McCartney III Imagined
Contents
McCartney III Imagined contains re-recordings and remixes by a range of guest stars. The album was made available digitally on 16 April, with CD and double vinyl editions following on 23 July. Physical editions include a bonus remix of ‘Long Tailed Winter Bird’ by actor Idris Elba.
As with McCartney III, a number of coloured vinyl variants were created for Imagined. A splatter vinyl version with modified McCartney III artwork was sold exclusively via McCartney’s website, with just 3,500 available in the US.
Other versions had different artwork by Ed Ruscha. They included standard black vinyl, Spotify translucent light green, Newbury Comics red, Target silver, and a gold edition sold by independent stores and HMV.
The tracklisting for McCartney III Imagined is as follows:
- ‘Find My Way’ (feat. Beck)
- ‘The Kiss of Venus’ (Dominic Fike)
- ‘Pretty Boys’ (feat. Khruangbin)
- ‘Women And Wives’ (St. Vincent Remix)
- ‘Deep Down’ (Blood Orange Remix)
- ‘Seize The Day’ (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)
- ‘Slidin’’ (EOB Remix)
- ‘Long Tailed Winter Bird’ (Damon Albarn Remix)
- ‘Lavatory Lil’ (Josh Homme)
- ‘When Winter Comes’ (Anderson .Paak Remix)
- ‘Deep Deep Feeling’ (3D RDN Remix)
- ‘Long Tailed Winter Bird’ (Idris Elba Remix)*
* Physical release exclusive track
The first release from the album was Dominic Fike’s cover version, which was uploaded to YouTube on 11 March. It features McCartney at the very end.
Press release
Hailed upon its release last year as “vital and comfortable taking new chances” (Rolling Stone) and “cheery, resilient, forever looking forward” (The New Yorker), Paul McCartney’s McCartney III is now literally moving into the future in the form of McCartney III Imagined, to be released digitally April 16 on Capitol Records, and available for pre-order now.
Personally curated by Paul, McCartney III Imagined features an A-List assortment of friends, fans and brand new acquaintances, each covering and/or reimagining their favorite McCartney III moments in their own signature styles. The result is a kaleidoscopic reinterpretation of an album Rolling Stone accurately tagged “an inspiration to us all”—one that serves as an extension of the instantly beloved McCartney III while standing on its own as brilliant and adventurous milestone in the McCartney discography.
The first offering from McCartney III Imagined comes from American singer/rapper/songwriter Dominic Fike, whose cover of “The Kiss of Venus” transmutes the tender acoustic ballad into a retro-futuristic R&B tour de force. “The Kiss of Venus (Dominic Fike version)” is available digitally HERE, and a brand new video for the track can be seen HERE.
Further III-imaginations will be forthcoming from Damon Albarn, Beck, Blood Orange, Phoebe Bridgers, Josh Homme, Khraungbin, 3D RDN of Massive Attack, Ed O’Brien (EOB), Anderson .Paak, St. Vincent and more.
Originally released December 18, 2020, McCartney III is the third in a trilogy of home-made and self-titled albums that began with Paul’s 1970 solo debut McCartney, and continued in 1980 with McCartney II. All three albums were written, performed and produced by Paul in varying states of isolation, all showcasing his unique creativity and inspired spontaneity. Recorded in “Rockdown”, McCartney III topped album charts across the world, scoring Paul his first UK#1 album in 31 years – increasing his lead as the UK’s most successful chart act of all time.
McCartney III Imagined continues the tradition of the biggest and most diverse names in music covering Paul’s songs — an ever-expanding lineup that ranges from more recent versions by Billie Eilish, Harry Styles, Dave Grohl, Coldplay and The Cure, to interpretations over the years from the likes of U2, Guns N’ Roses, Earth Wind & Fire, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Marvin Gaye, Bill Withers, Joe Cocker, Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles and so many more. McCartney III Imagined is a testament of Paul’s enduring and unmatched influence, a legacy that stretches from “Yesterday” being the most covered song in contemporary musical history to the inspiration his current work continues to hold for generations of artists and fans.
!!!
can’t wait for McCartney 3, it’s going to be FAB
what is your sources?
1, 2, 3
I don’t yet know if this is happening, but there are enough intriguing threads to be drawn together at this stage.
Now Spotify shows a rolled dice at number three [?] on McCartney and McCartney II album cover. So, that means…. it’s confirmed!
Another clue to the rumored McCartney III album, while playing McCartney, or McCartney II on Spotify there is an image of a hand rolling a die that continuously comes up 3.
The Sun report appeared online at 9pm on 20 October when they uploaded the digital version of the 21 October print edition.
First time I’ve heard ‘Pipes of Peace’ being called a masterpiece. But that’s Macca, where every fart he produces is a revelation.
It is unbelieveable how not good the songs on this new album from Paul McCartney are. Almost everyone of them is totally meaningless. Will he never learn?
To be fair, Seize The Day, Find my way, When Winter Comes and Women and Wives are not right out terrible, but why does Paul McCartney never ever write songs of the same quality as in his Beatles days. Very strange.
@per
Good grief man, do you know who you’re talking about? When has Paul ever been known for releasing so-called “deep” songs? And he’s 78 for goodness sake, it’s a miracle he can still write catchy and pleasing melodies, of which this album has more than a handful.
Well, Paul McCartney began releasing songs inferior to The Beatles material immediately after the group spit and nothing has changed since then. If you want to know what I mean, listen to Paul McCartney III and then to an even not very acclaimed McCartney Beatles song from 1965 and sense the difference in quality. Do the same thing with McCartney songs from other decades and the result willl almost invariably be about the same: McCartney songs had something in the 1960’s that they have mostly not had since then.
I have a still sealed red vinyl McCartney III album that is NOT (hand)numbered.
Cant find any info about it. Guess its a misprint.
Anybody know with this phenomenon?