From Age To Age, Vol.1 & Vol.2 

Whole concert.

Remixed tracks.

Tracks 9 & 10: alternate sources.

12: High-pitched version.
13: Low-pitched version.

LIVERPOOL, England -- Sir Paul McCartney performed "Yesterday" in memory of his former band mate George Harrison at a tribute concert in The Beatles' hometown. McCartney took to the stage at the end of Sunday night's show and dedicated his a cappella version of the hit to the man he called "my baby brother." "I thought I should just come on and say how much George would have loved this," McCartney told the cheering crowd of 2,300 at the Empire Theatre.

The concert, which will benefit cancer charities, was held on the day Harrison celebrated as his birthday -- which records show as falling on February 25. Harrison, who died of cancer on November 29, would have been 59.

Beatles' contemporaries Gerry and the Pacemakers and other Liverpool musicians also performed.

Before the show, McCartney recalled meeting Harrison as a teenager while riding the bus to school. "We go way back," McCartney said. "We both used to live in Speke and he used to get on the bus one stop after me. We used to have a half an hour on the bus to talk about guitars and music and stuff like that. "He was a lovely bloke. He gave a lot to the world -- his music and his spirituality. He was always a very strong man. I think he would be delighted with this," he added.

One of the major British football disasters took place when Liverpool FC was playing Nottingham Forest at the Hillsborough football ground in 1989. Ninety-five people were crushed to death.

Gerry Marsden decided to make a benefit record to aid relatives of the victims. He'd made a special version of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' four years previously in aid of another football disaster at Bradford. On that particular record, in which Gerry had fifty artists participate under the name the Crowd, he had Paul contribute a few words on the B-side of the record, called 'Messages'.

That record topped the British charts. It also gave Gerry another unique record achievement: the first time that an artist had topped the British charts with a different version of the same number.

For the 'Mersey Aid/Hillsborough Fund', Gerry approached Pete Waterman of the hit production team Stock, Aitken and Waterman, who agreed on Gerry's choice of the number 'Ferry 'Cross The Mersey'. Paul McCartney, Holly Johnson of Frankie Goes to Hollywood and another Liverpool band, the Christians, were approached to participate in the recording.

Gerry recorded his part first and Paul and the Christians went in the studios together. Holly Johnson was in Germany at the time and recorded his vocals after the others had all finished. Waterman had to explain to Gerry that their recording technique was different from what he had in mind. He was to comment, 'He (Gerry) wrote it as a pop song. When we produced it with four artists, we did it as a tribute, which changed the whole meaning of why the song was being recorded. Gerry had recorded it with George Martin as a hit; we were now recording it with Paul McCartney and everybody else to raise money for a charity. We were creating an emotional message to wrench money out of people's pockets. Our job was to make money for an appeal and for that what we had to be mercenary'.

The record topped the British charts on 20 May 1989. Gerry Marsden was to comment, 'It was fun to think that Paul McCartney had returned, with me, to the top of the charts with a Marsden composition.'

By Bill Harry "The Paul McCartney Encyclopedia"

By Bill Harry "The Paul McCartney Encyclopedia"

--
A uniquely honest character, Ian Dury could never resist sending up the asinine world of the music industry, or indeed the world itself. His death last year shocked the UK music community, in which he'd made an awful lot of friends, as this tribute album proves.

Re-recording Dury's stellar 1977 album 'New Boots And Panties' with an all-star line-up was an inspired decision, as it conclusively proves that there was more to the man who called himself 'Durex' than 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick' and 'Reasons To Be Cheerful'.

Eight of the ten contributors to the album are backed by Dury's band The Blockheads for added authenticity. Sinead O'Connor is up first on 'Wake Up And Make Love With Me'. Her soft vocals bring out the sensual quality, and highlight the fact that this is a love song, albeit one written from Dury's unique down-to-earth perspective.

Madness suit 'My Old Man' down to the ground, and Suggs effortlessly gets into character. Ditto Billy Bragg on his and The Blokes' version of 'Billericay Dickie'. Wreckless Eric is the third of Dury's contemporaries and his 'Clever Trevor' is suitably downbeat.

Shane MacGowan staggers through the harrowing lyrics of 'Plaistow Patricia', propped up admirably by Sam Brown. And, for a finale, actor Keith Allen snarls and spits through 'Blackmail Man', which shows definitively how Dury could attack prejudice by bringing everyone down to his own lyrical worldview.

The whole album speeds by with barely pause for breath, with everyone putting their heart and soul into their track, and more importantly sounding completely thrilled to be there. A good job very well done. Wherever he is, Lord Upminster is surely smiling down.

Director Cameron Crowe had approached Paul, who wrote the song in four days. He said, 'All I had to do was watch forty minutes of the film to agree. I saw Cruise acting his heart out, and I thought Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz also delivered great performances. It's very exciting being nominated for a Golden Globe.'

He received an award for the song at the seventh annual Critics' Choice Awards, held in Beverly Hills, on Friday 11 January 2002.

He also won an award for the number at the 59th Golden Globes Award ceremony that took place on Sunday 20 January 2002 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, California.

The song was also nominated for an Academy Award as Best Original Song in 2002 and Paul performed it at the Oscars ceremony, although it didn't win.

When he was told of the nomination, Paul said, 'This is fantastic news, it's a great honour to be considered for an award such as this. We are thrilled and would like to thank all of the people responsible.'

Paul had previously been nominated for an Oscar for 'Live And Let Die' in 1971.

'Vanilla Sky' was in the repertoire of his Drivin' USA tour in 2002 and when he performed the number on stage he was joined by Rusty Anderson on a six-string acoustic guitar and Paul 'Wix' Wickens playing the flute part on keyboard.

25/3/2002, during the Oscar awards, McCartney was nominated for the song "Vanilla Sky". The surprise was that behind them were Jeff Lynne and Rosie Vela.