Paul McCartney, Third Man Records Release Mini-Doc ‘McCartney/333’ in Honor of 2020 LP

On November 3, two musical entities that need no introduction, Sir Paul McCartney and Jack White’s Third Man Records, released a new mini-documentary, McCartney/333. This documentary details the behind-the-scenes process of the vinyl pressing for the former Beatle’s limited release “333 Edition” of his 2020 solo album, McCartney III, which he produced with Third Man.

According to a statement about the new work: “The documentary specifically illuminates the process by which vinyl copies of 1970’s McCartney and 1980’s McCartney II were broken down and reformed into 333 limited-edition copies of McCartney III at Third Man Pressing. Several Third Man Records employees, including co-founder Ben Swank, are interviewed for the film alongside esteemed Rolling Stone journalist Rob Sheffield, all spliced in alongside footage of McCartney creating the album in his studio.”

Check out the mini-doc below.

To accompany the 2020 “333 Edition,” McCartney and Third Man also recently released the “3333 Edition,” an indie record store exclusive of 3,333 copies pressed on yellow-and-black splatter vinyl. You can check that out here.

For McCartney, 2020 marked 50 years since his first solo release, McCartney. He hadn’t planned to release new work but when the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdown struck, the songwriter began tinkering.

Recorded in 2020 in Sussex, England, McCartney III is mostly built from live takes of the former Beatle on vocals and guitar or piano, overdubbing rhythm parts.

“I was living lockdown life on my farm with my family,” said the 79-year-old Liverpool-born McCartney in a statement, “and I would go to my studio every day. I had to do a little bit of work on some film music and that turned into the opening track and then when it was done I thought what will I do next?

“I had some stuff I’d worked on over the years but sometimes time would run out and it would be left half-finished so I started thinking about what I had. Each day I’d start recording with the instrument I wrote the song on and then gradually layer it all up, it was a lot of fun. It was about making music for yourself rather than making music that has to do a job. So, I just did stuff I fancied doing. I had no idea this would end up as an album.”