Last week a limited run of fairly mysterious 12" records appeared on the website of Phonica Records. Big deal you say! I've seen mysterious 12" records before and I'll see them again in my lifetime. But what if we told you that this mysterious 12-inch was of a remix of a song by the world's greatest living songwriter and occasional Kanye West collaborator, Paul McCartney. And that the song in question was Band On The Run's cinematic album closer Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five. And that the record in question sold out in a matter of hours before turning up on eBay with copies trading hands for 280 quid? Oh, now you're listening…

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We don't know a whole lot about what's going on here. The remix is credited to an "unknown artist" and there's very little to go on description-wise (thank you, Phonica). But take a listen to the snippets; the sound of studio chatter, those flashes of overdriven guitar, that pulsing, familiar bass tone, imprinted on the mind of anyone with even a passing interest in popular music. It sounds like a real dive into the multi-track here and with McCartney only last week announcing a 67 song, career-spanning greatest hits, you have to wonder whether it was officially sanctioned by the man himself.

It's not like he doesn't have form for electronic music (see McCartney II's scene-stealing Temporary Secretary or his work as half of experimental duo The Fireman). And, if the Club Mix snippet is anything to go by, it appears he's still doing it now, at a point in his life when he's probably earned the right to say, "No, I can't be bothered to put out mysterious 12" records anymore, I'm Paul Bloody McCartney". Seems he just can't get enough of that sweet stuff…

Credits

Matthew Whitehouse