Paul McCartney - Press

Was doing some Paul McCartney research today and noticed that commercial 45's list the 3:35 version of "Press" as the Video Edit. I'd imagine DJ 45's are the same.

There were two DJ copies. One was simply labelled P-B-5597, which featured "Press" (Video Edit) on both sides in stereo with a label time of 3:35. The "P" before a record number usually meant it was the same thing as the stock 45, just a promotional copy.

The other DJ copy is labelled 7-PRO-9765 Press (Edited Version) (3:35) and 7-PRO-9766 Press (4:07). Capitol usually used the PRO designation to note that it was different than the stock 45, however both the "Video Edit" and the "Edited Version" note a matrix on the label of X100396 so those are probable the same. The 4:07 version has a matrix of X100396A. I assume that the 4:07 option was released second.

Yes (unless there are some suble mix differences that I'm not hearing)

Fairly certain that the single edit is what appears on the
4 disc "Pure McCartney" compilation set?

I've been digging into this one a little bit, and it seems that the original UK single version of "Press" is a mix by Hugh Paghdam. The full mix runs about 4:20 and was released on a 10" single, and the UK 45 is
said to be an early fade of this mix, running about 3:55. According to Discogs, there was an early CD pressing of the album that contained Hugh's mix (running 4:23), but was quickly replaced on later pressings
with the alternate "Video Soundtrack" (4:42) that we today know as the common LP/CD album version. I will be trying to track this pressing down, but lucking into the correct item should be as easy as finding the
proverbial needle in a haystack, as the track lengths were not printed on the original back cover, etc. It seems the switch was made with no indication in the booklet or on the CD itself.

Anyway, after listening around and looking at the timeline, my working theory is that:
• Original 4:20 Hugh Paghdam mix was intended to be the official album version
• Early 3:55 fade on UK 45 was intended to be the "hit" mix
• Video was set to a 4:42 remix by Bert Nevins & Steve Forward, which was then released on UK & US 12" singles
• A new 3:35 edit of this second mix (labeled "Video Edit") was released on 45 and became the "hit" version in both regions
• (Rich and Aaron confirmed below the existence of yet another, longer 4:06 edit of the second mix on the A-side of the U.S. Promo 45. This variation does not appear to have been released commercially.)
• LP's and CD's were subsequently reissued with the Video Soundtrack 12" version replacing Hugh's original mix so that if a buyer picked up the album based on hearing the 45 version, they would be getting a longer
version of the familiar mix instead of a completely alien (to them) version




Edited by EternalStatic