Paul McCartney talks about box hunting in Jamaica and the discovery of reggae

Paul McCartney discussed box hunting in Jamaica and the discovery of reggae in an excerpt from his new book.

As revealed yesterday (November 10th), the Beatle will release a new vinyl box set called “The 7″ Singles” on December 2nd. Limited to 3,000 copies, the product includes 80 7″ singles from throughout his life, personally selected by McCartney.

‘The 7″ Singles’ contains a total of 163 songs, adding up to 10 hours of music from Macca’s half-century as a solo artist. In addition, each box contains an exclusive, randomly selected proof print of one of the singles.

Fans will also receive a 148-page book with a personal introduction from McCartney, an essay by music journalist Rob Sheffield, extensive chart information, liner notes and official artwork, according to a press release.

Following the announcement of the box set, Rolling Stone has published an extract from the introduction to the book, in which McCartney recalls that he discovered reggae while staying in Jamaica and that he still likes to find new music in record stores and buy vinyl. .

I’ve always found it exciting to thumb through record store boxes, looking for that next discovery,” writes Macca, “I still love it and there are some great independent record stores near my office in London.”

“Some of my happiest memories of buying a 7” single come from the Jamaican record store we used to go to when we were on holiday in Montego Bay. In town there was a place called Tony’s Records on Fustic Road. It was great. There were records. you didn’t know what they were, they weren’t established artists. So it was quite an adventure to ask the guy behind the counter: “How’s this? Is it good?” There were songs with titles like ‘Lick I Pipe'”

He continued: “There was another called ‘Poison Pressure’, by Byron Lee and the Dragonaires, written by Lennon and McCartney. I had to buy it. Did they record one of our songs? No. It was something completely different and we all assumed that they might be a couple.”

The singer went on to reveal that the jukebox in his office is “from a scene in the movie Give My Regards to Broad Street.”

“I really liked it, so I talked to the guy who brought it in and ended up buying it,” he explains, “it’s a really nice vintage piece and the songs on it, like ‘Long Tall Sally’ by Little Richard and Elvis Presley, it takes me back to my childhood, all these memories of when we were kids, even before the Beatles.

“I hope the songs in this box bring you fun and memories too. They bring it to me and there will be more to come…”

McCartney released his 18th solo studio album, ‘McCartney III’, in December 2020. The album completed the trilogy that began with ‘McCartney’ (1970) and ‘McCartney II’ (1980).