Paul McCartney Sets Archive Release of “Flowers in the Dirt” For March, Includes Elvis Costello Demos
Last August, Paul McCartney announced his return to The Beatles’ longtime home of Capitol Records, bringing all of his solo works beginning with 1970’s McCartney into the fold of the Universal Music Group-owned label. Today, the long-awaited multi-format Archive Collection release of 1989’s Flowers in the Dirt has been announced for March 24, 2017 via MPL/Capitol/UMe.
Highlighted by four collaborations with Declan MacManus, a.k.a. Elvis Costello, Flowers in the Dirt featured productions by not only McCartney and MacManus, but also Mitchell Froom, Trevor Horn, David Foster, and Steve Lipson. Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour dropped in to lend guitar on “We Got Married,” and the legendary George Martin returned to write the string chart for “Put It There.” A Gold record in the U.S. and Platinum in the U.K., Flowers went to No. 1 in the U.K. and earned a Grammy nomination. A 1990 Japanese Tour Edition entitled Special Package added a disc of nine bonus tracks from throughout Macca’s solo career; a number of those tracks specific to Flowers, as well as other single versions, B-sides, and remixes, are present on the new set in download form only.
The upcoming reissue will, as per all titles in the long-running Archive Collection, be available in a variety of formats. All boast a remastered version of the original 13-track album (including the CD and cassette bonus track “Où est le Soleil?”) as the centerpiece, while the 3-CD/1-DVD Deluxe Edition Box Set and 2-CD Special Edition offer varying amounts of previously unreleased bonus tracks including the original demos performed by Macca and Elvis.
3-CD/1-DVD Deluxe Edition Box Set:
- Remastered original album on CD 1;
- Nine Paul and Elvis “Original Demos” on CD 2;
- Nine “1988 Demos” on CD 3;
- DVD featuring 10 music videos; three short films – Creating Flowers in the Dirt; and the original 1989 Put It There documentary as released on VHS;
- Digital download of three “Cassette Demos” and 13 associated B-sides, single versions, and remixes;
- Creating Flowers in the Dirt” and “Put It There” documentary;
- 112-page hardcover book;
- 32-page notebook of Paul’s original handwritten lyrics and notes;
- Catalogue of Linda McCartney’s 1989 Flowers in the Dirt photo exhibition; and
- 64-page photobook of the music video shoot for “The One.”
2-CD Special Edition:
- Remastered original album on CD 1; and
- Nine Paul and Elvis “Original Demos” on CD 2.
2-LP Vinyl Edition:
- 12-track original vinyl album plus download of “Où est le Soleil?”;
- Download card; and
- Nine Paul and Elvis “Original Demos” on LP 2.
These bouquets of Macca’s Flowers are due from Capitol Records on March 24, and can be pre-ordered at the links below!
The Paul McCartney Archive Collection: Flowers in the Dirt (MPL/Capitol/UMe), 2017
DELUXE EDITION (3CD/1DVD) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada TBD)
CD 1:
- My Brave Face (2017 Remaster)
- Rough Ride (2017 Remaster)
- You Want Her Too (2017 Remaster)
- Distractions (2017 Remaster)
- We Got Married (2017 Remaster)
- Put It There (2017 Remaster)
- Figure Of Eight (2017 Remaster)
- This One (2017 Remaster)
- Don’t Be Careless Love (2017 Remaster)
- That Day Is Done (2017 Remaster)
- How Many People (2017 Remaster)
- Motor Of Love (2017 Remaster)
- Où Est Le Soleil? (2017 Remaster)
CD 2:
- The Lovers That Never Were (Original Demo)
- Tommy’s Coming Home (Original Demo)
- Twenty Fine Fingers (Original Demo)
- So Like Candy (Original Demo)
- You Want Her Too (Original Demo)
- That Day Is Done (Original Demo)
- Don’t Be Careless Love (Original Demo)
- My Brave Face (Original Demo)
- Playboy To A Man (Original Demo)
CD 3:
- The Lovers That Never Were (1988 Demo)
- Tommy’s Coming Home (1988 Demo)
- Twenty Fine Fingers (1988 Demo)
- So Like Candy (1988 Demo)
- You Want Her Too (1988 Demo)
- That Day Is Done (1988 Demo)
- Don’t Be Careless Love (1988 Demo)
- My Brave Face (1988 Demo)
- Playboy To A Man (1988 Demo)
DVD
Music Videos:
- My Brave Face
- My Brave Face (Version 2)
- This One (Version 1)
- This One (Version 2)
- Figure Of Eight
- Party Party
- Où Est Le Soleil?
- Put It There
- Distractions
- We Got Married
Creating “Flowers in the Dirt”:
- Paul And Elvis
- Buds In The Studio
- The Making Of ‘This One’ (The Dean Chamberlain One)
Put It There:
- Put It There Documentary
DOWNLOAD ONLY (Original B-sides, remixes and single edits)
- Back On My Feet
- Flying To My Home
- The First Stone
- Good Sign
- This One (Club Lovejoys Mix)
- Figure Of Eight (12″ Bob Clearmountain Mix)
- Loveliest Thing
- Où Est Le Soleil? (12″ Mix)
- Où Est Le Soleil? (Tub Dub Mix)
- Où Est Le Soleil? (7″ Mix)
- Où Est Le Soleil? (Instrumental)
- Party Party (Original Mix)
- Party Party (Club Mix)
- I Don’t Want to Confess (Cassette Demo)
- Shallow Grave (Cassette Demo)
- Mistress and Maid (Cassette Demo)
SPECIAL EDITION (2CD) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada TBD)
CD 1:
- My Brave Face (2017 Remaster)
- Rough Ride (2017 Remaster)
- You Want Her Too (2017 Remaster)
- Distractions (2017 Remaster)
- We Got Married (2017 Remaster)
- Put It There (2017 Remaster)
- Figure Of Eight (2017 Remaster)
- This One (2017 Remaster)
- Don’t Be Careless Love (2017 Remaster)
- That Day Is Done (2017 Remaster)
- How Many People (2017 Remaster)
- Motor Of Love (2017 Remaster)
- Où Est Le Soleil? (2017 Remaster)
CD 2:
- The Lovers That Never Were (Original Demo)
- Tommy’s Coming Home (Original Demo)
- Twenty Fine Fingers (Original Demo)
- So Like Candy (Original Demo)
- You Want Her Too (Original Demo)
- That Day Is Done (Original Demo)
- Don’t Be Careless Love (Original Demo)
- My Brave Face (Original Demo)
- Playboy To A Man (Original Demo)
VINYL (2LP) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada TBD)
LP 1:
- My Brave Face (2017 Remaster)
- Rough Ride (2017 Remaster)
- You Want Her Too (2017 Remaster)
- Distractions (2017 Remaster)
- We Got Married (2017 Remaster)
- Put It There (2017 Remaster)
- Figure Of Eight (2017 Remaster)
- This One (2017 Remaster)
- Don’t Be Careless Love (2017 Remaster)
- That Day Is Done (2017 Remaster)
- How Many People (2017 Remaster)
- Motor Of Love (2017 Remaster)
- Où Est Le Soleil? (2017 Remaster) (**not on vinyl, this track will be available with the accompanying digital download)
LP 2:
- The Lovers That Never Were (Original Demo)
- Tommy’s Coming Home (Original Demo)
- Twenty Fine Fingers (Original Demo)
- So Like Candy (Original Demo)
- You Want Her Too (Original Demo)
- That Day Is Done (Original Demo)
- Don’t Be Careless Love (Original Demo)
- My Brave Face (Original Demo)
- Playboy To A Man (Original Demo)
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27 thoughts on “Paul McCartney Sets Archive Release of “Flowers in the Dirt” For March, Includes Elvis Costello Demos”
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Ahh.. those lovely demos with Costello ends up exclusivly on a costly deluxe-box and thereby missing the wide audience. Ain’t that a shame?
The Paul/Elvis demos are the tracks marked “Original Demos” and recorded in 1987 at Paul’s Hog Hill Mill studio in East Sussex, England. Those are available on the 2-CD version and the 2-LP version as well as the box set. The additional disc exclusive to the box set features Paul’s subsequent 1988 demos. Hope this helps!
Thanks it does! So that’s the lion’s share then but still “Shallow Grave” and “Mistress And Maid” is on the download. Is that Paul alone or them both on those cassette demos?
The 2 CD’s of demos are all well and good, but it’s the b-sides and 12 inch versions that we want on CD. To put these songs at the “little kids table” in the download wilderness shows a profound disrespect for the fans. I won’t be buying this Archive set!
If it’s like most releases recently, you’ll be able to buy the songs indiviually at iTunes, Google Music, etc. That way you can just buy the demos with Costello. That’s what I’m gonna do, because frankly, I thought this album wasn’t good and the best songs ended up on Costello’s releases. In the case of That Day Is Done, Paul did record it but Elvis blew his version away when he recorded it with The Fairfield Four.
Oh yeah! That Fairfield Four-version is magic (got it on the the bonus-CD from “All These Useless Beauty”).
Not including the related B-sides & remixes on the CD’s? This shows how totally out of touch with the fans McCartney is. He’s a billionaire and he just doesn’t care about the fans.
I’m leaving my copy in Universal’s warehouse. It’s time for me to stop contributing to the companies greed.
Very disappointed that the B-sides and outakes are only going to be downloadable. I have had no issues with Paul’s reissue series before, I think it’s been wonderful. But this is now an inexcusably misstep.
As others have already commented… WTF with relegating B-sides and outtakes to download-only status? I may be downloading them in the long run, but chances are it won’t be from Universal.
Excepting the 3 previously unreleased cassette demos (that McCartney is going to include in his download), you can already find lossless downloads of all of the “Flowers in The Dirt”-related B-sides & 12″ remixes on an unofficial collection titled “The Paul McCartney Singles Collection” which has circulated in 12-disc and 14-disc versions. I’ve downloaded both. Whatever tracks haven’t appeared as CD singles have been computer de-clicked from original vinyl; de-clicked totally clean. The 14-disc version even has 1970’s promo-only mono mixes(likely fold-downs).
As for the material in those unofficial collections, I already had 80% of it on original releases, but whomever put those collections together was clearly a fanatical completist. It was a labor of love.
I’d completely forgotten about the “Singles Collection” collections. Can’t remember which version I’ve got (I *think* the 14-disc), but I know I have it. It was indeed a labor of love for whoever put it together.
I wouldn’t have such a problem with the B-sides and remixes being download-only if these downloads were lossless, but in all likelyhood, they’ll be crummy low bit rate MP3’s.
Considering all other Macca Archival downloadable releases were lossless-only, I find it doubtful they will be MP3s. It doesn’t excuse for NOT offering them on CD (how expensive would that be? A quid?). However, it is an improvement to some of the other Archive Releases that simply didn’t put out all b-sides.
And still some tracks from the Japanese 2-CD edition are missing, I think?
If you have to pay £171.99 (Amazon UK) you might think you can get everything, but that is of course impossible…
The most important part of this set is download only? Oh dear, this industry is in total confusion.
Totally agree with everyone on here, the only people buying these deluxe sets are those wanting physical copies. Take away the physical copies, certainly of the b-sides/rarities and you ain’t got a market. Out of sync with the rest of the collection.
This set is an insult – a slap in the face – to the fans. Expecting us to pay $150 and not giving us the best part of the set, the b-sides and 12 inches, on CD is beyond the pale. I’ve bought the other Archive releases, but sure won’t buy this one. Paul and his people are completely out of touch here and have no understanding of their target market – we want physical product on these pricey sets, not downloads!
Agreed. I’ve been eagerly awaiting this installment and right now am leaning towards not purchasing it at all. What a shame.
If I’m going to pay a $150.00 for this costly box-set. There should be no Downloads.
The B-Sides should be a physical disc. Capitol Records has Paul McCartney back on their
label to rip -off the fans. I’ll pass on this one.
Going on record here, no pun intended, to agree that the decision not to put all the material in cd is boneheaded. Seems pointless to issue a deluxe set but not include everything. Hope Universal takes a bath on this one.
Couldn’t have thrown in the 7” mix of “Figure of Eight”? Or am I missing something?
No, you’re not.
Guess I’ll have to hold onto my “Paul McCartney ROCKS” CD a bit while longer.
why do these companies persist in mixing up CDs and Vinyl? Most vinyl collectors don’t want the CDs and vice versa….and charging so much for a set and then making at least some of the good stuff “download only” is absurd. And now Paul’s gone back to Capitol…so soon they’ll re-issue his catalogue all over again with “new” extras. Sigh
I bought the two disc set and I will say the second disc with the Paul and Elvis demos is fantastic. That itself could have been a wonderful album on its own. But its only just over 30 minutes long which makes not adding the various B-sides an even greater sin. A lot more space on the disc for those songs could have been utilized. Out of this entire reissue series, Flowers in the Dirt is the first one that Paul and his team screwed up on.
I am revisiting this wonderful set today. I burned my downloaded tracks to a CDR at the time which still plays fine. Better than nothing. I have to say that the bonus material on CDs 2 and 3 is superior to the downloads.
My biggest gripe is the DVD – no Play All option for the music videos. Anyway to get around this?