The McCartney Years is a new anthology set that attempts to sum up four decades of Sir Paul's post-Beatles career on three DVDs.
So what you get here — at least on the first two discs — is all of the short films (many made before they were actually called videos) McCartney made for his solo work, from the McCartney album, through Wings, right on up to 2005's Chaos And Creation In The Backyard.
As such, sitting down to actually watch the first two discs becomes something of a daunting task, simply because so much ground is covered here. When watching the earliest of these short films, for songs like "Maybe I'm Amazed," "Band On The Run," and "Silly Love Songs," it also becomes apparent just how limited the technology was back then.
Although these films are often charming (particularly with the use of the Beatles images for "Band On The Run"), and there is likewise little doubt that Paul was clearly on to the possibilities of the promotional film long before MTV, there is no getting around the simple fact of how dated they look today. However, that is also a big part of their charm.
By the time McCartney was actually making videos specifically with MTV in mind during the eighties, he already had a leg up on the competition in the experience department. Even though these latter promo films look equally dated now, McCartney still comes across as ever the charmer.
The video for "Coming Up" is particularly clever, as Paul plays every member of the fictional "Plastic Band" (so named in tribute to his former partner John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band). His take on the Hitler mustached keyboard player for Sparks is particularly hilarious for those old enough to remember that band. Corny as it may seem today, McCartney's duet with Stevie Wonder for "Ebony And Ivory," where they run across the keys of a piano is also a lot of fun to watch.
The most notable of the extras included on the first two DVDs of this set is probably the documentary "Creating Chaos At Abbey Road." Although it is billed mainly as the story of the making of McCartney's 2005 album Chaos And Creation In The Backyard, you also get to see Sir Paul talk about the songwriting process he used when writing with Lennon. He also plays acoustic versions of Beatles tunes like "I've Got A Feeling" and "Lady Madonna."
Article comments
1 - Stanz Man
think this is a great effort to finally get some of these gems out there...oh and I am not sure they were meant to be watched all at once...the pleasure of this vast set is that you can put it aside and look forward to seeing the rest of it or watch it one disc at a time as I did..
enjoy the master of melody !
2 - Tom Johnson
Oh, all right, this convinced me. I just added it to my Christmas list. Happy now, Glen? ;-)
3 - Glen Boyd
Yeah, its just a whole lot to take in on a single viewing Stanz, but I can definitely see where by scanning your favorite songs, this DVD set can probably be best enjoyed. Definitely a trip down Memory Lane. But the Wings concert footage for me is just priceless.
Tom, I think this set would make a fine stocking stuffer -- not only for yourself, but for anyone else close to you. Oops...looks like I just cost ya a few more bucks.
-Glen
4 - Paul
I don't understand. The review speaks glowingly of the disc, and then he concludes with a "mild thumbs up" essentially because it was too much to watch in one sitting? That's a negative? I'm more inclined to agree with other's whose complaints are centered around their frustration that McCartney doesn't release the concert footage in it's entirety. That's valid.
5 - Sam
Lost to the reviewer is that EVERYTHING is in DTS 5.1 Surround---the new mixes alone makes this set worth owning. The sound is amazing.
6 - Connie Phillips
Congrats! This article has been forwarded to the Advance.net websites and Boston.com.
7 - 52 stations
just to clarify - not ALL of Macca's videos are included - i've also read some have actually been altered in some ways - and all concerts on disc 3 are only excerts... i assume the COMPLETE videos and concerts
will be available at some point in the future "buy" popular demand :-)
8 - R.J.
Did anyone else
A) have HUGE problems getting these all to download and
B) download them all just to find that the names of the .rar files aren't sequenced correctly?
This set has been a huge hassle for me, and I was quite looking forward to it. Guess I'll be adding it to the rental list.
9 - R.J.
Disregard previous comment....wrong site. My mistake.
10 - Paul
First, I don't believe any reviewer could do this fairly massive collection justice after only two days of viewing. Second, this is, unfortunately, not all of McCartney's videos. Third, this definite collection of McCartney videos is unquestionably essential for fans. Fourth, there was no mention of all the fabulous extras, rare videos and TV performances, which should attract even remote Macca fans. The live performances are great, but most true fans would prefer Rock Show and Unplugged in their entirety.