Wings - Maybe I’m Amazed

No, it's not being released on CD, but for those interested, a vinyl release of "Maybe I'm Amazed" is coming out with the stereo and mono cuts of the single version on April 20:

Wings, Maybe I’m Amazed (Capitol PRO-8574/SPRO-8577, 1976 – reissued 2013)

    Maybe I’m Amazed (Mono – Short Version)
    Maybe I’m Amazed (Mono – Album Version)
    Maybe I’m Amazed (Stereo – Short Version)
    Maybe I’m Amazed (Stereo – Album Version)

The full story is here:

http://theseconddisc.com/2013/03/07/return-of-the-rock-show- record-store-day-exclusive-previews-mccartney-archive-collec tions-wings-over-america/#more-19782

That's pretty much the drill, Santi, since the whole purpose of RSD is to drive in-store traffic at the indies.

If the cover photo on the RSD website is accurate, it'll be extremely easy to tell the 1977 Capitol originals apart from the new Concord 12-inchers. The most striking difference is the lack (for obvious reasons, alas) of both the huge Capitol logo on the label and the smaller Capitol logo on the cover. The bold "MAYBE I'M AMAZED" title on the cover is also positioned differently: on the original Capitol, it's above the die-cut cover hole, while the Concord title is underneath the hole (assuming it, too, is die-cut.)

The listed song lengths on the cover also differ between the two:

short versions: 3:43 (Capitol) and 3:53 (Concord)
album versions: 5:11 (Capitol) and 5:22 (Concord)

Here are the actual times of the four cuts on my 1977 Capitol 12-inch 45:

mono short version....3:51
mono album version....5:20
stereo short version..3:52
stereo album version..5:20

So the new times listed on the Concord cover are more accurate than those on the Capitol, although since it was an airplay-only release, the Capitol times were probably better suited for radio use, with precise audience applause fade lengths not being of paramount importance.

The Capitol disc also has locking grooves after the first cut on each side, so you have to physically lift the stylus from the record to move it to the second cuts. It'll be interesting to see if the Concord release follows suit.

One thing I hope the Concord doesn't replicate: the inner lock grooves on both sides of the Capitol disc extend well into the paper label. Not good for the ol' styli!

If that $5.98 list is accurate, the 3,500 Concord copies will sell out immediately.

Edited by Yah Shure

Out of the four tracks on the Capitol 12-inch 45, I prefer the sound of the mono short version. It's cut hotter than even the mono album version that follows it. The highs are nice and crisp, too.

This is really picky, but since I don't own a copy of the 45 of the live hit version I'm hoping someone can confirm. There are a couple of rips of the 45 on youtube and on both of them there's about a 1.2 second fade-in of crowd noise before the piano intro. My Wings Over America CD (2013 remaster) has "Maybe I'm Amazed" indexed to start on the piano intro. I tried to tack on the crowd noise from the outro of the previous track ("Medicine Jar") and fade it in to replicate the needledrop from youtube. But the crowd noise outro from "Medicine Jar" sounds quite different than the beginning of the 45 needledrop on youtube.

Can someone with the commercial 45 confirm that it begins with this brief fade-in of crowd noise? If so, that intro may be unique to the 45.

In another quirk, the appearance of the hit version on the "Rolling Stone Collection" compilation CD had some surgery done to the intro making it different than the LP and 45 versions. This version also starts cold with the piano intro like the "Wings Over America" CD, but it sounds like someone removed the first piano chord strike and spliced in a copy of the second piano chord in its place (in other words, the intro consists of the second piano chord heard twice). Very odd.