Wings - Blue Nights (1986)

Paul McCartney's tour with Wings came to an end in July of 1984. The tour proceeded even after the release of Wings' debut album Amiens Mons, and it succeeded more because of it. All parties were happy with the end result of the tour, and following its conclusion, Wings once again went on hiatus as they had many times in the past. This left McCartney by himself once again, a circumstance he took advantage of. For having no studio release that year, 1985 was an oddly busy year for him. He was commissioned to write a song for the comedy film Spies Like Us and it became the titular track and he was asked by David Bowie to play on a track for his album that would be due out sometime the following year. A film revolving around Wings' world tour was also in talks, but this never came to be. The real success for him McCartney this year was his appearance at Live Aid, a huge benefit concert done to raise funds for a famine in Ethiopia. While some predicted a full Beatles reunion, minus John Lennon of course, only McCartney and Bowie showed up. But they did a set where they played together, making this the closest thing to a reunion since their dissolution in 1981. Other than some minor technical issues, the set was praised highly, and people's wish for a Beatles reunion of sorts were only boosted.

McCartney reentered the recording studio in October 1985 with renewed interest in making a solo album, without Wings. This would change shortly after when he realized that the sound he was going for required their services. While Linda McCartney, Denny Laine and Laurence Juber would all return, drummer Steve Holley would not, citing a lack of interest. Luckily, it didn't take long to find a replacement. McCartney decided to hire fellow Beatle Ringo Starr to be their new drummer. Since Lennon's death in 1980, Starr was in a terrible mental state and was a functioning alcoholic. McCartney hired him to give him something to do. The album, initially called Press to Play started its sessions by finding Starr something to sing on the album. Luckily for them, he had written 3 songs in the past year that he brought with him, all in the Memphis country style. McCartney didn't find these recordings endearing and, in the end, Starr was left with nothing to sing on the album. Other than that, recording went smooth enough, and the album would be renamed to Blue Nights after the Denny Laine song of the same name. This album would have the most former Beatles collaborations of any McCartney album, with Starr drumming on every song, George Harrison doing occasional guitar work throughout, and David Bowie singing lead vocals on "Press".

Despite the album being finished in December 1985, it wasn't released until August 25, 1986 to lukewarm reviews. "Press", the big single off the album, was praised for sounding like a return to the Beatles days, but everything else would be outright rejected by critics. They said that the best of Blue Nights sounded like the worst of Amiens Mons, and that it felt like McCartney was jumping on the contemporary bandwagon. Wings would once again disband following recording sessions, with McCartney eyeing a project much bigger.

WINGS - BLUE NIGHTS

Released: 25 August 1986

Genre: Pop rock

Producer: Paul McCartney, Hugh Padgham

Side A

No More Lonely Nights

Not Such a Bad Boy

Hometown Girls

Press [ft. David Bowie]

Endless Days

Side B

Stranglehold

Stay Away

Footprints

Only Love Remains

Blue Nights

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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.

PAUL MCCARTNEY & WINGS - AMIENS MONS

Released: 27 February 1984

Genre: Pop rock, art pop, progressive pop

Producer: George Martin

Side A

Tug of War

Be Together

The Other Me

Clock on the Wall

The Pound Is Sinking

So Bad

Side B

Again and Again and Again

Ballroom Dancing

Rainclouds

Be What You See/Love Awake

Maisie

Cage

Side C

Pipes of Peace

Silly Love Songs

Silver

Dress Me Up as a Robber

Hey Hey

Side D

Weep for Love

Through Our Love

Love's Full Glory

Summer's Day Song

Tug of Peace

One of These Days

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Paul McCartney - Arnie Pupe (1982)

The death of bandmate and close friend John Lennon and the following dissolution of the Beatles hit Paul McCartney hard. By then, he had become the de facto leader of the group, always having the most of his songs on their records and guiding the group through the turbulent 70's. The fact that he had to give that all up hit him like a brick. He quickly became depressed, secluding himself inside his Scotland home with his wife and kids. But he would never stop making music. Indirectly influenced by the growing new wave and synth-pop artists that were becoming popular, McCartney began to play with synthesizers, hoping to make a new album out of his experiments. He had experimented with the same idea during the creation of Rockestra, but now McCartney wanted an entire cohesive product using the new technology. Unfortunately, this project would never come to be, or at least the majority of it. Always moving and always changing, McCartney would soon turn tail to a different more ambitious idea of his; a full-blown concept album.

The origins of Arnie Pupe go back to the Look Back in Anger sessions, even when John Lennon was still alive. In fact, McCartney stated in later interviews that had Lennon not died and the Beatles never broken up, the Arnie Pupe concept would've probably become their next project. Not letting his idea he thought genius go to waste, he got to work on a brand new batch of songs that he hoped would be cohesive enough to sequence into a story. He brought in his wife Linda on keyboards and his former Wings and Beatles bandmate Denny Laine on guitars (with a smattering of other session musicians) to help with his ambition, and brought back Beatles producer George Martin to produce. But as the sessions progressed, it became clear how flimsy McCartney's story was. The story revolved around a loner named Arnie who considered himself the world's most average person. The idea was that, throughout the album, he would find a sense of adventure and eventually love. But the songs didn't always reflect that lyrically. But the songs were damn good, so no one was bothered too much. The tracklist was tweaked multiple times until all parties were content with the tracks and its sequencing. George Martin convinced McCartney to add "Coming Up" to the tracklist, even though it didn't really fit the concept, because he thought it could be a hit.

While McCartney was the first Beatle to begin recording an album after the Beatles' dissolution, he was the second to release one, after David Bowie's Silhouettes and Shadows, with Arnie Pupe releasing on March 29, 1982 to mixed to positive reviews from critics. Critics pointed out that the "concept" was barely a concept with the story feeling jumbled throughout. But they praised the album's songwriting and production calling it a jumpstart for McCartney's solo career.

PAUL MCCARTNEY - ARNIE PUPE

Released: 29 March 1982

Genre: Pop rock, art pop, soft rock, progressive pop

Producer: George Martin

Side A

Introduction

Keep Under Cover

It's Not On

The Sweetest Little Show

The Average Person

Famous Groupies

Ebony and Ivory

Side B

Coming Up

My Secret Friend

Somebody Who Cares

After the Ball/Million Miles

Baby's Request

Track list sources:

Tracks are sourced from Pipes of Peace, Tug of War, London Town and Back to the Egg. "Introduction" is "A Beginning" sourced from the Beatles' Anthology 3, "Ebony and Ivory" is the solo version found on the Archive Collection of Tug of War and "My Secret Friend" is the single edit found on The 7" Singles.

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Paul McCartney - Days Past (1976)

Following the release of Station to Station and John Lennon and David Bowie's departure from the Beatles, Paul McCartney spent the majority of 1976 holed up in his home in Peasmarsh, East Sussex. He had become depressed from the state his now 15 year old band was in. He had his wife, Linda, and his kids, but most of all, he had music to keep him busy. And it was Linda who persuaded McCartney to record solo to keep himself busy from the stress that the Beatles had put on him. This would be his second solo record, following his self-titled album two years prior that sold fairly well. Surrounded by the soothing sounds and sights of nature in the quaint town he now resided in, he was persuaded to continue the soft rock sound he had achieved from his first record. Unlike his first album, there was very little variation in genre. He chose a sound, and he stuck to it. The album would release October 15, 1976 to, again, fairly popular reviews and sales. In fact, the album fared slightly worse than McCartney since it was just more of the same. There weren't any songs in particular that critics didn't like, but they found the album's style "inoffensive", as was the last one. To the critics, it confirmed one crucial fact, Paul McCartney needed the other members of his band to make masterpieces. McCartney himself was baffled by these reviews, and he wished to prove them wrong. And his idea of doing so was bringing his new soft/folk sound to the Beatles for their next album.

PAUL MCCARTNEY - DAYS PAST

Released: 15 October 1976

Genre: Soft rock, pop rock, piano rock

Producer: Paul McCartney

Side A

Let 'Em In

Love In Song

You Gave Me the Answer

Magneto and Titanium Man

Mrs. Vanderbilt

Treat Her Gently (Treat Her Kind)

Side B

She's My Baby

Must Do Something About It

Name and Address

San Ferry Anne

Lunch Box / Odd Sox

Warm and Beautiful

Track list sources:

Tracks are sourced from Wings at the Speed of Sound, Venus and Mars, Band on the Run, and London Town. "Must Do Something About It" is Paul's version from the Archive Collection of Wings at the Speed of Sound, and "Lunch Box / Odd Sox" is from the Archive Collection of Venus and Mars.

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Rockestra - Rockestra (1979)

Paul McCartney just couldn't sit still for even a minute. He and everybody else knew it. He always had to be doing some sort of work. So when the Beatles temporarily broke up in February 1979, his mind started racing. He used the majority of the year to organize a series of benefit concerts called "Concerts for the People of Kampuchea". In the same vain as his bandmate George Harrison's "Concert for Bangla Desh" eight years prior, the money from the concerts would go to victims of war-torn Cambodia. Along with Kurt Waldheim, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, McCartney managed to get a series of well-known stars, both old and new, to perform. These included The Who, Queen, Elvis Costello and The Clash, all of which were still making hits. But it would the last star to become involved that would make headlines. Fresh out of Berlin and a short world tour, David Bowie had settled down in New York City. Drug-free and in his best years, he decided to check up on an old friend after reading the paper. McCartney was reluctant to have Bowie perform following his less than amicable leave from the Beatles three years prior. But, eventually, he would be allowed to perform a set of his own. Fans became excited and rumors spread that George Harrison and Ringo Starr had also agreed to perform, but alas, they were all just rumors.

McCartney would perform a set with his backing band Wings, former Beatles Linda McCartney and Denny Laine as well as two other new members. He would later call this performance awful and it would end up being one of the last concerts where McCartney would play with Wings. The concerts would prove to be a success in the end. At the end of the final concert, McCartney, Wings, Pete Townshend of the Who, Bowie, and many other musicians there that day would perform a small set as "Rockestra", billed as Earth's Biggest Band. This specific performance would also be received well, but it also made people curious as to what else the band would do, if anything. Originally a one time thing for the concert, Bowie persuaded McCartney to work with him again, citing an eagerness to work with synths. Townshend and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin would join them, and Townshend would later invite David Gilmour of Pink Floyd to make the greatest five-some any rock fan had ever seen.

Truth be told, other than McCartney and Bowie, it took time for the band to know each other's styles well. This combined with the fact that Gilmour brought no songs with him after the release of his first solo album meant that work had to be done on new (and sometimes old) material. Bowie brought forth "Sound and Vision" a song he had originally saved for his eventually return to the Beatles. Bowie thought it worked well alongside McCartney and Townshend's own experimental work. The lead single was obviously going to be Townshend's "Let My Love Open the Door", a song all of them knew would be an instant hit. Recording finished in November 1979, and the album, self-titled, was released on December 16, 1979. People immediately liked what they heard, and thought the album contained a good mix of all of their own styles. They also thought that the album was superior to the Beatles' Going Faster, not even a year old yet. But it had an unforeseen effect that no one else realized at the time. 

John Lennon, now 39 years young and almost four years into retirement, was sitting on his couch as he had many times before. His son, Sean, was upstairs and his wife, Yoko Ono, was out for the day. He had a guitar in hand and he was listening to his radio. All of a sudden, the DJ announced a new single called "Getting Closer" by a band called Rockestra, a name Lennon had never heard before. As the song started, Lennon dropped his guitar all at once. "Fuck a pig, that's Paul!" he said out loud. He had been out of the music scene for so long, this now months old album had completely evaded him somehow. He read a review of the album in the paper and saw the name "David Bowie" along with McCartney's. They were working together again and he hadn't even known it. For Lennon, this was the last straw. By now, he had a collection of songs he had written plus plenty of inspiration. He and Ono had been subjected to new wave music, something they were both interested in, and he was planning a trip to Bermuda with his family. There was inspiration abound! And now all this. And so, after some deep thought, Lennon picked up the phone and dialed a number he knew all too well. "This will be worth it", he said to himself. "It'll be just like starting over".

ROCKESTRA - ROCKESTRA

Released: 16 December 1979

Genre: Rock, hard rock, experimental rock, synth-pop

Producer: Paul McCartney, Chris Thomas

Side A

Rockestra Theme

Empty Glass

Getting Closer

No Way Out of Here

Old Siam, Sir

Side B

Sound and Vision

Let My Love Open the Door

Temporary Secretary

African Night Flight

I Like Nightmares

So Glad to See You Here

Boys Keep Swinging

Track list sources:

McCartney's tracks are all from Back to the Egg, with the exception of "Temporary Secretary", from McCartney II. All of Bowie's tracks are from Low and Lodger. Townshend's tracks are from Empty Glass with "I Like Nightmares" being a bonus track from The Who's Face Dances. Gilmour's one song is from his self-titled 1978 album.

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Paul McCartney - McCartney (1974)

Paul McCartney's debut solo outing, aptly named McCartney, was released on January 28, 1974. With the exception of "Big Barn Bed" (an outtake dating back to the Hunky Dory sessions), the album took a laid-back easy-listening approach that ended up being popular to long-time fans. The album also notably featured Paul's wife, Linda, on various instruments and backing vocals, a first for her on a studio recording. She would continue to record with Paul, and eventually the Beatles, throughout their long careers. Reception towards the album was generally positive, although less so than either John Lennon or David Bowie's solo outings, released around the same time. It's most notable feature was the four-song medley at the album's end, hearkening back to McCartney's medley-making skills on Space Oddity five years prior. It was criticized for it's relative boringness and inferiority to the Space Oddity medley.

PAUL MCCARTNEY - MCCARTNEY

Released: 28 January 1974

Genre: Folk pop, soft rock, pop rock, folk rock, progressive pop

Producer: Paul McCartney

Side A

Big Barn Bed

My Love

Bluebird

I Am Your Singer

When the Wind Is Blowing

Little Lamb Dragonfly

Side B

Mamunia

Hey Diddle

Mama's Little Girl

Medley (a. Hold Me Tight, b. Lazy Dynamite, c. Hands of Love, d. Power Cut)

Track list sources:

All songs are sourced from Wild Life (Archive Collection) and Red Rose Speedway, with the exception of "Mamunia" from Band on the Run, "Hey Diddle" from Venus and Mars (Archive Collection), and "Mama's Little Girl" from The 7" Singles.

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