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Track list

Disc 1

1. Calico Skies

   Written by Paul McCartney

   2:38 • Demo • F • 'In The World Tonight' Campfire Acoustic. Alternative acoustic version of 'Calico Skies', part of which is featured on the 'In The World Tonight' documentary. Download exclusively with NME.com

   

2. Somedays

   Written by Paul McCartney

   4:29 • Studio version • A2 • Without Orchestra. Listen to the original album version without orchestra presented exclusively with www.clashmusic.com

   Paul McCartney : Acoustic guitar, Bass guitar, Lead vocal, Producer, Spanish guitar Geoff Emerick : Mixing engineer, Recording engineer Jon Jacobs : Recording engineer Keith Smith : Assistant engineer

   Session Recording: Nov 01-03, 1995 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK

   Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • Buy Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989 on Amazon

   

3. Beautiful Night

   Written by Paul McCartney

   6:14 • Studio version • B1 • Original 1986 version which is featured on ‘Oobu Joobu Part 5’.

   Paul McCartney : Piano, Vocals Phil Ramone : Producer Neil Jason : Bass David Brown : Electric guitar Liberty Devitto : Drums David Lebolt : Synthesizer Steve Rinkoff : Mixing engineer, Recording engineer Dave O'Donnell : Assistant mixing engineer, Assistant recording engineer

   Session Recording: Aug 21-22, 1986 • Studio The Power Station, New York, USA

4. Broomstick

   Written by Paul McCartney

   5:18 • Studio version • B • Instrumental version

   Performed by : Paul McCartney • Steve Miller

   Session Recording: May 1995 ? • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK

To promote the reissue of “Flaming Pie“, some extra tracks were made available as download-only (so not appearing on any of the packages available of “Flaming Pie – Archive Collection“). They were made available on the official paulmccartney.com website, with the exception of the instrumental version of “Broomstick”, which is only available on the RollingStone website.

From NME, about “Calico Skies”:

The acoustic version of ‘Calico Skies’ was first recorded on February 25, 1997 when a hurricane struck in the US where McCartney was staying at the time.

Speaking about the making of the track, McCartney told NME: “I wanted to write something acoustic in the vein of Blackbird, something simple that would stand on its own and which you wouldn’t have to put drums on or an arrangement – and if anyone said ‘give us a song’, you could just do it.”

Speaking about the story behind the song, McCartney added: “We were in America and they’d just had a big hurricane – Bob, I believe –  and it’d knocked out all of the power so there was no light, everything was candlelit, all the cooking had to be done on a wood fire. And we like all that enforced simplicity. It’s very primitive.

“So, we had a few days of that and because I couldn’t play any records, I spent a lot of time on my acoustic guitar, making up little bits and pieces and ‘Calico Skies’ was one of them. It’s just a simple little song to play to people when you’re sitting around in candlelight, powerless after a hurricane. It’s a primitive little powercut memory.”

From Clash Music, about “Somedays”:

[…] We’ve obtained this early, raw version of album cut ‘Somedays’ and it’s a gorgeous listen, little more than guitar and that instantly recognisable voice.

A beautifully affecting piece of music, this is the original recording, before George Martin developing the finished song’s distinctive arrangement. […]

From RollingStone, about “Broomstick”:

[…] One of the collection’s more interesting curios is “Broomstick,” a tune McCartney cut with Steve Miller, who played guitar on most of the album. It came out as a B side to Flaming Pie’s “Young Boy” (which Miller also sang and played guitar on) but has since drifted into obscurity. On the released version of “Broomstick,” McCartney sings, “As long as we’re together, it’s gonna be just fine/Well, I heard it on the broomstick, dashing through the middle of the night.” It’s a smooth, easy jam on which Miller plays a bluesy solo.

The previously unreleased version of “Broomstick” premiering here, which will not appear on the box set, is an all-acoustic instrumental jam that features just McCartney and Miller. As he did on both of his McCartney albums — on which he tracked the guitar, bass, and drums himself — McCartney handles most of the heavy lifting, while Miller plays guitar. This version also lacks the sound effects that closed out the more-familiar version. […]