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Friday, November 22, 2019

Paul McCartney's "Egypt Station" - Double Album Edition

Paul McCartney - Egypt Station (2018)
Double Album Edition

Disc One
Opening Station
I Don't Know
Come On to Me
Get Started
Happy with You
Sixty Second Street
Who Cares
Confidante
Home Tonight
People Want Peace
Hand in Hand
In a Hurry

Disc Two
Nothing for Free
Back in Brazil
Do It Now
Fuh You
Dominoes
Frank Sinatra's Party
Caesar Rock
Get Enough
Despite Repeated Warnings
Station II
Hunt You Down/Naked/C-Link

And now, for something completely different. Today, Paul McCartney has released his latest single, "Home Tonight" and "In a Hurry", both outtakes from the Egypt Station sessions with Greg Kurstin. Since I heard about the single release, I thought, "what if I could place all the bonus tracks along with the official album tracks into a single album?"

Well, you kind of can't. In total, Paul's put out 25 tracks (if you consider "Hunt Me Down/Naked/C-Link" as three individual tracks) in the past couple of years, and even with the album version of "Who Cares", it still won't all fit onto a single disc. And even removing "Opening Station" and "Station II" leaves a noticeable gap.

Instead, it looks as though we'll have to make a double album out of the material available. I went in with the approach to have each disc distinct from each other, with the first disc being more radio-friendly and accessible and the second disc being more experimental, especially as Paul's written three tracks with Ryan Tedder - "Fuh You", "Nothing for Free" and "Get Enough". So here's an expanded edition of Egypt Station that I've therefore dubbed - Egypt Superstation.

For vinyl purposes, both discs split between tracks 6 and 7. (Note that tracks marked in bold were not included on the official album, with one exception.)

For disc one, the commercial half, we begin the same way the official album did with "Opening Station", "I Don't Know", and "Come On to Me". Following that is "Get Started", released as a bonus track on some single disc versions, and then "Happy with You" and "Sixty Second Street", the latter of which was released on the Explorer's Edition of Egypt Station.

Speaking of which, "Who Cares" is the full-length version found on the Explorer's Edition, adding an additional 2:20 to the runtime, and that is followed by "Confidante" and the first track off of the new single, "Home Tonight". Disc one concludes with "People Want Peace", "Hand in Hand" and "In a Hurry", the latter of which is also from the new single. Disc one runs at 41:51, nearly 42 minutes long.

Disc two, the experimental half, kicks off with Paul's cry of "Okay, okay, okay" from "Nothing for Free", the first collaboration with Ryan Tedder that was also released as a bonus track on some single disc versions. This is followed up by "Back in Brazil", "Do It Now", and "Fuh You", the second collaboration with Ryan Tedder. "Dominoes" and "Frank Sinatra's Party" soon follow.

"Caesar Rock" and the final Tedder collaboration (also featuring writing contributions from Zach Skelton), "Get Enough", are next. Whilst "Get Enough" was initially released as a single for New Year's Day, it has since been included on the Explorer's Edition. The double album concludes the same way it did with "Despite Repeated Warnings", "Station II", and the medley "Hunt You Down/Naked/C-Link", the only logical track that could end this superstation. Disc two runs a bit shorter than disc one at 41:35. The overall expanded album runs at 83:26.

Since Egypt Station's release, a lot of people seem to be saying "Why did Paul include that song but not this one?" That was something I thought as well since hearing the bonus tracks for myself, but hopefully this double album version will leave all parties feeling satisfied at being able to have everything in one place. Almost. Unless Paul puts out another track from the sessions we haven't heard before, I'm pleased with the result. In fact, I've even compiled a playlist on YouTube!

Whilst "Home Tonight" and "In a Hurry" are now available for digital download, "Get Started", "Nothing for Free", "Frank Sinatra's Party", "Sixty Second Street", "Get Enough", and the full-length version of "Who Cares" can all be found on the Explorer's Edition of Egypt Station.

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