Customer Reviews

The McCartney Years

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

New McCartney DVD Set for Release 'THE McCARTNEY YEARS' LOS ANGELES, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- On November 13th, 2007, 'THE McCARTNEY YEARS' will hit the stores from MPL/Rhino Entertainment. This first time ever DVD includes the definitive visual collection of Paul McCartney's amazing career featuring solo music videos, career-spanning live performances, personal commentary by Paul McCartney and exclusive footage that tracks his incredible musical journey as never before.

Spanning four decades, 'THE McCARTNEY YEARS' is a three volume DVD collection, featuring some of the world's best-loved music that has become the soundtrack to all our lives.

VOLUME ONE and VOLUME TWO contain the definitive collection of McCartney music videos. Starting in the 1970s with Paul McCartney's first solo single "Maybe I'm Amazed," the DVD includes the Wings promo video for "Band On The Run" as well as hits from the 1980s such as "Say Say Say," and the 1990s with "The World Tonight." It finishes with 2005's "Fine Line." The films can be viewed either in chronological order or as play-lists that have been personally arranged by Paul featuring his exclusive voiceover commentaries.

VOLUME THREE includes live performances taken from three classic McCartney live shows; "ROCKSHOW" filmed on Wings' 1976 World Tour, new edits of Paul's seminal "UNPLUGGED" in 1991 and Paul's now legendary headlining performance at 2004's GLASTONBURY Festival.

'THE McCARTNEY YEARS' is also packed with bonus features and extra never before seen footage and performances, including "Let It Be" from LIVE AID, archive interviews with Melvyn Bragg and Michael Parkinson, alternative versions of music videos and the full-length 2005 documentary "Creating Chaos at Abbey Road." Paul has recorded exclusive commentary and personal introductions for each promo video and each live concert.

This collection has been meticulously restored and all films polished, re-graded and given a new lease on life in Widescreen format with re-mastered stereo audio and for the first time the original recordings re-mixed into 5.1 surround sound. 'THE McCARTNEY YEARS' includes over 40 promo videos and over two hours of live performances.

DISC/TRACK LISTING DISC 1 1. Tug Of War 2. Say Say Say 3. Silly Love Songs 4. Band On The Run 5. Maybe I'm Amazed 6. Heart Of The Country 7. Mamunia 8. With A Little Luck 9. Goodnight Tonight 10. Waterfalls 11. My Love 12. C-Moon 13. Baby's Request 14. Hi Hi Hi 15. Ebony And Ivory 16. Take It Away 17. Mull Of Kintyre 18. Helen Wheels 19. I've Had Enough 20. Coming Up 21. Wonderful Christmastime Extras 1. Juniors Farm 2. Band On The Run 3. London Town 4. Mull Of Kintyre 2 5. The Southbank Show

DISC 2 1. Pipes Of Peace 2. My Brave Face 3. Beautiful Night 4. Fine Line 5. No More Lonely Nights 6. This One 7. Little Willow 8. Pretty Little Head 9. Birthday 10. Hope Of Deliverance 11. Once Upon A Long Ago 12. All My Trials 13. Brown-Eyed Handsome Man 14. Press 15. No Other Baby 16. Off The Ground 17. Biker Like An Icon 18. Spies Like Us 19. Put It There 20. Figure Of Eight 21. C'Mon People Extras 1. Parkinson 2. So Bad 3. Creating Chaos At Abbey Road

DISC 3 Rock Show 1. Venus And Mars 2. Rock Show 3. Jet 4. Maybe I'm Amazed 5. Lady Madonna 6. Listen To What The Man Said 7. Bluebird MTV Unplugged 8. I Lost My Little Girl 9. Every Night 10. And I Love Her 11. That Would Be Something Glastonbury 12. Jet 13. Flaming Pie 14. Let Me Roll It 15. Blackbird 16. Band On The Run 17. Back In The USSR 18. Live And Let Die 19. Hey Jude 20. Yesterday 21. Helter Skelter 22. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Extras 1. Live Aid 2. The Superbowl XXIV
Check out www.paulmccartney.com for the latest news and information.

A good effort. More than I expected. But why is it incomplete? Why are some videos missing and instead we get incomplete concert "teasers"? Rockshow and Unplugged should simply be released on their own. Period. It's not that hard- they already exist. I don't get it. Instead of this silly third disc, we could have had missing videos, such as:

1. Mary Had a little Lamb
2. Jet
3. Listen to what the man said
4. Letting Go
5. Let `em in
6. Getting Closer
7. Spin it on
8. Old Siam sir
9. Arrow though me
10. Only Love remains
11. Stranglehold
12. Ou est le soleil?
13. Party Party
14. We got married
15. Get out of my way
16. Young Boy
17. The World Tonight

And while I'm at it, just present them all in chronological order. Doesn't that make more sense? But then again when have Paul's videos or concert releases ever made much sense? I might even be missing some more recent videos as well. And as far as bonuses, how about including the TV special from '73 or the unreleased film One hand clapping? Anyway, I know, I know, we should be grateful for anything they toss to us fans, but I couldn't resist pointing out how they messed things up AGAIN!

I wasn't going to write a review because M.Chesman added one which perfectly summed up my thoughts on this DVD a few days ago. However, as others seem to rate this DVD highly I've felt compelled to in order to add my 1-star rating. This could and should have been so good - a splendid collection of videos from McCartney's post Beatles career and on the face of it, it is. The BIG issue with the whole thing though is the loss of nearly a third of the original image area of the "restored" videos and films. Why they thought that cropping everything to widescreen was a good idea I'll never know. The Directors' of the 4:3 originals must be gritting their teeth to see heads chopped off, tight framing and other areas of the original picture lost in the conversion process. Then, as if to rub salt in the wound, two videos in the extras section (they obviously escaped the "restoration" work) "London Town" and "So Bad" have been left as original 4:3 and consequently look a whole lot better! If you're not sure what I'm talking about please check the customer images. It's extremely disappointing that this decision was taken. It makes me thankful that the Beatles' Anthology was produced in the mid 90s before everyone got "widescreen fever" otherwise all the archive footage in that would be chopped down.

Dedicated fans of Paul have been anxiously waiting for this set for a decade. Considering that Macca's numerous concert films have all been below average (because of a ridiculous obsession with showing the audience every .05 seconds), it's no surprise this set is also seriously flawed. Is it enjoyable to watch? Of course, but it could have been so much better.

First, the aspect ratio of the videos is ridiculous. None of these videos were originally filmed in wide screen, why convert them now? In every video, Paul's head is cropped at the top which might not bug the casual fan, but to people who grew up with these videos as cherished memories, it's really annoying. Instead of seeing more of the video, you see less. Whose boneheaded idea was this?

Also, the box claims that all the videos were remastered and "meticulously restored." By who? Judging by the terrible, grainy quality, Mr. Magoo supervised the restoration. There's no excuse that videos like Helen Wheels, Mull of Kintyre and especially Baby's Request look like they're from the era of Buster Keaton, not filmed a mere 30 years ago. The quality of many of the videos is, quite frankly, impossibly bad. Many are washed out with colors that are dull and muted. Again, this is inexcusable. It's glaringly apparent that these videos were not restored, just transfered from some second-generation print, probably found in someone's garage.

In addition, some of the videos have new mixes which aren't anywhere near as great as the original song. Check out the hideous disco-ish remix of Figure of Eight. Why isn't Paul overseeing this project to prevent such mishaps?

The "extras" (heavy quotations) are also substandard. Disc one has "extras" which are merely 4 additional videos. Why aren't the extras some scenes of Wings tours in '71 or '72 on the college campuses? Why aren't the extras Paul's '79 tour where he belts out the greatest-ever version of Spin it On, which is omitted from all three discs?

What should Paul have done with this set? First, include all his videos and put them in chronolpgical order. This should have been obvious from the start. For some inexplicable reason, they exclude many of his better videos, particularly in the early years. They should have included all of Rock Show, which we've been clamoring for since the early 90's. Why did they only throw in a few songs from Unplugged? Include the entire show! How difficult would this have been?

The entire third disc is pretty much a waste. For those of us who love Paul, this is still a nice set which provides many nostalgic smiles. But oh, what could have been.

THE SOUND.
The great advantage of this pack of videos is that the sound is enhanced for 5.1. You basically have 2 sound options: LPCM stereo, and 5.1 DTS. There's an additional track, which is Dolby Digital stereo, but you will be able to enjoy the music in this one only in those videos in which Paul is not commenting on the video (there are a few of them).

The DTS audio track has been remixed (not only enhanced) for 5.1 systems, to basically put the voice in the center and most of the instruments in the front left and right, with some surround in the back speakers. The result is that you will hear the voice clearer than ever, while the instrumentation will be all around you without altering the original sound mix a great deal.

A minus is that the videos included as "extras", ("Junior's Farm", "Mull of Kyntire 2" "So bad" among others), are only in LPCM stereo, not DTS. I don't see any good reason for this.

Finally, talking about the commentary track, this is a good addition to know great and small details about each video and the music. It's like watching the videos with Paul by your side, telling you stories about them. If you don't want to stop listening to the music, just change to the regular audio tracks and activate the commentaries in the subtitle option (contrary to what the box reads, my dvd player only identified 4 subtitles: English, Spanish, French and Portuguese, not deutsch, Italian or nederlands).



THE IMAGE
I read beforehand the complaints about the way most of the videos were "chopped" up and down to make them "widescreen", basically meaning that originally "square" videos were made "rectangular", of course to make them more "suitable" to the new generation of screens. I was a little bit sckeptical about how much this was an issue. Sure, I thought, it would be more noticeable for those watching the videos in full screen or "square" TV's, but for widescreen Tv's, it would be an advantage.

I'm sorry to say that the result is not good. Those with regular Tv's will wonder why they have to miss the superior and inferior areas of the original videos, while those with widescreen Tv's will be bother with a persistent perception of watching the images "zoomed in", that is, artificially closer. To put it in simple words, it's like being standing too close to the TV all the while.

This is only natural: Old TV material (and for that matter, some old movies) is not meant to be watched that way. When you cut up and down and bring the image forth to fit the screen, you are losing the natural look of focus and detail. As a result, if we are watching a face that was supposed to be the center of a take, this kind of treatment eliminates the images in the background, and you have an unnatural close up. You no longer have the intended object as part of an image composition, but in your face, filling all the screen. And most of the videos look blurry, with lack of details.

You cannot trick the brain into thinking that this is natural, and the lack of focus will be headache-inducing after a while (this is even more noticeable in "Goodnight tonight " -a "new version" included in the main playlist of the first DVD, which was enhanced to (ironically) make it look older. Somebody thought that along with some scratches and saturation, it would be even better to add a little up-and-down movement during all the video. Big mistake, as you are watching too close!. Luckily, you can find the "original version" if you play the song from the "chronological" playlist, an additional option included). At least this problem won't be an issue in non-widescreen Tv's or if you're standing very far from your widescreen set.

The problem is, the very Tv's that this treatment is supposed to help, are not greatly benefited.

It would have been better to leave this material alone. I guess, as movies are not supposed to be reduced to a square screens, so Full Frame or 4:3 material is not supposed to fit wide screens. Go figure !



THE MISSES.
Paul McCartneys discography is so wide, and the production of videos likewise, that there should have been an additional DVD. Titles like Young boy, The world tonight, Getting closer, Arrow through me (in fact, all the Back to the Egg special), Uncle Albert, Ebony and Ivory (solo version), Live and let die, Mary had a little lamb, Jet, and many others are not here, so they will still be circulating in bootleg DVD versions...

Note: I really give this DVD 3 and 1/2 stars, but half a star is not allowed.

Got an early copy and MAN IS THIS FRUSTRATING..
the Unplugged stuff is scary beautiful (of course they screwed with the aspect ratio and chopped the top and bottom to simulate widescreen) but it really is frustrating that ITS NOT ALL HERE! In the intro he says what a great show it was...yet doesn't bother to include the whole half hour?
the same with Rock Show... he introduces it as the best version of the group WINGS and how ready they were musically blah blah..now here is a handful of the songs..arggghhh!

The videos are fun even if they chop off portions to simulate widescreen..
thankfully some super intelligent fan has posted the examples by the product photo so all the folks who don't understand that they are getting truncated videos can understand what an abomination this is!!!

and GLastonbury 2005 is nice but the VINTAGE stuff is what we want along with the legendary Kampuchea performance we've all seen a zillion times.
Where's the James Paul McCartney tv special and on and on. I would still give this a 5 star rating with everything missing just because of all the great stuff that is here...If they didn't chop the picture by a third!!!

McCartney seems to want to re-create his past ...I guess he figures we'll only remember the stuff he releases now?

As a few others have mentioned, yes by cropping the original 4:3 masters into a "faked" widescreen seriously detracts from the videos' effects. So many times heads are cut off and you can't see if Paul (or whoever else) is holding a guitar or not. The worst case of the bunch that immediately comes to mind is the "Spies Like Us" video in which Chevy Chase joins Paul in the studio during the song...in the 4:3 version Chevy is trying to be funny and "rock out" however in the "new" widescreen version all you see is Chevy make goofy faces and it makes you wonder what he's really doing to the mic stand.
Seriously please let's preserve the integrity of the 4:3 masters and offer replacements or a follow up with the additional videos that were ommitted. Hopefully this won't be the only chance the fans get at these wonderful classics.
As far as the audio quality I have nothing but all-out praise for the remastering and DTS remixing of the audio tracks. Superb!
Had it not been for the widescreen blundering I couldn't give this a high enough rating.

McCartney: "For a long time people have been saying to me, 'When can we get a hold of that video?' or 'Is that video available? Is that released?' And I just sort of thought, 'No ...' I was always a little bit like, 'One day, yeah, I'll do it. Don't worry.' But then a couple of guys got in touch with me and said, 'Look, we think it's time. We want to work on it. Let us put forward a proposal of what we would do for you to look at.'

"It took a long time to put together. They started cleaning it all up, and then they cleaned the sound mixes up and then they started showing me, and that was like, 'Jeez, I've never heard it like this. I've never seen it like this.' So I started to get excited and I fell for the whole idea. I just said, 'Go to it boys, let's do it.'"

I just read that previous Reuters interview excerpt above today--oh how telling, and so sad. Imagine how different and improved the outcome would have been if better suited guys had contacted McCartney? Maybe for instance the people behind The Who's "The Kids Are Alright" dvd, or Disney's video restoration experts (totally unlikely as that would be). But, you sure don't see Disney chopping Dumbo or Snow White into widescreen when they weren't done that way originally. Should be no different with these videos. If they wanted to offer widescreen versions as a bonus, that would have been fine as long as the original was there also. Macca probably would have "fell for" that whole idea too had it been presented to him.

You also don't see Disney--or basically anyone else--releasing a 5.1 dvd in DTS only! What is up with that decision (along with Help! unfortunately)??? Everything else I buy has both Dolby 5.1 and DTS, and if it only has one choice, it's always been Dolby. More people have Dolby overall because it's been available longer than DTS in home systems. I have a sweet top-of-the-line 5.1 receiver from right before DTS came along--why should we all have to buy a new system AGAIN to hear these so-called "wonderful" remixes? No good reason at all these are only DTS.

It's pretty funny, and typical, seeing all these 5-star "perfect" ratings for a Macca release, just because it's a Macca release. They go on to say there are numerous things that are wrong with this set--but it's still 5-star perfect?! Get real.

This set so easily could have been perfect--and should have been. ALL the videos made, provide them in original format, end of story = everyone happy. Volume 2, or a larger set, with the complete live material and TV shows. The resources were freely available to them to do it. Yet another example of long-time fans being screwed over in favor of Johnny-come-lately flavor of the day appeal. Another HUGE wasted opportunity for McCartney to do a dvd right for a change. Seems that will never happen unfortunately, unless better people approach him for projects.

This could have/should have been so good. Most of the footage on the menu screens is better than half the stuff they put on here. If they had to omit so much stuff (Wings rehearsal footage, Paul home movies, James Paul McCartney TV special, Rock Show, Back to the Egg, etc. etc.) they should have just dedicated three discs to 1970-80 and made this volume 1. Not to say that I haven't enjoyed this at all, but there is no reason why this shouldn't be perfect. Paul has absolute endless resources and this is the best they came up with. For a man that seems to care so much about his legacy, you would think he would want to present you with that "Legacy" in a form that gives it justice. Unfortunately this falls short. I don't get this whole argument that "It's bloody Paul McCartney. Just be thankful we got this." $25 dollars or not their is nothing wrong with expecting more than mediocrity. No reason why with all the Paul/Wings footage out there that this could not have been at least as good as "The Beatles Anthology" dvd's. All this without getting into the "cropping" of the video's issue. (Which not being into the whole HD, widescreen, etc. etc.) I'll admit to not understanding the whole problem. But just that alone is unacceptable. I Would just like to see Paul 's 70's era get it's due, and this set does little to achieve it.

I am a true blue Beatles and Mcartney fan but a DVD is never put out where it is all actuall live footage of Paul performing.I don't care about seeing the Kremiln or bits and pieces of footage from individual MTV videos. Why can't you put out in order a 6 DVD set of his live concerts with no comentary. Just pure unaltered music concerts and eveninclude some footage of the Beatles. NOW that would be great.