Paul Is Live by Paul McCartney

Paul Is Live is a live album by Paul McCartney released in 1993 during his New World Tour in support of Off the Ground. The album's title and cover parody the infamous "Paul Is Dead" rumours that arose in 1969 after the release of The Beatles' last recorded album, Abbey Road: the infamous "281F" on the cover plate (purportedly saying that Paul would have been 28 had he lived; he was actually 27 at the time) was changed to "51 IS" (indicating his current age). Also featured on the album cover is one of the offspring of Martha, the sheepdog Paul claimed was the subject of the song 'Martha My Dear.' The cover photo is the original Abbey Road cover photo, shot by photographer Iain Macmillan. The retouching was done by CGI artist Erwin Keustermans by erasing the Beatles and putting in Paul and the dog, taken from 35 mm pictures by Linda McCartney. Excerpted from his shows in Australia, as well as from various US cities, Paul Is Live followed the 1989-90 Paul McCartney World Tour Tripping the Live Fantastic extravaganza by only three years, confounding critics and fans as to its appearance (and even its necessity). As a result, Paul Is Live became McCartney's lowest-selling live set of his entire career, peaking at #34 in the UK and a lowly #78 in the US. The band lineup was also the same as on the previous tour, save for Blair Cunningham replacing Chris Witten on drums. McCartney would take a noticeable break from his solo career, beginning the enormous Beatles Anthology project in early 1994 with George Harrison, Ringo Starr and George Martin, which would take up much of his time for the next two years, before finally returning with Flaming Pie in 1997. A Capitol Records release; ℗ 2019 MPL Communications, Inc, under exclusive license to UMG Recordings, Inc.