7 December 2013

7th December - Paul McCartney & Wings' Band on the Run


Artist – Album: Paul McCartney & Wings – Band on the Run
Released: 7th December 1973
Sounds Like: As recommended by Alan Partridge

Alan Partridge once famously declared that Wings were “the band the Beatles could have been”. I know, I know, it’s all very funny, but maybe we shouldn’t scoff at Partridge’s assertion quite so quickly – after all, he was a renowned (if fictional) DJ and can count amongst his favourite songs the likes of ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’, ‘Wichita Lineman’ and the frankly brilliant bass of ‘Music for Chameleons’. Wings weren’t all that bad, as long as you restrict your listening to this album and the prior single ‘Live and Let Die’, whilst steering well clear of that bloody ‘Mull of Kintyre’.

Band on the Run starts explosively, with the delightful title track followed by the stomping ‘Jet’. Admittedly it all goes a little down hill from there, with nice enough stops at junctures such as ‘Bluebird’ but nothing to really quicken the pulse. Nothing really plums the depths either: ‘Mamunia’ feels like McCartney aping Harrison, whilst ‘No Words’   does contain some lamentable pitch shifts. Otherwise, it’s a respectable record from a former Beatle, which time proved to not be an easy thing to pull together.

Were Wings better than the Beatles? Emphatically no. But were they laughably bad? Again no. They were just alright really. And now “I’m leaving you, you cow!”

Albumaday... rating: 7/10
1.       Band on the Run – 5:10
2.       Jet – 4:06
3.       Bluebird – 3:22
4.       Mrs Vandebilt – 4:38
5.       Let Me Roll It – 4:47
6.       Mamunia – 4:50
7.       No Words – 2:33
8.       Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me) – 5:50
9.       Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five – 5:27
 
Listen to ‘Jet’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8V1nFCP058

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