Considering my obsessive fanship of The Beatles, I haven't listened to all of Paul McCartney's new collaboration with Youth, Electric Argument. Its the third album by the duo, known as "The Fireman," and by far the most accessible. It's been getting generally great reviews, and from the part I've heard, its much more interesting than Paul's previous effort (although I enjoyed that one too).
But what really has me exicited is a series of digital packages that are available. Although I had already bought the CD, Macca's marketing mind has suckered me in to spending another $90+, including shipping and handling. But its good for the budget conscious as well. Read on for more!
On the Fireman Music home page, you can listen to all of the tracks on line for free. That's a pretty good start. But go to the purchase page, and it's clear that Paul McCartney (and Youth) are not ones to fear piracy.
For $8.99, you can immediately download the entire album in non-DRM, 320Kbps LAME-encoded MP3 files, about as good as MP3 files can get. And, if you click the little links right below it, included will be lossless files in your choice of FLAC and Apple Lossless. That's a damn fine deal.
For four dollars more, get the downloads right away and they'll ship you a CD with a full colour (I love the British spelling) 48-page booklet. Shipping prices begin to get a little outrageous, but what can you do?
Vinyl collectors can pony up about $30 and they get the downloads, the CD, and a specially mastered audiophile quality LP.
And for me, the most exciting package, is the Digital + Deluxe Limited Edition. It won't ship until January, but in addition to the immediate downloads, the CD and the LP, you get another CD with bonus tracks and outtakes, a DVD with high-definition recordings of the music, an art print, a booklet, and... wait for it...
A DVD with multitrack session files of some of the album tracks, allowing weirdos like me to remix the songs with our own sense of creativity. It's $80, but I can't wait to mess with Macca tracks.
