Paul McCartney's Ram set for deluxe reissue

Paul McCartney's ongoing deluxe repackaging of his post-Beatles career continues on May 22 with the reissue of 1971's Ram, one of his best and oddest solo albums, on his current label Hear Music. The press release quotes McCartney thusly: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is an album from a long, long time ago, when the world was different....It reminds me of my hippie days and the free attitude with which was created. I hope you're going to like it, because I do!"

Credited to Paul and Linda McCartney -- mostly because McCartney's lawsuits with Apple Records and his fellow former Beatles had frozen his royalties and so only Linda could get paid -- Ram was pretty much savaged by the music press on its initial release. But time has been kind to the album's blend of ornate arrangements, quirky humor and typically excellent melodies. In particular, the epic "The Back Seat Of My Car," a tribute of sorts to Paul's beloved Beach Boys' Pet Sounds/Smile era, is now widely considered one of McCartney's finest.

As with the recent reissues of Band on the Run, McCartney and McCartney II, Ram will be reissued in several configurations: a standard digipak CD, a two-disc version with rarities and both sides of 1971's "Another Day" single, and a 4-CD/1-DVD Deluxe Edition that also includes a rare mono mix of the LP, 1977's wonderfully strange Thrillington (an orchestrated easy listening version of Ram released by McCartney under the pseudonym Percy "Thrills" Thrillington), and a new documentary about the album, along with a 112-page book and a selection of Linda McCartney's photos from the era.