Monday, December 17, 2018

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: PAUL MCCARTNEY - WILD LIFE & RED ROSE SPEEDWAY REISSUES

It's a bonanza for Beatle/McCartney fans of late, with these reissues following November's tremendous box set for the White Album. I'm not suggesting that these two albums rank alongside that beloved Beatle set, but we do get more bonuses and newly-remastered music. These are part of the ongoing McCartney Archive Collection, with two-CD versions, vinyl and big box set options. I'll stick to the more-affordable two-disc copies, as these aren't thought of as the gems in his catalog, so to speak.

Wild Life, the debut Wings album from 1971, is in fact largely discredited and ignored, with no hit singles or well-known tracks, and you rarely if ever see anything by it on compilations or McCartney setlists. Red Rose Speedway, even though it was a #1 album in 1973, doesn't have much better a reputation, with My Love being its main attraction. Although it's hard to believe now, during these two years McCartney was the underachiever in the solo Beatles stakes, with Lennon, Harrison and even Ringo scoring more hits and better PR.

Big reissues can sometimes improve our opinions on forgotten or misunderstood albums. Dylan's successful remodeling of his maligned Self-Portrait set during the Bootleg Series is a great example of how showing the bare bones and alternates can help change minds. Here we have one such success. I'm very surprised how well Red Rose Speedway sounds now, after hearing it for the first time in many years. With a great second disc of B-sides, period singles, live tracks and unreleased cuts, it's greatly beefed up. But also, it seems the record hasn't been given its due over the years, perhaps due to the backlash over the failed Wild Life set. There are some very good, melodic McCartney numbers, examples of his thoughtful pop stuff from the Abbey Road-McCartney-Ram period. Get On The Right Thing, Little Lamb Dragonfly and Single Pigeon are all really pleasing. It turns out some of these songs pre-dated the Wild Life sessions, and were Ram leftovers, which happens to be my choice for the best-ever McCartney album, so that accounts for it.

Over on disc two, you have lots of singles and b-sides that weren't on albums, most of them pretty good to great. There's also his version of Mary Had A Little Lamb, it had to go somewhere. But we do get Live And Let Die and its underrated flip, I Lie Around, the Hi Hi Hi/C Moon coupling, the rather fun Suzy and the Red Stripes single Seaside Woman (Linda's solo turn), and Country Dreamer, the b-side of Helen Wheels. These are joined by three live cuts from the Wings Over Europe tour, delightfully three unreleased songs, darn good ones too. Red Rose Speedway was originally planned as a double album, and these ones ended up dropped for the single album release. Some of the other studio numbers dropped appear here as well for the first time, and it does prove to have been a fertile period.

The Wild Life collection doesn't fare as well. For some reason McCartney was playing it simple when he put together his first band, and the songs reflect that. There's no great thought in numbers such as Bip Bop and Mumbo, the lyrics reflecting the gravitas of the titles. A cover of Mickey and Sylvia's Love Is Strange is both uninspired and too long, and it really does feel like he was padding out the record with studio jams. The bonus disc hasn't much more to offer. There's some home recordings of silliness such as Bip Bop and Hey Diddle, with the kids running around and Linda singing harmonies, some minor demos, and the "controversial" single Give Ireland Back To The Irish, a cut McCartney has chosen to bury over the years.

In the end, this is a partial win for McCartney, as Red Rose Speedway should be elevated in status, and is one you'd do well to pick up and explore. Wild Life remains one for major fans keen on complete collections.

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