DISC 1
Back To The Egg rough assembly + more outtakes
Tracks 01-14: (so Madinger - Easter p. 241), presenting the rough assembly prepared for "Back To The Egg" in early 1979, after work was completed on the recording & overdubbing in April of 1979 (see Madinger - Easter p. 241 for more details).
Tracks 15-16: more rough mixes, also found on the Glasgow '79 bootleg CD (YD-Orange 022)
Tracks 17-21: the same tracks as found on the Scrambled Egg 7" bootleg EP + "Spin It On", here taken from a different - tape - source, running at the correct speed and sounding much cleaner. These recordings stem from the initial sessions for "Back To The Egg" held at Paul's "Spirit of Ranachan" studio in Campbeltown, Scotland between June 29th and July 27th, 1978.
(for details about the individual songs, see Madinger - Easter p. 240-247)
DISC 2
Rehearsals for the 1980 Japan tour (from January 1980) + musical highlights from the "Rockestra" session held on October 3, 1978 at EMI's Studio No. 2 and more
01. Let Me Roll It 5:18
02. With A Little Luck 4:41
03. I've Had Enough 3:20
04. Band On The Run 5:40
(ambient recordings made during the studio rehearsals held at Peasmarsh, Sussex, January 1980: Madinger - Easter p. 257)
05. Instrumental Jam 3:46
(maybe an in-line recording from the same studio rehearsals as 01-04?
06. Rockestra Session: Rockestra Theme 10:46
07. Rockestra Session: So Glad To See You Here 6:15
(musical highlights from the "Rockestra" session held on October 3, 1978 at EMI's Studio No. 2; see Madinger - Easter p. 243-244)
08. Eleanor Rigby 1:12
09. Got To Get You Into My Life 1:31
10. With A Little Luck 1:57
11. Coming Up 2:48
12. Got To Get You Into My Life including a snatch of Video Killed The Radio Star 5:23
(more rehearsals from January 1980 for the tour of Japan, this time taken from the Japanese television programme which can also be found at the end of the fantastic "Lightspeed" 2DVD set. Also recorded at Paul's Peasmarsh Estate in East Sussex; see Madinger - Easter p. 257-258)
14. Day Time Nightime Suffering (rough mix) 3:17
(the same as found on the "Glasgow '79" YD-Orange 022 CD, complete with the volume drop 25 seconds into the song; see Madinger - Easter p. 246)
14. Goodnight Tonight (extended mix) 7:18
(from the commercial 12"; see Madinger - Easter p. 246)
Masterfraction 015
"Alternate" mixes of BACK TO THE EGG, meaning that somebody got hold of master tapes here--not skilled engineers, for at times they are not perfect mixes, but on almost every track you will hear new things, eventually deleted things, and alternate vocal tracks and solos. Granted, some things really aren't changeable ("We're Open Tonight," "Million Miles," and "The Broadcast" for example), and the order really should have been more closely followed ("Cage" was originally the closer, replaced at the last minute by "Baby's Request," which isn't on this disc), but here are some of the real treats you will find tasty: "Reception" is MUCH longer, with many more elements (including the narrator and music from "The Broadcast," even!); "Getting Closer" has some very different lyrics and has Denny Laine singing Lead Vocal instead of Pauls released version, "To You" is much longer, doesn't fade, and comes to a bombastic conclusion...I should also point out that tracks are duplicated, even though there is no explanation, because the mixes (and some vocal tracks) are very different the second time around--"Love Awake" for example, seems to be the basic track and basic vocal with very different overdubs (including a harmonica!) "Maisie" is an instrumental, by the way (also with a hefty harmonica appearance). All in all, a beautiful new vision of this great album--now you can see it from between the grooves.
Masterfraction 016
This disc is more material from the same era, and what the cover refers to as "Ranchan Rehearsal, denoting an apparently off-line tape (as if somebody had a reel-to-reel recorder running) of Paul and the gang preparing for the upcoming tour--note a couple of mentions of going to Japan (!). The rehearsal tape is decent, but not the best sound quality, in that the vocals are not perfectly understandable (especially if you weren't familiar with the song). The tracks from the rehearsal tape are: 1-4, (Track 5, an instrumental jam, has much better sound quality and doesn't have the off-line sound, seeming like a studio outtake or warmup), and 8-12. The first "Got To Get You Into My Life" is very interesting as a reggae number, and they try it that way again after a full performance (as it sounded on that year's tour) on track 12. Tracks 6 and 7 are interesting because they are taken from the "Rockestra" movie audio (see the "Rockestra Session" boot by Yellow Dog/Orange if you want the whole thing)--but here they have cleverly cut out the dialogue, and given us a consolidated synopsis of what we hear on the Yellow Dog disc--for example, "Rockestra Theme" runs over 10 minutes, beginning with a Paul piano demo, and growing to the finished product. The same in less time for "So Glad To See You Here," track 7 on the disc. Finally, tracks 13 and 14 are MORE remixes made from multitrack tapes. "Daytime Nightime Suffering" allows us to hear a few new and/or louder elements (not a great mix, though, there is a volume drop near the beginning), and "Goodnight Tonight" runs longer than "Hey Jude," even though it seems a bit bare in places, it reminds one of the old "12 inch mixes" used to fill 12-inch singles. Think of Disc Two as some great bonus material, filling out this great double set, which comes in just under 2 hours and 15 minutes!