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Review: Paul McCartney & Wings / WINGS

Reviewed by David Quantick

By david quantick

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Wings photographed in 1973 by Clive Arrowwmith
Wings photographed in 1973 by Clive Arrowwmith

Once upon a time, Wings weren’t so much consigned to the dustbin as looking up collection times and seeing if it was recycling day. Paul McCartney’s third band (counting the Quarrymen) sometimes almost seemed to have been written out of history: until recently, they were represented by one scrappy ‘best of’ and one larger collection that shuffled them in with Paul’s full-on solo material: then there was Wingspan, the first real attempt to show the world that Wings were a real group with a real career and a back catalogue that was worth investigating. Similarly, Paul’s live shows, which began with as few Beatles songs as possible, began to take in Fab Four numbers as well as songs from his now-epic solo career (35 years on his own as opposed to ten with Wings and ten with the Beatles). Wings, then, were the squeezed middle: not as important as the Beatles (but then, what is? Love? Superman?) and not as resilient as the man who has so far bookended his career with McCartney II and McCartney III. In the scheme of things, also, they were a short moment in a long career. A band whose existence was, roughly-speaking, flanked by the Beatles splitting up and the murder of John Lennon, Wings were barely a ten year moment in Paul McCartney’s 70-odd years as a musician.

They were often the butt of jokes: the lingering resentment from some fans over Paul “splitting the Beatles” and daring to sue his nemesis Allen Klein, tied up with the misogyny towards Linda McCartney, and the strikingly dim rage at the fact that McCartney, a man in his 30s, was more interested in writing songs about his wife and family than teenage drivel, all combined to make McCartney’s second act an uphill one. In retrospect it all seems entirely admirable: after a brief flirtation with a “solo” career, McCartney wanted to be in a band again and, unlike his former bandmates, felt comfortable in a group that wasn’t entirely democratic but was a lot more interested and varied than the tedious session teams that backed John, George and Ringo. Paul wanted to tour, needing the energy of the crowd to fuel him: and Wings made their live debut, not at Madison Square Gardens or some enormodome, but onstage at small British colleges.

The sound of Wings was impressive, too: where his former bandmates seemed to have little or no urge to experiment (and these were the men who had made ‘Within You Without You’ and ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’), Paul continued to use the studio as an instrument and listen out for new ideas. Orchestral pop, rock’n’roll, disco, glam rock: he was the only Beatle who seemed to own a radio or keep up with the charts (but also it is worth noting that, unlike his contemporaries, McCartney was aware of changes in the air but was not a slave to them – there may be glam drums on ‘Helen Wheels’ or a disco snap to ‘Silly Love Songs’ but these songs are not just glam rockers or disco stompers). 

Paul was the only Beatle who seemed to own a radio or keep up with the charts

And, unlike the other Fabs, who seemed happy to release records just because that’s what they did, Paul sounded like he was making records because he had something to prove: he seemed driven, as though he needed to show the world that he could make it without the Beatles. Which he did: it’s fascinating to watch the development of Wings. They go from the shambolic nature of early student gigs where the sound is unfocussed (‘Henry’s Blues’) and early albums like Wild Life which sound like a collection of incomplete demos, begin to turn into a well-honed machine on the disciplined and frankly relentless Band On The Run and Venus And Mars, and then undertake a tour of America in 1976 which not only breaks all the records set by the Beatles but also results in the superb triple live album – that’s right, triple live album – Wings Over America which may be the only triple live album ever made without a single dull moment, part greatest hits and part two fingers to anyone who said Paul couldn’t cut it on his own. (It’s interesting that, after the release of Wings Over America, Wings went into free fall: their next album, London Town, was a cobbled-together set of sea shanties and studio bangers, while the final Wings album, Back To The Egg, was an over-produced flop. It was as if McCartney, having proved his point, lost interest in the whole project).

These days Paul McCartney tours the world incessantly like a kind of tuneful Bob Dylan who plays the songs the way they sound on the record. His set list, understandably, leans heavily on the Beatles years (to such an extent that he even performs, as tributes, Lennon’s ‘Being For The Benefit Of Mister Kite’ and Harrison’s ‘Something’) but these days there is room for the less well-known Wings songs. No McCartney show takes place without ‘Jet’ or ‘Live And Let Die’ (the song that rebooted Wings, discuss) but these days we also get ‘Junior’s Farm’ and ‘Letting Go’. Personally, I’d like more but… There’s a story about a fan meeting Paul McCartney after a show and telling him that he loved show but he’s got a great idea for a different set list – and Paul says, “Yeah. You and everybody else.”

And now there’s this. New vinyl and CD formats plus a Macca & SDE-exclusive blu-ray audio with Dolby Atmos Mixes for the first time on a physical product, under the guiding hands of Giles Martin and Steve Orchard. The more generous formats offer 32 Wings songs from every era of the band, unchronologically ordered in the manner of a classic compilation tape, hits and album tracks all together: so ‘Some People Never Know’ follows ‘Helen Wheels’; and ‘Bluebird’ slips in between ‘She’s My Baby’ and ‘Rock Show’. It’s a roller-coaster ride of a collection: Wings’ ability to deliver hits is well apparent as there is everything here from ‘Goodnight Tonight’ to ‘Mull Of Kintyre’, from ‘Jet’ to ‘With A Little Luck’, and from ‘Deliver Your Children’ to ‘Soily’. It’s Wings on shuffle and it’s great.

Review by David Quantick for SDE. WINGS is released this Friday, 7 November. The blu-ray is a limited edition and can be ordered via the SDE shop using this link or the button below.

Tracklisting

WINGS Paul McCartney and Wings /

    • WINGS blu-ray audio. All tracks below in Dolby Atmos (48/24), 5.1 (48/24) and 96/24 stereo
      1. Band on the Run (stereo version: 2010 Remaster)
      2. Hi, Hi, Hi (stereo version: 2018 Remaster)*
      3. Silly Love Songs (stereo version: 2014 Remaster)*
      4. Letting Go (stereo version: 2014 Remaster)
      5. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five (stereo version: 2010
        Remaster)
      6. Live and Let Die (stereo version: 2018 Remaster)
      7. Mamunia (stereo version: 2010 Remaster)
      8. Junior’s Farm (stereo version: 2014 Remaster)*
      9. Helen Wheels (stereo version: 2022 Remaster)
      10. Some People Never Know (stereo version: 2018 Remaster)*
      11. Let ’Em In (stereo version: 2014 Remaster)*
      12. Get on the Right Thing (stereo version: 2018 Remaster)
      13. Jet (stereo version: 2010 Remaster)
      14. My Love (stereo version: 2018 Remaster)
      15. Call Me Back Again (stereo version: 2014 Remaster)
      16. Getting Closer (stereo version: 2022 Remaster)*
      17. Listen to What the Man Said (stereo version: 2014 Remaster)
      18. I’ve Had Enough (stereo version: 2022 Remaster)*
      19. Love Is Strange (stereo version: 2018 Remaster)*
      20. London Town (stereo version: 2022 Remaster)*
      21. Arrow Through Me (stereo version: 2016 Remaster)*
      22. Venus and Mars/Rock Show (stereo version: 2022 Remaster)
      23. She’s My Baby (stereo version: 2014 Remaster)*
      24. Bluebird (stereo version: 2010 Remaster)
      25. Deliver Your Children (stereo version: 2022 Remaster)*
      26. Let Me Roll It (stereo version: 2010 Remaster)
      27. Mull of Kintyre (stereo version: 2016 Remaster)*
      28. Wild Life (stereo version: 2018 Remaster)*
      29. C Moon (stereo version: 2018 Remaster)*
      30. With a Little Luck (stereo version: 2018 Remaster)*
      31. Soily (from One Hand Clapping) (stereo version: 2024)
      32. Goodnight Tonight (stereo version: 2016 Remaster)*
      *First time in Dolby Atmos

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