Band on the Run
Studio album by Paul McCartney & Wings
Released 7 December 1973 (UK), 5 December 1973 (US)
Recorded September–October 1973, Lagos, Nigeria
Genre Rock
Length 44:17
Label Apple
Producer Paul McCartney
Professional reviews
* Allmusic 4.5/5 stars link
* Blender 5/5 stars link
* Robert Christgau (C+) link
* Rolling Stone (favourable) link
Band on the Run is an album by Paul McCartney & Wings, released in 1973. It was McCartney's fifth album since the break-up of The Beatles, and Wings' third album. It became Wings' most successful album and remains the most celebrated of McCartney's post-Beatles albums. It was 1974's top-selling studio album in the UK and Australia, and revitalized McCartney's critical standing.
In 2000 Q magazine placed Band on the Run at number 75 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2003, the album was ranked #418 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. A contemporary review by Jon Landau in Rolling Stone (issue #153) described the album as 'the finest record yet released by any of the four musicians who were once called the Beatles'.
It was the last McCartney album issued on the Apple Records label.
Background
After the success of Red Rose Speedway and "Live And Let Die" - the new James Bond theme song - Wings began contemplating its next album. Paul and Linda McCartney, bored with recording in the UK, wanted to go to an exotic locale. After asking EMI to send him a listing of all their international recording studios, Paul happened upon Lagos in Nigeria and was instantly taken with the idea of recording in Africa. Alongside the McCartneys, guitarist and pianist Denny Laine, lead guitarist Henry McCullough and drummer Denny Seiwell also were set to go. However, a few weeks before departing in late August, McCullough quit Wings in Scotland; Seiwell followed suit the night before the departure. The band neglected to enquire about the state of the Lagos recording studios prior to departing for Nigeria. This left just the core of the band - Paul, Linda and Denny Laine - to venture to Lagos, along with former Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick who was needed to record the basic tracks due to the obsolete recording equipment found in the Lagos studios.
In October, after the band's return to London, final overdubs and orchestral tracks were added and the album was finished. "Helen Wheels" was released as a non-album single at the end of the month, becoming a worldwide Top 10 by the end of the year. As Band On The Run was being prepared for release, Capitol Records, which distributed Apple Records in the US, slotted "Helen Wheels" into the album although it was never McCartney's intention to do so. Although "Helen Wheels" is not included on UK versions of the Band on the Run CD (except as a bonus cut on the 1993 "The Paul McCartney Collection" edition of the CD) it has always been included on US editions of the CD starting with the initial Columbia Records release in 1984. Early versions of the Capitol release fail to mention "Helen Wheels" on the label or the CD insert, making the song a "hidden track".
Release and reception
Band on the Run was issued to glowing reviews. The commercial reaction was slow, with the album gradually inching its way up the charts, but by the spring of 1974, bolstered by the hits "Jet" and the title track "Band on the Run", Band On The Run was a major success. It reached #1 in the US on three separate occasions, and eventually went triple platinum. In the UK, it spent seven weeks at the summit that summer, becoming the top selling British album of 1974. Its lingering success was also beneficial in allowing Wings the time to locate a new guitarist and drummer, and to integrate them into the band before beginning new recordings.
In early 1975, Paul McCartney & Wings won the Grammy award for "Best Pop Vocal Performance By a Duo, Group or Chorus" for Band on the Run. In 1993, Band on the Run was remastered and reissued on CD as part of "The Paul McCartney Collection" series with "Helen Wheels" and its b-side "Country Dreamer" as bonus tracks. In 1999, a special 25th Anniversary Edition was released. On this version, "Helen Wheels" was track 8, between "No Words" and "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)". In May 2007, the album was made available through the iTunes Store.
Cover
The cover photo was taken on 28 October 1973 against the gable end wall of the stable block in Osterley Park, Hounslow. It depicts the now well-known shot of Paul, Linda and Denny plus six other well-known people dressed as convicts caught in the spotlight of a prison searchlight. They are:
* Michael Parkinson (chat-show host and journalist)
* Kenny Lynch (actor, comedian and singer)
* James Coburn (actor)
* Clement Freud (columnist, gourmet, raconteur, Member of Parliament, Just a Minute panellist and grandson of Sigmund)
* Christopher Lee (actor)
* John Conteh (Liverpool boxer who later became World Light-Heavyweight champion)
References to the cover were to be made later by McCartney himself (in the video for "Spies Like Us", along with Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd) as well as others (such as the movie poster for the Dreamworks' animated film Madagascar, which depicts the main characters standing against a wall in a pose similar to the original "Band on the Run" photo).
2010 Re-release
The album was re-released by Hear Music/Concord Music Group on 2 November 2010 as the first release in the Paul McCartney Archive Collection. It was released in multiple formats:
* A single CD featuring the original UK version of the album
* A 2-CD/1-DVD Special Edition which includes a CD and a DVD of bonus material in addition to the original album
* A 3-CD/1-DVD Deluxe Edition which has the aforementioned material as well as an audio documentary originally produced for the album's 25th Anniversary release. It comes with a 120-page hardbound containing photos by Linda McCartney and Clive Arrowsmith, a history of the album and additional material
* A 2-Disc Vinyl Edition containing the same audio material as the Special Edition
* High Resolution 24bit 96kHz limited and unlimited audio versions of all 18 songs on the remastered album and bonus audio disc
Track listing
All tracks composed by Paul and Linda McCartney except where indicated.
Disc 1
(The first disc features the original UK version of the album.)
1. "Band on the Run" - 5:11
2. "Jet" - 4:07
3. "Bluebird" - 3:21
4. "Mrs. Vandebilt" - 4:39
5. "Let Me Roll It" - 4:47
6. "Mamunia" - 4:50
7. "No Words" (Paul McCartney/Denny Laine) - 2:33
8. "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)" - 5:46
9. "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five" - 5:29
Disc 2: Bonus Tracks
1. "Helen Wheels" - 3:44
* "Helen Wheels" was included on only the US edition of Band on the Run in 1973
2. "Country Dreamer" - 3:08
* Released in 1974 as the B-side to "Helen Wheels" single
3. "Bluebird" (from One Hand Clapping)
4. "Jet" (from One Hand Clapping)
5. "Let Me Roll It" (from One Hand Clapping)
6. "Band on the Run" (from One Hand Clapping)
7. "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five" (from One Hand Clapping)
8. "Country Dreamer" (from One Hand Clapping)
9. "Zoo Gang"
* Released in June 1974 as the B-side to "Band on the Run" single in the United Kingdom
* Theme from the UK TV series "The Zoo Gang"
Personnel
* Paul McCartney – vocals, lead, rhythm, acoustic and bass guitars, drums, piano, keyboards, percussion.
* Linda McCartney – organ, keyboards, vocals
* Denny Laine – rhythm, lead, acoustic, flamenco and bass guitars, keyboards, percussion, vocals
Additional personnel
* Howie Casey – saxophone
* Ginger Baker – percussion
* Remi Kabaka – percussion
* Tony Visconti – orchestrations
* Ian and Trevor – backing vocals
* Geoff Emerick – Producer and Sound Engineer
“One Hand Clapping” was an unreleased documentary
showing Paul and Wings at work at Abbey Road studios
on August 15th, 1974, recording songs for a proposed
live/studio album