Holiday Gift Guide Sneak Preview: Paul McCartney Readies Massive 7-Inch Singles Box Set With 80 (Count ’Em!) 45s Inside for December 2 Release

The opening salvo ahead of our upcoming holiday gift guides is here! To wit: Paul McCartney recently announced the limited-edition release of The 7″ Singles Box, which features 80 (count ’em!) 7-inch Paul McCartney singles culled from all across the full wingspan of his long and winding solo career, for December 2.

Admittedly, The 7″ Singles Box carries quite the steep SRP at $611.98, and its limited-edition run is capped at 3,000 copies — it may even be sold out by the time you click on the link, as we all know how rabid Macca fans are about these things! — so I would also suggest immediately checking in with the preferred retailer of your choice to see if you can secure a copy through them if, like me, you absolutely must have this collection.

In the meantime, let’s see what The 7″ Singles Box looks like inside, via the official unboxing video. . .

It’s indeed fair to say the 7-inch single format itself has had a longstanding impact and influence on Sir Paul McCartney, both as a songwriter and as a fan of music. Paul recalls in his foreword that comes with this collection how he still enjoys the thrill of “flicking through crates” in record shops looking for new discoveries, and how much respect he and The Beatles had for the B-side. Macca also observes in those notes, “I hope the songs in this box set bring back fun memories for you too. They do for me, and there will be more to come.” (Yes, please!)

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Let ’Em Spin: Above, Sir Paul McCartney, with just a few LP listening options looming on the shelves behind him. Photo © 2018 Mary McCartney.

Just what’s in this big box? Glad you asked. From 1971’s “Another Day” to a 7-inch version of 2022’s Record Store Day Song of the Year, “Women and Wives,” the 80 singles included herein represent 50-plus years of Sir Paul’s post-Beatles recording life. The box set features recreations of 65 singles complete with their original B-sides (using restored artwork from 11 different countries), as well as 15 singles never before released on the 7-inch format. The latter 15 singles are made up from tracks previously released in a variety of ways, whether it be 12-inchers, picture discs, CD singles, promos, digital downloads, music videos, two previously unheard demos, and a previously unheard 7-inch single edit.

Here’s the YouTube clip for the rare 1971 mono recording of “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey [Mono]” that’s in the box. . .

The 7″ Singles Box is beautifully presented in a two-piece, four-walled FSC-approved redwood pine and birch ply wooden art crate designed and built in Derbyshire in the UK, and it also includes a 148-page book featuring the aforementioned personal foreword by Sir Paul, an essay by music journalist Rob Sheffield, extensive chart information, liner notes, and singles artwork. Each box includes a randomly selected, exclusive test pressing of one of the singles.

The contents of The 7″ Singles Box have been remastered and cut at Abbey Road Studios, London.

The entire breakdown of the box set’s full contents follows. Feel free to chime in further down in the Comments section underneath the tracklisting to let us know if you were able to secure a copy of The 7″ Singles Box for yourself, want to see a run/pressing of it, and/or you feel the pricetag is just right, or too high, high, high. . .

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PAUL McCARTNEY
THE 7″ SINGLES BOX

(Capitol/MPL/UMe)

1971, Sweden
1A: Another Day
1B: Oh Woman, Oh Why

1971, US Mono
Promotional Release
2A: Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey [Mono]
2B: Too Many People [Mono]

1971, UK
3A: The Back Seat of My Car
3B: Heart of the Country

Previously unreleased on 7″
4A: Love Is Strange [Single Edit]
4B: I Am Your Singer

1972, UK
5A: Give Ireland Back to the Irish
5B: Give Ireland Back to the Irish [Version]

1972, UK
6A: Mary Had a Little Lamb
6B: Little Woman Love

1972, Belgium
7A: Hi, Hi, Hi
7AA: C Moon

1973, Israel
8A: My Love
8B: The Mess [Live at The Hague]

1973, Sweden
9A: Live and Let Die
9B: I Lie Around

1973, Spain
10A: Helen Wheels
10B: Country Dreamer

1974, Germany
11A: Jet
11B: Let Me Roll It

1974, Germany
12A: Band on the Run
12B: Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five

1974, The Netherlands
13A: Mrs. Vandebilt
13B: Bluebird

1974, Belgium
14A: Junior’s Farm
14B: Sally G

1975, Australia
15A: Listen to What the Man Said
15B: Love in Song

1975, Germany
16A: Letting Go
16B: You Gave Me the Answer

1975, Belgium
17A: Venus and Mars / Rock Show
17B: Magneto and Titanium Man

1976, France
18A: Silly Love Songs
18B: Cook of the House

1976, Germany
19A: Let ‘Em In
19B: Beware My Love

1977, Japan
20A: Maybe I’m Amazed (Live)
20B: Soily (Live)

1977, UK
21A: Mull of Kintyre
21AA: Girls’ School

1978, Germany
22A: With a Little Luck (DJ Edit)
22B: Backwards Traveller/Cuff Link

1978, UK
23A: I’ve Had Enough
23B: Deliver Your Children

1978, The Netherlands
24A: London Town
24B: I’m Carrying

1978, France
25A: Goodnight Tonight
25B: Daytime Nightime Suffering

1979, UK
26A: Old Siam, Sir
26B: Spin It On

1979, UK
27A: Getting Closer
27AA: Baby’s Request

1979, Japan
28A: Arrow Through Me
28B: Old Siam, Sir

1979, UK
29A: Wonderful Christmastime
29B: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reggae

1980, UK
30A: Coming Up
30B: Coming Up (Live at Glasgow)
30BB : Lunch Box/Odd Sox

1980, UK
31A: Waterfalls
31B: Check My Machine

Previously unreleased on 7″
32A: Temporary Secretary
32B: Secret Friend [7″ Single Edit]

1982, UK
33A: Ebony and Ivory
33B: Rainclouds

1982, UK
34A: Take It Away
34B: I’ll Give You a Ring

1982, UK
35A: Tug of War
35B: Get It

1983, UK
36A: Say Say Say
36B: Ode to a Koala Bear

1983, UK
37A: Pipes of Peace
37B: So Bad

1984, UK
38A: No More Lonely Nights (Ballad)
38B: No More Lonely Nights (Playout Version)

1984, UK
39A: We All Stand Together
39B: We All Stand Together (Humming Version)

1985, US
40A: Spies Like Us
40B: My Carnival

1986, US
41A: Press [Video Edit]
41B: It’s Not True

1986, Art reformatted from US 12” promotional vinyl
42A: Pretty Little Head (Remix)
42B: Write Away

1986, US
43A: Stranglehold
43B: Angry (Remix)

1986, UK
44A: Only Love Remains
44B: Tough on a Tightrope

1987, UK
45A: Once Upon a Long Ago
45B: Back on My Feet

1989, US
46A: My Brave Face
46B: Flying to My Home

1989, UK
47A: This One
47B: The First Stone

1989, Australia
48A: Figure of Eight [7″ Bob Clearmountain Mix]
48B: Où Est le Soleil

1989, UK
49A: Party Party
49B: Artwork etching

1990, UK
50A: Put It There
50B: Mama’s Little Girl

1990, Europe
51A: The Long and Winding Road
51B: C Moon

1990, UK
52A: Birthday
52B: Good Day Sunshine

1990, UK
53A: All My Trials
53B: C Moon

Previously unreleased on 7″
54A: The World You’re Coming Into
54AA: Tres Conejos
54B: Save the Child
54BB: The Drinking Song (Let’s Find Ourselves a Little Hostelry)

1992, Europe
55A: Hope of Deliverance
55B: Long Leather Coat

1993, Germany
56A: C’Mon People
56B: I Can’t Imagine

1997, Reformatted from 7″ picture disc
57A: Young Boy
57B: Looking for You

1997, Reformatted from 7″ picture disc
58A: The World Tonight
58B: Used to Be Bad

1997, Reformatted from 7″ picture disc
59A: Beautiful Night
59B: Love Come Tumbling Down

1999, UK
60A: No Other Baby
60B: Brown Eyed Handsome Man
60BB: Fabulous

2001, Europe
61A: From a Lover to a Friend
61B: Riding into Jaipur

2004, Europe
62A: Tropic Island Hum
62B: We All Stand Together

2005, Europe
63A: Fine Line
63B: Growing Up Falling Down

2005, Europe
64A: Jenny Wren
64B: Summer of ’59

Previously unreleased on 7″
65A: Dance Tonight
65B: Dance Tonight [Demo]

Previously unreleased on 7″
66A: Nod Your Head
66B: 222

2007, Europe
67A: Ever Present Past
67B: House of Wax (Live)

Previously unreleased on 7″
68A: Sing the Changes
68B: Nothing Too Much Just Out of Sight [Radio Edit]

Previously unreleased on 7″
69A: (I Want To) Come Home
69B: (I Want To) Come Home [Demo]

Previously unreleased on 7″
70A: My Valentine
70B: Get Yourself Another Fool

2012, US
Christmas Kisses
71A: The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)
71B: Wonderful Christmastime

Previously unreleased on 7″
72A: New
72B: Early Days

Previously unreleased on 7″
73A: Queenie Eye
73B: Save Us

Previously unreleased on 7″
74A: Hope for the Future
74B: Hope for the Future [Thrash Mix]

Previously unreleased on 7″
75A: In the Blink of an Eye
75B: Walking in the Park with Eloise

2018, Global
76A: I Don’t Know
76AA: Come on to Me

Previously unreleased on 7″
77A: Who Cares
77B: Fuh You

2019, Global
78A: Home Tonight
78AA: In a Hurry

Previously unreleased on 7″
79A: Find My Way
79AA: Winter Bird / When Winter Comes

Previously unreleased on 7″
80A: Women and Wives
80B: Women and Wives (St. Vincent Remix)

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COMMENTS
rich d's picture

for the same set without Mull of Kintyre?

Mike Mettler's picture
Hah! I take it you're not akin to Kintyre, Rich...?
rshak47's picture

. . .at 5:20 pm Central Time, and it's Sold Out.

Mike Mettler's picture
...which means, it's time to check in with your favorite record shop to see if they just happened to order one -- and, if so...
Wymax's picture

Once again it's the scalpers market now... 1.300+ USD on eBay. Limited supply always goes this way.

Rashers's picture

looking through the list of singles - I can see the story of my life. I remember buying "Let em in" on a whim onceuponatime. For my generation it all started with Mull of Kintyre and ended with the god-awful Frog song. In between - some great songs - overplayed on the radio, mind.
I think this is actually a good investment - I know that there has been a lot of whining about the cost - but it really is highly collectable and is extremely unlikely to be repressed.

Mike Mettler's picture
Me too, Rashers. The first two Macca 45s I recall purchasing as a lad would be "Jet" (albeit in a repackaged, dull-green textured sleeve, so it was a later pressing) and "Arrow Through Me" (with that fadey-orange Columbia label, in a nondescript black sleeve with the word "Columbia" on it). Both are currently in storage with my other McCartney 45s, so if I'm able to get this big box in hand, it will simply be a wonderful spinnning time ahead.
Tom L's picture

I can't help wondering how many of these will sit on a shelf unplayed, waiting to appreciate in value.

garrard701's picture

I love sets like these – on vinyl -- for the cool artwork and the fun of handling 45s, but I do think a lot of these will just end up on shelves, waiting to be flipped. The reason I specified “on vinyl” is because those Rolling Stones sets from a few years ago were SO LAME (and wasteful) on compact disk. I’m glad they’re finally being reissued on vinyl.
My issues with this set are so minor… but interesting!
First, I do hope the artwork is high quality; several of the sleeves in the Beatles set were grainy or pixelated.
Second, I wonder how some of the 12” singles will sound when recut for 7”. I have the UK 12” of “Secret Friend,” which is over 10 minutes. It’s hypnotic and sounds amazing. The track is listed here as a 7” edit, which is disappointing, and I doubt it will sound as deep as the version on the 12”.
Third, it’s cool that the canceled single from “Wild Life” is included (Love Is Strange/I Am Your Singer), but why not “The Man”/”Blackpool”? I believe that was slated for release in 1984? Perhaps there’s no need for even more MJ on this set?
I do notice that “The Girl Is Mine” is absent, likely since it’s owned by Jackson’s estate. And so are the collaborations with Kanye. But why omit “Seaside Woman” or “Walking In the Park with Eloise” or the Fireman singles? Sure, they came out under pseudonyms, but hardcore fans (like the ones buying this set) would appreciate those.
The only two singles I would have changed or added… “Eat at Home”/”Smile Away” (Germany), and I would’ve replaced the German “Band on the Run”/”Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five” with its UK counterpart (Band on the Run/Zoo Gang) to provide another deep cut.

Mike Mettler's picture
Thanks for the Macca singles analysis, garrard701! I think you're absolutely right re the MJ estate not wanting to license any of that material -- and I suspect they probably have reissue plans of their own at some point anyway. (No comment re the Ye track.) I do have the Fireman LP releases, but none of the singles, so I wonder if there will be any thought given to some kind of followup box of sorts, since there are other odds and ends they could include. We could even ask them to go one step further to include guest appearances like his turn as "Paul Ramon" on Steve Miller Band's "My Dark Hour" 45, for one...
Anton D's picture

I might be too lazy for this set!

rich d's picture

is a jukebox. Problem solved.

Mike Mettler's picture
You know, I'd love to have a jukebox someday... and on a semi-related note, wouldn't it be interesting to marathon all the contents of this box set uninterrupted, save for flipping the sides and swapping out the 45s, until you got through them all... hmm, we may have to start a thread to see who's had the longest contiguous listening session, and what all that session entailed...
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