June - July 1979

"McCartney II" sessions #1

For Paul McCartney

Last updated on July 30, 2024

Location

Recording studio: Home Studio, Peasmarsh, Sussex, UK
Recording studio: Spirit Of Ranachan Studio, Kintyre, Scotland, UK

Timeline

Previous session May 08, 1979 • Lympne Castle Jam Session

Article May 20, 1979 • Paul McCartney signs new deal with Columbia

Album May 24, 1979 • "Back To The Egg" by Wings released in the US

Session June - July 1979 • "McCartney II" sessions #1

Interview 1979 • A Life In The Day Of Linda McCartney

Single Jun 01, 1979 • "Old Siam, Sir / Spin It On" by Paul McCartney released in the UK

Next session September - October 1979 • "McCartney II" sessions #2

Master release

McCartney II
By Paul McCartney

AlbumSome of the songs worked on during this session were first released on the "McCartney II" Official album

Some of the songs from this session also appear on:

In June / July 1979, Paul McCartney recorded a series of synth-based experimentations, which would later be released as his second album, “McCartney II” in 1980. To put things into perspective, in Summer 1979, Wings was still existing – soon to be on the road – for its final UK autumn tour, and the planned but cancelled Japan tour early 1980.

Those recordings were done in two of his properties – in Sussex then Scotland – and temporarily transformed into home studios by Eddie Klein:

One day I received a call asking me to meet up with Paul to discuss a recording project he had in mind. Paul explained to me that he wanted to do some recordings in the same way he’d done with the McCartney album almost ten years previously. This entailed simply plugging the microphones into the tape machine inputs and completely bypassing the recording console. […] He wouldn’t need a recording engineer standing by, and would therefore be able to record whenever the mood took him.

I don’t know of anyone else who has recorded in this way, it seems so basic and pioneering but the very idea appealed to me. […] I set up the equipment in the old farmhouse in Sussex where Paul had chosen to record and all went well. […] Delivering the equipment and setting it up for recording was all that was required of me. In fact, I rarely saw Paul. He truly recorded everything on his own. When he was finished in Sussex I would dismantle it all and take it up to the barn on Paul’s farm in Ranachan, Scotland and set it up there. Once I’d tested everything I left to return home.
Eddie Klein, from McCartney II Archive Collection, 2011

By sessions’ end, roughly 20 songs were recorded. They would be mixed soon after (in September / October) at Abbey Road, and then shelved for the time being – with the exception of Wonderful Christmastime, released in November 1979.

From Twitter – Paul’s studio set up in Scotland during recording sessions for ‘McCartney II’. Photo by Linda McCartney #ThrowbackThursday #TBT

From puremccartney.com – PAUL RECORDING ‘MCCARTNEY II’, EAST SUSSEX, 1980

From Hog Hill Mill Blog (@hoghillmillblog) • Instagram photos and videos – @paulmccartney playing the @yamahasynths_official CS-80 at Spirit Of Ranachan in 1979 during the ‘McCartney II’ sessions. This photo is interesting to me because it shows a few things that can’t be seen in most other photos from these sessions. 1. The Arp 1601 Sequencer that was hired and used on “Temporary Secretary” can be seen on the floor. 2. The box for a brand-new @rolandglobal CR-78 drum machine 3. A mystery kick drum with a dark finish. 4. Most interestingly to me, a light colored right-handed @fender Telecaster in the bottom left corner. It’s hard to tell from this file, but I’ve seen this photo printed and you can tell that its strung lefty. We know his ’66 sunburst Tele was around at this point, but this Tele is a mystery!

From Hog Hill Mill Blog (@hoghillmillblog) • Instagram photos and videos – @jamesmccartneyofficial tugs on Dad’s shirt at Lower Gate Farm in Sussex, 1979. Before moving the ‘McCartney II’ sessions to Spirit Of Ranachan, @paulmccartney had the gear set up in this empty farm house on his property in Sussex where he stated the record. This photo was used on the record sleeve for the album. @neumann.berlin u47 and u67 in the foreground of this photo. Paul is working on the Studer A80 16-track tape machine.

From Hog Hill Mill Blog (@hoghillmillblog) • Instagram photos and videos – A different view of @paulmccartney’s control room for the ‘McCartney II’ sessions as Spirit Of Ranachan in 1979. In the foreground is a @neumann.berlin u67 large-diaphragm tube condenser microphone. In the back is a Studer A80 16-track 2″ multitrack tape recorder. On the table to the right is a Custom 16-channel mixer built by Eddie Klein with an @abbeyroadstudios speed control on top, next to a Teac A-480 cassette deck. The headphones on the chair are @beyerdynamic DT 100s. The kick drum is a “pure white” 70’s @pearl_drums Wood-Fiberglass bass drum, and the toms are @gretschdrums “stop sign badge” (manufactured ’72-’79) toms in silver sparkle.

From Hog Hill Mill Blog (@hoghillmillblog) • Instagram photos and videos – @paulmccartney’s bog/tom setup at Spirit Of Ranachan recording ‘McCartney II’ in 1979. “Secret Friend”, “Frozen Jap”, and “Bogey Music” all have tom overdubs listed on the track sheets. My guess is that if these bathroom tom overdubs ended up on the record, it was on “Secret Friend”. “Frozen Jap”, and “Bogey Music” especially sound very dry and muffled so I don’t believe they were done in the bathroom. The black rack tom is a @pearl_drums Wood-Fiberglass tom. He had three of the Wood-Fiberglass toms (12″, 13″, and 16″) in “Jet Black” finish. Hard to tell if this is the 12″ or 13″. The floor tom is a @gretschdrums “stop sign badge” (manufactured ’72-’79) floor tom in silver sparkle. The microphone is an @akgaudio D202E.

From Hog Hill Mill Blog (@hoghillmillblog) • Instagram photos and videos – Its been a few days since I’ve posted a picture of @paulmccartney recording in the bathroom, so here you go! Recording drum overdubs at Spirit Of Ranachan for ‘McCartney II’ in 1979. The drum is a @pearl_drums Wood-Fiberglass tom. He had three of the Wood-Fiberglass toms (12″, 13″, and 16″) in “Jet Black” finish, as well as a kick in “Pure White” finish. From the photos it seems that the toms were mostly used for overdubs and not with any kind of drum set in the traditional sense. The headphones are @beyerdynamic DT100s, and the microphone is an @akgaudio D202E..

Session activities

Coming Up
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording
AlbumOfficially released on McCartney II
Temporary Secretary
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording
AlbumOfficially released on McCartney II
On The Way
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording
AlbumOfficially released on McCartney II
Waterfalls
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording
AlbumOfficially released on McCartney II
Nobody Knows
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording
AlbumOfficially released on McCartney II
Front Parlour
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording
AlbumOfficially released on McCartney II
Summer's Day Song
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording
AlbumOfficially released on McCartney II
Frozen Jap
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording
AlbumOfficially released on McCartney II
Bogey Music
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording
AlbumOfficially released on McCartney II
Darkroom
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording
AlbumOfficially released on McCartney II
One Of These Days
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording
AlbumOfficially released on McCartney II
Check My Machine
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording
AlbumOfficially released on Waterfalls / Check My Machine
Secret Friend
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording
AlbumOfficially released on Temporary Secretary / Secret Friend
Blue Sway
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording
AlbumOfficially released on McCartney II - Archive Collection
Mr. H Atom
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording
AlbumOfficially released on McCartney II - Archive Collection
You Know I'll Get You Baby
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording
AlbumOfficially released on McCartney II - Archive Collection
All You Horse Riders
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording
AlbumOfficially released on McCartney II - Archive Collection
Bogey Wobble
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording
AlbumOfficially released on McCartney II - Archive Collection
Wonderful Christmastime
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording
AlbumOfficially released on Wonderful Christmastime / Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reggae

Going further

Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989

With 25 albums of pop music, 5 of classical – a total of around 500 songs – released over the course of more than half a century, Paul McCartney's career, on his own and with Wings, boasts an incredible catalogue that's always striving to free itself from the shadow of The Beatles. The stories behind the songs, demos and studio recordings, unreleased tracks, recording dates, musicians, live performances and tours, covers, events: Music Is Ideas Volume 1 traces McCartney's post-Beatles output from 1970 to 1989 in the form of 346 song sheets, filled with details of the recordings and stories behind the sessions. Accompanied by photos, and drawing on interviews and contemporary reviews, this reference book draws the portrait of a musical craftsman who has elevated popular song to an art-form.

Shop on Amazon

Eight Arms to Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium

We owe a lot to Chip Madinger and Mark Easter for the creation of those session pages, but you really have to buy this book to get all the details!

Eight Arms To Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium is the ultimate look at the careers of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr beyond the Beatles. Every aspect of their professional careers as solo artists is explored, from recording sessions, record releases and tours, to television, film and music videos, including everything in between. From their early film soundtrack work to the officially released retrospectives, all solo efforts by the four men are exhaustively examined.

As the paperback version is out of print, you can buy a PDF version on the authors' website

Shop on Amazon

https://twitter.com/PaulMcCartney/status/865251598649503747

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