BAND ON THE RUN STRIPS DOWN FOR 50TH ANNIVERSARY

The expanded 50th anniversary edition of Paul McCartney & Wings’ legendary Band on the Run will feature mixes without any orchestral overdubs and vinyl editions cut at half speed.

MPL and UMe will release the album—which first came out this week 50 years ago—on 2/2. It will be available a two-LP set, a single LP, double CD and digitally in Dolby ATMOS for the first time, newly mixed by Giles Martin and Steve Orchard.

Band on the Run (Underdubbed) presents Band on the Run’s nine songs for the first time without any orchestral overdubs. The previously unreleased rough mixes were created by Geoff Emerick, assisted by Pete Swettenham at AIR Studios, on 10/14/73. The track list, newly ordered, mirrors the original analog tapes discovered in the MPL archives.

“This is Band on the Run in a way you’ve never heard before,” McCartney said. “When you are making a song and putting on additional parts, like an extra guitar, that’s an overdub. Well, this version of the album is the opposite, underdubbed.”

The special vinyl edition was cut at half speed using a high-resolution transfer of the original master tapes from 1973 by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios. The single vinyl album configuration mirrors the US tracklist, which features the song “Helen Wheels” and includes a Linda McCartney Polaroid poster.