Fifty years to the week of its original release, MPL and UMe have announced the expanded 50th-anniversary edition of Paul McCartney & Wings’ iconic Band on the Run, set to be released on February 2.
The multiple Grammy-winning No.1 smash was originally released in December of 1973. Featuring the immortal title track, worldwide hit “Jet,” the wistful “Bluebird,” long-time live staple “Let Me Roll It,” the multi-faceted “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me),” and climactic closer “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five,” Band on the Run is undoubtedly Wings’ most successful and celebrated release ever.
The 50th anniversary edition of Band on the Run will be available in a variety of formats, beginning with the essential 1LP. This special vinyl edition was cut at half speed using a high-resolution transfer of the original master tapes from 1973 by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios, London. The single vinyl album configuration mirrors the US tracklist, which features the song “Helen Wheels” and includes a Linda McCartney Polaroid poster.
The 2LP vinyl edition features the original US album, remastered at half speed, and a second LP titled “Underdubbed” Mixes Edition, housed in a premium slipcase. The set also includes two Linda McCartney Polaroid posters.
A 2CD format will feature the original US album, “underdubbed” mixes, and a double-sided fold-out Polaroid poster taken by Linda McCartney. Band on the Run (Underdubbed) will also be released digitally.
Speaking about the “underdubbed” version, Paul said: “This is Band on the Run in a way you’ve never heard before. 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.”
Band on the Run (Underdubbed) presents Band on the Run’s nine classic songs for the first time without any orchestral overdubs, available digitally. The previously unreleased rough mixes were created by Geoff Emerick and assisted by Pete Swettenham at AIR Studios on October 14, 1973. The tracklist mirrors the original analog tapes discovered in the MPL archives.
Finally, Band on the Run will also be available in Dolby ATMOS for the first time, newly mixed by Giles Martin and Steve Orchard.
Pre-order Band on the Run (50th Anniversary Edition).