‘Fluid’ is the fourth track on Rushes, Paul McCartney’s second album as The Fireman.
The album was recorded in February 1998 at Hog Hill Mill, McCartney’s home in East Sussex. It was co-produced by Youth (Martin Glover), McCartney’s collaborator in The Fireman.
Two limited edition 12″ singles were also released from Rushes.
The first was released on the same day as the album, and was also titled Rushes. It contained the tracks ‘Fluid’, ‘Appletree Cinnabar Amber’, and an extended version of ‘Bison’ titled ‘Bison (Long One)’.
The single came with a huge fold-out poster of a naked woman – model Julie Lewis photographed by Bunny Yeager. The image also appeared in the inner sleeve and CD tray of the album.
The second 12″ single was released in 1999, and was titled ‘Fluid (Nitin Sawhney Remixes)’. It came in a yellow sleeve with blank white labels. Just 3,000 copies were pressed, all of which were numbered.
The single contained three Nitin Sawhney remixes of ‘Fluid’ subtitled Out Of Body And Mind Mix, Out Of Body Mix, and Out Of Body With Sitar Mix, as well as the album version of ‘Bison’.
McCartney also took part in a bizarre live webcast from Abbey Road Studio 2 on 29 September 1998. Invitations to the webcast were sent from “a fireman’s friend”, and read as follows:
As you probably know, there have been persistent rumors of late that an occasionally-erotic CD of ambient chill-out music, called “Rushes” by The Fireman, is not the work of The Fireman at all, but is rumored in fact to be the music of Paul McCartney – collaborating with that renowned producer of ambience, Youth.This rumor is, of course, quite untrue. The documented fact that some years back (1993) Sir P. McC and Youth released another album (“strawberries, oceans ships forest“) under the nom de guerre The Fireman has nothing whatsoever to do with it.
Of equal untruth is the claim that Rushes is being promoted by the inclusion of a totally naked woman on the inner sleeve of the CD, and that lifesized posters of said naked lady are going up around clubland soon.
Similarly, it would be massively incorrect to assert that Sir P. McC has anything whatsoever to do with the fact one track on the Rushes album (called “Fluid”) features the quite obvious sounds of a woman engaged in what the late & great Derek Taylor called “charvering.”
On the same (wildly speculative) fact, Sir P. McC’s publicist could not, of course, possibly comment on documented affidavits form DJs all over Europe whom – when asked to fill in the record company’s DJ Reaction forms – voted The Fireman’s “Rushes” to be great music to charver to.
ALSO the muted publicist is completely unable to confirm talk that The Fireman will be going on the internet this Friday from 7pm to 8pm GMT (2pm to 3pm ET) on:
http://www.fire-man.com
to explain (a) himself and (b) his complete and utter lack of association with Sir P. McC.