POLL: How do you rate Paul McCartney/Wings' "Wild Life" album?

Tony was even nicknamed "Take It Tony!" for some time at Abbey Road!

 

Wild Life isn't a bad little album, though it hasn't aged very well. I played it constantly when it was released, but probably haven't listened to the whole thing in years, maybe even decades now. The first side is mostly forgettable ("Love is Strange" is nice, but goes on a little too long). Side 2 really only has one weak song ("I Am Your Singer") and "Dear Friend" always finds its way onto my playlists or McCartney compilations.

 

Could be. I do think some songs are really fresh: Love Is Strange being the best one.

 

I'd say it has aged remarkably well, due to the fact it's not overproduced. It's the 80s albums that sound dated.

 

Make it a concept double album and call it Wild Life/Dear Friend.

 

This album sounds like a band jamming and trying to learn songs (and instruments) for a later, proper recording. It's terrible...amateurish...sloppy...out-of-tune. Paulie must have been pretty hi hi hi on the hippy lettuce to think this drek was worthy of release. At most, a 4-song EP would have been a better decision.

 

I find this album both boring and completely uninspired.
An all-time low in the McCartney cataloque.
His worst album ever.

 

I haven't heard all of his albums, but I've heard most. It's the worst one I've heard. Listened once, could not wait for it to end.

 

Not that bad, very underrated: Dear Friend, Wild Life, Tomorrow, Some People Never Know, I Am Your Singer... all great tracks.

 

another middle vote-bought it on vinyl in late 70s and found it "charming"...

 

Was torn between "Lower-tier" and "Not bad", went with "Lower-tier"

 

The more I listen to this album, the more I like it.
There are only 8 songs on the album, and I only dislike two of them: I Am Your Singer and his cover of Love Is Strange. I really like the 6 other songs: Bip Bop is slight but catchy, Mumbo is a nice rocking tune, Wild Life kicks ass and is Paul's best political song IMO, and Tomorrow, Some People Never Know and Dear Friend are all classics IMO, especially Dear Friend.

I will never understand why he didn't flesh the album out with 3 or 4 other songs that he had and never used (like A Love For You, Sunshine Sometime, etc), because it would have added substance to the album and he could still have recorded it all in a week. Still, it doesn't make me like the album any less that it is short.

I thought that I should post my playlist compilation version of the album, which I listen to often:

Mumbo
Hey Diddle
Bip Bop
A Love For You
Sunshine Sometime
Wild Life
Tomorrow
Some People Never Know
Little Woman Love
Dear Friend
When The Wind Is Blowing

Now that would have been a great album, like Ram-part 2.

 

Clearly one of his worst

I'll leave it at that but this is definitely bottom tier

 

That playlist doesn't improve the album at all. It's great just the way it is.

 

For me, it's a top 5 album.

But I'm not dumb enough to recommend it to anybody. You either get it or you don't.

 

I agree that it is great the way it is, I just feel that it is too short, so I added some other unreleased songs from the era that could have gone on the album. When The Wind Is Blowing and Sunshine Sometime are nice melodic instrumentals, Little Woman Love has a nice boogie-woogie feel, Hey Diddle was originally a medley with Bip Bop and A Love For You is arguably my favourite of his unreleased songs.

Do you not like any of the additions?

 

Wings Wild Life is a closet Macca favorite of mine. It feels somewhat a continuation of the McCartney album, but with a band. I love Some People Never Know, Love Is Strange and even Bip Bop is a groovy listen.
However, the song I find myself skipping with each listen is 'I Am Your Singer'. I just don't care for it.

 

Wild Life, Tomorrow, Dear Friend, and Some People are more than enough to make this a worthwhile album. Bip Bop's fine for what it is as well.

 

It's not actually that short. It's nearly 40 minutes, so it's longer than McCartney but shorter than Ram.

 

I like your playlist. As A Love For You and When the Wind is Blowing are big favourites of mine. I would also have Mamas Little Girl as I'm fond of that track. the album in it's original format is great but making playlists of additional tracks is a good way to add in some of the great songs from around that time that went unreleased. I wonder if there are more unreleased gems we don't know about? Bound to be I guess...

 

Maybe short is the wrong term; I feel at times like it lacks a certain substance that it could easily have had by adding these songs.

 

You are completely right about Mama's Little Girl, it is a great song. I have it on my Red Rose Speedway playlist.

 

Well that makes sense as it was supposed to be on the RRS double album that was originally planned. So that's probably the right spot for it. I always think of it as Wild Life track because when I bought my copy recently it had Mamas Little Girl included as a bonus track

 

Yes, those bonus tracks being on wrong albums have me mixed up a bit. Another reason to get the Archive off the ground again.

 

Not bad...
But i don't like the production