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The Piano Tape - Remastered

Publisher: Mistral Music
Reference: MM 9231
Date : 1992
Made in : Luxembourg
Quality : Terrible
Artwork: 4 out of 10

Comments
Originaly traded as "Home Rehearsals" on cassette. Recorded live to tape with portable recorder with Paul at the piano.

Tracks : 26
Total duration : 60:56

	Track		Comments
1.	Million Miles	Home Recording	Gospel-like song with these lyrics: "Oh Lord, how many million miles ?" repeated numerous times.
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		06:02
2.	Mull Of Kintyre	Home Recording	Half of the song is hummed (Paul can't remember the words).
	McCartney/Laine	Abt 1978
		02:38
3.	I'll Give You A Ring	Home Recording	One minute before the track ends, Paul makes mistakes on the piano, stops and starts again.
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		03:18
4.	You Know It's True	Home Recording	A rock'n'roll song.
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		03:14
5.	Women Kind	Home Recording	Paul's having fun with this song.
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		02:02
6.	Getting Closer	Home Recording
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		02:52
7.	In My Dreams	Home Recording
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		01:30
8.	Rockestra Theme	Home Recording
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		04:25
9.	Letting Go	Home Recording
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		03:01
10.	Call Me Back Again	Home Recording
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		02:03
11.	Lunch Box/Odd Sox	Home Recording
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		02:47
12.	Treat Her Gently/Lonely Old People	Home Recording
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		02:48
13.	You Gave Me The Answer	Home Recording
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		02:03
14.	Waiting For The Sun To Shine	Home Recording	Lyrics: "Waiting for the sun to shine in the meadows, waiting for the sun to shine".
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		01:42
15.	She Got It Good	Home Recording
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		01:28
16.	Blackpool	Home Recording
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		01:57
17.	Sunshine In Your Hair	Home Recording
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		02:28
18.	Girlfriend	Home Recording
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		02:37
19.	I Lost My Little Girl	Home Recording	First song Paul wrote. Paul is improvising a bit on the end of the song but gets bored.
	Lennon/McCartney	Abt 1978
		02:33
20.	Upon A Hill	Home Recording
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		00:52
21.	Sea	Home Recording	A song from "Rupert The Bear".
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		01:43
22.	Love Is Your Road, Love Is My Road	Home Recording
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		02:00
23.	Sweet Little Bird	Home Recording
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		00:58
24.	Partners In Crime	Home Recording	"Heyyyy !! Well, now, we'll sing about the partners in crime". A very basic song. Some one is singing in the background.
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		02:04
25.	Suicide	Home Recording	You can hear child voices in the background.
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		01:37
26.	Doctor Pepper	Home Recording	This lasts only 3 seconds. Nothing interesting.
	McCartney	Abt 1978
		00:07

The "famous" piano tape ! Hum.

First of all, be warned that the quality here is terrible. They told you it was recorded on a portable tape recorder and you have the proof as soon as you put the CD in the tray. The tape was not remastered. Maybe it was declicked or else but the sound output is terribly high (too much trebles). Put your basses to the max. Do you remember the Beatles' "Garage Tapes" ? Yes ? Then you can understand what the quality of "The Piano Tape" is like: only slightly better.

Most of the time, Paul is singing/shouting the songs and having fun with the lyrics, produce strange noises (belches, farts etc) and sometimes plays piano correctly.

The first two tracks are a test to see what you can bear. If you succeed in listening "Million Miles" and "Mull Of Kintyre" then you're ready for the rest. The test is very difficult to pass because "Million Miles" is a gospel song with almost only one line of lyrics (shouted enthusiastically by Paul) while "Mull Of Kintyre" is played on the same tempo than the previous song and is hummed on most parts.

"I'll Give You A Ring" is a fine song available in much better quality on "All The Rest" for example. "You Know It's True" is a decent rock'n'roll but you'll forget it quickly to listen to your collection of Jerry Lee Lewis.
"Women Kind", "Getting Closer" and "In My Dreams" are a pain to listen to.
"Rockestra Theme" is surprisingly quite enjoyable: no vocals (this probably saves it) and Paul plays piano correctly for a change.
"Letting Go" is much better in his original version because here Paul is unable to play it correctly on piano and does not even remember the lyrics. Too bad for such a good song.
"Call Me Back Again" is terrible to listen to due to the sound quality.
On "Lunch Box/Odd Sox", Paul surprisingly remembers almost every part of the song. Rather interesting to listen to this piano-only arrangement.
"Treat Her Gently/Lonely Old People" is relatively well played.
"You Gave Me The Answer" is one of my favourite songs from "Venus And Mars" and despite the terrible sound quality, it is clear that Paul loves this song too.
"Waiting For The Sun To Shine" is a nice song that would deserve more elaborated lyrics.
"She Got It Good" can stay in the thrash for me. However, "Blackpool" is a promising song.
"Sunshine In Your Hair" is the jazzy kind of song you could have before WW2. Not bad but Paul is testing his vocals capabilities on it and it's hardly bearable.
"Girlfriend" has some interesting parts but at this stage, I would not release it on a regular album if I were Paul.
"I Lost My Little Girl" (Paul's very first song) is interesting because it can be compared to the other versions of this song (Paul's MTV Unplugged, soundchecks and some other live performances as well as John's Get Back Session). However, the end of the song is too long and Paul gets bored.
"Upon A Hill" sounds much like an improvisation and is too basic to be enjoyable.
"Sea" comes from "Rupert The Bear". It's not my favourite "Rupert" song but it's a classic theme from this animated film. The version here is probably the worst I've heard.
"Love Is Your Road..." is hardly bearable. Just any lyrics on any music (an improvisation ?) . Very poor. The same applies to "Sweet Little Bird".
"Partners In Crime" is rather fun. The song is very basic and the lyrics are mostly adlibbed.
"Suicide" is an excellent song. The version here is quite enjoyable. Maybe the best song on the CD.
"Doctor Pepper" is only a short excerpt (3 seconds). What can we do with that ?

Maybe the "Piano Tape" can be compared to what Paul was playing early in the morning (err... around 10:00 AM) during the "Get Back Sessions" while waiting the other Beatles to arrive. Paul plays everything comes in his mind and is having fun. "The Piano Tape" deserves a remasterization to lower the sound output and improve piano vs voice output. Until this is done, it only deserves one star. If the sound quality had been better I would have given it a 3 star.

A very interesting bootleg indeed! This is a demo, made by Paul for his ears only (supposedly it was stolen from his car) on a small mono tape recorder. Fine. Knowing this, I'm not expecting hi-fi sound, which is good 'cause thats not what you get! But anyone who collects bootlegs knows that for the source, the quality isn't important.

My guess is this tape was recorded sometime in 1973, because a lot of the songs would later end up on "Venus and Mars" (Call Me Back Again etc), and a few would go to "London Town" (Mull of Kintyre), and "Back to the Egg" (Million Miles).

This bootleg is quite enjoyable. The bottom line is, when you're buying a bootleg, you don't expect Sgt. Pepper. Yes, there is going to be bad singing, bad playing, and goofing off...but this makes it more real, and a fun disk to listen to.

"Waiting for the Sun to Shine" later became part of "Love Mix" from the Beautiful Night singles. "Sea" later went on to be on Rupert.

If you like McCartney, and are looking for a behind the scenes, "Paul at home" type recording - get this bootleg. If you're expecting crystal-clear sound, excellent songs, perfect playing, and complete seriousness - do not buy this disc.

Ricks' Beatleg page