Wild Life (Wings album)

Wild Life
Studio album by Wings
Released 7 December 1971
Recorded August 1971
Abbey Road Studios, London
Genre Rock
Length 39:39
Label Apple
Producer Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney
Wings chronology

Wild Life
(1971)		 Red Rose Speedway
(1973)

Wild Life is the debut album by Wings, and the third studio album by Paul McCartney since his departure from the Beatles, and the first under the band name Wings. Recorded in August 1971 at Abbey Road Studios by McCartney and his wife Linda along with session drummer Denny Seiwell, who they had worked with on the previous album, Ram, and Denny Laine, the former leader of the Moody Blues, the album was released by Apple Records on 7 December, in both the UK and US, to lukewarm critical and commercial reaction.

Recording

In August 1971, with a fresh set of McCartney tunes, the newly formed Wings recorded the album in slightly more than a week with the mindset that it had to be instant and raw in order to capture the freshness and vitality of a live studio recording. Five of the eight songs were recorded in one take. Paul McCartney later cited the quick recording schedule of Bob Dylan as an inspiration for this.[1] The first session was held at Abbey Road Studios on 25 July.[2] As well as recording, on 2 August 1971, the tracks that would turn up on the album,[3] the group also recorded the unreleased tracks "Tragedy" and "Breakfast Blues"; the latter was broadcast in December on New York's WCBS-FM radio station.[3] McCartney was filmed playing "Bip Bop" and "Hey Diddle", around this time, which would later be included in the made-for-TV film, Wings Over the World.[3]

The album was rehearsed at McCartney's recording studio in Scotland dubbed Rude Studio, which Paul and Linda had used to make demos of songs that would be used in the album, and recorded at Abbey Road with Tony Clarke and Alan Parsons engineering. Paul can be heard saying "Take it, Tony" at the beginning of "Mumbo". Paul handled all of the lead vocals, sharing those duties with Linda on "I Am Your Singer" and "Some People Never Know". "Tomorrow" features background vocals from Denny Laine and Linda McCartney.[4]

On the promotional album, "The Complete Audio Guide to The Alan Parsons Project", Alan Parsons discusses how he did a rough mix of "I Am Your Singer" that Paul liked so much, he used it for the final mix on the album. Paul can be seen at Rude Studio in the 2001 documentary 'Wingspan'.

Music and lyrics

"Dear Friend", recorded during the Ram sessions,[3] was apparently an attempt at reconciliation with John Lennon. It was certainly a timely follow-up to John's attack on Paul in the song "How Do You Sleep?" from the album Imagine,[3][5] which had apparently been in retaliation for Paul's digs at John in "Too Many People" on Ram.[6][7] Music critic Ian MacDonald used "Dear Friend" as a counter-argument to the caricature of McCartney as an emotional lightweight.[8]

Wild Life also included a reggae remake of Mickey & Sylvia's 1957 Top 40 hit "Love Is Strange"[4] in acknowledgement of Linda's love for reggae music and Jamaica. This song was almost released as a single in the UK by Apple in December 1971 with Catalogue No. R5932, but it was cancelled on the same day the album was released, due to poor album sales,[3] and instead releasing the non-album single, "Give Ireland Back to the Irish", in response to 1972's Bloody Sunday.

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [9]
Robert Christgau C–
The Essential Rock Discography 4/10[10]
MusicHound [11]
Q [12]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide [13]

After announcing to the media the band's formation on 2 August 1971, the group were titled "Wings" on 9 October 1971.[3] On 8 November, the group held a press party in London to announce both the group and Wild Life, which was released on 7 December, in both the UK and US,[3] to lukewarm critical and commercial reaction. The album reached number 11 in the UK and number 10 in the US, where it went gold. At the same press party, in an interview with Melody Maker, McCartney said that the group "should be soon", in regards to performing live.[3] John Mendelsohn wrote in Rolling Stone that he wondered whether the album may have been "deliberately second-rate."[14] In The Beatles: An Illustrated Record, Roy Carr and Tony Tyler called the album "rushed, defensive, badly timed, and over-publicized" and wrote that it showed McCartney's songwriting "at an absolute nadir just when he needed a little respect".[15] The liner notes for Wild Life (and on the Thrillington album) were credited to Clint Harrigan, but in 1990 McCartney admitted to journalist Peter Palmiere that he was Harrigan. Lennon claimed to know the identity of Harrigan during their Melody Maker feud in 1972.

In December 1971, "Breakfast Blues" was mixed by Paul and Linda at A&R Studios.[3] "Breakfast Blues" was played on WCBS-FM, where McCartney sponsored Wings and Wild Life, on 15 December.[3]

The album was first released on CD by EMI's Fame label, on 5 October 1987.[nb 1] In addition to naming the previously hidden tracks, this edition added "Oh Woman, Oh Why" (the B-side of "Another Day"), "Mary Had a Little Lamb", and "Little Woman Love" as bonus tracks. In 1993, Wild Life was remastered and reissued on CD as part of 'The Paul McCartney Collection' series with singles "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" and "Mary Had a Little Lamb" as well as B-sides "Little Woman Love" and "Mama's Little Girl" — all recorded in 1972 except for "Little Woman Love", which was a Ram outtake — as bonus tracks, and also two hidden tracks: "Bip Bop Link" (an acoustic guitar piece) between "I Am Your Singer" and "Tomorrow"; and "Mumbo Link" (an instrumental jam) after "Dear Friend". ("Oh Woman, Oh Why" appeared separately as a bonus track on the 1993 reissue of Ram.) A version recorded in the garden of Paul's Scotland home circa June 1971 of the bluegrass-styled "Bip Bop" featured Paul and Linda's daughter Mary giggling in the background, and segued into a riff called "Hey Diddle". This surfaced in 2001 on the compilation Wingspan: Hits and History.

Track listing

All tracks written by Paul and Linda McCartney, except where noted.

Side one
  1. "Mumbo" – 3:54
  2. "Bip Bop" – 4:14
  3. "Love Is Strange" (Mickey Baker, Sylvia Vanderpool, and Ethel Smith) – 4:50
  4. "Wild Life" – 6:48
Side two
  1. "Some People Never Know" – 6:35
  2. "I Am Your Singer" – 2:15
  3. "Tomorrow" – 3:28
  4. "Dear Friend" – 5:53

1993 The Paul McCartney Collection remaster

  1. "Mumbo" – 3:54
  2. "Bip Bop" – 4:14
  3. "Love Is Strange" (Baker, Smith) – 4:50
  4. "Wild Life" – 6:48
  5. "Some People Never Know" – 6:35
  6. "I Am Your Singer" – 2:15
  7. "Bip Bop Link" – 0:52
  8. "Tomorrow" – 3:28
  9. "Dear Friend" – 5:53
  10. "Mumbo Link" – 0:45
1993 Remaster Bonus Tracks
  1. "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" – 3:46
    • Wings' debut single; eventually banned by the BBC for political reasons.
  2. "Mary Had a Little Lamb" – 3:34
    • Wings' second single; like "Give Ireland Back to the Irish", this was never released on an album until "The Paul McCartney Collection" was released.
  3. "Little Woman Love" – 2:11
    • B-side to "Mary Had a Little Lamb".
  4. "Mama's Little Girl" (Paul McCartney) – 3:41
    • First release was in 1990 as the B-side of the "Put It There" single.

Personnel

Charts

Chart positions
Chart (1971/72) Position
Australian Kent Music Report Chart[17] 3
Canadian RPM Albums Chart[18] 5
Dutch Mega Albums Chart[19] 6
Italian Albums Chart[20] 25
Japanese Oricon LPs Chart[21] 15
Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart[22] 4
Spanish Albums Chart[23] 2
Swedish Kvällstoppen Albums Chart[24] 3
UK Albums Chart[25] 11
US Billboard 200[26] 10
US Cashbox albums chart[27] 6
US Record World albums chart[27] 9
West German Media Control Albums Chart[28] 47
Year-end charts
Chart (1972) Position
Australian Albums Chart[17] 24
Italian Albums Chart[20] 98
Certifications
Region Certification
Canada (Music Canada)[29] Gold
United States (RIAA)[30] Gold

References

Footnotes
  1. ↑ UK Fame CD-FA 3101/CDM 7 52017 2[16]
Citations
  1. ↑ Garbarini 1980
  2. ↑ Perasi 2013, p. 66
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 Miles; Badman 2001
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Ingham 2009
  5. ↑ Perone 2012, p. 143
  6. ↑ Brown; Gaines 2002, p. 351
  7. ↑ Perone 2012, p. 148
  8. ↑ MacDonald 2005, p. 128
  9. ↑ Wild Life (Wings album) at AllMusic
  10. ↑ Strong, Martin C. (2006). The Essential Rock Discography. Edinburgh, UK: Canongate. p. 696. ISBN 978-184195-827-9.
  11. ↑ Graff; Durchholz 1999, p. 730
  12. ↑ Nicol, Jimmy (October 1993). "Re-releases: Paul McCartney The Paul McCartney Collection". Q. p. 119.
  13. ↑ "Paul McCartney: Album Guide". rollingstone.com. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  14. ↑ Mendelsohn, John (20 January 1972). Album review at the Wayback Machine (archived November 17, 2009), Rolling Stone.
  15. ↑ Carr; Tyler 1975
  16. ↑ "Wings (2) – Wild Life (CD, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  18. ↑ "Top Albums/CDs – Volume 16, No. 24". RPM. 29 January 1972. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  19. ↑ "dutchcharts.nl Wings – Wild Life". dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 "Hit Parade Italia – Gli album più venduti del 1972" (in Italian). hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  21. ↑ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  22. ↑ "norwegiancharts.com Wings – Wild Life". Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  23. ↑ Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  24. ↑ "Swedish Charts 1969–1972 (in PDF-files)" (PDF) (in Swedish). Hitsallertijden. Retrieved 8 May 2013. Note: Kvällstoppen combined sales for albums and singles in the one chart. Wild Life peaked at the number-five on the hit parade on 11 January 1972.
  25. ↑ "Artist: Paul McCartney". Official Chart Company. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  26. ↑ "Wild Life: Charts & Awards: Billboard Albums". allmusic.com. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 McGee, Garry (2003). Band on the Run: A History of Paul McCartney and Wings. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 233. ISBN 9780878333042.
  28. ↑ "Album Search: Wings: Wild Life" (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  29. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Wings – Wild Life". Music Canada.
  30. ↑ "American album certifications – Wings – Wild Life". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
Sources
  • Brown, Peter; Gaines, Steven (2002). The Love You Make: An Insider's Story of The Beatles. New York: New American Library. ISBN 0-451-20735-1.
  • Carr, Roy; Tyler, Tony (1975). The Beatles: An Illustrated Record. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 0-517-52045-1.
  • Garbarini, Vic (1980). The McCartney Interview (Vinyl LP). Parlophone. CHAT 1.
  • Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds) (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
  • Ingham, Chris (2009). The Rough Guide to the Beatles (3 ed.). Rough Guides UK. ISBN 9781848367524.
  • MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Second Revised ed.). London: Pimlico (Rand). ISBN 1-84413-828-3.
  • Miles, Barry; Badman, Keith, ed. (2001). The Beatles Diary After the Break-Up: 1970–2001 (reprint ed.). London: Music Sales Group. ISBN 9780711983076.
  • Perasi, Luca (2013). Paul McCartney: Recording Sessions (1969–2013). L.I.L.Y. Publishing. ISBN 978-88-909122-1-4.
  • Perone, James E. (2012). The Album: A Guide to Pop Music's Most Provocative, Influential, and Important Creations. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313379079.