CD Review - Ultra Rare Tracks - Paul McCartney

I purchased this 42 track album at Beatleweek 2023, although it was released in 2019.

It was a big decision as I've bought numerous releases of Hot Hits, Cold Cuts and other 'unofficial albums' featuring the likes of Lulu, Tony Bennett and Steve Martin but the premise of purchasing this release' was 'It'll be nice to have them all on this 2CD Ultra Rare Tracks set.'

So what do I get for my £22?

Well the boast on the back of the CD advises there's '42 tracks or mixes that have never appeared on any McCartney album' is slightly out of date.

A number of the songs have surfaced on Paul McCartney releases since 2019. For instance 'Same Time Next Year' as the B-side to Put it There and 'My Carnival' as the B-Side to Spies Like Us but there's still a wealth of unreleased songs across it's two sides

Side two begins with a rollicking version of Girl School, taken from the songs Acetate. One off releases of songs include 'It's Now or Never', It's So Easy', Simple As That, That's All Right, I Want to Come Home and yes, Tropic Island Hum.

It also features eleven duets/collaborations including contributions from the late great Tony Bennett on 'The Very Thought of You', I'm in Love Again' with Klaus Voorman and 'My Soul' with Nitin Sawhney. The album ends with the excellent ' Walk With You' with Ringo.

If you don't have many of these releases then £22 for this 2CD set would be an excellent purchase to fill the gaps in your collection.

As for me, there's enough new material here to justify my £22 layout at Beatleweek....