Paul Is Live

Paul Is Live
Live album by Paul McCartney
Released	8 November 1993 (UK) 16 November 1993 (US)
Recorded	22 March–15 June 1993
Genre	Rock
Length	72:55
Label	Parlophone
Producer	Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney chronology
Off the Ground (1993)Off the Ground1993 Paul Is Live (1993) Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest (1993)Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest1993

Paul Is Live – The New World Tour
Video by Paul McCartney
Released	March 22, 1994
Recorded	1993
Genre	Rock music
Length	85 min.
Label	MPL Rounder Home Video
Director	Aubrey Powell
Producer	Steven J. Swartz
Paul McCartney chronology
Get Back (1991)Get Back1991 Paul Is Live – The New World Tour (1994) Live at the Cavern Club (1999)Live at the Cavern Club1999

Paul Is Live is a live album by Paul McCartney, released in 1993 during his New World Tour in support of the album Off the Ground. The album cover is based on that of Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road and contains multiple references to the "Paul is dead" conspiracy theory.

Title and cover

The album's title is a response to the "Paul is dead" rumours after the 1969 release of the Beatles' last studio album, Abbey Road, and the cover of Paul Is Live is a digitally altered version of the 1969 album's sleeve. Intentional differences between the two covers are:^[1][2]

• The infamous "LMW-281F" on the Volkswagen Beetle's license plate – which was mis-read as "LMW-28IF", purportedly meaning that Linda McCartney Weeps and that McCartney would have been 28 if he had lived – is edited to read "51IS", indicating that he is alive and his age at the time was 51.
• McCartney is wearing shoes; on Abbey Road he had appeared with bare feet, while the other Beatles had shoes. This mismatch was viewed as an eyecatch to the hoax.
• His left foot is forward. In the original cover, McCartney's right foot was forward, out of step with the other Beatles.
• He holds the dog's leash in his left hand; since he is left-handed, many thought that another clue of the "dead Paul" from Abbey Road was the cigarette he held in his right hand.
• The police car - said to symbolise the policemen who had been bribed by the other three Beatles to keep quiet about Paul's death - has been removed.

The dog appearing on the cover is Arrow, one of the offspring of Martha, the sheepdog that was the inspiration for the title of the song "Martha My Dear". The cover photo is from the Abbey Road cover photoshoot by photographer Iain Macmillan. There are differences between this and the photograph used for the Abbey Road cover; most notably, the taxi present in the Abbey Road cover photograph does not feature here. The retouching was done by CGI artist Erwin Keustermans, who erased the Beatles and put in McCartney and the dog, taken from 35 mm pictures by Linda McCartney.

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[4]
Entertainment Weekly (album)	B+[5]
Entertainment Weekly (video)	B[6]
The Essential Rock Discography	4/10[7]
MusicHound	[8]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[9]

Excerpted from his shows in Australia, as well as from various cities in the United States, Paul Is Live followed the 1989–90 Paul McCartney World Tour/Tripping the Live Fantastic extravaganza by only three years, confounding critics and fans as to its appearance, and in some cases its necessity (although the only song it has in common with Tripping The Live Fantastic is "Live And Let Die"). As a result, Paul Is Live became McCartney's lowest-selling live set of his career, peaking at number 34 in the UK and a lowly number 78 in the US.

A concert film subtitled The New World Tour was subsequently released on VHS, and later on DVD. It was directed by Aubrey Powell. The video release includes the controversial pre-concert film, which features vintage footage of the Beatles, solo-era live footage of "Maybe I'm Amazed" and "Bluebird" from the Rockshow film, then switches tone by including graphic animal test footage (all of which is underscored by "Live And Let Die" and "Helter Skelter"), and, finally, warmup footage of the band. The program starts with the warm-up footage, and is played in full at the conclusion of the concert. The packaging included a disclaimer warning regarding the graphic nature of the animal footage.

Afterwards, McCartney took a sizeable break from his solo career to begin the enormous Beatles Anthology project in early 1994 with George Harrison, Ringo Starr and George Martin. This took up much of his time for the next two years, before Flaming Pie in 1997.

Track listing

All songs composed by Paul McCartney, except where noted

Album

1. "Drive My Car" (John Lennon, McCartney) – 2:34
2. "Let Me Roll It" (McCartney, Linda McCartney) – 4:10
3. "Looking for Changes" – 2:43
4. "Peace in the Neighbourhood" – 4:50
5. "All My Loving" (Lennon–McCartney) – 2:16
6. "Robbie's Bit (Thanks Chet)" (Robbie McIntosh) – 2:00
   • the track is a solo performance by guitarist Robbie McIntosh, "inspired by Chet Atkins"
7. "Good Rockin' Tonight" (Roy Brown) – 2:48
8. "We Can Work It Out" (Lennon–McCartney) – 2:42
9. "Hope of Deliverance" – 3:29
10. "Michelle" (Lennon–McCartney) – 2:56
11. "Biker Like an Icon" – 3:40
12. "Here, There and Everywhere" (Lennon–McCartney) – 2:29
13. "My Love" (P. McCartney, L. McCartney) – 4:06
14. "Magical Mystery Tour" (Lennon–McCartney) – 3:15
15. "C'Mon People" – 5:38
16. "Lady Madonna" (Lennon–McCartney) – 2:33
17. "Paperback Writer" (Lennon–McCartney) – 2:39
18. "Penny Lane" (Lennon–McCartney) – 2:58
19. "Live and Let Die" (P. McCartney, L. McCartney) – 3:51
20. "Kansas City" (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Richard Penniman) – 3:54
21. "Welcome to Soundcheck" – 0:41
22. "Hotel in Benidorm" – 2:00
23. "I Wanna Be Your Man" (Lennon–McCartney) – 2:36
24. "A Fine Day" – 6:18

Video release

1. "Drive My Car" (Lennon–McCartney)
2. "Let Me Roll It" (P. McCartney, L. McCartney)
3. "Looking for Changes"
4. "Peace in the Neighbourhood"
5. "All My Loving" (Lennon–McCartney)
6. "Good Rocking Tonight" (Brown)
7. "We Can Work It Out" (Lennon–McCartney)
8. "Hope of Deliverance"
9. "Michelle" (Lennon–McCartney)
10. "Biker Like an Icon"
11. "Here, There and Everywhere" (Lennon–McCartney)
12. "Magical Mystery Tour" (Lennon–McCartney)
13. "C'Mon People"
14. "Lady Madonna" (Lennon–McCartney)
15. "Paperback Writer" (Lennon–McCartney)
16. "Penny Lane" (Lennon–McCartney)
17. "Live and Let Die" (P. McCartney, L. McCartney)
18. "Kansas City" (Leiber, Stoller, Penniman)
19. "Let It Be" (Lennon–McCartney)
20. "Yesterday" (Lennon–McCartney)
21. "Hey Jude" (Lennon–McCartney)

Band line-up

• Paul McCartney – lead vocals, acoustic, electric and bass guitars, piano
• Linda McCartney – backing vocals, keyboards, percussion, autoharp
• Hamish Stuart – acoustic and electric guitars, acoustic and electric bass guitars, backing vocals
• Robbie McIntosh – acoustic and electric guitars, backing vocals
• Paul 'Wix' Wickens – keyboards, accordion, acoustic guitar, percussion, backing vocals
• Blair Cunningham – drums, percussion

Charts

References