Paul McCartney today releases the ‘Beautiful Night’ EP as part of the forthcoming re-release of his acclaimed 1997 album, ‘Flaming Pie’. Due for release on July 31st, ‘Flaming Pie’ marks the thirteenth installment in Paul’s GRAMMY Award-winning Archive Collection.
The EP recreates the original 1997 ‘Beautiful Night’ maxi-single, featuring the remastered Flaming Pie single, ‘Beautiful Night’, a 1995 demo of the song, an alternate ‘Run Through’ recording, and ‘Oobu Joobu Part 5’ – a medley of Beautiful Night-themed chat, alternate mixes and interview recordings of Paul and Ringo Starr speaking about the song.A newly remastered music video for Beautiful Night, originally filmed in 1997, is also released today.
Beautiful Night marks one of the first collaborations between Paul and Ringo Starr since The Beatles. Speaking of his memories of that time, Paul said: “I’d been saying to Ringo for years that it’d be great to do something, because we’d never really done that much work together outside The Beatles. One night Jeff Lynne suggested, “why don’t you get Ringo in?” and I said, “OK!” It just sort of happened.
I had this song Beautiful Night which I’d written quite a few years ago. I’d always liked it but I felt I didn’t quite have the right version of it. So I got this song out for when Ringo was coming in, and right away it was just like the old days.”
Originally released May 5, 1997, Flaming Pie ended a four-year gap between McCartney studio albums. Recorded largely in the wake of Paul’s involvement in the curation and release of The Beatles Anthology series, Flaming Pie was shaped and inspired by that experience, with Paul remarking at the time “(The Beatles Anthology) reminded me of The Beatles’ standards and the standards that we reached with the songs. So in a way it was a refresher course that set the framework for this album.”
Produced by Paul, Jeff Lynne and George Martin and featuring a supporting cast of family and friends including Ringo Starr, Steve Miller, Linda McCartney and son James, Flaming Pie is equal parts a masterclass in songcraft and a sustained burst of joyful spontaneity. With highlights ranging from the uplifting and inspirational opener ‘The Song We Were Singing’ to the raucous title track (named for a quote from an early John Lennon interview on the origin of The Beatles’ name: “It came in a vision – a man appeared on a flaming pie and said unto them, ‘from this day on you are Beatles with an A.’”) to the pensive ‘Calico Skies,’ and featuring singles ‘Young Boy,’ ‘The World Tonight’ and ‘Beautiful Night,’ Flaming Pie would represent yet another pinnacle in Paul’s solo catalogue: Released to rapturous reviews, the album would be Paul’s most commercially successful release of the ‘90s, achieving his highest chart positions since the ‘80s and would receive gold certifications in the US, UK, Japan and more.
Paul’s critically acclaimed and universally beloved tenth solo album Flaming Pie will be the latest to receive the Archive Collection treatment, released on formats including a 5CD/2DVD/4LP Collector’s Edition, a 5CD/2DVD Deluxe Edition, plus 3LP, 2LP and 2CD editions.
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