Paul McCartney & Wings / One Hand Clapping review
David Quantick on McCartney’s 1974 rehearsal tapes

“One Hand Clapping is a rehearsal tape for live shows, the sound of a band coalescing, and getting ready to take on the world.”
It can be hard to keep up with the constant mudslide of Beatle-related reissues and repackages (although as yet we’ve sadly not been granted the Ringo box) as each week seems to bring the anniversary of what is alleged to be a classic album from one ex-Beatle or another. At times this can feel like homework (all those mixes and out-takes to wade through) and at other times it can feel like hell (the recent John Lennon Mind Games box was announced with a reverence more suited to a Holy
Grail than an old tin cup).
So it is with a sceptical ear that the informed listener approaches One Hand Clapping. After all, it feels like barely an hour since the 50th anniversary reissue of Wings’ Band On The Run, whose 2024 hook was a disc of songs with the orchestra removed, and several tracks from OHC have already been released, on several occasions. Also, it’s not even an actual album, it’s the soundtrack to a film – a film moreover that never came out at the time, and consists almost entirely of Paul McCartney and Wings performing live-in-the-studio versions of songs available elsewhere in posher versions. What, a casual listener may enquire, is the point? After all, if there’s one artist with a huger archive of unreleased songs (and unreleased live shows – where is Live In Glasgow?), it’s Paul McCartney.
In the mid 1970s, Paul McCartney had become the unreliable Beatle
David Quantick
The point is that One Hand Clapping is great. As a soundtrack, it’s also a brilliant live album, capturing songs from – let’s use the phrase – the band’s imperial phase just as it begins. In the mid 1970s, Paul McCartney had become the unreliable Beatle, whose quirky yet domestic albums were fun but somehow lacked the killer vision of his Beatle days: the disasters surrounding the recording of Band On The Run gave Paul a kick up the backside whose momentum propelled him and Wings into a new era of mega-success, and Wings went from being a quirky yet domestic solo experiment to the world’s first stadium pop band, culminating in the epic Wings Over America tour and album.
All this was to come, of course, and here we see the 1974 Wings – a new line-up for a new era – settling into their role as purveyors of very big pop indeed. Here are songs from Band On The Run – ‘Jet’, ‘Bluebird’, the title track – performed live and raw with energy and style. Here are Beatles songs – ‘Let It Be’, ‘The Long And Winding Road’ – that McCartney was preparing to reclaim as his own (no longer worried about his present being compared to his past). And here are enough genuine obscurities, rarities and cover versions to make any collector feel they’ve bought something worth having.
Most exciting of all is the sound of One Hand Clapping. There had, even as early as 1974, been several incarnations of Wings – prototype Wings, if you like. Early Wings had blues numbers, nursery songs, the odd jamming session. Then the slickness came in, but the big songs still weren’t there. In 1973, everyone apart from Denny Laine walked out (we think, nowadays, of Paul McCartney as a rock legend, someone who anyone would kill to work with but there was a time, long ago, when people felt otherwise).
But this version of Wings – the McCartneys and Laine with ace-up-the-sleeve guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and karate-mad drummer Geoff Britton – was something else. Something gelled, and for the first time since 1970, McCartney was the leader of a group again. The Wings on One Hand Clapping is a brand new band who sound like they’ve got something to prove; on these recordings, they sound energised, they sound fresh and they sound hungry. Above all, they sound confident. This isn’t one of Paul’s slightly indulgent side projects like a cartoon about a mouse or a one man song and dance special: One Hand Clapping, as the name suggests, is a rehearsal tape for live shows, the sound of a band coalescing, and getting ready to take on the world.
The Wings on One Hand Clapping is a brand new band who sound like they’ve got something to prove
David Quantick
For the first time, contemporary audiences were able to hear everything McCartney had been doing lately in one place: as well as the Band On The Run songs, there are other McCartney hits – ‘Junior’s Farm’, ‘My Love’, ‘Live And Let It Die’, ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’, all classics now but then just the first side of a Greatest Hits album in waiting. And they all sound fantastic: with the tautness and gloss of the studio version, plus added live verve. Not that the rawness only extends to the stompers: hearing a song like ‘Live And Let Die’ – in its single form, a polished George Martin performance – in this setting, with a full live orchestra, as well as the band rocking itself into a froth, is like being backstage at a very loud stadium gig.
Long-time fans will be happy, too, with the less well-known tracks. McCartney’s prolificness has always been such that he’s able to fire out songs for other people, so we get ‘Let’s Love’, gifted to jazz legend Peggy Lee the year before. He’s also known for his ability to hold onto a song for years, so here are first
appearances for ‘I’ll Give You A Ring’ (a b-side in 1982) and ‘All Of You’, never officially released until now. There’s also a great version of fan favourite ‘Soily’ as well as the totally-unreleased instrumental ‘One Hand Clapping’, whose beefy Moog sound recalls Macca’s mighty ‘Zoo Gang’.
And that, as they say, is just disc one. Disc Two features those Beatles classics (as well as ex-Moody Bue Denny Laine revisiting ‘Go Now’) and an appealingly random selection of songs, from ‘Let Me Roll It’ and a cover of Elvis’ ‘Blue Moon Of Kentucky’ to the oft-derided ‘Wild Life’ and a sparky version of ‘Power Cut’ (only Paul McCartney could take the electricity blackouts of mid-70s Britain and turn them into a charming song about romance by candlelight). As the weight of exciting new versions of old songs combined with rare material and new material amasses on One Hand Clapping, the listener begins to realise that for once they’re getting value for money and not a load of old toot.
This would, in short, be a great collection if it were just the above slabs of music, but in there’s also a bonus in the form of The Backyard [available only on the seven-inch in the exclusive version], a collection of songs recorded live by McCartney with just an acoustic guitar on the last day of filming. Half of it is covers – ‘Twenty Flight Rock’, ‘I’m Gonna Love You Too’, ‘Peggy Sue’, and half is McCartney songs – ‘Country Dreamer’, ‘Blackbird’, and the unreleased ‘Blackpool’, a song in which Paul tells us that he “likes ‘em heavy and tall/ not skinny and small”.
So there we have it. An archive collection as it should be: new material, new versions, excellent sound quality (kudos to a restrained Giles Martin) and a sense, not of something stale being reheated, but something fresh being created.
One Hand Clapping was reviewed for SDE by David Quantick. It is released on 14 June 2024, via Capitol/UMe
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Paul McCartney & Wings
One Hand Clapping - 2CD set
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Paul McCartney & Wings
One Hand Clapping - 2LP vinyl
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D2C One Hand Clapping product available here: US store • UK store
Tracklisting

One Hand Clapping Paul McCartney & Wings /
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SIDE ONE
- One Hand Clapping* 02:15
- Jet* 03:59
- Soily* 03:55
- C Moon/Little Woman Love* 03:19
- Maybe I’m Amazed* 04:52
- My Love* 04:15
SIDE TWO
- Bluebird* 03:27
- Let’s Love* 01:09
- All of You* 02:04
- I’ll Give You a Ring* 02:03
- Band on the Run* 05:20
- Live and Let Die* 03:26
- Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five* 05:50
- Baby Face* 01:56
** Previously released as bonus audio on Archive Collection releases
*Previously released 2010 Band on the Run Archive Collection DVD
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LP 2
SIDE ONE
- Let Me Roll It** 04:28
- Blue Moon of Kentucky 03:05
- Power Cut 01:33
- Love My Baby 01:13
- Let It Be 01:02
- The Long and Winding Road/Lady Madonna 02:10
SIDE TWO
- Junior’s Farm 04:17
- Sally G 03:28
- Tomorrow 02:12
- Go Now 03:35
- Wild Life 04:30
- Hi, Hi, Hi 03:57
** Previously released as bonus audio on Archive Collection releases
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A bit bummed that the seven inch wasn’t included with the CD package.
I couldn’t agree less with this review. The new mixes to these songs are horrible. Linda’s synth is so upfront in the mix as to be obnoxious. You can’t hear Jimmy’s lead guitar, it’s mixed too low. He was one of the true talents of 70s lead guitar and you can barley hear him and the majority of the tracks. The artwork is cheap and lousy, and why the all to brief comments by the band members in 3 languages? I understand that Macca has fans all over the planet, but do we really need to see what could easily be printed in other regions languages? They could have instead did a more faithful mix to how it was recorded. They could have made the packaging so much better. That cover illustration is terrible. And one Polaroid photo of each member? Linda was one of the best photographers of her era, they could have included so much more. I have the DVD that came with the Band on the Run deluxe addition that came out about a dozen years ago; the band sounds great on it and it is mixed perfectly. Why mess with that? I was so looking forward to this release and I finally got it for father’s day and I’m so very disappointed with everything about it.
Good review and David Quanticks review was a good read .
I still think it should have been a box set with an extended video .
Hi Nubby, it was included on the DVD in the 2010 “Band on the Run” Paul McCartney Archive Collection box set, which has the “One Hand Clapping” televsion special and studio performances videos.
Re: “the world’s first stadium pop band, culminating in the epic Wings Over America tour”… Yes, knowing someone who was on the entire trek of America, the stadiums did indeed even eclipse the Stones ’72 tour. “Gruelling” was how he summed it up and was amazed how Macca survived the tour, and probably wouldn’t have without Linda permanently at his side. Her part in the Wings Over America tour cannot be underestimated!
Good review for a very interesting release.
Thank u very much.
Been listening to a bass and drums only instrumental version of ‘Old Siam Sir’. and it kicks jacksie. It really rocks.
I do wish Paul would give us ‘Back To The Egg’ and ‘London Town’.
Can’t wait for my double CD to arrive on Friday. A nice surprise 50th anniversary release. Still no excuse for the 4 year “lull” of the Archive Collection. Yes folks, 4 years now since the Flaming Pie box set. And no explantion given but plenty of holes of albums that could use a nice “archive version”- “London Town”, “Back to the Egg”, “Broad Street”, and ” Press To Play” just to finish out the 70’s and 80’s. C’mon Macca and MPL!
Does anyone know if the McCartney UK webshopparticipates in the EU IOSS (IMPORT ONE-STOP SHOP) system? I have tried to get an answer from their “Help & Support” but without success.
I would really like to get the 2LP set with the 7” single exclusive to the D2C, but local VAT and import tax in the EU will be too expensive without the IOSS.
There is video footage of a good 10 songs or so of One Hand Clapping on the SDE of Band on the Run.
Brilliant review by Mr Q and spot on about Mind Games . A poor release at the time that had a lukewarm reception . Tin can indeed . One hand clapping on the other hand a lot better than was originally suggested. Win for Paul I think .
I actually prefer mind games to his much overrated plastic 0no band ,l bought it in 82 great album ,I also think double fantasy is a better album than plastic one band and yokos stuff is also brilliant on it
To be fair, there weren’t many on here getting too excited about the Mind Games box. One version is enough.
Yes Stan 1 version is certainly enough! But it is a good album not poor as many people are saying, and plastic one band is not the be all and end all off lennons stuff,would much rather listen to beautiful boy,women, starting over and watching the wheels than here his self pitying rubbish, amen.
Oh dear. This sentence singularly fails to recognise the collaborative nature of the band of which McCartney was a member before 1970. Sure, he was the hectoring, needling voice that dragged them too soon from ‘The Beatles’ and into the grind of ‘Let It Be’. But ‘leader’? Come on. That’s lazy journalism.
I think it’s pretty accurate. David is not saying Paul was the leader of The Beatles but he is saying he led The Beatles towards the very end, before it all fell apart. Ringo and John both acknowledged as much in later years.
Paul led them pretty much from 1967 on. They would have been directionless without Paul’s ‘hectoring’. John was too often out of his head, George was often too much into his head, and Ringo was… well, Ringo.
I think it’s common knowledge that McCartney’s relentless, picky perfectionist takes for ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ and the awful ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ drove the others to distration. It’s right there on camera in the ‘Let It Be’ movie that he was pushing and annoying Harrison to the point where George was offering not to play at all.
If that’s anyone’s idea of ‘leadership’ then it makes David Brent one hell of a gold standard office manager.
I didn’t say he didn’t annoy the others. Not quite sure why you are persistently arguing against what is self evident unless you just hate McCartney.
As persuasive and deep versed Paul’s article is in support of “One Hand Clapping,” I can’t get excited about another look-back album release that shine’s new light, no matter how bright, on the “Band on the Run” recording sessions, since having accumulated so many different versions of “Band on the Run,” in both LPs, CDs, and deluxe box-sets, (which includes the expanded BOTR 25th Anniversary Edition and the BOTR 4-disc super deluxe edition with DVD and download card). Don’t get me wrong, BOTR is a fantastic album, but I wish Sir Paul McCartney would move on to “London Town” and “Back to the Egg,” and the other yet to be re-released McCartney albums that fans want so badly to complete their music libraries.
David Quantick’s review ! (Paul’s website) Whetted my appetite, I don’t have quite so many versions of BOTR and am looking forward to receiving my CD copy of OHC. I agree that a London Town SDE especially would be welcome and have good memories of enjoying that on release all those years ago in my youth, however, even then I recognised that it was not as essential as preceding BOTR,VAM, W@SOS and WOA .
Yes, all of us would like to see those — and it’s the topic of much of the comments every time Macca releases anything.
So — Paul S — Do you happen to know the physical box set sales figures of the last one (FP 2020) compared to the ones before (RRS/WWL 2018) compared to FITD – 2017 and TOW/POP 2015 —- If one looks at those figures in order of release do we know how sharp the decline in numbers is? (I’m assuming it’s a decline — maybe it’s not? But I’d be very surprised if it’s not?)
Decline in sales or not……to leave gaps in his 70’s and 80’s catalog is odd to say the least. Do a limited run of 1k each of the boxes and watch them fly off the shelves!
They won’t fly off the shelves at 1k
Great review. As a casual Beatles/McCartney fan (just owning some of the key albums) I knew little about this album, but you really put it in to context for me, so thanks. I’ve gone from no interest, to want to buy now, as it sounds not just a good listen, but an interesting piece of pop history.
I’m still wondering what Sir Paul [both solo and Beatles] as well as Peter Gabriel and some others were thinking when they released this stuff.
Wouldn’t it been great if video footage was included [even 10 minutes if that was all there really was (I believe there is more). At least better than EJ/LR’s The Union with a DVD that lasts a whopping 7 minutes.
Wouldn’t of it been great if the 7″ single was included on one or both of the CDs. Plenty of room for 11 minutes.
Thanks for the review – I’m sold, even though I have some of the tracks already. My favourite McCartney period too. However, it still smarts that CD buyers don’t get the extra 7″ tracks.
Great review. I love Mr Quantick’s take on all things Beatles, especially McCartney. If you haven’t already heard them you should check out his appearances on the ‘I Am The Eggpod’ er…podcasts, he’s made my bath times lots of laugh out loud fun. His ‘London Town’ episode is smashing.
I love his episodes. In fact I love all the egg pods. I will re listen to the London Town one and play the album after.
Not heard that one. I did listen to his Egg Pod about ‘Wings Over America’.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/eggpod-live-2024-the-last-eggpod-of-all-tickets-879546947597
I’m subscribed to the podcast, but I don’t think I’ve actually listened any episodes. Apparently I’m missing out! I have listened to a fair bit of the Nothing Is Real podcast; the episodes with Mark Lewisohn are very interesting.
While on the subject of podcasts, someone mentioned in another thread The Album Years podcast with Steven Wilson and Tim Bowness. I’m several episodes in; very fascinating, and they’ve alerted me to many releases that passed by me I should sample.
I like him and this is a good review. However if you want more critical thinking on Beatles releases then you need to look elsewhere. He is overwhelmingly positive about everything based on what I have read/heard
He said Mind Games was a ‘tin cup’ which doesn’t sound too positive to me…