McCartney III

Paul McCartney

McCartney III - CD Cover McCartney III - CD Rear Cover
McCartney III - CD Front Cover McCartney III - CD Back Cover
McCartney III - CD 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.

MPL


The C.D.

No Track Time
1 Long Tailed Winter Bird 5:14
2 Find My Way 3:51
3 Pretty Boys 2:57
4 Women And Wives 2:51
5 Lavatory Lil 2:21
6 Deep Deep Feeling 8:23
7 Slidin' 3:19
8 The Kiss Of Venus 3:03
9 Seize The Day 3:19
10 Deep Down 5:50
11 Winter Bird / When Winter Comes 3:11
Bonus Tracks

(Available around the different issues)
  Women And Wives (Outtake) 3:13
  Lavatory Lil (Outtake) 2:04
  The Kiss Of Venus (Phone Demo) 2:08
  Slidin' (Dusseldorf Jam) 4:56

Paul's Album Releases


©2021 JPGR's Beatles Pages. All Rights Reserved.