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

Tell that to McCartney

 

Nice theory, @Paul H!

 

I will...

 

I like it. Or maybe he was just intending to begin a possible album (after all, he could have studio tested the band up at Rude, no real need to go to Abbey Road).

But then he liked the jams and off-the-cuff feel of what they'd done so far that he never wrote more songs for further sessions, instead just releasing what he had.

You mentioned 'Dear Friend' - unconnected, but I was thinking about this the other day - tracks from the 'Ram' sessions ended up being released under all four monikers that Paul used in the early 70's:

Songs on the Ram LP - credited to Paul & Linda McCartney
Another Day & Oh Woman Oh Why - credited to Paul McCartney
Dear Friend, Little Woman Love & I Lie Around - credited to Wings
Get On The Right Thing & Little Lamb Dragonfly - credited to Paul McCartney & Wings

Not that it matters, I just thought it was interesting.

 

I get what you're saying but Rude wasn't a studio designed for making professional, releasable recordings. I suspect it was simply a place to hang and jam, and record demos. Abbey Road, on the other hand, is a world of difference away from that. It would be the difference between recording in my garage and going to a pro studio - even for professional musicians that must be a whole different ball game, especially if you're surrounded by technicians and the like.

I think it's odd that McCartney chose to release jams and minor ditties like Bip Bop ahead of much stronger material from Ram; material that was used relatively soon after (in the case of Little Lamb Dragonfly and Little Woman Love). This also suggests to me that McCartney wasn't really thinking of making an album in 1971, and that the decision to make one out of the rehearsals (if that's what they were) came after the fact. It would explain the inclusion of jams and why the band entered the studio with so little material; and it also - possibly - explains why no Ram outtakes were used: apart from the relatively sparse Dear Friend, the rest of the Ram material was much more produced/arranged, and didn't fit the raw sound of the rest of the material.

It also explains why Wild Life is such an outlier in Wings' catalogue. The unproduced album in amongst all those slick production pieces is akin to McCartney II: it wasn't intended to be an album at all and so didn't get the glossy sheen. Perhaps McCartney was emboldened to issue these "rehearsals" by the knowledge that Dylan had recorded an album equally as quickly but, again, perhaps that was justification of the after-the-fact decision rather than any pre-meditated attempt at making a record that way.

 

Very insightful. Looking back I noticed Jet seemed to go on forever as I got tired of singing along to it, even as a young teen. But I never put together the idea it was padding. American Revolver is short, and I have no problem with that.

 

Great theory; I really think that you are on to something. I can imagine Paul reviewing the tapes of the jams and covers, and liking what he heard, whilst also finding out that Dylan had released a quickly recorded album, and thinking that he could release something similar with the material that he had.

There was a theory that the album was a concept album about a new band starting off with jams, ditties and covers, before building up to the fully produced 'Dear Friend', but your idea makes even more sense, because rather than being a concept, it actually was a new band starting from scratch in the studio.

 

This just makes perfect sense to me, and it would be really interesting to bring this up with Paul during an interview. It would explain so much, especially regarding why he didn't chose to include the quality songs that he had leftover from the 'Ram' sessions.

I look forward to seeing if the liner notes of any potential reissue in future will confirm this theory.

 

See for me all of the BOTR songs seem to merit their length. Mrs. Vanderbilt and Jet are rockers that don't lose their steam. Picasso's Last Words is a great exercise in putting music together the way Picasso did his art. 1985 is a perfect song the way it builds and builds to the final "Band On The Run" finale. Let Me Roll It and Mamumia each clock in at just under 5 minutes (same as Love Is Strange-heck Bip Bop which should be about a minute long is nearly as long as those BOTR songs), not the nearly 6 minutes (Dear Friend) or 6 minutes plus of Some People Never Know and Wild Life.
So no I don't see BAND ON THE RUN as having padded songs. The lengths seem merited by the musical qualities of the songs. WILD LIFE, on the other hand is grossly padded and with lesser quality songs to boot!

 

Again, I don't disagree with you. But isn't it always the case that if something is considered "good" we like more of it; if it is considered "bad" we want less? Thus, if you like the BOTR songs, you'll see them as meriting their length; if you don't you won't. Personally, I think that Jet is rubbish, so the less of it there is, the better. Mamunia is lovely but like many of his acoustic songs, would have worked better being kept brief. Let Me Roll It works well in a long form. I understand what he was doing with Picasso's Last Words but regardless of the artistic intent, it's still stretching out a short song.

In summary, I think he did a good job of extending the material he had to 40 minutes on BOTR, but did a much less successful job on Wild Life, partly because the songs weren't there but mostly because he just wanted to put it out as-is rather than take time to work up arrangements.

 

I think the length of 'Dear Friend' is wholly appropriate - it gives the impression of Paul asking himself the same questions over and over, as if in doing so he might find some answers, but instead he only keeps coming up against that same doomy minor chord at the end of each verse - there are no answers. And the instrumental interludes (including Paul's wordless vocalising) express nearly as much as the verses. Richard Hewson's orchestration adds some nice variation to the repetitions - one of my favourite parts is the entrance of the strings, when the bass plays some bobbing notes while the strings swell before a big flourish from the strings and drums.

I've been listening to this track a lot lately, and I'm thinking this may be an even stronger finale than 'Back Seat Of My Car' was on Ram. Worth every second for me.

 

Nice.

 

I think this is a wonderful artistic/emotional assessment of the song. Unfortunately for me, I don't enjoy the song enough (particularly the instrumental interludes) to enable me to appreciate what Paul, perhaps, is trying to convey. For me, a much shorter version (I edited it down to a little over 2 minutes) works far better: it becomes a little wistful piece of melancholia at the end of the album, similar to Elton's Goodbye from Madman Across the Water.

 

I would most likely very much enjoy a shorter condensed version of the song, especially if it is similar in feel to Elton's 'Goodbye', but I love 'Dear Friend' so much that I never tire of hearing it, and thus I am grateful that the song is as long as it is, when it comes to both the studio version and the demo version.

 

As you said, whether a song is too long really depends on how much you like it. I can't think which parts I'd cut. Maybe it should have taken up a whole side...

 

While I'm glad it does that for you, I had the experience of listening to "The Beatles Show" on the radio and the host played a 3 minute or so edit (without telling us beforehand he was doing it) and I remember thinking "huh, that was really good and didn't seem too long after all." Then the host told us it was an edited version and he wished Paul had done it that way. I had to agree. I'd always thought the track a bit tedious, but I really enjoyed his edit.

But your experience and is cool too!

 

This is a real mixed bag. Some weak throwaways (Mumbo, Bip Bop), but two of his greatest solo songs - Tomorrow and Some People Never Know. The other material is enjoyable, but not great.

If you're a big Macca fan, you'll like this; if not, I doubt it will convince you.

 

Clearly one of his best works - essential listening for Paul fans.
A rough masterpiece with several tracks amongst the best a Beatle ever has made solo. Best track: Dear Friend.

 

Did you inadvertently reverse the songs?:

Some weak throwaways (Tomorrow; Some People Never Know), but two of his greatest solo songs - Mumbo and Bip Bop...

 

Pretty solid IMHO.
I know I'm minority but I really like and enjoy this album

 

I've been listening to this in and out for the last week. First time hearing this album. Not only do I get what Paul is trying to do I think he succeeds fairly well. Half the album is basically in studio jams/demos. But it works. The fact that it's Paul McCartney doing it I'm sure makes a huge difference because it can be entrancing to hear him in this context: loose, having fun just feeling the music.

 

I love it, but I do understand those that don't. It is a little self-indulgent and playful, but you know, that's how I like my Paul....endearing, charming, hammy, improvisational, phenomenal vocals, beautiful melodies, silly, always listenable!!!!!

 

I like it very much. It's universally panned and I don't know why

 

It's carefree, light as a breeze, warm, cozy... What's not to like?

Ok the first two songs are kinda underwritten.. but doesn't bother me too much