Paul McCartney has undoubtedly excited dedicated fans, noting that an album of outtakes and soundcheck recordings could one day see the light of day.
Back in 1975, there was talk of an upcoming Paul McCartney album titled Cold Cuts. Set to be comprised of outtakes and unused songs from recording sessions, the record was pushed back numerous times before being completely abandoned in the late ’80s.
Since then, fans have indeed wondered what these songs would have sounded like, questioning whether the material that was left on the cutting room floor was just as good as the stuff that made the records.
Now, McCartney has made his fans rather excited once again, hinting at the release of a similar record of outtakes and recordings in the future.
Speaking in a new interview on his website, Paul McCartney was asked about his tendency to improvise with his band during soundcheck, noting that’s where a number of his songs were first written.
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“Yeah, we do [improvise]! We’ve got millions of them!” he began. “And fortunately, there’s a guy in our team called Jamie, who logs them. And he tells me we’ve actually got thousands!
“Some of them are really good and occasionally I’ll pick one out and work on it. For Egypt Station, I picked one out, though we didn’t finish it.
“I picked one out and we’re kind of making a track around this riff from the soundcheck jam. ‘Cause it was like, ‘That was a good little riff!’ But because they’re improvised they’re instant and then they’re gone.”
Discussing the idea of music being lost if it isn’t recorded, Paul McCartney explained that there’s a chance a full-length release of these improvised recordings might be on the cards.
“Thankfully our stuff is captured because these days you can record just about anything that moves!” he explained. “So, our sound desk captures it and the guys there will make a note of that track: ‘That was kind of good!’
“And sometimes one of our security guys, Mike will say, ‘Hey boss, you know that song you did the other day, did you make that up?’ I go, ‘Yeah!’ And he’ll go, ‘Wow!’ Because some of them are really good and they could fool you into thinking that’s a real song. When you pull it off, it’s nice. It’s a little treasure trove!
“And one day we will have to put together an album, or something, with a selection of these songs that we’ve gathered. Because they are from all around the world!”
As it stands, Paul McCartney’s most recent record was 2018’s Egypt Station, his first since 2013, and his highest-charting solo release in many years.
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