Paul McCartney And Wings - Wings At The Speed Of Sound (1976) + Bonus Tracks

 (U.K 1971 - 1981)

Paul McCartney and Wings, often billed simply as Wings, were a British rock band formed in 1971 in London by Paul McCartney, formerly of the Beatles, on vocals and bass, his wife Linda McCartney on keyboards, Denny Laine, formerly of the Moody Blues, on guitar and vocals, and Denny Seiwell on drums. They were noted for their commercial successes, musical eclecticism, and frequent personnel changes. They went through three lead guitarists and four drummers. The core trio of the McCartneys and Laine, however, remained intact throughout the group's existence.

Wings are one of the most successful acts the UK has ever produced, achieving no less than 14 US Top 10 hits and 12 Top 10 hits in the UK. Following 1973’s 'Band on the Run', the mid ’70s were a commercial heyday for Wings. 'Venus and Mars', the band’s fourth studio album was released in May 1975 ahead of the legendary Wings Over the World tour. Preceded by the US Number One single “Listen To What The Man Said,” Venus and Mars hit the Number One spot in the album charts on both sides of the Atlantic and went on to sell over 4 million copies worldwide to date.

Wings in 1976 (L–R): Joe English, Denny Laine, Linda McCartney, Jimmy McCulloch,
                                                             Paul McCartney

 'At the Speed of Sound' was recorded in the midst of the same tour and released in March 1976. In the US, it enjoyed the same chart success as its predecessor. Including the international smash hit single “Silly Love Songs,” the album went on to become Paul’s most successful American chart album spending seven consecutive weeks at Number One. In the UK it charted at Number Two, narrowly missing out on the top spot (and was the 4th best-selling album of 1976). It became McCartney’s most successful American chart album, spending seven nonconsecutive weeks at number 1 throughout the summer (and blocking the Beatles’ then-new compilation Rock ‘n’ Roll Music, which reached number 2). Sales to date exceed 3.5 million worldwide.

The album was recorded at Abbey Road in two different sessions: first sessions took place in August/September and October 1975, with work resuming in January–February 1976. During the playback of “Must Do Something About It”, Paul heard drummer Joe English sing the song and decided to have him take the lead vocal. In “Cook of the House”, McCartney handled double-bass, while “Silly Love Songs” was arranged in a disco-style, in a similar fashion to Al Green’s “Sha La La”

'Wings at the Speed of Sound' was released in late March 1976 and received somewhat lukewarm critical reviews. Rolling Stone’s reviewer saw this record as something of a concept album, describing it as “A Day with the McCartneys”. The introduction, “Let ‘Em In”, is sometimes perceived as an invitation for the listener to join the McCartneys on this fantasy day, with explanation of their philosophy (“Silly Love Songs”), a lunch break (“Cook of the House”), and a chance to get to know McCartney’s friends (Denny Laine in “The Note You Never Wrote”, Jimmy McCulloch in “Wino Junko”, etc.).

Much of the album’s success can be attributed to its two smash singles. “Silly Love Songs”, a response to his critics and one of McCartney’s biggest hits, followed the album in April, and became one of 1976’s biggest-selling singles. This was followed in July with “Let ‘Em In”, which also scaled the singles charts. Amid all this, Wings finally went to North America for the Wings Over America Tour, playing McCartney’s first shows there in ten years (after The Beatles’ last tour in 1966) to euphoric reaction; a few selections from 'Speed of Sound' were included.

The strangest thing about this album, is that despite coming right off the heels of Wingsʼ single most rock-oriented record - Band On The Run - and Wingsʼ single most arena-oriented rock tour, Wings At 'The Speed Of Sound' has a very quiet, almost homely vibe to it — as if they were intentionally (or subconsciously) offering us a musical antidote to the brash loudness of its predecessor. With the exception of ʽBeware My Loveʼ, there is not a single song here that would rock as hard as ʽRock Showʼ, ʽMedicine Jarʼ, or ʽLetting Goʼ.

Silly Love Songs Banner - In Front of Berlin Wall

Youʼd think that for a record that is known for being the most democratically structured Wings record ever, with all members of the band contributing to songwriting and lead singing, it could have been just a wee bit raunchier than this, but no way: even Jimmy McCulloch with his obligatory anti-drug statement is content to provide a quiet pop song rather than a loud rock anthem. 

The album was infact critically reviewed in RAM magazine (Edition #33) in 1976 by Steve Clarke for its democratic struture, and even went as far as to title the article 'Two Hoots For Macca's Democracy'. A transcript of the review is provided below:

Two Hoots For Macca's Democracy

WINGS AT THE SPEED OF SOUND

Since The Beatles break-up only two McCartney/Wings albums have entirely impressed me - 'Band On The Run' and 'McCartney' itself, his first post-Beatles album.

McCartney was made entirely on his ownsome and, given the limitations he imposed on himself, it worked perfectly, even including one classic McCartney song in "Maybe I'm Amazed", while cuts like "Every Night" and "Junk" would stand out like the proverbial sore thumb if included on this LP.

Yes everybody, McCartney has made another duff album, although as Wings At The Speed Of Sound's rapid acceleration up the charts demonstrates, not too many people seem aware of this.

That old saying, 'If it's McCartney, it's Gotta Be Good', still stands firm. And Macca probably sells more records than the rest of the ex-Beatles put together, although the recent competition has not been all that high. Wings At The Speed Of Sound is the first democratic Wings album - it's no longer Paul McCartney and Wings, just plain Wings, and everybody in the group gets to sing a song, guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and Denny Laine each having one of their own numbers on it.

Now that's a bad move for a start. lt's easy to criticise McCartney's songs and arrangements on this album, but his singing and bass playing is as peerless as ever.

In fact, vocally he's at the top of his form, using the different shadings of his voice to best possible advantage.

So, Democracy aside, it's crazy to have other people sing your songs when you can sing them so much better yourself. It's just about understandable letting the wife sing a track (and the less said about Linda's track on this LP the better), cause he's so much in love with her, but to have McCulloch, drummer Joe English and Laine have a go is simply not on when they're so obviously inferior singers to Paul himself - especially McCulloch and English.

Two songs stand out as being better than the rest. "Beware My Love" and "Silly Love Songs". The former is by far the best out of the two. It's a juxtaposition of one or two separate ideas, and doesn't have that much sense of completeness as a song, starting out from just a harmonium phrase over which is added acoustic strumming. The two McCartneys sing the first verse, before Paul is let loose to scream rock 'n' roll style.

The band play well and the sound is perfectly clear and uncluttered. Yet often, on this album McCartney will add brass or strings, sometimes both, which are completely unnecessary.

The lyrics to "Beware My Love" are inaudible. If they're anything like the ones that aren't, that's probably just as well.

Over to "Silly Love Songs", which isn't half as bad as the title implies. He sings it beautifully, high pitched and pure. It's uptempo with a rather slight melody.

Too frequently the songs sound like filters, and this isn't the old days when McCartney's fillers were better than most of the music being produced at the time.

The opening "Let 'Em In" lacks any real development as a song and once again in my opinion the orchestral woodwind is right out of context. "The Note You Never Wrote" is the McCartney song which Laine sings. lt's a soft stop-start ballad. MOR-ish, but bctter arranged. McCulloch playing a decent upper register blues-rock solo.

The following "She's My Baby" lacks form as a song. It's as if McCartney should have taken more time to refine his initial idea. And I could go on.

I've a theory that McCartney has a faulty perspective of his own talent. He doesn't always know the difference between a good idea and a bad one. And when he's got a good one, he doesn't always know what to do with it.

Like so many other Major Artists, he must find it difficult to get an honest opinion from his camp-followers. It must be a real buzz for the musicians who're playing with Wings to be playing with an ex-Beatle and I can't imagine any of them having it in them to criticise him. [by Steve Clarke]

This post consists of FLACs ripped from CD (1993 Edition) and includes full album artwork for both vinyl and CD media.  This particular release comes with 3 additional tracks that were not on the LP, but were released as singles in 1974.  Namely, the rare single "Walking in the Park with Eloise" / "Bridge On The River Suite" released under the synomym artists 'The Country Hams' and "Sally G" (the B-Side to their non-album single Junior's Farm)

I've always enjoyed listening to this album, especially the powerful ballad "Beware My Love", and enjoyed the diversity that the other songs and band members brought to the table. It's a Fun album (almost tongue in cheek at times), so I say 'losen up critics' and accept the album for what it is, just good plain fun.

Track List:

01 Let 'Em In 5:10

02 The Note You Never Wrote   4:22

03 She's My Baby 3:06

04 Beware My Love   6:28

05 Wino Junko   5:19

06 Silly Love Songs   5:53

07 Cook Of The House  2:38

08 Time To Hide 4:34

09 Must Do Something About It   3:39

10 San Ferry Anne 2:06

11 Warm And Beautiful 3:13

12 Walking In The Park With Eloise (Bonus Track) 3:08

13 Bridge Over The River Suite (Bonus Track)  3:08

14 Sally G (Bonus Track) 3:40 

Wings were:

Paul McCartney - vocals, bass

Denny Laine – vocals, acoustic/electric/bass guitars, piano, harmonica

Jimmy McCulloch – vocals, acoustic/electric/bass guitars

Joe English – vocals, drums, percussion

Linda McCartney - Keyboards, Vocals

Additional musicians:

Tony Dorsey – trombone

Thaddeus Richard – saxophone, clarinet, flute

Steve Howard – trumpet, flugelhorn

Howie Casey – saxophone

George Tidwell – trumpet

Wings Link (332Mb)