Down In The Jungle: McCartney's High Watermark Resurrected At Half-Speed

Two LP Reissue Of Ex-Beatle Triumph Released For 50th Anniversary

If the above title scans, then you’re probably already familiar with the well-worn tale of ex-Beatle gone rogue to the far reaches of Nigeria. If not we can refer you to Wikipedia where tales of poor studio conditions, robbery and physical exhaustion all did their best to derail Sir Paul’s fifth solo attempt at getting back into the upper ranks of the pop realm.

But  if you just glance at the charts from the years before he, the memsahib and Denny Laine set off on safari, you’ll see that McCartney had no less than five top ten singles in the UK, along with similar success in the States and in other territories. So in retrospect the trip to EMI Lagos seems more like an attempt to ditch London for sunnier climes and possibly some dynamite African weed. 

In 2010 the cute one told British broadcaster Dermot O’ Leary: “I think if we just stayed in London and gone to our normal studio, it could have, might have been an okay album…might have been a good album. But the fact that we were in a strange place with strange things happening…there was now only three of us in the band instead of five, we had to work around all these circumstances and we had to like incorporate all of this into the album. Now suddenly we were like forced to…no choice.”

But if we’re being honest here, these songs were always going to deliver, no matter where a Pop genius of this caliber settled down to record them. Still, it all makes for a good story, even if it’s a tale that’s been retold many times over the past 50 plus years.

What’s more interesting is how he got there artistically. McCartney always seemed to be bearing the brunt of critical dissatisfaction, no matter how many gorgeous melodies or feisty rockers he gave to the early Seventies. “Another Day” was lovely and uncynical, and “Hi Hi Hi” tried it’s best to ‘rawk.” But “Band On The Run,” remains the remarkable point where he, and what was left of Wings, stepped outside of fashion, shaved off most of the whimsy, and dispatched the kind of top shelf songwriting that would reset the narrative concerning the talents of a McCartney without a Lennon. Whether or not it’s worth chasing down again after a half century that’s seen several reissues is another matter.

For this go round the album is available as either single LP, a two CD collection, or a pricier and limited double album set that comes in a nice slipcase with a collection of “underdubbed” mixes and a couple of nice Linda McCartney Polaroid posters. For the vinyl, Abbey Road mastering guru Miles Showell cut the lacquers at half-speed after in-house engineers Sam OKell and Steve Rooke remastered the tracks. For this pressing, McCartney’s people have opted to go with the original U.S. tracklisting that features the Top 10 “Helen Wheels” single on side 2. Plus the record also gets the Giles Martin Atmos treatment as well for those streaming platforms that offer the option.

As a historical comparison, we put the new cut up against three previous releases – the U.S. and German first pressings (both on Apple) and the 25th anniversary compact disc (which featured a bonus CD of documentary material). What’s immediately clear is that both of the original vinyl outings are about 3-4dBs hotter than the 2024 reissue. Additionally, the high-end data on the new LP is far less bristly on the top end than either of the originals – no doubt due to the half-speed process of cutting the master far slower. The midrange material also appears to have a more clarity to it, while the bottom end has a more or less the same amount of punch. And as far as the title track goes, the latest reissue restores certain elements from the CD mix, such as the chiming acoustic guitar, back from the left channel to the focused center of the mix where they sit just as well as they did back in 1973.

“Jet” leapt up off our pan flat Optimal Media GmbH 180 pressing in all it’s synth-powered glory as nicely as the fullness of “Bluebird” swelled through the soundstage. In fact, the latter’s sax solo sits much nicer into the half-speed cut than the more hopped up original. The same could be said of the underpinning organ for perennial live fave “Let Me Roll It.” But if Showell’s cut shines in any one particular place, it’s when we arrive the side 2 opener “Mamunia” the details of the twangy guitars parts are pretty sumptuous and worthy of repeat plays. It’s at this point in the record, where we are sold.

When it comes to the “underdubbed” versions of these songs, the case for splashing out on the two LP version of the 2024 release will probably align closely with the number of McCartney bootlegs you may already own. Because these rough mixes, prepared by Geoff Emerick and Pete Swettenham at AIR Studios in October 1973, are only mildly interesting in terms of coloring in more of the album’s story. Particularly when it’s well known that the cassettes taken off of our Paulie by thieves on a evening stroll back to his hotel, were dubbed from the full band rehearsals that Wings engaged in before, drummer Denny Seiwell and guitarist Henry McCullough abruptly opted out of the group. The brief vocal missteps, the naked Minimoog lines and the lack of brass featured in this edition mostly serves to reveal how talented the former Beatle was when it came to dressing up his work for primetime. While interesting, alternate takes would have been more welcome. But as we saw in the “McCartney 3, 2, 1” documentary, Paul can be a little gunshy, even all these years later, about the public hearing any blemishes.

 So while the 50 year mark makes the rerelease of this chart topper feel like an inevitability (particularly with a new generation of vinyl buyers possibly wanting an uber clean, high quality pressing of Macca’s high watermark…), there’s a vocal segment of his fan base that would have gladly passed on this project if it meant they could finally get the deluxe McCartney Archive version of “London Town” and/or “Back To The Egg” they’ve been waiting for. But until that happens (please please please let it happen…), we’re more than happy to be reminded of the period when a rhinestone’d McCartney and company assured the Pop planet that he was far from washed up.