Paul McCartney
Cold Cuts

THE REVIEW

Since Paul began "playing" with his home recording studio in 1965, he has recorded a lot, especially in the '70s, he produced an impressive amount of material in terms of quality, much of which has never been officially released. To mention the most notable, the documentary film "One Hand Clapping" with its related album, the rehearsals for the 1976 tour, and perhaps the most important lost album, the soundtrack of what was originally supposed to be the animated film "Rupert The Bear," recorded by the Wings in a single session in 1978, is a true little masterpiece that is still waiting to be appreciated by the general public. "Cold Cuts" is the third in order of importance, Paul's unfinished project, it is an album of unreleased songs on which Paul worked between 1972 and 1987, undergoing various modifications over the years, this version I present is the most well-known one.

It begins with the delightful "A Love For You" taken from the "Ram" sessions, a cheerful song with a very catchy chorus, it is one of the few to have seen the light of day, indeed it is present in the soundtrack of "The In-Laws," a 2003 film. "My Carnival" can be heard as a bonus track in the 1993 edition of "Venus And Mars," recorded in New Orleans, it is a chaotic track of carnival inspiration, all in all, not a great unreleased piece, because with the subsequent "Waterspout," the quality of the tracks rises sharply. This song was recorded by the Wings in 1977 in the Caribbean during the "London Town" sessions, on a base of programmed rhythms and keyboards that impart the most typical tropical hues to the track, Paul paints the story of a dad... who loved a dancer/ And even if she never gave him an answer/ He followed her everywhere/ And she never managed to get rid of him/ But she didn't seem to mind it /. The exclusion of the track from the final album line-up is a huge mistake, with music like this it would have boosted "London Town" very well. "Night Out" is an outtake from "Red Rose Speedway," a nice piece based on a threatening drum rhythm accented by sharp guitars, the track is largely instrumental, with Paul and the others only shouting the song's title. The acoustic guitar melody of "Mama's Little Girl," published as a bonus on "Wild Life," is stunning, as is the slow acoustic pace of "Hey Diddle," both from 1972. The most curious thing, however, is "Robber's Ball," an improvisation by Juber and McCartney from which a track that refers to nineteenth-century satirical works is born, with great use of electronics and opera-like voices for this quirky digression. From "Back To The Egg," the rhythmic "Cage" was excluded, a combination of two songs, an excellent example of the rough and dry sound of the 1979 album, also inexplicably still unreleased. Paul had also written the song for the film "Heaven Can Wait," this beautiful track is one of Paul's greatest unreleased works, "Did We Meet Somewhere Before?" shows a Paul in great form and inspiration, building a simple and immediate melody with beautiful clarinet entries in the chorus, where one can hear, first the gallop and then the neigh of horses, a great passion of the McCartneys. "Tragedy" and "Best Friend" are outtakes from the old double "Rede Rose Speedway," beautiful, especially the typical early '70s rough rock of the Wings of the second.

Anyone wanting to venture into the dark jungle represented by Macca's unreleased material cannot help but start here, have a good adventure.