the Ground has been McCartney's best-selling album, spending 20 weeks on the top-ten and eventually achieving Platinum for shipments of over half a million copies.

Some weeks after its release, McCartney launched the New World Tour, playing many shows across the world during the summer months. These concerts were documented on the album Paul Is Live, which followed at the end of 1993.

Track listing

All songs by Paul McCartney, except where noted.

1. "Off the Ground" 3:40
2. "Looking for Changes" 2:47
3. "Hope of Deliverance" 3:22
4. "Mistress and Maid" McCartney/Declan MacManus   3:00
5. "I Owe It All to You" 4:51
6. "Biker Like an Icon" 3:26
7. "Peace in the Neighbourhood" 5:06
8. "Golden Earth Girl" 3:45
9. "The Lovers That Never Were" McCartney/MacManus 3:43
10. "Get Out of My Way" 3:32
11. "Winedark Open Sea" 5:27
12. "C'Mon People" (ends at 5:46, includes an excerpt of "Cosmically Conscious") 7:42

Standard jewel case with black tray including 28-page booklet.