#418 Paul McCartney and Wings - Band On The Run (1973)

MUSIC HISTORY WRITTEN BY HEAD WRITER DJ MORTY COYLE:

Released in early December of 1973 on Apple/EMI/and Capitol Records this is the third self-produced studio album by Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles band Wings after his two solo albums.

It was about three years after The Beatles’ break up and many felt that Paul hadn’t really regained the artistic heights of his work with The Beatles.

The album, “Red Rose Speedway” which came out earlier that year did really well but was still considered mediocre by many critics.

So after a successful UK tour, Wings, the band he put together with his wife Linda on keyboards and backing vocals, former Moody Blues guitarist/pianist/vocalist Denny Laine, Irish guitarist Henry McCullough, and American drummer Denny Seiwell, wanted to record their next album in an exotic location to inspire creativity while also getting a little rest and relaxation.

They asked their record company for a list of their international studios and decided Africa would be perfect.

However they mistakenly chose Apapa, Lagos Nigeria without realizing it had recently come out of a civil war and was in turmoil.

To add to the troubles guitarist Henry McCullough quit during album rehearsals and drummer Denny Seiwell quit the day before they were to leave.

So with no time to replace them Paul, Linda, and the other Denny left to Lagos with their families, Beatles’ recording engineer Geoff Emerick, and a couple roadies.

They soon found out that the studio was sub-par and run down including a broken recording console and an outdated eight track tape machine, and the country was on edge, dangerous, and being run by a military dictatorship.

And a few mishaps occurred including early on when Paul and Linda went for an unadvised nighttime walk and got robbed at knife point. The thieves got their valuables and a bag containing a notebook full of handwritten lyrics and cassettes that had the demos for songs for this album.

Paul would have to record some of these from memory.

Regardless they soldiered on with Paul playing drums and percussion in addition to bass and a lot of lead guitar.

They would record all week and sightsee on the weekends.

After six weeks in Lagos they returned to London to complete the album at Beatles’ producer George Martin’s AIR Studios.

There they bounced the eight track tapes to sixteen tracks, recorded overdubs and a few extra songs, and in one day recorded all the string arrangements, orchestrated by Tony Visconti, a producer who worked extensively with David Bowie and T.Rex.

With its themes of escape and freedom as a loose overall concept, when it was first released it looked like it would receive another lackluster reception.

As it would be his last album for The Beatles’ label, Apple Records their parent company, Capitol Records wasn’t taking any chances.

After the modest charting of the first non-album single Capitol Records urged Paul to forgo The Beatles’ tradition of not releasing album tracks as singles.

It worked because when the second and third singles hit the radio the album absolutely took off.

It became the best-selling record of 1974 in the UK and Australia, went to #1 in most countries, and remains McCartney’s most celebrated and popular post-Beatles album.