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Pure McCartney VR is like standing in a musical pop-up book of Paul’s brain

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The Beatles took the world on a Magical Mystery Tour in 1967. In 2016, Paul McCartney is removing the mystery and the tour, while bringing fans into the magic behind his favorite solo songs. On Tuesday, virtual reality company Jaunt and Paul McCartney are debuting Pure McCartney VR, a six-part documentary series featuring the legendary Beatle sharing stories behind his songs in virtual reality.

See here to stream Paul McCartney’s latest self-titled album of greatest hits

Pure McCartney VR will allow fans to visit McCartney’s home studio while a digital version of the 73-year-old singer/songwriter details the nuanced stories behind six of his most famous solo recordings. The songs being featured are Dance Tonight, Coming Up, My Valentine Part I, My Valentine, Part II, Mull of Kintyre, and Early Days. The Dance Tonight and Coming Up episodes are available today on the Jaunt app, with My Valentine I premiering next week. 

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McCartney is taking fans behind the scenes of his solo catalog in anticipation of his upcoming 67-song compilation album Pure McCartney. The album will feature songs spanning McCartney’s entire 45-year solo career. The Pure McCartney compilation album comes out on June 10.

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Directed by American History X director Tony Kaye, Pure McCartney VR feels like you have been transported into a pop-up book that has been inserted into a recording studio. When McCartney plays notes on the mandolin while describing the process of making his 2007 song Dance Tonight, a music sheet with the notes being played pops out in front, on the side and above you as he strums his fingers along the strings. When McCartney says he and his daughter danced around to the song, the words  “foxtrot” and “swing” pop out in papier mache form.

The episode on his 1980 hit Coming Up — a song McCartney played every instrument on — employs similar visual cues to keep fans’ attention. With the Coming Up music video playing next to McCartney sitting at a drum set, pictures of people who inspired the characters McCartney played in the music video quickly flash right in front of you, along with random multicolored stripes. The episode ends with fans being encircled in a constantly changing series of archival photos of McCartney.

Paul McCartney Jaunt VR
Image used with permission by copyright holder

In the same way McCartney and the Beatles made recording techniques such as artificial double tracking standard in the music industry, McCartney has been a pioneering artist in virtual reality. In November 2014, McCartney teamed up with Jaunt to release one of the first virtual reality live performance recordings for his performance of 1973 Wings song “Live and Let Die” at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park.

Each episode of Pure McCartney VR can be accessed in the Pure McCartney section of the Jaunt app and will premiere each week until June 14.

Here is the full schedule of Pure McCartney VR episode releases:

  •        Tues, 5/24 – Dance Tonight
  •        Tues, 5/24 – Coming Up
  •        Tues, 5/31 – My Valentine, Part I
  •        Tues, 6/7 – My Valentine, Part II
  •        Fri, 6/10 – Mull of Kintyre (Day of PURE McCartney album release)
  •        Tuesday, 6/14 – Early Days
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Keith Nelson Jr.
Keith Nelson Jr.
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Keith Nelson Jr is a music/tech journalist making big pictures by connecting dots. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY he…
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