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From 1971 to 2000 ex-Beatle Paul McCartney had a little band, a band that tried to take on the world; this band came close, but sadly it flew to close to the sun and melted. Wings had number ones, films, and Grammies; however trend chasing, label fall out, member changes, and the poor reception of their latter albums sealed their fate. This is the story of the 2nd Band, the band that went over the world; this is (Paul McCartney and) Wings.
Chapter 1: The Long and Winding Road (April 10th 1970 to June 1st 1971)
On April 10th 1970, after tensions regarding the Beatles album
Let It Be Paul McCartney left the Beatles; everyone now knew that the Beatles were no more, though they blamed Paul for the break up at the time. On April 12th Paul broke with EMI and Apple and signed a worldwide releasing deal with CBS; CBS Records would release Paul's material overseas and Columbia Records would release his material in the United States. Paul's first proper solo album was released worldwide on April 17th 1970; its title was
McCartney
McCartney's Album art
Genre(s): Rock, lo-fi
Singles: Maybe I'm Amazed/Every Night (Reached number 1 in the United States, Canada, and West Germany)
Teddy Boy/Junk (Was number 30 in the US and Number 25 in the UK)
Ooh You/That Would Be Something (Europe only) (Reached number 18 in the UK)
Track listing:
1. The Lovely Linda
2. That Would Be Something
3. Valentine Day
4. Every Night
5. Hot as Sun/Glasses
6. Man We Was Lonely
7. Junk
8. Ooh You
9. Rock N Roll Spingtime
10. Teddy Boy
11. Maybe I'm Amazed
12. Kreen-Akrore
Despite hitting number one on the Billboard Album Charts,
McCartney was not well received by critics; Rolling Stone Magazine, as an example, called it awful and derided it as being, "Full of Filler". His former bandmates weren't very warm toward
McCartney either, "It (McCartney) makes The Shaggs look good; half the fucking thing is reject songs, hell most of the shit with lyrics we rejected during recording sessions" - John Lennon
"Maybe I'm Amazed and That Would be Something are great, everything else doesn't really do anything for me; I think the problem is that Paul's to isolated from other musicians." - George Harrison
Paul then went on to record his next album; he decided to record it exclusively in the US in the following studios: Columbia Recording Studio in New York, CBS Television City in Hollywood (Oh Woman, Oh Why, Monkberry Moon Delight, and Eat at Home only), and the CBS 30th Street Studio. Paul McCartney attempted to make this album critic friendly, and so the music hall and instrumental tracks were gone; also on the album were songs that were meant as jabs at John (3 Legs and Too Many People). The album, named
Ram, was released on March 14 1971.
Genre(s): Rock, Hard Rock, Blues Rock, Proto-Punk, Sympthonic Rock
Singles: Another Day/Oh Woman, Oh Why
Uncle Albert,Admiral Halsey/Heart of the Country
3Legs/Too Many People
Backseat of My Car/Monkberry Moon Delight
Eat at Home/Ram on
Track list
1. Another Day
2. Heart of the Country
3. Eat at Home
4. Ram On
5. Uncle Albert, Admiral Halsey
6. Monkberry Moon Delight
7. 3Legs
8. Oh Woman, Oh Why
9. Too Many People
10. Dear Boy
11. Smile Away
12. Back Seat of My Car
Reviews of Ram were more positive than of McCartney, reviews were overall mixed; some claimed Paul tried too hard to please critics. Some critics claimed Paul was ripping of John's loud and heavy style with tracks like Oh Woman, Oh Why, Smile Away, Too Many People, and Monkberry Moon Delight; some critics liked it, however Paul's old bandmates didn't like Ram at all. John was the angriest at the album as he viewed the majority of the songs on LP as an attack on him; Ram achieved number 2 on the US Billboard Chart and number 1 on the UK Albums chart and Uncle Albert, Admiral Halsey/Heart of the Country achieved number one on the US Billboard. Feeling as though he couldn't cut it as a solo musician, Paul formed Wings on June 1st 1971; Wings' 1971-1972 lineup went as follows:
Lead singer, bassist, Pianist, Producer: Paul McCartney
Backup singer, guitarist: Denny Lane
Drummer: Denny Seiwell
Backup singer: Linda McCartney