McCartney III

McCartney III - CD Front Cover	McCartney III - CD Back Cover

McCartney III - CD Inner Gatefold

Label	Capitol
Catalogue No.'s	351 3656 .... Standard C.D. (Barcode 602435 13656 1) 351 3659 .... Standard L.P. 353 2173 .... Cassette ! 353 2187 .... Red Vinyl L.P. 353 8470 .... Violet Vinyl L.P. 354 4593 .... Songbook (CD included)
Release Date	18th December 2020
Total time	44:48
U.K. Album Chart Detail :	Entry Date : 25th December 2020 Highest Position : 1 ..... on 25th December 2020 Weeks in Chart : 3
Comments :	Paul McCartney's 25th Studio album since The Beatles, and forty-fifth release in total. Under the MPL Communications banner, this is on the Capitol label. Credited to "Paul McCartney" - Written, Performed and Produced by Paul McCartney.                               MADE IN LOCKDOWN Instruments and Voices - Paul McCartney Produced and Composed - Paul McCartney Engineered by Steve Orchard and Keith Smith at Hog Hill Mill Cover Art and Typography - Ed Ruscha Cover Portrait by Mary McCartney All other photography by Mary McCartney, Sonny McCartney and Paul McCartney (it's a family affair !) Creative Art Direction by Paul McCartney Art Direction and Design - Nick Steinhardt In mid-October MPL started a teaser campaign highlighting the number 3. This did not take long for rumours of a third solo album was imminent. Given the months of lockdown we had due to the unique nature of the coronavirus pandemic it was only logical to assume that Paul would write songs and record material on his lonesome. By 21st October a release date of December 11th was announced. On the official album website McCartney III the items listed in Catalogue No's above were promoted: A standard CD, LP, Cassette (!?), Red & Violet vinyl L.P.'s and a Songbook with CD included. Next up, different Colour CD collections, each with a unique secret bonus demo track. After which a number of different colour vinyl versions begun to be identified - some particular to certain outlets, with different colour dice on the covers and different posters. The release date was then put back a week to the 18th, due to "Production Delays", but what became obvious was that Taylor Swift had a release planned for the 11th. Clearly, looking at a lack of major releases on the 18th, Paul (or his people) were looking for a strong chart position. And delaying by one week would remove Ms. Swift's impact from the initial burst of sales figures. Amazingly, it did enter at number 1 !! .... Paul's first number 1 album in 31 and a half years, since Flowers In The Dirt on 24th June 1989 But, it reached the top in that first week accumulating recorded sales of less than 34,000 copies. Chart Rundown 25th December 2020 - The album entered the chart at number 1 1st January 2021 - In it's second week McCartney III slipped 18 places down to number 19 8th January 2021 - Just the third week and this album has it's last appearance in the U.K. chart at no. 38                                           Chart progression:   1 - 19 - 38 .... out Although touted as the third completely solo album, it did in fact include Additional Musicians:     Abe Laboriel Jr. - (Drums on Slidin')     Rusty Anderson - (Electric guitar on Slidin') The CD Edition is presented in a gatefold sleeve with a 12 page booklet that includes full lyrics and four pictures. There was a so-called "single" issued from the album on 18th December 2020, Find My Way But this appears to be download only.

The C.D.

Paul's Album Releases