2016

Much like 2015, Paul spent most the entire year outside of the recording studio. More than likely he was still writing many new songs behind the scenes.

One song, “In The Blink Of An Eye,” was written and recorded for the animated film, “Ethel &Ernest.”

The film is based on the 1998 graphic memoir of the same name written by Raymond Briggs, and follows Briggs’ parents, Ethel and Ernest, through their period of marriage from the 1920s to their deaths in the 1970s. McCartney’s song plays over the end credits of the film.

“I knew that Paul McCartney was a big animation fan and I knew that Raymond Briggs’s book Fungus the Bogeyman had influenced Paul’s 1980s track, “Bogey Music.” So I wrote a letter to Paul to see if he was interested in composing a track for Ethel and Ernest,  which he did on Fungus the Bogeyman headed paper!

It obviously worked and we were thrilled when Paul said he was interested. We met up and he produced a CD which included a track called Mum and Dad theme.  This eventually became In the Blink of An Eye which we have used in the film. – Roger Mainwood, director.

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It is probable that he also worked on new material, which would see the light of day in 2018, at both Henson Studios and at his Hog Hill Mill studio.

He also wrote the song “Songbird In A Cage,” for Charlotte Gainsbourg. It would appear on the 2017 album, REST. Paul also played drums, guitar and piano.

He also recorded and released a range of ten animated love theme Mojis for Valentine’s Day, partnering with Skype.

“It turned out to be a great laugh at the same time as challenging because you suddenly realize you’ve got to compress a musical interpretation of an expression into less than five seconds. It was like doing a huge crossword puzzle and coming up with all these solutions. And at the same time it was musical so it was great practice for me in the studio.”- Paul

In March and April, he reunited with his band for “One On One” tour rehearsals. These legs of the tour would feature 35 shows in 9 countries, (headlining summer festivals in Belgium and The Netherlands) and ending on December 16th.

June 25th saw him headline a 14 track show at the 10th annual Dine and Disco for Children In Need. 80 auction winners raised over 2 million pounds.

He co-headlined the Saturday October 8th night of Desert Trip (with Neil Young).

December 20th had Paul back in New York, appearing on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon.

Jimmy Fallon, the Roots, Paul McCartney and the cast of “Sing” teamed up Tuesday night for an acappella version of McCartney’s song “Wonderful Christmastime” complete with “bum-bums,” “da-da-das” and plenty of holiday cheer.

The video, shot in a “Brady Bunch”-style colorful split over a snowy backdrop, opens with Fallon and the Roots and gradually adds more voices and characters.

And he performed “Helter Skelter” at a private New Years Eve party. Russia’s Roman Abramovich’s exclusive New Year’s Eve party on the Caribbean island of St. Barts saw Paul McCartney join The Killers onstage for a surprise performance.

2016 in addition saw the release of Ron Howard directed, “The Beatles: Eight Days A Week- The Touring Years.”

A limited Limited 12” test pressings of the Timo Mass remix of “1985,”the closer on Paul’s 1973 BAND ON THE RUN. It sold out in hours, and it went straight to number one in the record shops stocking them.

The 1968 album, McGough & McGear was remastered in 2016. The album was produced by Paul.
The 1968 John and Paul produced track, “Lullaby” appeared on the 2016 compilation of the British group, Grapefruit.

The compilation PURE McCARTNEY was also released in 2016, containing 67 highlight tracks. It appeared as regular and deluxe editions.

LIVE AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL, the remastered 1977 album of the 1965 recorded concert by The Beatles was released on September 9th. It was remastered and produced by Giles Martin.

“A few years ago Capitol Studios called saying they’d discovered some Hollywood Bowl three track tapes in their archive. We transferred them and noticed an improvement over the tapes we’ve kept in the London archive. Alongside this I’d been working for some time with a team headed by technical engineer James Clarke on demix technology, the ability to remove and separate sounds from a single track.

With Sam Okell, I started work on remixing the Hollywood Bowl tapes. Technology has moved on since my father worked on the material all those years ago. Now there’s improved clarity, and so the immediacy and visceral excitement can be heard like never before. My father’s words still ring true, but what we hear now is the raw energy of four lads playing together to a crowd that loved them. This is the closest you can get to being at the Hollywood Bowl at the height of Beatlemania. We hope you enjoy the show…” – Giles Martin

Finally all three Beatles “Anthology” disc sets were remastered in 2016.

Up Next, 2017.