Band On The Run - Paul McCartney & Wings (1973)

I started with a novel-length description of why it’s easy to dislike Paul McCartney in the modern musical context, and to underestimate the legacy the Beatles left. I didn’t do a great job of it, so maybe I’ll save it for somewhere else.

The point is, you probably have an opinion of the Beatles. But whatever that opinion is, the Beatles are a pillar of modern pop and rock. McCartney’s solo stuff, especially here just 3 years removed from the Beatles’ breakup, exists in a weird space.

McCartney is still relentlessly inventive and energetic (he had band members quit on him right before this record, so he just recorded anyway and played most of the instruments himself). His songwriting is as clever and memorably melodic as ever. Many of these songs could have been on Abbey Road and would have the status of Beatles Classics™. But because they were made a few years later, with a few different musicians, they’re in that weird space I mentioned of “McCartney but not the Beatles” songs that a lot of people don’t give much time to.

That’s too bad, because it’s very good stuff.

The unfortunate shimmer of 70s synths might distract from your enjoyment of it, but the little interpolated bits of the early songs on the album during the free-flowing second side is one of the good things from the 70s that happens here.

Tracks I liked:

Band On The Run - a little mini-suite of short bits that’s so great.

Bluebird - Bluebird > Blackbird? probably not, but close

Picasso’s last words (Drink to me) - supposedly written as a challenge to compose a song on the spot from a Time Magazine article.

Helen Wheels - would be at home on the White Album