Wings: Wild Life & Red Rose Speedway (Expanded Reissue)

Amazon is cancelling my order for the Big Barn Box. They said "this item is currently out of stock and we do not stock it any longer hence we are not sure if it will be shipped any time soon.
We can try to cancel it rather than keeping yo waiting for it as there is no further information available on it."

 

Booo!

 

Good point.

 

I just wonder if Paul releasing two political songs as singles made John think "Hell I'll show him, I'll do a whole album that's political!"

I get that he had "Give Peace a Chance" and "Power to the People" but those are more communal anthems and protest songs rather than songs that are about a very specific thing politically or socially. Also "Power to the People" was not John's phrase. It was already popular and in use in the counter culture...John was general and anthemic with two great singles, then Paul gets very specific and socio-political on two singles, then John does an entire album that's about specific socio-political topics. That's basically the timeline. I think it's possible there was a bit of a game of one-upmanship there. If not, maybe it's just coincidence.

I don't think "Give Peace a Chance" motivated Paul to write "Wildlife" two years later by any stretch. Paul was becoming vegetarian and aware of animal rights issues and concerns even at this early period and "Wildlife" reflects his genuine feelings on the matter. "Give Ireland" on the other hand was probably Paul's middle finger to the BBC, etc. I think he wanted to put out a single that gets banned. What a street-cred way to start a new group! Ironically, I bet John admired Paul getting banned more than he'd have appreciated the song being a hit.

 

I was very suspicious of the Amazon listing. Everything we looked at read PM.com exclusive

 

I still have not received any kind of shipping notice for the Mega set from pm.com. Figuring that I won't get it before I leave for the London and Liverpool shows, I purchased the 2 disk versions from iTunes so that I have something to listen to on the long flights

 

I will not be checking my messages here too often so if you try to contact me and I don't answer, I am not ignoring you....just on vacation and will try to catch up when I can

 

I Lie Around still has the film clip sounds at the beginning (whatever that is, was never really sure).

Sounds amazing though.

 

I thought they were "outdoor sounds", like from a bunch of kids playing in a field.

 

Could be! I've never really been sure, but assumed it was some sort of film or home movie or something.

 

Also, I don't recognize this mix of Seaside Woman. Has this been released before, or is a completely new mix... I don't think I like it. Vocals are pushed back... the whole thing feels less "bombastic."

 

What about McMouse?

 

Again, Lennon already had written and performed the songs before 'Give Ireland'. Take a look at this:

On 12 November, Lennon taped numerous demos of "The Luck of the Irish", which was filmed, and titled Luck of the Irish – A Videotape by John Reilly.[2] On 9 December, Lennon and Ono flew to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the John Sinclair rally, which was due to start the following day.[2] On the morning before the rally, Lennon was recorded playing the song "Chords of Fame" with Phil Ochs.[2] At the rally itself, Lennon and Ono played tracks that would end up on Some Time in New York City: "Attica State", "The Luck of the Irish", "Sisters O Sisters" and "John Sinclair".[2] The performance was filmed, and included in the short film Ten for Two which was shown at Ann Arbor sometime in December.[2][nb 1]

Lennon and Ono, along with David Peel, performed Peel's "The Ballad of New York", on The David Frost Show, with Lennon playing tea-chest bass.[2] The trio, now joined by The Lower East Side Band, played the same set of songs that Lennon and Ono had played at the John Sinclair rally, with the exception of a diminutive version of "The Luck of the Irish".[2] This episode was recorded on 16 December 1971 and broadcast on 13 January 1972.[2] The next day, Lennon and Ono performed at a benefit concert for families of victims of the Attica Prison riot at the Apollo Theater, playing acoustic versions of "Imagine", "Attica State", and "Sisters, O Sisters".[2] By January 1972, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had opened a file on the Lennons, fearing they would organise the youth vote and prevent a second term for President Richard Nixon. Soon, the government would begin deportation proceedings against the couple, and the FBI began intense surveillance, documenting their every move.

I left in the mention of the FBI because I want people to see the kind of power Lennon had at this point and it doesn't matter how bad the songs on Sometime in NYC were. This is not 'Give Ireland' getting banned, this is a full FBI investigation involving the US president. This is the history and not really my opinion. I'm just trying to clear up the timeline.

Note: I will refrain from any specific politics of course and I'm just talking about the songs and their relation to the 'Wild Life' bonus track 'Give Ireland Back to the Irish'.

 

Do I really need Wild Life? I like Side B but I can't quite find Side A essential listening and I wonder if I'll ever play the album....
.....but I'm a completist....

 

You at least need the 2 disc set.

 

Yes, When the Wind is Blowing in pristine quality sounds heavenly. It is the version we already know and love. Vocals included.

 

I know and either like or love Remain In Light, Closer, Get Happy and Scary Monsters. Really great and/or important records from the era, but none of them come close to McCartney II for me.

 

I don't mean John got the idea to write political songs from Paul by any means. I simply mean, did he finally decide to collect 10 socio-political songs and put them all out as an album with that theme, as a sort of one-upmanship with Paul. That's all. I realize John was always writing socio-political stuff in this early 70s period. But he'd never done a full album with that as its theme. He only released a full album of political stuff after Paul had seemingly dipped his toe in John's waters so to speak. So I was asking the question.

 

I hope it's the one with the vocals but I think Paul put vocals to that and "Sunshine Sometime" in 1977. That whole Rupert the Bear project is pretty great and not typical of Macca. I'd love to see that for a 'London Town' box. Both are terrific musically and even better with vocals.

 

When the Wind is Blowing is the "with vocals" version

 

Yeah baby!! Thanks for the heads up. I missed a few pages out of the last bunch. So cool.

 

Please tell us about the early mix of "Little Lamb Dragonfly"!

 

No idea. That's my most anticipated track, but it's only on the box, which no one appears to have yet.

 

Only the 2 discs are out digitally. I don't think anyone has the box set yet?

 

That's the one I've been wanting so badly to hear for many many years!