Wings Over America - Paul McCartney and Wings

Wings' 1976 tour was a massive success. Paul McCartney was finally being plaudited as a valid, credible performer in his own right, who was not riding on the coat tails of his success with his erstwhile band The Beatles. Nor was he trying to ignore the fact he had been one quarter of the most successful, and arguably important, band in history. Wings had many different line-ups but I think this one (the one which went out on the road in 1976) was the best of them all. They had worked their way up, playing at colleges and universities, as if starting from scratch which is what McCartney clearly wanted to do. The audio quality of this is not ...

Paul McCartney was absolutely determined when the Beatles broke up and went their very separate ways that he would not become the big star, trading on his history for his success. He could have capitalised easily on the fame of being a former Beatle and "the cute one" and made a decent living out of his penchant for catchy melodies. Instead he opted for the obscure mystery of being just one part of a working band, a live unit which toured the college circuit and paid its dues. He formed the overly democratic Wings with the limited musical talents of his wife Linda on keyboards, but struggled to get any other lieutenants who could step into the limelight with ...

I bought this 20 odd years ago - my only triple album, and have recently bought the CD (double CD). It is classic McCartney and draws from (naturally enough) a tour of America. The songs range from "Hey Jude" through "Band on the Run" to "Silly Love Songs". This is, I have to say, Paul Mccartney at his peak; before that veggie lifestyle robbed him of his fire and vision. If you buy only one Paul McCartney album - it has to be this one. ...