BAND ON THE ROCKS

BAND ON THE RUN

Viewed as an incredible return to form, the third Wings platter was nothing short of miraculous as it was made under tumultuous circumstances. All of the key elements that had informed his best work in the past were still there, waiting to be unlocked. Reconnected with his muse, McCartney did not waste an inch of tape in the process.

Paul: “When we got back, people said ‘Ah, out of adversity has been born a fine album.’ I hate that theory. I hate the idea that you have to sweat and suffer to produce something good. It may be true as well.”

Denny Seiwell and Henry McCullough both quit their positions shortly before the group was set to travel to Africa and begin tracking sessions. Soldiering on as a trio, Paul, Linda and Denny found themselves in a less than adequate recording facility. To further complicate matters, Paul and Linda were robbed, losing the demo tapes they had brought along to work from. Legendary musician Fela Kuti expressed concern that they had made the trek to co-opt their rich culture of indigenous music and rhythms.

So your band has imploded, you are in a foreign country looking at an unfinished studio without even a rough draft of your new songs and the locals aren't exactly thrilled that you bothered to make the trip in the first place.

What do you do?

Geoff Emerick, who had accompanied them to Lagos to serve as engineer, worked some magic to help bring their workspace up to code. Approaching the project in the same manner as he did when making the McCartney LP, Paul played drums, bass, guitar and keyboards with contributions from Denny and Linda on various instruments and backing vocals. When everything seemed dire, the team rallied in grand style. The sheer power of the multi-part title cut followed by "Jet" sets the tone as the underlying theme of the record deals with flight and escape. You can take that any way you like, though the theme involving "leaving the ground" continues with the cocktail lounge jazz of Bluebird. Everything clicks on the first side, which closes out with a nice tribute to Lennon's Plastic Ono Band sound on "Let Me Roll It". Heavy reverb on the vocals, the guitar tone and a little primal whimper thrown in toward the fade all ice the cake. It's a very civilized way of ending the "John vs. Paul" sniping that played out on their recent records and in the press.

Confident in every possible way, the melodies and song structures found here are exceptional, with a consistency that was entirely missing from Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway. He and Denny (along with Linda) utilize that great vocal blend to full effect, especially with "No Words", a fine tune which Laine brought in and finished with Paul's help. Experimental sound collage takes up the middle section of "Picasso's Last Words". The initial progression and hook was the result of a friendly challenge. Actor Dustin Hoffman asked him about his song writing process, specifically around what subject matter inspired him to invent a new tune. He went a step further, showing McCartney a Time magazine article about the recent death of Pablo Picasso, which mentioned his reported dying words: "Drink to me, drink to my health, you know I can't drink anymore".

Could you write a song about this?

Within minutes, he had something, to Hoffman's delight.

The finale references the homestretch of Sgt. Pepper with a cool flashback. Just as "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five" builds to an orchestrated climax, you get a quick reprise of the chorus of "Band On the Run" before the needle goes skidding off into the run-out grooves. Unquestionably standing as one of the top five solo records that he or his former colleagues ever made, Band On the Run stayed on the charts for 116 weeks, hit number one twice and repaired a lot of damage to his artistic credibility. Wings would press on through the remainder of the decade, with changing lineups, selling millions of discs, though McCartney would not quite match the overall quality found here.

What's the use of worrying? No use