Paul McCartney & Wings - Amiens Mons (1984)
Following the moderate success of Arnie Pupe, Paul McCartney wished to get back on the road and finally commit to a world tour. McCartney hadn't done a tour of that scale since the mid 1970's with the Beatles, but since then he had done multiple smaller venue tours with his backing group Wings. Wings had formed in 1972 and usually comprised of Paul, his wife Linda and friend Denny Laine, along with some other lesser known session musicians that changed over time. It was formed to give McCartney an excuse to play live shows when the other Beatles weren't up to it, and the band consistently broke up and reformed when McCartney felt the need to tour. Before 1983, their biggest concert had been at the Concert for the People of Kampuchea in 1979, in which their lineup was the two McCartneys and Laine, as well as Laurence Juber as an additional guitarist and Steve Holley as their drummer. This lineup returned for their 1983 tour that didn't end until mid 1984. This tour roughly coincided with David Bowie's world tour that also went from 1983-84. Some expected a reunion of some kind, but in the end none ever occurred.
The tour would end up being incredibly well received, and McCartney wanted to take the energy of their live shows into the studio. Sessions for a new McCartney album, and his first with Wings, would start while the tour was still underway. George Martin would return as the album's producer, despite some pushback for McCartney to record the album on his own. He eventually fell in line, and for once, McCartney didn't have to assemble a band to record his album with. Recording went smoothly and, for the most part, the live energy that McCartney wanted was maintained. The album eventually became a double as a concept was established; the first disc would symbolize war and conflict, and the second would represent peace through love. This would be represented in the album's name Amiens Mons, referring to the first and final cities of the Hundred Days Offensive that would end World War I. Holley would be accompanied by Ringo Starr on a few tracks, and George Harrison would add guitar to "Cage" and "Through Our Love", although David Bowie, still on his world tour, wouldn't be able to add anything.
Amiens Mons would release on February 27, 1984 to very positive reviews. Critics would applaud the exceptional songwriting effort, typical from Paul McCartney, as well as the rest of Wings, who provided the backbone for McCartney's musical ideas. Laine and Linda McCartney's songs weren't ignored either, both given credit for their musical and lyrical abilities. The album would go on to be a favorite of Generation X, and it along with Bowie's Serious Moonlight would come the closest to hitting the mainstream. Retrospectively, the album has been considered the best thing McCartney associated himself with in the 80's, minus Look Back in Anger of course. David Bowie as well as for its collaborations with former Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Retrospectively, it has been seen as a precursor to the bloated CD albums that would come to define the 1990's.
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