| Wild Life | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 7 December 1971 | |||
| Recorded | 24 July – 2 August 1971 | |||
| Studio | EMI, London | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 37:43 | |||
| Label | Apple | |||
| Producer | Paul McCartney | |||
| Wings chronology | ||||
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| Paul McCartney chronology | ||||
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Wild Life is the debut studio album by the British-American rock bandWings and the third studio album byPaul McCartney after the breakup ofthe Beatles. The album was mainly recorded in seven sessions between 24 July and 4 September 1971 (additional overdubs were added during sessions in October 1971[1]), at EMI Studios (nowAbbey Road Studios) by McCartney, his wifeLinda, session drummerDenny Seiwell, whom they had worked with on the McCartneys' previous albumRam, and guitaristDenny Laine, formerly of the English rock bandthe Moody Blues. It was released byApple Records on 7 December in the UK and US, to lukewarm critical and commercial reaction.
In July 1971, with a fresh set of McCartney tunes, the newly formed Wings recorded the album in slightly more than a week with the mindset that it had to be instant and raw in order to capture the freshness and vitality of a live studio recording. It was claimed at the time that five of the eight songs were recorded in one take, but this was later revealed to be untrue; only 'Dear Friend' was tracked in one pass.[2] As engineer Tony Clark revealed to author Luca Perasi: "There was some discussion about the orchestra being too overpowering, but with a phasing effect and subtle level on the mix it seemed to work."[3]
Paul McCartney later cited the quick recording schedule ofBob Dylan as an inspiration for this.[4] The first session was held atAbbey Road Studios on Saturday, 24 July.[2] Footage of McCartney playing "Bip Bop" and "Hey Diddle" from around this time was later included in the made-for-TV filmWings Over the World.[5]
The album was rehearsed at McCartney's recording studio in Scotland, dubbed Rude Studio, which Paul and Linda had used to make demos of songs that would be used in the album, and recorded at Abbey Road with Tony Clark andAlan Parsons engineering. Paul had lead vocal parts on all tracks, sharing those duties with Linda on "I Am Your Singer" and "Some People Never Know". "Tomorrow", demoed in the summer of 1970 as a parody of "Yesterday", with the same opening chord sequence (but in a different key),[6] features background vocals fromDenny Laine andLinda McCartney.[7]
After the rehearsals at Rude, the recording moved toAbbey Road Studios, where the album was completed in a few weeks. According to drummerDenny Seiwell, five of the eight recorded tracks were done in one take. One almost definite example of this is "Mumbo", the opener on the album. According to Clark, they were jamming and Clark decided to start recording. McCartney, upon noticing, shouted "Take it, Tony" and started ad-libbing lyrics.[8]
On the promotional albumThe Complete Audio Guide to the Alan Parsons Project, Parsons discusses how he created a rough mix of "I Am Your Singer" that Paul liked so much, he used it for the final mix on the album.
"Dear Friend", recorded during theRam sessions,[5] was apparently an attempt at reconciliation withJohn Lennon. It followed Lennon's attack on McCartney in the song "How Do You Sleep?", from the albumImagine,[5][9] which had been in retaliation for McCartney's perceived digs at Lennon in "Too Many People" onRam.[10][11] Music criticIan MacDonald cited "Dear Friend" as a counter-argument to the caricature of McCartney as an emotional lightweight.[12]
Wild Life also included areggae remake ofMickey & Sylvia's 1957 top 40 hit "Love Is Strange".[7] A promotional single was distributed in the UK by Apple in December 1971 with catalogue No. R5932, but the commercial release was cancelled due to poor album sales.[5]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [13] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | C−[14] |
| The Essential Rock Discography | 4/10[15] |
| MusicHound | 2.5/5[16] |
| Q | [17] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [18] |
After announcing to the media the band's formation on 2 August 1971, the group were named "Wings" on 9 October.[5] On 8 November, the group held a press party in London to announce both the group andWild Life, which was released on 3 December in the UK and 6 December in the US,[19] to lukewarm critical and commercial reaction. The album reached number 11 in the UK and number 10 in the US, where itwent gold. At the same press party, in an interview withMelody Maker, McCartney said that the group should soon be performing live.[5]John Mendelsohn wrote inRolling Stone that he wondered whether the album may have been "deliberately second-rate".[20] InThe Beatles: An Illustrated Record,Roy Carr andTony Tyler called the album "rushed, defensive, badly timed, and over-publicized" and wrote that it showed McCartney's songwriting "at an absolutenadir just when he needed a little respect".[21] The liner notes forWild Life (and on theThrillington album) were credited to Clint Harrigan, a nom de plume of McCartney.[citation needed] Lennon claimed to know the identity of Harrigan during theirMelody Maker feud in 1972.[citation needed]
In December 1971, aRam outtake "Breakfast Blues" was mixed by Paul and Linda at A&R Studios.[5] "Breakfast Blues" was played onWCBS-FM, where McCartney promoted Wings andWild Life, on 15 December.[5] The track was later released as "Great Cock and Seagull Race" on the 2012 special edition ofRam.
The album was first released on CD by EMI's budget Fame label, on 5 October 1987.[nb 1] In addition to naming the previously hidden tracks ("Bip Bop Link" and "Mumbo Link"), this edition added "Oh Woman, Oh Why" (the B-side of "Another Day"), "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Little Woman Love" as bonus tracks. In 1993,Wild Life was remastered and reissued on CD as part of 'The Paul McCartney Collection' series with singles "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" and "Mary Had a Little Lamb" as well as B-sides "Little Woman Love" and "Mama's Little Girl"—all recorded in 1972 except for "Little Woman Love", which was aRam outtake ("Oh Woman, Oh Why" appeared separately as a bonus track on the 1993 reissue ofRam). A version recorded in the garden of Paul's Scotland home circa June 1971 of thebluegrass-styled "Bip Bop" featured Paul and Linda's daughter Mary giggling in the background, and segued into a riff called "Hey Diddle". This surfaced in 2001 on the compilationWingspan: Hits and History.
In 2007, Paul McCartney's catalogue was released on iTunes.Wild Life received an instrumental version of "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" (originally released as b-side of the single) as a bonus track.
In 2018,Wild Life was reissued as part of thePaul McCartney Archive Collection.[22] The deluxe package included a 128-page book written byDavid Fricke telling the story behind the album, a 48-page scrapbook, previously unpublished Polaroids, lyrics, notes and memorabilia from theMPL archives.[23] The bonus tracks included the single "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" and its instrumental b-side, promo single edit of "Love Is Strange" and a number of home demos and studio outtakes, including unedited home performances of "Bip Bop" and "Hey Diddle", previously released onWingspan: Hits and History.
All tracks written byPaul andLinda McCartney, except "Love is Strange" written byMickey Baker,Sylvia Vanderpool, and Ethel Smith, later revealed to beBo Diddley.
Side one
Side two
Additional tracks on the 1993 CD reissue
Notes: "Bip Bop (Link)" and "Mumbo (Link)" are unlisted on pressings of the album released before 1987.Track two, "Bip Bop", is amonaural recording. It was first released in stereo on the "Rough Mixes" CD, inside the Archive Collection edition ofWild Life.
Wild Life was remastered and released as part of thePaul McCartney Archive Collection on 7 December 2018. Several editions of the remastered album were released. The following track list represents the deluxe edition with three CDs and a DVD. The special edition and double LP versions compiled the remastered album (CD1) and bonus tracks (CD3).
All tracks written byPaul andLinda McCartney, except "Love Is Strange" written byMickey Baker,Sylvia Vanderpool, andEthel Smith, and "Good Rockin' Tonight" written byRoy Brown.
Disc one – remastered album
Disc two – rough mixes
Disc three – bonus tracks
Bonus DVD
PaulMcCartney.com free download[24]
Weekly charts[edit]
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Year-end charts[edit]
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Footnotes
Citations
Sources
