Volume III



"It was," Paul says, "strange to go back to the Abbey Road crossing again. The dèja vu hit in. It was a summer's day again. The cops held the traffic again. The crowd of surprised onlookers gaped again..."

Paul Is Live sampler CD (Parlophone PMLIVE 1) and Paul Is Live USA CD (Capitol CDP 7243)

This 5-track album sampler CD was issued in Europe and immediately withdrawn, in part because of the error on the front cover artwork. The background was the '93 version instead of the '69 version, (which appeared correctly on the commercial album and CD releases). Notice also the yellow and red tints in the lower right corner. The live tracks included were Magical Mystery Tour, Biker Like An Icon, My Love, Paperback Writer, and Live and Let Die. A mint copy of the withdrawn version goes for over $100.00.

Here are some interesting liner notes, included only with the sampler CD, written by Geoff Baker:

Dear DJ: This sampler, which is exclusively sitting in your little hot and sweaty, is just a hint of tracks to come from the new album PAUL IS LIVE.

The album title and sleeve shot (when you see it - this isn't it) is a light-heartedly parody on the famed Abbey Road crossing picture and the wild "Paul is Dead" rumour that it sparked at the time. For the shot, Paul stepped back onto the crossing this summer and then was sent stepping back in time when the '93 Paul (as shown here) was superimposed by cumputer wizardry into the original Abbey Road shot of '69.
"Back in the sixties" says paul, "the wild rumour was that I was dead because of certain alleged 'clues' on the Abbey Road sleeve. Because I was barefoot, it being a scorching summer's day, it was taken as a bizarre Mafia sign of death. Then they said that because part of the numberplate of the Volkswagen parked behind us read 28IF, it meant I - being 27 at the time - would have been 28 IF I'd lived."
"So were having a little parody of that on the sleeve of PAUL IS LIVE. This time I've got my boots on (veggie Doc Martens, by the way, so they're not dead either). The original Volkswagen is still there. This time the numberplate reads 51 IS."
All 24 tracks on PAUL IS LIVE were recorded during the New World Tour in either Australia or the USA by former Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick, who worked with Paul on Sgt. Pepper, Abbey Road, Band On The Run and Unplugged and who said of this new album: What we captured was the energy that came from the stage. With this album you really get the feeling of being there, because we've captured the ballsiness".
Not only does PAUL IS LIVE contain a wealth of tracks never heard live before, there's a unique improv section at the end, featuring new songs made up by Paul and the band at their soundchecks.
The photographer for PAUL IS LIVE was Iain Macmillan, the lensman to whom Paul first conveyed his original abbey road sleeve idea back in '69. And Saville Row tailor Edward Sexton, who made Paul's suit for Abbey Road (mistakenly thought at the time to be an 'Oxfam' suit), returned to make Paul's new suit for the '93 crossing shot too.
Among all the similarities you'll notice another difference - instead of the Beatles, Paul's only companion on the crossing now is an Old English Sheepdog, the latest in a line of such pals he's had since Martha, her of My Dear fame.
"It was," Paul says, "strange to go back to the Abbey Road crossing again. The dèja vu hit in. It was a summer's day again. The cops held the traffic again. The crowd of surprised onlookers gaped again. But the only difference was, instead of the Beatles, it was one man and his dog - but, please, don't start reading anything into that."


Disc from the sampler CD