CLUB SANDWICH 43

ONLY LOVE REMAINS

            For many people, 'Only Love Remains' is the classic, traditional McCartney item on Press To Play. As Paul himself says, "I like the quiet moment, and this song is that reflective moment". Certainly, it's hardly a candidate for the flashier kind of video treatment.
            Director Maurice Phillips felt this too. Having directed videos by Billy Ocean, the Thompson Twins, Joe Cocker and Tom Robinson, he had just finished a feature film (The American Way, with Dennis Hopper and Michael J. Pollard) and had listened closely to both versions of the song.
            "The single mix is very different, especially with the sax added. I felt the video should reflect the simplicity of the song, so it was filmed in one continuous shot -the first time I've ever done this. There were no edits or special effects, only a fade-up at the beginning and fade-out at the end."
            The whole thing took three days (17th-19th November) at D Stage, Pinewood Studios. What were the special advantages of filming there?
            "We needed a big stage; I'd done commercials there before."
            As the song opens, Paul is spotlit at the piano, the other musicians and singers in the dark. (Included are Eric Stewart, Graham Ward and Nick Glennie-Smith from the Press To Play sessions and Tessa Miles, Vicki Brown, Preston Hayman and Jamie Talbot.) Linda, harmonizing at the piano, and the others are lit up one by one; then a living room appears, "suspended from the ceiling", containing Gordon Jackson of Upstairs Downstairs fame and the lovely Pauline Yates, best known as the long-suffering wife of TV's Reggie Perrin. ("They represent Paul and Linda twenty years on.") Gordon sings along on the second verse, Gavin Wright and the 19-piece