Wings – Band On The Run
(Apple Records 1973 PAS10007)
Matrix No’s: YEX929-2/YEX930-2 – UK Pressing
G&L Sleeve in Nr MINT condition
– some slight wear to edges
G&L Inner Sleeve in Nr MINT condition
Poster in Nr MINT condition
Vinyl in Nr MINT condition
(there are some light surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality)
Wings, also known as Paul McCartney and Wings, were an Anglo-American rock band formed in 1971 by former Beatle Paul McCartney with his wife Linda on keyboards, session drummer Denny Seiwell, and former Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine. Wings were noted for frequent personnel changes as well as commercial success, going through three lead guitarists and four drummers. However, the core trio of the McCartneys and Laine remained intact throughout the group’s existence and McCartney continued playing bass and other assorted instruments, just as he had done with The Beatles.
Created following the McCartneys’ 1971 album Ram, the band’s first two albums, Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway (the latter featuring guitarist Henry McCullough), were viewed as artistic disappointments beside Paul McCartney’s work with the Beatles. After the release of the title track of the James Bond movie Live and Let Die, McCullough and Seiwell resigned from the band. The McCartneys and Laine then released 1973’s Band on the Run, a commercial and critical success that spawned two top ten singles in “Jet” and the title track. Following that album, the band recruited guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Geoff Britton, only for Britton to quit shortly afterwards and be replaced by Joe English. With the new line-up, Wings released Venus and Mars, which included the US number one single “Listen to What the Man Said”, and undertook a highly successful world tour over 1975–76. Intended as more of a group effort, Wings at the Speed of Sound was issued midway through the tour and featured the hit singles “Silly Love Songs” and “Let ‘Em In”.
In 1977, the band earned their only UK number one single, with “Mull of Kintyre”, which became the then-best selling UK single in history. Wings experienced another line-up shuffle, however, with both McCulloch and English departing before the release of the group’s 1978 album London Town. The McCartneys and Laine again added new members, recruiting guitarist Laurence Juber and drummer Steve Holley. The resulting album, Back to the Egg, was a relative flop, with its singles under-performing and the critical reception negative. During the supporting tour, Paul McCartney was arrested in Japan for cannabis possession, putting the band on hold. Despite a final US number one, the live version of McCartney’s solo single “Coming Up”, Wings broke up permanently in 1981.
Band on the Run is an album by Paul McCartney & Wings, released in 1973. It was Wings’ third album. It became Wings’ most successful album and remains the most celebrated of McCartney’s post-Beatles albums. It was 1974’s top-selling studio album in the United Kingdom and Australia, and revitalised McCartney’s critical standing.
In 2000 Q magazine placed it at number 75 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2012, Band on the Run was voted 418th on Rolling Stone magazine’s revised list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. A contemporary review by Jon Landau in Rolling Stone described the album as “with the possible exception of John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band, the finest record yet released by any of the four musicians who were once called The Beatles.”
It was the last McCartney album issued on the Apple Records label.
Track listing
All songs written by Paul and Linda McCartney, except “No Words” by Paul McCartney and Denny Laine.
- Side one
- “Band on the Run” – 5:10
- “Jet” – 4:06
- “Bluebird” – 3:22
- “Mrs Vandebilt” – 4:38
- “Let Me Roll It” – 4:47
- Side two
- “Mamunia” – 4:50
- “No Words” – 2:33
- “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me)” – 5:50
- “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five” – 5:27
- Additional versions
All songs written and composed by Paul and Linda McCartney, except “No Words” by Paul McCartney and Denny Laine.
Personnel
- Paul McCartney: vocals; acoustic, electric and bass guitars; piano and keyboards; drums and percussion
- Linda McCartney: keyboards and vocals
- Denny Laine: vocals; acoustic, electric and bass guitars; keyboards; percussion
Additional personnel
- Howie Casey: saxophone
- Ginger Baker: percussion
- Remi Kabaka: percussion
- Tony Visconti: orchestrations
- Ian and Trevor: backing vocals
- Geoff Emerick: producer and sound engineer
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