Great Performances: Paul McCartney: Chaos and Creation at Abbey Road
Airs Monday, February 27 at 10:00 pm
on WTTW11

Encore Airings of this Episode
Thursday, March 2 at 3:30 am

Sir Paul McCartney returns to Studio 2 at London's Abbey Road studios, where most of the Beatles's recordings were made, for an intimate journey through his songwriting history, from his very first Beatles song to the work on his new album, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. Using a selection of vintage instruments from his own collection -including the bass played by Bill Black on Elvis Presley's original recording of "Heartbreak Hotel," and the Mellotron and mixing desk used by the Beatles - McCartney re-visits his back catalog in new and revealing ways in front of an intimate studio audience. McCartney re-interprets old songs, reveals new ones, plays cover versions and enlists the audience's help in a demonstration of "in the moment" songwriting and arranging. Songs performed in this unique program include "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Band on the Run" and "Lady Madonna."

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For cool people like me, the HD broadcast is March 5th.

Yeah, I've heard this. It was good.

The tivo is set.

Is this the same thing as what's on the DVD that came with the album, or is it different?

I love it when this kind of stuff comes on channels in HD. And I love my plasma TV for making it look so damn good!

Macca Is King

and all his haters can go suck it

I really started to appreciate him when I rewatched the Beatle's Anthology in October or so. He comes across as very sincere in all he says as well as likeable. He's also got a ton of great post-Beatles songs, probably more than any of the other Fabs.

Well, he does have that 25 year advantage over John...

So true!

Although, most of Macca's great songs were recorded while John was still alive.

He's got a ton of reliable songs. Not the same thing.

not sure what other thread mentioned "Chaos And Creation in the Backyard," so i dredged this one up. just heard it today for the first time. some thoughts:

1) i wonder if "Promise To You Girl" would make a better opener

2) "Riding To Vanity Fair" sounds like it could fit on a Radiohead record

3) "A Certain Softness": while listening to this song, i couldn't help but think of that scene in the Rutles where Eric Idle as Dirk McQuickly is fiddling at the piano where his wife (as played by Bianca Jagger...can't remember her name in the movie) is sitting around bored, and he just breaks into an uptempo piano number and starts singing "dee-dee-dee-dee, dee-dee-dee-dee." and i just imagine him coming up with a title like "A Certain Softness" to a song. it's not bad. it's just so Paul McCartney. or Dirk McQuickly, for that matter.

4) NumberTenOx mentioned the use of the word "reliable" for all of Paul's songs. i think all of the songs on this record are anywhere from reliable to "pretty darn good" to fairly impressive. good record. and kind of dark, no? for him?

5) are the beginning chords to anyway an homage to "People Get Ready" or outright theft?

6) i like this record quite a bit. i'm aiming to listen to "Flaming Pie," now.

Haha, this is awesome that this thread was bumped.

I've been a Beatles fan since 1978, and I love all four of them, BUT, Paul McCartney irritated me on the Anthology. He was filmed in too many different locations. The funniest was when he was steering a boat and still talking/doing the interview. George Harrison was my favorite on the Anthology. He was insightful and down-to-earth (a quality Macca often lacks) and sitting in his garden most of the time.

shut up

I'm not one of his haters.

This bump really sucked because it took me a minute to realize this was 2006. This looks really good.

Tonight, Wednesday the 15th, McCartney performs on Letterman and gets interviewed.

Yep, Ed Sullivan Theater, same stage they made their US debut on.

what're the odds he plays one of those old songs? i'd say pretty good

I figure he'll do at least 2 songs that air, and yep, one of them will probably be one he did on the Ed Sullivan Show. It would be one of these, taken from wiki...

"The Beatles followed Ed's show opening intro, performing "All My Loving," "Till There Was You" (featuring the Beatles names imposed on the screen and the famous "SORRY GIRLS, HE'S MARRIED" caption under John), and "She Loves You." Then, late in the hour, they returned to perform "I Want to Hold Your Hand"."

I'll pick All My Loving since he and John traded vocals on I Want To Hold Your Hand and She Loves You. And Till There Was You is a little too light.

Oh well, I/we were wrong. Sang Get Back and a new one, Sing The Changes.

People who bash Macca are hilarious. John Lennon released a lot of mediocre material in the 1970s.

Letterman's a terrible interviewer.

line of the night was when Letterman asked why McCartney hadn't performed on the show before: "Because I don't like your show."

Here's what Paul played after the show:

http://www.cbs.com/late_show/video/mccartney.php

Coming Up!!!

Pure exuberance.

By the way, Linda lives! (stage left)

had to post this

McCartney just added a new feature to his website - as of this writing, you can fiddle around with the multitracks for "Band on the Run," "Let Me Roll It" and "Maybe I'm Amazed":

http://www.paulmccartney.com/web/guest/rude-studio

There's a special place in hell reserved for Letterman bashers. Still a great line tho.

Seeing the shit outta this legendary gentleman in about a month. Macca, that is.