Wings

Unwilling to sustain a solo path after issuing a pair of understated records in the aftermath of the Beatles’ breakup, Paul McCartney assembled Wings around the central trio of himself, Linda McCartney, and former Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine. The freshly named ensemble convened in 1971 to cut what became the debut Wings album, Wild Life, rather than McCartney’s intended third solo effort. Throughout much of 1972 the group performed intimate shows across the United Kingdom and Europe. Commercial momentum arrived in 1973 with Red Rose Speedway, which topped the American charts, and with the group’s most lasting statement, Band on the Run, whose singles “Jet” and the title track both reached the transatlantic Top Ten. Following the enormous 1977 success of “Mull of Kintyre,” McCartney dissolved Wings and returned to solo work.

After issuing his second solo album, Ram, in 1971, the former Beatle and Linda McCartney founded Wings as a complete recording and touring unit. Denny Laine and drummer Denny Seiwell completed the initial lineup, and the band delivered Wild Life in December 1971 to tepid reviews and modest sales. Adding former Grease Band guitarist Henry McCullough, McCartney and Wings functioned as a working band throughout 1972, issuing three British singles—the protest song “Give Ireland Back to the Irish,” the reggae-styled “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” and the hard-rocking “Hi Hi Hi.” Red Rose Speedway appeared in spring 1973; despite lukewarm notices it became McCartney’s second American number-one album. At the close of that year’s first British tour, McCullough and Seiwell departed. Before they left, McCartney’s theme for the James Bond film Live and Let Die reached the Top Ten in both the United States and United Kingdom. The remaining trio recorded their next album in Nigeria that summer; released late in 1973, Band on the Run earned McCartney’s strongest reviews to date, held the top U.S. position for four weeks, and was eventually certified triple platinum.

Buoyed by Band on the Run’s reception, McCartney rebuilt Wings with guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Geoff Britton. The refreshed lineup surfaced on the 1974 British single “Junior’s Farm” and the 1975 hit album Venus and Mars. Wings at the Speed of Sound arrived in 1976, the first Wings release to include songwriting input from other members. Its success rested on two McCartney compositions, “Silly Love Songs” and “Let ’Em In.” The band backed the album with its inaugural world tour, which set numerous attendance records and was documented on the 1976 triple live set Wings Over America. After the tour, Wings paused during 1977 while McCartney issued an instrumental reading of Ram under the pseudonym Thrillington and produced Denny Laine’s solo album Holly Days. Later that year Wings released “Mull of Kintyre,” which at the time became the biggest-selling British single ever, moving more than two million copies. London Town followed in 1978 and earned another platinum certification. McCulloch then exited to join the reformed Small Faces, and Wings issued Back to the Egg in 1979. Though platinum, the album lacked major hits. Early in 1980 McCartney was detained for marijuana possession at the outset of a Japanese tour, jailed for ten days, and released without charges. Wings undertook a British tour in spring 1980 before McCartney recorded the one-man-band album McCartney II. In 1981 Denny Laine departed because McCartney declined to tour after John Lennon’s assassination, effectively ending Wings as McCartney entered the studio with Beatles producer George Martin to create the 1982 album Tug of War.

McCartney returned to the Wings catalog in 2001 with the compilation Wingspan, issued alongside a television documentary. In 2018 the Paul McCartney Archives Edition series presented expanded editions of Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway; a limited-edition box combined the two sets and added a bonus disc, Wings Over Europe, featuring highlights from the band’s earliest tour.