McCartney & Wings Wild Life bonus track discussion*

Wildlife 1971 & Red Rose Speedway1973 have both been reissued at various times, using many of the same bonus tracks. Which is a shame Imo. For one thing Red Rose Speedway has at least 10-12 studio outtakes, that to this day remain mostly unreleased. Not to mention the Live & Let Die single. So "Speedway" doesn't need to pirate bonus tracks, it has plenty.

Wildlife on the other hand, only has eight songs on it. True some of them are fairly long, but with only 8 songs, & as one of McCartneys most obscure albums, I'd say this is the one that deserves bonus tracks.

Contenders & previously used tracks for either or both albums, & singles & outtakes include.
1-African Yeah Yeah- Wildlife outtake

2-Give Ireland Back To Irish- recorded 2 months after Wildlife,
2b- Instrumental version b side

3-Mary Had A Little Lamb, recorded 3 mo. After Wildlife release

4-Little Woman Love-recorded late 70 & early 71...

5-Hi Hi Hi- Nov 72, full year after Wildlife,
6-Cmoon same as above

7-Hey Diddle
8- Mama's Little Girl
Both recorded during Ram-Red Rose period

9-19- unused RRS studio outtakes
A-The Mess
B-Jazz Street
C-Night Out
D-Country Dreamer
E-Tragedy
F-I Would Only Smile
G-Thank You Darling
H-Soily
I-1882
J-Best Friend

20-21
Live & Let Die
I Lie Around ( dates to 70-71 )

Lotta stuff there, what properly would expand Wildlife, ideas, thoughts,

 

"Little Woman Love" and "Hey Diddle" were already included as bonus tracks on the Ram Archive set, so those songs will likely NOT re-appear on any Wild Life Archive edition. Similarly, "Country Dreamer" appeared on the Band On The Run Archive set, so count that one out too.

My personal guess is that a Wild Life Archive set will have:
Give Ireland Back To Irish and the Instrumental B-side
Mary Had A Little Lamb
Mama's Little Girl
Tragedy

And a few live tracks from the Wings Over Europe 1972 tour, such as 1882 and Best Friend.

I would love to get a full set from that tour, but I'm not confident that MPL will do that, as their track record for bonus tracks usually is not overly generous.

As for Hi Hi Hi and C Moon, those could either appear on Wild Life or Red Rose Speedway. Not sure which way that MPL will decide.

 

It's Wild Life, not Wildlife.

 

Unless we are talking about Mott The Hoople's album, also released in 1971:

 

I'm hoping for the unheard 18 minute version of Bip-Bop!

 

Only 18 minutes? Why edit it down so much?

 

I guess I should be embarrassed. Wonder why I'm not ? But at least you will glean a bit of insight into how Wild Life, is near the bottom of my Wings-McCartney list.

On the plus side Wild Life has 8 songs that all hang together very well. The entire album has a homogenous sound, every track sounds like it belongs with the other seven. Sonically, in terms of the sparse rough production, McCartney is in pretty good voice, & the trademark "Wings" vocal harmony sound of Paul-Denny-Linda is taking shape. Also at least imo, the songwriting is decent. I think Dear Friend, Some People Never Know, & Wildlife are pretty good songs. Lyrically it's kind of a weak album, or rushed if not weak. But there was a lot of experimentation going on with quasi Reggae, African, Latin, World grooves & rhythm.

On the downside, only eight songs, decent songs but not great songs, no Maybe I'm Amazed, Get Back's or Band on the Run's on this album. No signature hit song as a flagship for the album. I think "I am your singer" was pulled as a single wasn't it ? Also Henry McCollough hadn't joined the band yet, so it's just Paul, Denny & Denny & Linda. Henry might've helped it a bit.

So Arnie I'm sort of in agreement with you about Give Ireland as a likely bonus track, it's done just after the albums completion, a matter of weeks, & added as a 9th track it really bolsters Wildlife, gives it a much needed 9th (10th b side) track(s) & a hit single. Plus it gets Henry onto the album.

Why no Little woman love Arnie ? If you use Mary L Lamb why not the flip side?

Imo the other great bonus track that fits Wildlife is African Yeah Yeah. With editing, EQ, maybe there's a song there, it certainly seems to fit the Wildlife album to a T

I'm not sure I have 2 clues where Mary Lamb, Hi Hi Hi, Cmoon, Momma's little girl, Little Woman Love should go.

I mean do people want a big 13-14 song Wild Life album, or is Give Ireland Back & African Yeah Yeah all it needs. I think you're right Arnie, just too many bonus tracks available, they'll probably use all the "72" singles & Bsides, creating a nice 13-14 song Wild Life

They still have Country Dreamer, Live & Let Die & I Lie Around for Red Rose Speedway + about 10 studio outtakes...

 

Those two tracks have already been used as bonus tracks on other Archive editions (Ram & BOTR).

 

Why do you cherry pick Tragedy ? But not Jazz Street or The (studio) version of The Mess ? I like Tragedy I just wonder why ?

Arnie I thought I read either Denny Seiwell or Henry McCollough had some of the rehearsal/demo tapes of the BOTR songs, that Paul lost when he was robbed in Lagos.

Long story short, I notice they have so far put some bonus tracks on the wrong albums, like Country Dreamer, that's not really a BOTR song it's a RRS song. Zoo Gang is the only legit BOTR bonus track I know of, unless Denny Seiwell has that pre Lagos tape.

 

That was part of my point though. They've used some of these bonus tracks on multiple albums already. They have used the same songs on both Wild Life & Red Rose Speedway already, so what's the chain of proper placement they're preserving ?

 

I’m am eagerly anticipating the Archive release of W L and RRS. Hopefully they’re released simultaneously. But at the rate that they are being issued, I just hope I’m alive to see it.

 

Never even heard of African Yeah Yeah. Archive release, please.

 

Personal association:

"Tragedy" was included on the bootleg Cold Cuts LP that I have, which is one of my fav non-official albums. Also on that album were "Mama's Little Girl", "Best Friend", and "Hey Diddle". So since I was including "Mama's Little Girl" and "Best Friend", I also added "Tragedy".

 

As mentioned, it has already been released as a bonus track on the Ram Archive set. So MPL won't be duplicating on any future Wild Life Archive set.

 

I think it's one of the absolute best albums he's ever made.

 

Am I right to assume that at the moment neither Wild Life or Red Rose Speedway are in print on cd or vinyl although they might not be too hard to find? The last main issues of them both on cd was 1992/3 I think. All rather odd.

 

Yes, that is the case. But you know what they say: Absence makes the heart grow fonder...

 

I just listened to this "song" for the first time ever tonight, and it kinda blows. Whoever plays the drums is far worse than McCartney and the rest of the nonsense is inane, even by McCartney standards.

 

For those who have a need to study the effects of marijuana on a genius musician:

 

I do wonder whether Paul/Capitol will be a little wary of including Give Ireland Back To The Irish, seeing as there are some huge challenges imminent in that area following our upcoming B word (I'm trying not to get political here!).

I hope it's included, as I detest the current trend for judging actions of the past based on modern day thinking, but I wouldn't be surprised if no mention of it is made.

 

To play it safe, as well as to generate huge interest, Paul should just overdub two words in the song and make it country-specific:
For example:
Mexico will now get: "Give Mexico Back To The Mexicans"
France will now get: "Give France Back To The French"
Greece will now get: "Give Greece Back To The Greeks"
Panama will now get: "Give Panama Back To The Panamanians"
Ethiopia will now get: "Give Ethiopia Back To The Ethiopians"... etc.

Sales will skyrocket if he does this.

Too bad he didn't do this before the Winter Olympics. ...

 

I’m not sure I’d rate it as one of his ‘best’, but it’s certainly a personal favourite of mine. Never get why it’s so maligned. I’d much rather listen to the naive Wings of Wild Life with all their quirks than the bombastic stadium-rock of something like Venus and Mars.

I really hope we get a Wild Life and RRS archive releases, preferably coming out together to fill the gap in the Wings story.

 

"Give Palestine Back To Palestinians"? Uh-oh

 

I will be amazed if it is included. Maybe I'm amazed.