He'll sweep you up under his carpet
Written: Aug 20 '04 (Updated Jan 10 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The majority of this album is great.
Cons: Cook of the House Sometimes, the songs could be mediocre
The Bottom Line: This album capped the creative height of McCartney in the 70s.
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| scapp70's Full Review: Wings at the Speed of Sound by Wings |
Wings entered the studio in January of 1976 and exited some time in February. Paul was ready to start his big tour, and he did so in March that same year, just days after the death of his father. Never the less, the show must go on, and if Wings Over America was any indication, it was a great thing it did.
The first single released from this LP was the chart topping Silly Love Songs. The single was released in April of 1976 and as one of the longer songs off this CD, it never gets dragged out or boring. This is one of Paul's best-crafted songs ever. The three-level harmonies, the masterful groove of Paul's bass and the horns section and orchestra come together and gel into a perfect song. The single had amazing success, reaching and lingering at #1 on the pop charts for a couple of months. In my opinion, this fact of success may have attributed itself to the jealousy of John Lennon who had decided to hang it up the year before. In a comments made by Lennon over the years including calling McCartney music "a lot of rubbish", or "sounds like Englebert Humperdinck", or his music just being a bunch of "silly love songs". Lennon had to know that these were venomous lies as McCartney rocked harder than the other limp in comparison solo Beatles combined. So, in my opinion, jealousy was at the helm of Lennon's interviews, and may have even broke up the Beatles to begin with. What this song showcases is Paul's mastery of the crafting of melodies and music, and that he grew as an artist even after the breakup of the greatest band that was.
Now having singing all of that praise, the flipside to the single was a song called Cook of the House. Sung by Linda McCartney in a double or triple tracked vocal mess. The song was written by Paul and given to Linda to sing, maybe that she would have a vocal spotlight as some of the other members would surely have on tour. God is good, and the song doesn't drag on for much more than two minutes.
The second single was released in June that same year, with the song Let 'Em In. It climbed to the #2 position and proved another big hit from this album. Whenever I hear this song I think of Arsenio Hall jokingly talking about the genius of the rock lyrics and using this song as an example and it always brings a smile to my face.
♫Someone knocking on the door
Somebody ringing the bell
Someone knocking on the door
Somebody ringing the bell,
Do me a favor?
Open the door
and let 'em in♫
Silly, perhaps, but it works, and only someone like McCartney could get away with a song like this. Another long song, at over five minutes, I'm wondering if the singles released were single edits. A great song for the 200th anniversary of the US, with it's marching band drums, and flutes.
The flipside, Beware My Love is another lengthy song clocking in at 6:29. A great song and one of Paul's heavier moments from this album. The sound is reminiscent of Wing's Red Rose Speedway. The lyrics seem that they may have been written during a jam, they're very repetitive and don't seem to go anywhere, but Wings makes them work with the great harmonies.
Paul also wrote the song The Note You Never Wrote, but gave it to Denny to sing. This concept of having the members of Wings have a vocal spotlight for each member does give the impression of a group effort, which is probably the whole point of the idea. Denny always gives a great vocal, and he gives a very Moody Blues-ish performance, Denny's previous band. Not one of my favorites off this album, it's not horrible, but the album loses a momentum at just the second song because of this track.
She's My Baby is a favorite of mine. The lyrics are fun, and the melody is catchy and simple. It's a song about his wife Linda, but not in the same vein as the love songs from the past like My Love or Maybe I'm Amazed. The melody is more upbeat and it's a joyous celebration of his love.
♫Like gravy, down to the last drop,
I keep mopping her up
Oh yeah, she's my baby♫
Wino Junko was written and sung by guitarist Jimmy McCoullough. Jimmy really knows how to write a McCartney-esque type of song as it shows here. This is although a depressing tone to the lyrics, is a great song. Jimmy's last vocal can be heard on another song about drug addiction, on the previous album, Venus & Mars' Medicine Jar. If for some reason I were to compare the two songs, I would choose Medicine Jar easily, but this song is enjoyable as well.
Denny Laine, not to be without his own writing credit, wrote the song Time To Hide. This song also fits in easily with the good songs from the album. Denny's voice was already associated with Wings because he was there at the beginning of the group formation. Do you think Denny changed his name to Denny Laine, because of Paul's Beatles composition Penny Lane? His real name, if you care is Brian Hines.
Drummer Joe English gets his vocal here and Paul's song, Must Do Something About It, is the vehicle. Joe's got a pretty good voice. This is sort of a countryish type song. Lots of acoustic guitars, and Paul gets to play drums here while Joe takes the vocal helm.
Talk about country songs, San Ferry Anne has a country feel, yet with contemporary jazz overtones. This song is usually overlooked as far as McCartney music goes and it's a shame. Great horns performed here by the four who played on the entire album whenever horns were heard, they are:
Tony Dorsey
Thaddeus Richard
Steve Howard
Howie Casey
Warm and Beautiful, I am still undecided if I like this song or not. If I were to make a Paul compilation MP3 CD, I'm sure I would leave it off, yet I would not press the SKIP button if it came on while listening to this CD (that's reserved for Cook of the House). This is very wishy-washy and lovey-dovey, but it's not bad, just sort of on the verge of gay.
The bonus tracks are very impressive here. First off we have a song written by Paul's dad, Jim McCartney called Walking in the Park With Eloise. The single was released under a pseudonym of The Country Hams. This song is very much like that 1940's swing type music. No lyrics, but very enjoyable. Bridge On The River Suite was the flip side to this single that was released in 1974. It's another instrumental, and this time written by Paul.
Sally G was originally the flipside of the Junior's Farm single that was released at the end of 1974 between the albums Band On The Run and Venus And Mars. Sally G is one of my all-time favorite McCartney songs. The song is pure country, authentic sounding, and pure. The lyrics aren't anything special, but it's so much fun to listen and sing along to.
I guess there were no rarities from this album's year of release, but that's ok, at least these songs were included so that all who have access to a CD player could enjoy them.
The Songs:
1. Let 'Em In
2. Note You Never Wrote, The
3. She's My Baby
4. Beware My Love
5. Wino Junko
6. Silly Love Songs
7. Cook Of The House
8. Time To Hide
9. Must Do Something About It
10. San Ferry Anne
11. Warm And Beautiful
12. Walking In The Park With Eloise - (bonus track, UK single)
13. Bridge On The River Suite - (bonus track, B-side)
14. Sally G. - (bonus track, "Junior's Farm" B-side)
The band:
Paul McCartney - Lead vocals, bass, guitars, piano, drums, backing vocals
Linda McCartney - Vocals, keyboards
Denny Laine - Guitars, vocals
Jimmy McCulloch - Guitars, vocals
Joe English - Drums, vocals
Horn Section:
Tony Dorsey
Thaddeus Richard
Steve Howard
Howie Casey
Country Hams
Paul McCartney
Chet Atkins
Floyd Cramer
Denny Laine
Geoff Britton
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦More Beatles-related Epinions from Scapp70♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
~~~~~~~~~~~~~The Beatles~~~~~~~~~~~~
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~~~~~~~~~~~Paul McCartney~~~~~~~~~~
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Recommended:
Yes
Great Music to Play While: Listening
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Epinions.com ID:
scapp70
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Member: Michael Scapp
Location: NYC
Reviews written: 462
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