US album release: Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest by The Fireman (Paul McCartney and Youth)

Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest, Paul McCartney’s first collaboration with producer Youth, was released in the United States on 22 February 1994.

The ambient techno album, credited to The Fireman, had been released in the United Kingdom on 15 November 1993.

I originally got in touch with Youth so I could ask him to do a couple of dance mixes from the Off The Ground project. He’s a ‘buzzy’ character so I was glad when he agreed to do it. The brief from me was that he should only use stuff from our recordings, because dance mixes often feature a kick-drum sample or a James Brown snare sound and, as a consequence, the record ends up sounding a bit like someone else’s So I told Youth that I’d prefer any sound he might select to come off our recordings, mainly Off The Ground.