The Lost McCartney Album: The Unreleased "McCartney II" - (Full 1st LP A-Side) [HiQ]

Tracklist:
- Front Parlour (Longer Version) [00:00]
- Frozen Jap (Longer Version) [05:14]
- All You Horse Riders (Unreleased) [10:51]
- Blue Sway (Unreleased) [14:13]

Paul
McCartney most assuredly has the largest catalog of unreleased songs of
all the ex-Beatles, and perhaps more than most well-known rock stars
(with the possible exception of Frank Zappa). Some of these tracks have
surfaced on a few "collector's albums" such as the superb Cold Cuts.
Virtually unknown until now, however, is another lost McCartney project,
the album that you hold in your hands, the original version of the 1980
LP McCartney II, a two record, 18-track, 81-minute set.
The version
of this album that you're all familiar with was Paul's first totally
solo release in a decade. Recorded at home with little or no artistic or
technical help, many of its tracks lapse into an experimental mode with
much use of synthesizers and electronically-induced vocal tricks. The
album was perceived as something of an oddball project, but it
nevertheless managed to peak at #3 in Billboard, Cashbox & Record
World, not to mention hitting #1 in England's New Musical Express.
This
version, the album's originally conceived format, differs markedly from
the already issued product. It contains a number of unreleased songs,
original versions of a couple of songs that only found their way to
B-sides, and different versions or mixes of most of the tracks that were
subsequently released. Frankly, had this version of the album been
released it is doubtful that it would have been very well-received or
its concept even understood. Three of its first four tracks are
instrumentals and the only vocal on side one appears in the form of a
semi-voice-over narration. The album plays for nearly 20 minutes before a
"proper" McCartney vocal performance takes place ("Temporary
Secretary"). Considering the battery McCartney has frequently taken in
the critical press, it's almost nightmarish to imagine what sort of
reception this thing would have received.
What follows is a
track-by-track break-down of the album with comparisons to the already
released versions of particular songs where appropriate.

Tracklist:
- Darkroom (Longer Version) [00:00]
- One Of These Days [03:21]
- Secret Friend (Album Release Version) [07:15]
- Bogey Music [17:30]