Talk to me about (Paul McCartney's) Wings

[saucywench]

Spoons-

Liked your Helen story. Paul McCartney’s songs remind me of some of the best times of my life. Even my guy friends, who were into way cooler music in the 70s, would sing along to his songs. I got to see him once at the brand new Alamodome, summer of '93, I believe. He was the first musical act to play there, and it was a free show for me. Had a blast! Paul played some songs on an upright on a little stage in the middle of the audience, and my friend and I were right there, thanks to me.

Saucy

[nightshadea]

@Meurglys

He certainly wanted them to be a proper band, not just him and some well-rehearsed backing musicians.
The first Wings tour in 1972 was the whole band in a van, going round some universities asking if they could play at the student union. Cheap tickets, no guarantee of an audience, just the band playing together (and no Beatles songs).

in an interview a couple of years ago paul was talking about how he booked that tour they would just pull up to a bar/cub/dive in a van and hed bop in and ask the owner if they needed a band that night but he had a rule that they couldn’t advertise he was in the band …
sometimes one of the other members would do it …He said a few owners had to change their pants when they realized who they actually hired…

[psychonaut]

@kenobi_65

I remember, sometime in the early '90s, hearing a recording on the radio that was purported to be the isolated feed from Linda’s vocal mic from a Wings concert; I don’t know for certain if it was her or not, but whoever it was couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket.

Was it this recording? (Ignore the video, which has been spliced together from various performances.)

[Banksiaman]

@bordelond

I always thought that one of rock music’s great missed opportunities was that Paul McCartney never got to play in Blind Faith with Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton.

When Blind Faith formed out of Winwood and Clapton’s jam sessions, a bassist was their very last hire. Nothing wrong with Rick Grech … but McCartney was maybe three or four months from being done with The Beatles.

Ah well. What could have been

Alan Partridge, explaining his favourite music to a youngish person, described Wings as ‘Only the band the Beatles could have been.’

According to the DVD commentary Paul and Linda later met and bowed before him for that line [and his impromptu bouncy-bed cover of ‘Jet’].

[Mean_Mr.Mustard]

I saw them during the Wings Over America tour in 1976. Highlights I recall include “I’ve Just Seen a Face”, “Blackbird”, “Maybe I’m Amazed”, and “Yesterday”.

“Yesterday” was special because it was just Paul solo with his acoustic.

While I acknowledge Denny Laine’s talent, I’ve always felt that McCartney could have played with any well-rehearsed group of skilled musicians and it would have been basically the same show.
mmm

[kenobi_65]

@psychonaut

Was it this recording? (Ignore the video, which has been spliced together from various performances.)

You’re asking me to remember something from close to 30 years ago , but if that isn’t the exact recording I had heard back then, it’s very similar.

[drad_dog]

PM and Wings were a commercial juggernaut in the 70s, competing with Elton John etc. You can’t say that about the other three ex fabs.

[blondebear]

Note to die-hard fans: the previously unreleased 1973 animated/concert film Paul McCartney & Wings: The Bruce McMouse Show is now available to stream on Amazon.

[Mike_Mabes]

@Gatopescado

Paul had to pay the bills.

Ohhhh! Crazy Horse is a fucking Entity!

Neil and the Horse going into the studio soon to record an album. Hopefully a tour will follow.

[Ukulele_Ike]

@drad_dog

PM and Wings were a commercial juggernaut in the 70s, competing with Elton John etc. You can’t say that about the other three ex fabs.

Yeah, but Elton John sucks. I’ll take “Crackerbox Palace” or even “Photograph” over the whole damn Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album to my desert island.

[nearwildheaven]

There’s that long-running urban legend about a kid in a record store finding out that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings.

:smack:

More likely, he would have found out that he was in another band after the Beatles. And I could definitely see that scenario taking place nowadays, with a youngster finding out that Dave Grohl was in a band before the Foo Fighters.

I also remember seeing, in some fan mag, a picture of Denny Laine doing a handstand on a toilet. (Really.)

[Beckdawrek]

@Just_Asking_Questions

Don’t forget that there were two albums before Wings formed. McCartney and Ram. Ram had Uncle Albert.

I must defend Wings. I loved almost all of it until maybe the 80s. John was just too self-absorbed and too angry (and just too not writing good songs) George was too lost in the far East, and Ringo was too drunk and too limited in talent to sustain a solo career.

John writes “How Do You Sleep”, and Paul writes “Silly Love Songs.” I know which one I like more. And what’s wrong with that?

Let’s not forget ‘Imagine’

[Dale_Sams]

@Inigo_Montoya

Agreed, generally (a few megastars–Genesis w/ Gabriel, Bowie, Elton–deserved the accolades), but I still enjoy threads like this one because it’s like anthropology. I’ve never enjoyed the Beatles’ work, and even less their individual efforts. But the fact is they speak to an element of humanity which I either don’t possess or don’t value–and I wonder why that is. This is like therapy for me.

I could list a billion fantastic pre-punk 70’s songs. From one genre only if i had too.

[JohnT]

@Ukulele_Ike

Yeah, but Elton John sucks. I’ll take “Crackerbox Palace” or even “Photograph” over the whole damn Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album to my desert island.

Dude. No. Just… no.

[Ranger_Jeff]

@Inigo_Montoya

I still enjoy threads like this one because it’s like anthropology. I’ve never enjoyed the Beatles’ work, and even less their individual efforts. But the fact is they speak to an element of humanity which I either don’t possess or don’t value–and I wonder why that is. This is like therapy for me.

One thing you probably don’t understand about the Beatles phenomena is the timing. No one planned on the Beatles appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show 79 days after the JFK assassination, but it started among the youth of the USA a strong message that the national period of mourning was OVER. They played happy songs and smiled and laughed while they were performing. And they looked new and different.

Before them, in America it was doo wop, boy and girl teen idols, car/surf bands, and folk singers.

[ftg]

@Ranger_Jeff

Before them, in America it was doo wop, boy and girl teen idols, car/surf bands, and folk singers.

Right. There had been a surge of good, new music in the mid-late 50s. Then the teen idols and crap took over. Don’t forget the “dance craze” of the month.

People like Dick Clark played a major role in this. They wanted safe, blah stuff. When Clark first heard The Beatles he realized they were “only” recycling Buddy Holly stuff and didn’t care for them.

Which is one reason they were perfect for the time. Bring back the good type of music with an updated feel.

The more the studios, Dick Clark types, etc. decide what type of music is popular, the worse the hit music. When stuff breaks out of their control, that’s when things get good.

[Just_Asking_Questions]

@Beckdawrek

Let’s not forget ‘Imagine’

How can we? It’s ubiquitous. And insidious.

[Nonsuch]

I think the turning point was just before they set off to record Band on the Run, when everyone but Denny Laine (and Linda) quit before departing for Nigeria, where McCartney had taken it into his head to record. The pressure helped make the album his best to that point, but it also marked the moment when Wings went from being a passable band to whoever was in the room with McCartney when the red light went on.

That being said, one of my favorite Wings tunes is actually not even one of McCartney’s: “Medicine Jar” from Venus and Mars.

[cochrane]

@Ranger_Jeff

One thing you probably don’t understand about the Beatles phenomena is the timing. No one planned on the Beatles appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show 79 days after the JFK assassination, but it started among the youth of the USA a strong message that the national period of mourning was OVER. They played happy songs and smiled and laughed while they were performing. And they looked new and different.

Before them, in America it was doo wop, boy and girl teen idols, car/surf bands, and folk singers.

John Fogerty expressed it pretty well in his song I Saw It On T.V.

“We gathered round to hear the sound comin’ on the little screen
The grief had passed, the old men laughed, and all the girls screamed
'Cause four guys from England took us all by the hand
It was time to laugh, time to sing, time to join the band”

[The_Peyote_Coyote]

@ftg

Right. There had been a surge of good, new music in the mid-late 50s. Then the teen idols and crap took over. Don’t forget the “dance craze” of the month.

People like Dick Clark played a major role in this. They wanted safe, blah stuff. When Clark first heard The Beatles he realized they were “only” recycling Buddy Holly stuff and didn’t care for them.

Which is one reason they were perfect for the time. Bring back the good type of music with an updated feel.

The more the studios, Dick Clark types, etc. decide what type of music is popular, the worse the hit music. When stuff breaks out of their control, that’s when things get good.

Quite correct, ftg. The early 1960’s was horrendous time for rock ‘n’ roll and popular music. To hear good stuff you pretty much had to listen to jazz, country, soul, and blues music. I mean James Brown: Live at the Apollo came out in 1962, John Coltrane’s My Favorite Things came out in 1960, and Patsy McCline recorded some wonderful songs, but they weren’t rock and roll.