Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Paul McCartney & Carl Perkins - Old Friends from Montserrat (1993-1997)

Paul McCartney and the other Beatles were heavily influenced by Carl Perkins, best known for his 1956 hit "Blue Suede Shoes." In 1993, while McCartney was passing through Nashville, Tennessee, while on tour, he visited Perkins. They talked and played some songs on acoustic guitar. The encounter was filmed and parts of it were later shown on video. If you're a fan of McCartney, Perkins, or both, this album sourced from that video is a real treat.

There has been a bootleg floating around for many years called "Old Friends from Montserrat." I've used that title, though I've made some minor changes here and there in the content. (The video added in some songs that were just McCartney playing, whereas I've boiled it down to just the McCartney-Perkins collaborations.)

The bulk of this album, the part with McCartney and Perkins talking and playing guitars in 1993, is rather short, at only 21 minutes. But it's a case of quality over quantity. This type of interaction between McCartney and one of his musical heroes is priceless, in my opinion. As the original bootleg does, I've added a few more related items at the end. There are two songs taken from a 1997 concert in London that benefitted the victims of a hurricane that hit the island on Montserrat. That was the last significant concert involving Perkins, who died in early 1998. One song mainly features Perkins singing and the other mainly features McCartney singing, but they were on stage together.

I end the album with "My Old Friend," a song Perkins wrote and performed with McCartney on Perkins' 1996 album "Go Cat Go." The two of them also played it together earlier in the album, during their 1993 acoustic sessions.

With the extra songs, the album totals 32 minutes. That's still short, but like I said, it's quality over quantity.

01 Your True Love (Paul McCartney & Carl Perkins)
02 talk (Paul McCartney & Carl Perkins)
03 Get It (Paul McCartney & Carl Perkins)
04 My Old Friend (Paul McCartney & Carl Perkins)
05 talk (Paul McCartney & Carl Perkins)
06 Maybellene (Paul McCartney & Carl Perkins)
07 talk (Paul McCartney & Carl Perkins)
08 Lend Me Your Comb (Paul McCartney & Carl Perkins)
09 Wake Up Little Susie (Paul McCartney & Carl Perkins)
10 Matchbox (Paul McCartney & Carl Perkins)
11 talk (Paul McCartney & Carl Perkins)
12 talk (Paul McCartney & Carl Perkins)
13 Les Paul Guitar Picking Thing [Instrumental] (Paul McCartney & Carl Perkins)
14 talk (Paul McCartney & Carl Perkins)
15 Blue Suede Shoes (Paul McCartney & Carl Perkins)
16 talk (Paul McCartney & Carl Perkins)
17 Kansas City - Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey (Paul McCartney with Carl Perkins)
18 Blue Suede Shoes (Carl Perkins with Paul McCartney)
19 My Old Friend (Paul McCartney & Carl Perkins)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16696786/PALMCCRTNYCRLPRKNS1993_OldFrindsfrmMntserrt_atse.zip.html

The original bootleg has a cover art photo that only features McCartney. I found that inappropriate. Instead, I took a screenshot from the 1993 video of McCartney and Perkins together. Then I added my own text to that.

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