I’m going slightly off the beaten path for this week’s BROW, back to November 18, 1985, when a 12 inch vinyl single was released containing three considerably differing mixes of Paul McCartney’s theme song “Spies Like Us,” composed and recorded for the motion picture of the same name. The standard 7 inch single was also released on the same date in the U.S., timed to be out just over two weeks before the movie’s box office debut.

Most of us are probably somewhat familiar with the Spies Like Us movie which stars comedians Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd, who play two American rookie intelligence agents sent to the Soviet Union, where they accidentally launch a nuclear missile on the United States.

The theme song was recorded in October 1985, during sessions for Paul’s upcoming Press To Play album. Paul not only sings but plays bass, guitar and drums on the track. The keyboards on the record are played by Eddie Rayner, a former player with the band Split Enz. Linda McCartney, Kate Robbins and Ruby James assist with backing vocals.

The 7 inch single featured another out-take as the b-side from the Wings Venus And Mars sessions (1975) called “My Carnival”. During the peak of the movie’s popularity the single reached #7 on the U.S. Billboard charts and to this date is Paul’s most recent top 10 single. “Spies Like Us” did not appear on an album until 1993 when it was included as a bonus track on the Press To Play CD issued as part of a series of CD remasters released that year called The Paul McCartney Collection.

The 12 inch single contains three alternate mixes of the song and even an extended version of “My Carnival”. None of these versions have been officially released since their initial issuance in November 1985. For this week’s BROW, I’m sharing with you one of these mixes labeled as the “party mix” on the record label. It clocks in at about 7 minutes and includes spoken audio segments from the film itself.

Spies Like Us 12 inch single, released in Nov. 1986

Extra info:
1) In the Spies Like Us film, the outro of the single version is heard over the closing credits before the entire song is played. The outro features the backing vocalists singing “spies like us” repeatedly along with the uptempo beat of the song.

2) Although this record has not been re-issued since its initial release over 26 years ago, used copies can be found if you look around at the right places online (I’ve included a possible alternative below – see #3 in list of Amazon links below).

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) Press to Play 1993 remaster of original 1986 album release, contains 7 in. single version of “Spies Like Us” as a bonus track.

2) The McCartney Years 2007 3-DVD box set of Paul McCartney music videos and concert footage. 5.1 surround mixes included. Includes “Spies Like Us” (video edit).

3) Spies like Us (Party Mix) PROMO 12″ singleV-15212 – original 12 inch vinyl single containing the featured ‘party mix’ of “Spies Like Us” (Note: availability varies).

4) More Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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1. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Paul McCartney’s “Angry” (12 in. mix, 1986) Welcome to the Beatles Rarity Of The Week. In the...

Welcome to the Beatles Rarity Of The Week. In the summer of 1986, Paul McCartney returned to the EMI label after a six year stint with Columbia records and released Press To Play, an album he hoped would be a change of pace and update his image after the somewhat disappointing response to his 1984 Give My Regards To Broad Street film and soundtrack album. Bands like The Police and XTC had recently put out some music that Paul admired, and so he decided to team up with producer Hugh Padgham, who had worked with both of those bands, along with Genesis members Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins. Paul had recently written a few songs with 10cc member Eric Stewart and was ready to record in March of 1985. The sessions took place for about two months, and after a lot of post production work, additional sessions were held from October up to the first week of December 1985.

Paul & Linda McCartney portrait on Press To Play LP jacket, 1986

Paul brought in a wide host of musicians to play on the album, including Pete Townshend, Eddie Rayner (Split Enz), Ray Cooper, Phil Collins and Eric Stewart. By the end of the year the album was basically finished, but the only track released from the sessions was for a non-album single you’ll remember as the title number for the Dan Aykroyd/Chevy Chase comedy film Spies Like Us. After the lead-off single, “Press,” was released in July, Press To Play was finally issued on August 22, 1986. Although the sales were somewhat disappointing, the music on the album was solid, even according to most of the critics of the day.

In addition to “Press,” three other singles were released from the album (“Pretty Little Head,” “Stranglehold” and “Only Remains”). A few of the singles tracks had different edits and mixes than the album versions. There were also three special 12 inch (maxi) single releases from Press To Play with several more alternate mixes and extended versions.

This week’s BROW, a fast paced rocker Paul wrote with Eric Stewart titled “Angry,” includes Pete Townshend on guitar, Phil Collins on drums, and is mixed for the album by Hugh Padgham. However, the version that appears on the Pretty Little Head maxi single is a mix by Larry Alexander that features additional horns and a punchier sound than the album version. Those of you only familiar with the standard version on Press To Play will likely find this ‘angrier’ version quite interesting. The Pretty Little Head maxi single was released on October 27, 1986 on vinyl only, and has never been made available on an official CD or authorized download media.

Pretty Little Head 12 in. maxi single, 1986 (w/"Angry" (Larry Alexander mix)

Extra info: A second issuance of the Press To Play vinyl album in the UK contained the original Hugh Padgham mix of “Press” instead of the Bevans/Forward mix issued on the CD and everywhere else in the world. See more info here.

Special thanks go out to Mike Ray who requested this track for this week’s BROW. Thanks Mike for the idea and my apologies for not getting to it right away.

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) Press to Play – 1990 CD remaster of original 1986 LP including original Hugh Padgham mix of “Angry”. Note: Out-of-print CD but collectible condition and lower are available at this link for purchase.

2) Additional Amazon links for your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Related posts:

1. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Press (original mix) This week’s Beatles Rarity of the Week ties up another...
2. Only Love Remains – promo video (1986) This week’s VOW is related to the BROW from earlier...
3. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Spies Like Us (the ‘Party Mix’ version, 1985) I’m going slightly off the beaten path for this week’s...

This week’s VOW is related to the BROW from earlier this week. As a promotion for his newest album Press To Play, Paul filmed a promo video in November, 1986 at Pinewood Studios in Buckingham, UK where he performed Only Love Remains before a small audience. Singing backing vocals with Linda McCartney here is Judith Light from the television show Who’s the Boss. A few days later Paul performed this song at London’s Theatre Royale for the Royal Variety Show.

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1. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Paul McCartney’s “Angry” (12 in. mix, 1986) Welcome to the Beatles Rarity Of The Week. In the...
2. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Press (original mix) This week’s Beatles Rarity of the Week ties up another...

This week’s Beatles Rarity of the Week ties up another loose end from one of those stray Paul McCartney releases. By 1985, Paul was ready to give his music a more contemporary sound and teamed up with producer Hugh Padgham for that very reason. Hugh had worked with Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel of Genesis, along with other big names like The Police and XTC. Having written a few songs with former 10cc member Eric Stewart, as well as a few on his own, Paul was now pumped to get an album out. The result was the August 1986 release Press To Play, which ended up with a few other guest musicians you may have heard of before. Along with Eric Stewart, there was Pete Townshend (of The Who…in case you didn’t know that) and Eddie Rayner (from Split Enz). One of the tracks, an up-tempo pop tune slated for single release, called Press, was mixed by a DJ named Bert Bevans and his partner Steve Forward. In the UK only, after the first batch of pressings were out (about 45,000 copies or so), the album was altered, replacing this mix of Press with the original mix by producer Hugh Padgham. The original vinyl UK single also contained the Padgham mix of Press, but the rest of the world never saw a release of this version. The international standard as well as what is on the CD releases is the Bevans/Forward mix and now the earlier mix (that was released second) is no longer anywhere on the market. Since this original mix sounds quite different to my ears (better, as a matter of fact, as it sounds more “souped up” and has an alternate ending), I thought I’d give it a spin on BROW for old times sake.

Paul McCartney, 1986

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? If so, I will do my best to deliver, so let me hear from you. To browse for ideas, check out this search-able listing of thousands of Beatle-related recordings to choose from. Then let me hear from you here.

Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Related posts:

1. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Paul McCartney’s “Angry” (12 in. mix, 1986) Welcome to the Beatles Rarity Of The Week. In the...

The BROW presses forward this week with a follow-up to another posted back on March 1, 2010. This is a track off of Paul McCartney’s aborted Return To Pepperland (20 Years Later…) album originally slated for release back in 1987. At the last minute, Paul backed out of releasing it for reasons unknown. The first time around, I selected the album’s title track and you can check that out here, if you like. In the comments of that post, you can see a request for another tune from this near-release and so I give you Lindiana. Written and recorded by Paul back in December 1984, this song has never appeared officially anywhere in his catalog. Paul was working with Phil Ramone on the Pepperland project, who produced the entire album along with Paul’s UK single Once Upon A Long Ago. Phil had previously produced a few Billy Joel albums and even wrote the award-winning score for the early 1980′a film Flashdance. Am I stirring up some 80′s memories here? There were a handful of other tracks on the album that did show up on subsequent releases by Paul, including a re-worked Beautiful Night (with Ringo Starr on drums) on 1997′s Flaming Pie, as well as a few single b-sides from the Flowers In The Dirt era (1989-1990). A few others (including an instrumental called Squid) were featured on Paul’s 1995 radio show Oobu Joobu.

When I posted this album’s title track back in March, a few commented that the song had too much of an “eighties” vibe. Let me just say that if you are thinking that about this one too, then I can only agree, and say that this is likely because it was recorded in the “eighties” when everyone sounded like that. The Pepperland tunes in my mind are a good missing link between Press To Play and Flowers In The Dirt. Predating Paul’s Flower’s/90′s band, the musicians on this session include Paul on vocals, bass and piano along with one of my favorite guitarists, David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) and Dave Mattacks on drums.

A big thank you goes out to dermarhk this week for suggesting this track for BROW. Thank’s Mark!

Paul McCartney

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? If so, I will do my best to deliver, so let me hear from you. To browse for ideas, check out this search-able listing of Beatle-related recordings to choose from. Then let me hear from you here.

Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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