Like the rest of The Beatles, Paul McCartney had fallen out of love with the idea of being in a band by the end of the 1960s. But one of the effects of making two excellent, essentially solo albums in the wake of their split in “McCartney” and “Ram” — albeit with the close involvement of his wife Linda — was to remind Paul that there was still much to be said for the collaborative approach.
So it was that, less seven months after the release of “Ram”, McCartney was back in a band setting. In their first formation, with Paul and Linda joined by Denny Seiwell (the drummer who had played on Ram) and former Moody BlueDenny Laine, Wings made their UK chart debut on 18th December 1971 with the “Wild Life”album.
The quartet recorded the LP, with its notably live and stripped-down feel, in the summer, in Paul’s old stamping ground of Abbey Road Studios, with engineering by Tony Clark and Alan Parsons. This was a new type of album for the former Beatle, with no UK single releases nor any particular attempt to write for the charts. The name of the band wasn’t even on the front cover, nor was the album title.
Five of the eight tracks were recorded in one take, most of the record in three days, and the whole thing was completed inside a fortnight. There was one cover, a slowed-down version of Mickey & Sylvia’s early 1957 US hit ‘Love Is Strange.’ But, on an album of simple pleasures, there were also such underrated compositions as ‘Tomorrow’ and ‘Some People Never Know.’ and the hauntingly sparse “Dear Friend.”
What was also unusual for any McCartney project was that the relatively low-profile album never made the UK top ten. It peaked at its No.11 debut and was out of the chart, in its initial run, in just six weeks. It went gold and reached No. 10 in an 18-week run in the US, and was comfortably top ten in many European countries, and No. 3 in Australia. But the chart rankings were far less important than the new mood that “Wild Life” created for McCartney’s future.
On November 8th, McCartney launched the new project in light-hearted style with a ball for 800 invited guests at the Empire Ballroom in London’s Leicester Square. There was musical accompaniment by nostalgic dance band Ray McVay & his Band of the Day, and the dance formation outfit Frank & PeggySpencer Formation Team, as well as tracks from Wild Life itself.
5-episode Documentary series about the fascinating musical career of Paul McCartney. Episode 1 focuses on 1970-1975. this is a most outstanding documentary, probably the best I have seen on McCartney done with flair, care, expertise and with such a touch of magic that by making it so very special it easily transcends the usual formulaic dirge we’ve been given over the years about The Beatles and their solo careers. I sincerely hope that MPL gets wind of this and realises what a genius they could add to their stable or at least get involved with future McCartney projects. This also will mean such a great deal to the true fans who transcended from The Beatles to the Solo Beatles including myself.Ironic that as Paul was slipping into depression in the autumn of 69 while we were all bathing in the wonderment of Abbey Road….Without question though imo 70/71 was Pauls finest, the quartet of McCartney/Ram/ Wild Lifestill retain such a magical aura all of their own.
I loved BOTR & Venus & Mars, but it’s always those first 3 albums I return to again and again. For anyone’s interest Little Lamb Dragonfly on the Red Rose Speedway album was actually recorded in the Ram sessions, and when you learn that fact you realise that it really does belong on Ram. The essential inclusion (and often overlooked) thoughts, feelings and observations of Denny Seiwell , Denny Laine & Henry McCulloch are so vital to the first Wings lineup and very moving too. Their own words reflect how much respect they had for Paul, and really it shows how sadly too they were let down financially leaving Denny Seiwell and Henry no alternative but to leave. Had Paul perhaps paid the same attention to their payments of salaries that he did to his music they would have never walked out. Linda sadly got a lot of stick at the time but her vocal harmonies (with Denny too) were pure magic and a musical legacy her to be rightly proud of.
As the Beatles were breaking up in 1969–70, McCartney fell into a depression. His wife helped him pull out of that condition by praising his work as a songwriter and convincing him to continue writing and recording. In her honour, he wrote “Maybe I’m Amazed”, explaining that with the Beatles breaking up, “that was my feeling: Maybe I’m amazed at what’s going on … Maybe I’m a man and maybe you’re the only woman who could ever help me; Baby won’t you help me understand … Maybe I’m amazed at the way you pulled me out of time, hung me on the line, Maybe I’m amazed at the way I really need you.” He added that “every love song I write is for Linda.”
One of my favourite elements about this series is how much input there is from people who actually got the chance to work and collaborate with McCartney. Having that kind of “outside” perspective is especially useful when one’s main subject is not very much given to self-examination. And it’s amazing to see how much love and respect Paul creates around him, more clearly observed in the people whose feelings didn’t get distorted by hurt, envy, and bitterness.
5-episode Documentary series on Paul McCartney’s fascinating music career. Episode 2 spans 1975-1980,
Following the addition of guitarist Henry McCullough, Wings’ first concert tour began in 1972 with a debut performance in front of an audience of seven hundred at the University of Nottingham. Ten more gigs followed as they travelled across the UK in a van during an unannounced tour of universities, during which the band stayed in modest accommodation and received pay in coinage collected from students, while avoiding Beatles songs during their performances. McCartney later said, “The main thing I didn’t want was to come on stage, faced with the whole torment of five rows of press people with little pads, all looking at me and saying, ‘Oh well, he is not as good as he was.’ So we decided to go out on that university tour which made me less nervous … by the end of that tour I felt ready for something else, so we went into Europe.” During the seven-week, 25-show Wings Over Europe Tour, the band played almost solely Wings and McCartney solo material: the Little Richard cover “Long Tall Sally” was the only song that had previously been recorded by the Beatles. McCartney wanted the tour to avoid large venues; most of the small halls they played had capacities of fewer than 3,000 people. Wings followed Band on the Run with the chart-topping albums Venus and Mars (1975) and Wings at the Speed of Sound (1976). In 1980, McCartney released his second solo LP, the self-produced McCartney II, which peaked at number one in the UK and number three in the US. As with his first album, he composed and performed it alone. The album contained the song “Coming Up”, the live version of which, recorded in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1979 by Wings, became the group’s last number-one hit. By 1981, McCartney felt he had accomplished all he could creatively with Wings and decided he needed a change. The group discontinued in April 1981 after Laine quit following disagreements over royalties and salaries.
5-episode Documentary series about the fascinating musical career of Paul McCartney. Episode 3 focuses on the 1980s. McCartney participated in Live Aid, performing “Let it Be”,
In September 1989, they launched the Paul McCartney World Tour, his first in over a decade. During the tour, McCartney performed for the largest paying stadium audience in history on 21st April 1990, when 184,000 people attended his concert at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.That year, he released the triple album Tripping the Live Fantastic, which contained selected performances from the tour.
5-episode Documentary series about the fascinating musical career of Paul McCartney. Episode 4 focuses on the 1990s.
In 1991, McCartney performed a selection of acoustic-only songs on MTV Unplugged and released a live album of the performance titled Unplugged (The Official Bootleg). During the 1990s, McCartney collaborated twice with Youth of Killing Joke as the musical duo “the Fireman”. The two released their first electronica album together, Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest, in 1993. McCartney released the rock album Off the Ground in 1993. The subsequent New World Tour followed, which led to the release of the Paul Is Live album later that year
5-episode Documentary series on Paul McCartney’s fascinating music career. Episode 5 is a “double album” covering some of Paul’s greatest works spanning a total of two decades: Part 1 focuses on 2000-2010, Part 2 covers 2010-2020.
In 1997, McCartney released the rock album Flaming Pie. Ringo Starr appeared on drums and backing vocals in “Beautiful Night”. Later that year, he released the classical work Standing Stone, which topped the UK and US classical charts.[155] In 1998, he released Rushes, the second electronica album by the Fireman. In 1999, McCartney released Run Devil Run. Recorded in one week, and featuring Ian Paice and David Gilmour, it was primarily an album of covers with three McCartney originals. He had been planning such an album for years, having been previously encouraged to do so by Linda, who had died of cancer in April 1998.
McCartney did an unannounced performance at the benefit tribute, “Concert for Linda,” his wife of 29 years who died a year earlier. It was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 10th April 1999, and was organised by two of her close friends, Chrissie Hynde and Carla Lane.
McCartney’s enduring fame has made him a popular choice to open new venues. In 2009, he played to three sold-out concerts at the newly built Citi Field, a venue constructed to replace Shea Stadium in Queens, New York. These performances yielded the double live album Good Evening New York City later that year. McCartney remains one of the world’s top draws.
Paul McCartney is reissuing four live albums on CD and vinyl, with limited coloured vinyl editions available.the legendary artist announced a look back at his past live performances with four new titles: reissues of Wings Over America, Choba B CCCP, and Paul Is Live, plus the world premiere of the complete Amoeba Gig. All four albums will be released on July 12th from MPL/Capitol/UMe in digital formats, on CD, and on both black and limited edition color vinyl.
The following descriptions have been provided by Macca: himself
BUY NOW FROM AMAZON.COM
“Amoeba Gig:”
Amoeba Gig is the first full length commercial release of Paul’s surprise free concert at Hollywood’s Amoeba Music on June 27th, 2007. To date only four songs have seen wide release as the Amoeba’s Secret EP, two of which were nominated for Grammy Awards in 2008: “That Was Me” for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and “I Saw Her Standing There” for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance. A few years later in November 2012, an extended 12-song excerpt of the Amoeba show titled Live in Los Angeles – The Extended Set was made available free to PaulMcCartney.com premium members for a limited period. And come July 12, 2019, a full 21-song recording documenting possibly the most intimate L.A. show Paul has ever played will be made available to the public for the first time. The millions of people not among the luckier than lucky few hundred rubbing elbows with the likes of Ringo Starr and Woody Harrelson during that once in a lifetime in-store set will be able to experience those performances of Beatles classics “The Long And Winding Road,” “I’ll Follow The Sun” and “I’ve Got A Feeling,” Flaming Pie’s “Calico Skies,” plus Carl Perkins’ “Matchbox,” Jan Garber’s “Baby Face” and an emotional rendition of “Here Today.” Additionally, the LP will include an exclusive soundcheck recording of “Coming Up.”
Amoeba Gig has been newly remixed by Paul’s engineer Steve Orchard and will be available in configurations including CD, 2 x 180g black vinyl, and limited edition color vinyl (LP1 – clear, LP2 – hazy amber transparent).
Paul Is Live:
Recorded during the U.S. and Australian swings of the tour in support of 1993’s Off The Ground, Paul Is Live is Paul’s fifth live album. Originally released that same year, the album is famous for the multiple meanings and clues embedded in its title and cover art, all of which play on the “Paul Is Dead” conspiracy/hoax. In addition to a wealth of Wings and Beatles classics, covers of Roy Brown’s “Good Rockin’ Tonight” and Leiber and Stoller’s “Kansas City” and more, Paul Is Live also offers a peek behind the curtain: Three songs improvised on the spot and exclusive to the album, all recorded during rehearsals in various locations over the course of the tour.
Paul Is Live has been newly remastered at Abbey Road Studios and will be available in configurations including CD, 2 x 180g black vinyl, and limited edition color vinyl (LP1 – opaque baby blue, LP2 – plush peach white opaque).
Choba B CCCP:
The live-in-studio Choba B CCCP (Russian for “Back In The USSR”) was released in the Soviet Union in 1988, making Paul the first Western artist to issue an album exclusively for that market. In a conscious decision to get back to his roots, Paul spontaneously spent two days covering his favorite hits from the 1950s. The sessions produced 22 songs in total (and one of the outtakes being a version of The Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There”). Choba B CCCP was a deeply personal album and a way to acknowledge fans who had supported him and The Beatles since the start. “When I was very young I asked my dad if people wanted peace,” Paul explained at the time. “He said to me, ‘Yes, people everywhere want peace – it’s usually politicians that cause trouble.’ It always seemed to me that the way The Beatles’ music was admired in the USSR tended to prove his point, that people the world over have a great deal in common. In releasing this record exclusively in the Soviet Union, I extend the hand of peace and friendship to the people of Russia.” Choba B CCCP was released in the rest of the world following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
Choba B CCCP has been newly remastered at Abbey Road Studios and will be reissued as the original 11-track Russian release. It will be available in configurations including CD, 180g black vinyl, and limited edition opaque yellow vinyl.
Wings Over America:
Rare No. 1-charting triple live album, Wings Over Americais a document of one the most sophisticated and dazzling rock shows of the 1970s or any decade. Paul and the band would eventually perform to more than 600,000 people at 31 shows in the US and Canada, ending with three historic nights at The Forum in Los Angeles. It’s no exaggeration to say that the excitement that greeted Paul McCartney & Wings (Linda McCartney, Joe English, Denny Laine and Jimmy McCulloch) in the spring of 1976 as they embarked on what would become their one and only North American tour was overwhelming. Having released four consecutive chart-topping albums — Red Rose Speedway, Band on the Run, Venus and Mars and At The Speed Of Sound – not to mention 1973’s Academy Award-winning James Bond theme “Live and Let Die” – Wings’ career was in full flight… and as Paul’s first U.S. tour since The Beatles, the sheer joy of both the band and its fans were off the charts throughout the 90 hours of recordings distilled into this triple album. Wings Over America was last reissued in 2013 as part of the Paul McCartney Archive Collection series winning the Grammy Award for Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package.
Wings Over America will be available in configurations including double CD, 3 x 180g triple vinyl, and limited edition color vinyl (LP1 – transparent red, LP2 – transparent green, LP3 – transparent blue) both come with original souvenir poster.
Paul McCartney announced the latest installments of his ongoing Archive Collections, with a pair of deluxe reissues dedicated to the Wings-era LPs 1971’s Wild Life and 1973’s Red Rose Speedway. Both reissues arrive December 7th. For the 3CD/1DVD limited deluxe edition of Wild Life, the newly remastered original album will be paired with two discs worth of rough mixes, home recordings, b-sides, single edits and other unreleased material, including a minute-long home recording of “Indeed I Do.” The DVD for the set boasts rare footage of acoustic home videos, rehearsals and more.
With 1970’s McCartney a solo album and the following year’s RAM credited to Paul and Linda McCartney, WildLife (an album I have always called ‘Wings Wildlife’!) was effectively the long-playing debut from Wings. It was released only seven months after RAM in December ’71. There were no singles at all from this album, although in 1972 a series of non-album 45s were released: ‘Give Ireland Back To The Irish’, ‘Mary Had A Little Lamb’ and ‘Hi Hi Hi’ / ‘C-Moon’. All are included as bonus tracks (with their respective B-sides) on these new reissues.
“The Wild Life deluxe package includes a 128-page book written by David Fricke telling the story behind the album including track-by-track information and new interviews with Paul and key album personnel, a 48-page scrapbook of tour diaries, lyrics and set lists, unpublished Polaroids, lyrics, notes and memorabilia from the MPL archives,” MPL/Capitol/UMe said of the reissue.
Red Rose Speedway‘s massive 3CD/2DVD/1Blu-ray set enjoins the remastered 1973 LP with a reconstructed version of its originally conceived (but ultimately nixed) “double album,” as well as b-sides, alternate mixes and previously unreleased tracks from the era. The album reached number one on the US charts and is best known for its one and only single ‘My Love’, a UK top ten hit just before the release of the album. As many die hard fans will know, Red Rose Speedway was originally conceived as a double, but ultimately edited down to a single album for release. The reissue’s DVDs include the James Paul McCartney TV Special, interviews and music videos, and the never-before-seen film The Bruce McMouse Show.
“The package includes a folio containing 14 replica hand-drawn original character sketches by Paul and facsimile dialogue sheets for the film, a 128-page book containing many previously unpublished images by Linda McCartney, expanded album and single artwork from the archives and story behind the album – including new interviews with Paul McCartney, and key album personnel – and track-by-track information, written by Amanda Petrusich, five replica handwritten lyric sheets and photo print, a 64-page ‘Wings In Morocco’ photo book, all housed in a numbered outer slipcase,” MPL/Capitol/UMe said.
While both reissues will be sold separately and in double-CD and double-vinyl formats, the mammoth Wings 1971 – 1973box set pairs the super deluxe versions of Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway along with an exclusive new live album titled Wings Over Europe, a collection of 20 songs from the band’s European tours during the era.
“Every release in the on-going Paul McCartney Archive Collection is supervised by Paul himself, who oversees all aspects of each and every title from remastering to the curation of lost tracks, outtakes, artwork, photographs and video from his personal vaults, and much more,” McCartney’s site added of the reissues, the 10th and 11th installment in the ongoing series. “The result is one of the most ambitious and personal undertakings of its kind, one that encompasses more than 40 years of cherished, classic material from the most successful songwriter and recording artist in music history.”
Paul McCartney backed by the most accomplished Wings line up took to the road to give epic performances across the world recorded in the summer of 1976, “Wings Over America” released on December. 10th 1976 feeling like a triumphant musical summation of the summer tour for Paul McCartney and his band Wings.
Originally, Wings over America was to be a two-record set of highlight performances but this was rethought due to the success of a bootleg called Wings from the Wings, which was released as a triple record set on red, white, and blue vinyl, and contained the entire 23r June 1976 concert recorded at The Forum in Los Angeles
In stark contrast to his modern-day globe-trotting ways, McCartney hadn’t up to this point toured the U.S.A in 10 years , and those concerts dated to his time in the Beatles. Only one of his former bandmates had even attempted such a thing. Highlights of this tour included not just the American concert debuts of a number of ’70s hits with Wings but also – and this was of particular interest at the time – Beatles favorites like “Blackbird,” “The Long andWinding Road” and “Lady Madonna” — all of which were recorded after the Beatles had stopped touring.
From the opening chords of Rock Show which sets the scene and creates plenty of anticipation, Of course, after so many successive McCartney tours since he retook the road in 1989, much of what made WingsOver America so exciting then seems like nostalgia today. It’s much easier, decades later, to separate the music from the moment. This multi-disc set can come off like the sum of its weakest parts.
The second half of Wings Over America was weaker than the first as McCartney and company delve into some of the most lightweight (but biggest selling, mind you) songs from their polyester-era oeuvre, including the smash “My Love” from 1973’s Red Rose Speedway, the 1975 Venus and Mars hit “Listen to What the Man Said,” and “Silly Love Songs” from their then just-released Wings at The Speed Of Sound.
Too often, it seems, Wings Over America threatens to run out of gas as it couples throwaways like “You Gave Me the Answer” and “Magneto and Titanium Man” or “Hi Hi Hi” and “Soily” with stronger material.
Apart from the songs, listen to McCartney’s bass playing on this record. On ‘Time To Hide’ for example. The rest of the band is also worthy of mention. Jimmy McCullough’s solo on ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ is inspired as is his solo track ‘Medicine Jar’ from the ‘Venus And Mars’ album from 1975. So much better than the album version, not least due again to McCartney’s bass playing.
Later, the project’s reputation took a hit when it was revealed that no small amount of post-production fixes had been employed before release.
“While everybody’s parts were spot-on musically – maybe not the harmonies, maybe not every note was exactly right but the general feel was pretty good,” Wings stalwart Denny Laine said in Luca Perasi’s Paul McCartney:Recording Sessions (1969-2013). “ I had the feeling it could have been a better feeling, a fuller sound, so I double-tracked the guitars, just to fill it out [and] added little bits when you get an obvious mistake. We kept most of the solos, and most of the bass parts as it was.” Drummer Joe English put a finer point on which elements most needed to be retouched, overdubs were necessary because of “people singing out of tune – and I don’t mean Paul.”
So, maybe Wings Over America wasn’t the career exclamation point that it once seemed.
This fizzy rush of anticipation still surrounds the album’s initial trio of songs — “Venus and Mars/Rock Show” combined with incandescent take on “Jet,” even now the best opening Paul McCartney’s ever constructed. Then there’s this set’s definitive version of “Maybe I’m Amazed.” And a remarkable take on “Call Me Back Again,” from Venus and Mars with Jimmy McCulloch’s blistering guitar matched stride for stride by a tough trio of horn players led by saxophonist Thaddeus Richard.
Along the way, McCartney came to feel the Wings had finally come into their own, that fans were ready to accept them on their own terms. “I don’t know for sure, but I’ve got a feeling that they go away thinking, ‘Oh, well, it’s a band,’” “It lets them catch up. I think the press, the media is a bit behind the times, thinking about the Beatles a lot. And I think the kids go away from the show a lot hipper than even the review they’re going to read the next day.”
Wings Over America also stands as the pinnacle of Denny Laine’s often-overlooked career with Wings, from his featured vocals on “Spirits of Ancient Egypt” and “Picasso’s Last Words,” to a vital take of his Moody Blues hit “Go Now” But check out “Time to Hide,” a deep cut from Speed of Sound, where we find Laine brilliantly recapturing the raw emotion of his early R&B-sides with the Moodies.
Then, just as the mawkish distractions of “Let ‘Em In” threaten to sink the whole thing, Wings unleashes the feverish “Beware My Love” — another Speed of Sound track which, though tissue thin lyrically, begins a run of three muscular tracks that secure this album’s enduring legacy: The Venus and Mars cut “Letting Go,” which is shot through with this jagged sexuality, and then the ageless “Band on the Run.”
Two related releases followed the album: A TV documentary Wings Over The World and a film titled Rockshow purporting to contain a complete show from Seattle. it contains only five songs that were filmed at Seattle’s Kingdome the remainder of the film’s 30 songs come from the band’s New York and Los Angeles shows, these additional releases appeared three and four years, respectively, after the 1976 live album.
Musicians:
Wings
Paul McCartney – vocals,bass,guitar,piano
Linda McCartney – vocals,keyboards
Denny Laine – guitar,vocals
Jimmy McCulloch – guitar,vocals
Joe English – drums
Horn section
Tony Dorsey
Howie Casey
Steve Howard Jr.
Thaddeus Richard
Ram is a studio album by recording artists Paul and Linda McCartney, released 17th May 1971 on Apple Records.The album was recorded amid Paul McCartney’s legal action in Britain’s High Court to dissolvethe Beatles‘ partnership, following their break-up the year before. The only album credited to the couple, Ram was the second of two albums that McCartney released between quitting the Beatles and forming his own band, Wings. He and Linda recorded it in New York with guitarists David Spinozza and Hugh McCracken, and future Wings drummer Denny Seiwell. Its release coincided with a period of bitter acrimony between McCartney and his former bandmate John Lennon, who perceived verbal slights in the lyrics to songs such as “Too Many People“.
On release, the album was received negatively by the majority of music critics, although opinion has become more favourable in subsequent decades. A commercial success nonetheless, Ram topped the national albums charts in Britain, the Netherlands and Canada. Three singles were issued from Ram: “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey“, which became McCartney’s first number 1 hit in America, “The Back Seat of My Car“ and “Eat at Home“. The album was reissued in May 2012.
“Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” is a fun song McCartney wrote about his real uncle Albert. The nonsensical lyrics pertain to the happy, sort of crazy things people do when they are in the company of their families. The song is actually relatable to all people who have had enjoyable times with their families – uncles, aunts, cousins, brothers, sisters, grandparents, etc. The joyous feel to “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” struck a chord with people overseas in America. The song quickly reached #1 on the billboard charts very shortly after it was released.
Paul McCartney and his family flew to New York City in October 1970 to begin working on the follow-up to McCartney.
While McCartney had featured him on every instrument, for Ram Paul decided to hold auditions for musicians, bringing some in under the guise of a session to record a commercial jingle. Auditions were held in an attic on 45th Street for three days,[where David Spinozza was tapped for guitar duties, after being asked by Linda, before auditions moved to a basement, where Denny Seiwell was recruited on drums. McCartney later claimed to have found Seiwell “lying on a mattress one day in The Bronx“. Midway through the sessions, Spinozza was replaced by Hugh McCracken when Spinozza became unavailable.
The basic tracks for the album were taped at Columbia’s Studio Bfrom 12th October to 20th November 1970 before the McCartneys returned to their Scottish farm for the Christmas holidays. Work continued at Studio B and A&R Recording Studios, New York, from the second week of January 1971 through to February. Playing guitar or piano and singing at the same time, Paul chose to overdub his bass later on. Although it was a collaborative project, Linda’s vocal duties were mostly limited to singing harmonies and backing Paul, who sang almost all of the lead parts; however, Linda sang co-lead vocals on “Long Haired Lady“. The New York Philharmonicwas brought in by McCartney to play on “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey“, “Long HairedLady“ and “The Back Seat of My Car“, as well as the McCartneys’ forthcoming, non-album single “Another Day“. Paul and Linda’s daughter, Heather, sang backing vocals on “Monkberry Moon Delight“.
In July 1971, Northern Songs and Maclen Music sued Paul and Linda McCartney for violating an exclusive rights agreement by collaborating on the song “Another Day“, released three months before Ram. Although six of the eleven songs on Ram were also co-written with Linda, both parties agreed the issue of royalties for the album could be decided at a later date.The lyrics to Paul McCartney & Wings’ classic “Another Day” which was originally released as a single in 1971, but never appeared on original copies of any album. Re-releases of the album Ram include “Another Day,” but it is also featured on their greatest hits albums. This particular recording came from Wingspan: Hits and History Disc 1
In June 1972, ATV announced that “all differences between them have been amicably settled” and Paul and Linda signed a new seven-year co-publishing contract between ATV and McCartney Music. The sessions also produced songs such as “Dear Friend”, released on Wings‘ debut album, Wild Life (1971), and “Little Woman Love“, as well as tracks featured on Wings’ 1973 albumRed Rose Speedway: “Get on the Right Thing“, “Little Lamb Dragonfly” and “Big Barn Bed“. It has recently surfaced that “I Lie Around”, issued as the B-side to Wings’ 1973 single “Live and Let Die”, was taped during the sessions. Also recorded was the first incarnation of “Seaside Woman“.
The album was mixed at Sound Recorders in Los Angeles. By early 1971, the project was completed, along with “Another Day” and its B-side, “Oh Woman, Oh Why“. In addition to the songs released on Ram and the first two Wings albums, McCartney recorded the following tracks during these sessions: “Hey Diddle”, “A Love for You”, “Great Cock and Seagull Race”,“Now Hear This Song of Mine”, “Rode All Night”, “Sunshine Sometime” and “When the Wind Is Blowing”.
In 2009, two tribute albums featuring all of the songs from the album were made available for digital download:
Ram On L.A was compiled by the website Aquarium Drunkard and featured Los Angeles-based acts.
Paul McCartneyhas made three previously unreleased tracks byWingsavailable to stream on Soundcloud and to download, for free, from his website.
The tracks are an alternative, six-minute version of ‘Rock Show,’ a stripped-down and spontaneous rendition without the harmony vocals from the track featured on Wings;’Venus and Mars’ album of 1975; ‘Love My Baby,’ featured in the ‘One Hand Clapping’ TV special; and an extended version of ‘Letting Go,’ the single from ‘Venus and Mars.’
McCartney and his band will resume their ‘Out There’ tour with a set of dates in Japan in the spring. They’ll play in Osaka on April 21, Tokyo (23, 25 and 27), before moving on to Seoul on May 2. They’re also booked to play at the Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Delaware, on June 19.
Paul recently discussed the subject of whether he will ever write his autobiography. “My feeling is that there have been enough books on me done already,” he said. “But from time to time I do think of certain little memories that are not published in any books so, who knows. If I ever find the time it could possibly happen. But I think you can guess from my answer that I’m not in any hurry to be doing it…!”
Wings ‘Love My Baby’ [From ‘One Hand Clapping’] – MP3
PaulMcCartney.com has teamed up with Buzzfeed to premiere an exclusive Wings download taken from the film ‘One Hand Clapping’
Wings ‘Letting Go [Extended Version]’ – MP3
An exclusive extended and remastered version of ‘Letting Go’ to download in association with BBC Radio’s Lauren Laverne and 6Music
Wings ‘Rock Show [New Version]’ – MP3
An exclusive remastered version of ‘Rock Show’ to download in association with Absolute Radio’s Geoff Lloyd
With a new album due on Partisan Records FIELD REPORT a band from Milwaukee fronted by Chris Porterfield began in 2012 this is their second album, The record is strewn with the toll of passages of time and being away from loved ones
Paul McCartney and Wings‘ “Listen to What the Man Said” presents as a breezy romp, but sessions for the smash single were actually a painstaking drag. That is, until a key contributor came in and nailed his part on the very first try. “It was one of the songs we’d gone in with high hopes for,” McCartney said in 1975. “Whenever I would play it on the piano, people would say ‘Oh, I like that one.’ But when we did the backing track, we thought we didn’t really get it together at all.”
Sessions were at Allen Toussaint’s Sea-Saint Recording Studio in the New Orleans neighbourhood of Gentilly, where they’d complete Venus and Mars in early 1975. The locale provided a wealth of native and visiting talent, but McCartney was trying to work through “Listen to What the Man Said” with a core group that also included his late wife Linda McCartney, band stalwart Denny Laine and newer recruits Jimmy McCulloch and Joe English.
“Mainly we’re coming here to make our own album,” McCartney told local reporters back then. “I don’t like to come to a place and use too much of the local talent, because you get people saying, ‘Oh, they’re taking our style.” But New Orleans worked its way into the proceedings anyway.
Wings stayed at the Le Richelieu Hotel in the French Quarter, right in the middle of the annual Carnival festivities. During a break from recording, Paul and Linda dressed as a pair of clowns then actually waded into the crowds on February 1975, as revelers celebrated Mardi Gras. Wings went back the next day to complete a raucous future b-side called “My Carnival,” before returning to the still-unfinished “Listen What the Man Said.”
Dave Mason of Traffic fame happened to be in town on tour, so a frustrated McCartney brought him in. “A couple of the guys from Wings came by to the see the show, and we had a day off the next day,” said Mason “They said: ‘Why don’t you come down to the studio? I’m sure Paul would love to see you.’ So, I just stopped by, and they happened to be cutting ‘Listen to What the Man Said.’ Paul was, like: ‘Hey, c’mon, you should sit in with us.'”
McCartney still remained dissatisfied. At this point, a song that ended up as the gold-selling lead single from Venus and Mars seemed to be going absolutely nowhere. Mulling it over, McCartney hit upon another idea: “We thought it would be great to have a very technical musician come in and do a great lyrical solo,” That’s when someone in the studio mentioned that Tom Scott, the well-known jazz saxophonist, lived nearby. “We said, ‘Yeah, give him a ring, see if he turns up,’ and he turned up within half an hour!” McCartney said. “There he was with his sax, and he sat down in the studio playing through. The engineer [Alan O’Duffy] was recording it. We kept all the notes he was playing casually. [Scott] came in and I said ‘I think that’s it.’ He said ‘Did you record that?’ I said yes, and we listened to it back.”
The instrumental track for “Listen to What the Man Said” was finally complete. “No one could believe it, so [Scott] went out and tried a few more,” McCartney told Gambaccini, “but they weren’t as good. He’d had all the feel on this early take, the first take.”
As McCartney completed the vocal, O’Duffy added a barely heard Easter egg, positioned right after Paul sings “soldier boy kisses girl.” “I do remember exactly that it was lovely Linda who did the kiss on a microphone during one of the vocal takes,” O’Duffy said in Luca Perasi’s Paul McCartney: Recordings Sessions. “I made a point of making sure it was audible in the mix later at Wally Heider Studios.”
Issued on May 16, 1975, “Listen to What the Man Said” became Paul McCartney and Wings‘ eighth consecutive and the fourth of their seven total No. 1 singles.
Mason and Scott became part of a group of outside collaborators on Venus and Mars. Toussaint played piano on “Rock Show.” Local legends George Porter Jr. and Benny Spellman appeared on “My Carnival.” O’Duffy also hired trombonist and arranger Tony Dorsey, an area native; Dorsey then brought in some college buddies to complete the horn section.
In a final nod to his Big Easy surroundings, McCartney attached a pre-song sentence to “Listen What the Man Said”: “Alright, okay, very good to see you down in New Orleans, man – yeah reet, yeah yeah,” he mumbled, impersonating Meters guitarist Leo Nocentelli. McCartney later invited the Meters to play at the release party for Venus and Mars, held aboard the Queen Mary out of Long Beach, Calif.
As a further addition to the Paul McCartney Collection of Re-issues the two Wings albums VENUS AND MARS and WINGS AT THE SPEED OF SOUND were issued at the end of September 2014, originally recorded in 1975 and 1976 they were made available as a standard 2CD set and a deluxe 2CD 1 DVD and Book with 135 pages of photos and memorabilia, all included unreleased tracks and demos. these releases are following the superb sets of BAND ON THE RUN, McCARTNEY and McCARTNEY II and the live set WINGS OVER AMERICA,
The Fat Angel Sings 