Saturday, May 3, 2008

The Fireman Moniker

This post is an answer to a question from mojollikins.

If you have followed the work of Paul McCartney over the years, you will know that he has used many aliases. The earliest, of course, was Paul Ramon (Ram On) during the pre-famous Beatles days.



The next big alias was Bernard Webb as the writer of the song "Woman" recorded by Peter and Gordon. Others include Percy Thrillington, The Country Hams, Clint Harrigan, Apollo C. Vermouth, and that's still not all.




So, it was no big surprise when a CD called "Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest" came out on Parlophone with the copyright of 1993 Juggler Music, that it was somehow related to Paul McCartney. I believe it was Paul's Official fan magazine Club Sandwich that spilled the beans. Paul had recruited the Producer known as Youth to do a mix from various McCartney samples, most prominently a snippet of the song "The Broadcast" from the album "Back To the Egg." He did 9 mixes for ONE SONG, but Paul heard them as 9 SONGS and put it out as an album. It is not the easiest thing to listen to because it really is one song repeated nine times with only a little variation, despite the nine very different song titles.



Paul and Youth teamed up again for the 1998 release "Rushes," which was a much more interesting listen, although still a very different McCartney release in terms of accessibility. Far from the usual McCartney melodies, one track featured a moaning woman and the artwork included a full frontal shot of a nude woman.

This second release actually received some promotion including an extremely bizarre web cast. (See previous post The Fireman is no mason)



One thing that not too many people talk about is the strange connection that these two albums have to Paul's past. This connection wasn't apparent until the second CD. "The Fireman rushes" is a partial line from the Beatles single "Penny Lane." So we have "Strawberry" and "Penny Lane," which of course even though they were not on the album, are considered to be the lead single for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band.




The interesting news is that the new album Paul is working on is supposedly an even more accessible Firemen project. This one will have lyrics. It remains to be seen if this one will also point back to Sgt. Pepper.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't forget "Liverpool Sound Collage"!

Anonymous said...

Maybe we should have a secret code..

Tafultong said...

Yes, I didn't forget that one. I thought about it, but even though it was a side project, he used his own name. In fact, the credits on each song for that one are crazy. Tracks 1 & 4 are credited to "paul mccartney, the beatles." Track 2 is "super furry animals, the beatles." Track 3 is "youth" even though it contains mccartney/beatles samples. And the last track "free now" is credited to "paul mccartney, the beatles, super furry animals."

I could have included "Twin Freaks" and "Suzy and the Red Stripes." There are a few others as well.

Tafultong said...

"Secret code" yes! I love how he hides the most blatant references in the most innocent songs. That, of course, is from "Press."

Anonymous said...

Wasn't Norwegian Wood supposed to be about burning a house down?

Anonymous said...

Oops! You're right about "L S C" being under Paul, but it IS on the HYDRA label; same as The Fireman.

mojollikins said...

Wow, thank you for such a generous answer. I did see the webcasts and they are very bizarre but I don't decipher any recognizable information. In my previous post I mentioned that I had been on an iamaphoney binge since Dec o8' and I meant 07' obviously (unless I, too was capable of time travel). Regardless, grandfatheraleister made some interesting youtube videos. Has anyone researched or given creedence to this iamaphoney supposition? I am digging around, it certainly is possible given Aleister's horny background. Thanks again for welcoming me.

Anonymous said...

Vince here,
Just saw that Paul asReptillian singing "Soilly" thing:

FREAKY!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7kV8o70UzE&feature=PlayList&p=95D3CF7799924C68&index=1

Anonymous said...

I hesitate to add fuel to the FIREMAN's pyre, but the 'EMI'/'eH me I' connection has reminded me of something...

...the Parlophone logo bears a strange resemblance (although reversed) to certain ancient gnostic pendants. Make of this what thou wilt. ;)

Anonymous said...

pa ai ta gebew

Tafultong said...

Very good, noog. Thank you for noticing.

Tafultong said...

Regarding...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7kV8o70UzE

Did it really take nearly 10 minutes to make that point? It goes to show what a dub of a dub of a dub at a low frame rate will do to you. Actually the stills looked relatively clear for the source, so maybe that was an effect.

It does make me wonder why Soily never got the exposure it deserved. "The cat in satin trousers said it's oily." I hope to see that on that McCartney box set that I hope will come out during my lifetime.

Anonymous said...

Fake or not, like most things in the PID/PWR world, it's INTERESTING!
, and you can't deny the POWER of 'interesting'!

Pablo said...

One thing I notice about the fireman website is that it have so many messages and strange things pointing to strange things (satanic? mason? illuminati?)
And the site has no reference to Paul... so... was it official? I think it was, but... with that information? What does it all means?

And... another connection is between one of the songs on "Strawberrys" (I think) that is called 444.

In "Memory Almost Full" extended version there are a song called 222.
222 + 444 = 666


strange...

Felipegcs said...

...and the image of the naked girl in the fireman website had the filename "succubus.jpg"
:S

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