Wings' Venus and Mars Appreciation Thread

ok I just listened to this album in full for the first time in .. I don't know, 20 years, and now i find it truly amazing just how much music there is here. So creative. At the time I guess I just took for granted that it was McCartney, I've always considered it his best since the fabs, but sheesh, let's give this the proper perspective.

 

I agree, its a fantastic album. Love it !!!

 

Love it!
McCartney himself in an interview said he wasn't entirely happy with the album until he heard it played at a party one night. He was wondering what that great sound was and suddenly he realized: "It was me" and only then did it became one of his favourites.
Paul could be very weird about some of his albums. He got it into his head that "Revolver" was out of tune and he went around anxiously asking the others what they thought.

 

You mean he must have heard great music, not sound. The sound stinks. The bonus Rock Show cut that he released sounded much better due to the lack of compression that plagues the album.

 

Yes, I enjoy the entire album.

 

I think of it as Wings' DSOTM. But only from a packaging POV.

 

I listened to this album for the first time the other night. Wasn’t impressed with the sound either. Has some good music but not great. Has some choice instrument choices throughout but not my thing. Solo Paul doesn’t do it for me. I love me some Off The Ground and Flamming Pie. I appreciate this album for what it is. It does flow and connect from song to song which is great. Will have to have a repeated listen and see if it does it for me. Not giving up yet.

 

I'm a big fan of this one.
And the McCartney Archive Podcast had a great show about it, as usual.

 

i am always amazed that people knock the album, i think it's a great album

 

My favourite Wings LP. The only one I can listen to from S to F.

 

It has some stellar moments but then it also has some rubbish. Magneto and Titanium Man and Spirits of Ancient Egypt are embarrassing to me.

 

From Soho to Finsbury Park?

 

My second favorite McCartney album, second only to Ram. Absolute classic. Call Me Back Again is vastly underrated.

 

Yes! Great album. I’m not a Beatles superfan and I don’t have a lot of solo Paul records but V&M, Ram and McCartney 1 get quite a few spins at my house.

 

This was the first 'new' album I bought as a kid. I loved it then, and still love it now. It's in my Top 5 Macca post-Beatle albums.

 

V&M is my favorite Wings album and a top ten all-time for me. I was twelve when this came out. This and Elton John's Captain Fantastic made that summer of '75 so memorable. I hear that opening guitar on Venus & Mars and it's like I'm right back in my old bedroom again. Magical!

When I was 12, Rock Show & LTWTMS were my favorite tracks. Now when I listen to it, things like Love In Song and Treat Her Gently sound great.

 

I think it's in his Top 3 or 4 '70s albums (behind Ram and BOTR, but ahead of RRS, WL, WATSOS, LT, BTTE, and neck-and-neck with the McCartney record).

Venus & Mars/Rock Show is a fun opener. Love In Song is a beautiful number, and as long as I breathe I will never tire of the delightful You Gave Me The Answer or the slinky groove of Letting Go. Magneto and Titanium Man is also silly fun. Listen To What The Man Said is an upbeat, toe-tapping, infection single.

I'm indifferent to Spirits of Ancient Egypt, don't care much for Medicine Jar or Call Me Back Again (I think the latter is vastly overrated). The last two tracks on the album are unfortunate. A wonderful start sputters to a limp ending.

Overall though, I love the feel and fun of this record.

 

Top 5 Paul. I remember when I first heard it a kid and was amazed that Jimmy Page got name checked in a song. Side 2 has a couple of clunkers but I'm a big fan of Medicine Jar, Letting Go, Listen. Spirits is a pretty stupid song but it does work in Rockshow. He didn't come up with an album with this much quality until Tug of War.

 

I tend to prefer the WOA versions of V&M tunes. Just ballsier and more groove...

 

I grew up in a Beatles household. British parents led to British tastes. Band On The Run was the Wings album for me but I quite like Venus And Mars as well. Has anybody ever written a better song about the concert experience than "Rock Show"?. In fact, I'd say the "Venus And Mars"/"Rock Show" suite is as good as "Band On The Run". My sister had this record but I bought At The Speed Of Sound and Wings Over America.

 

I thought as an overall album it blows Band On The Run out the water.....really great album....

 

I think I play this album more than Band on the Run.Some tracks have matured like good wine over the years.Letting Go,in particular,is top flight McCartney:brooding,beautifully paced,arranged and sang.Call me back again is one of his best vocals.Magneto is magnificent fun- the energy and playing.Rock Show- he's having a great time!It's infectious.

 

I appreciate Venus and Mars! It was either the second or third LP I bought with my own allowance money, sometime within its first year or release. (I then pretty much stopped spending money on records til early 80s.) The packaging was amazingly generous and made pretty much the rest of my record collecting life a let down. It's beautiful, whimsical, dark, powerful, had a lot of mystery around it for an eight year old, and also even in retrospect seems strangely both appropriate and inappropriate for kids. Man Said and Magneto have a very kiddy bounce, and stuff like Medicine Jar and Letting Go felt like dark glimpses of adult weirdness. Lonely Old People a good tearjerker for young and old...

 

I have to say thanks to the o.p. and the other posters ...
I had started to think from previous forum threads that i was the only person who thought this was a great album

 

It was one of my favorite albums when I was in High School (1975 - 1978). I played it all of the time. I kind of stopped playing over the years, but when it was re-released a few years ago as part of the Archive series, I rediscovered how much I love the album. It’s such a 1970s album - songs about Egyptian Spirits, comic book heroes. It’s has rock songs, pop songs, 1930s nostalgia. “Listen to What the Man Said” is one of my top 20 favorite songs - I never tired of listening to it. My only minor complaint is that some of the rock songs seem restrained, like they’re holding back - which is why I preferred the WOA live versions of “Venus & Mars/Rock Show” and “Letting Go.”