| Wings over America | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Live album by | ||||
| Released | 10 December 1976 | |||
| Recorded | 7 May – 23 June 1976; October–November 1976 (studio overdubs) | |||
| Studio | Abbey Road, London (overdubs) | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 115:33 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Producer | Paul McCartney | |||
| Wings chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Wings over America | ||||
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Wings over America is a triple live album by the British–American rock bandWings, released in December 1976. The album was recorded during the American leg of the band's 1975–76Wings Over the World tour. It peaked at number 8 on theUK Albums Chart and reached number 1 on the USBillboard Top LPs & Tape chart.
In addition to including several of McCartney's hits with Wings, the album features performances of five of hisBeatles songs: "Yesterday", "Lady Madonna", "I've Just Seen a Face", "Blackbird" and "The Long and Winding Road". The album cover was designed byHipgnosis – who were nominated in 1978, together with McCartney's production company MPL, for aGrammy Award for Best Album Package for this album – and depicts an airliner about to open its cabin door.[1]Wings over America was remastered and reissued as part of thePaul McCartney Archive Collection in May 2013.
Originally,Wings over America was to be a two-record set of highlight performances, but this was rethought due to the success of a bootleg titledWings from the Wings, which was released as a triple record set on red, white, and blue vinyl, and contained the entire 23 June 1976 concert recorded atthe Forum in Los Angeles.[2] This caused McCartney to release the album as a three-record set, compiled from various shows from the band's North American tour during May–June 1976. McCartney's sound engineer listened to 800 hours of tape and selected the five best performances of each song from the 30-song set list.[3] McCartney chose and mixed the final set of recordings, mostly taken from the 23 June show.[1] "Soily" was recorded on 7 June 1976 atMcNichols Sports Arena in Denver.[4] The live recordings then received studio overdubs during October–November 1976.[5] According to Wings drummerJoe English, "it took forever to get those 'Wings over America' tapes ready for the live album. We had to go into the studio and overdub most of the backing vocals."[6]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [7] |
| American Songwriter | [8] |
| Consequence of Sound | B[9] |
| The Essential Rock Discography | 6/10[10] |
| MusicHound | 2/5[11] |
| PopMatters | [12] |
| Rolling Stone | (favourable)[13] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide |  [14] |
| Ultimate Classic Rock | 7/10[15] |
| Uncut | 7/10[16] |
Wings over America was issued six months after the end of the band's US tour. It was another commercial success for Wings, reaching number 1 in the US in early 1977 (the last in a five-album stretch of consecutive chart-topping albums for the band)[17] and number 8 in the UK.[18] For the fiveBeatles songs included, McCartney reversed the songwriting credit toMcCartney–Lennon.[19] Years laterJohn Lennon's widow,Yoko Ono, complained about the same songwriting credit on McCartney'sBack in the U.S. album, but neither Lennon nor Ono publicly voiced any disapproval about the change made in 1976.[20]
Wings over America was the first triple set by a group to reach number 1 in the US, and was a critical success.[21] "Maybe I'm Amazed" was released as a single on 4 February 1977,[21] peaking at number 10 on theBillboard Hot 100 in the US, and at number 28 on the UK chart.[22]
In a retrospective review,AllMusic criticStephen Thomas Erlewine explained the wild success of the triple album: "The Beatles mystique was still very much attached to record and artist alike – at the time, John Lennon had seemingly burnt out a major chunk of his talent, George Harrison was losing his popular edge and had done a disastrous1974 American tour, and no one was expecting great things from Ringo Starr – and it seemed like McCartney represented the part of the group's legacy that came closest to living up to fans' expectations. Thus the album ended up selling in numbers, rivaling the likes of Frampton Comes Alive! and other mega-hits of the period."[7]
Two related releases followed the album: the TV documentaryWings Over the World and a film titledRockshow, purporting to contain a complete show from Seattle.[19] Although publicity material presentedRockshow as a document of this Seattle concert, it contains only five songs that were filmed at Seattle'sKingdome; the remainder of the film's 30 songs come from the band's New York and Los Angeles shows.[23] Limiting their relevance, however, these additional releases appeared three and four years, respectively, after the 1976 live album.[19]
Wings over America was issued as a double-compact disc in 1984 onColumbia.[nb 1] The album was first released in the UK on compact disc on 26 May 1987 byParlophone.[nb 2][1] Along with McCartney'sRam andTug of War albums,Wings over America was reissued in the US on compact disc on 18 January 1988.[nb 3][25] The album was issued byEMI two more times on CD, in 1989[nb 4] and on 19 February 1990.[nb 5][1] A 1999 reissue of the album byToshiba-EMI in Japan reinstated the three-disc format from the original LP issue, and is the only edition of the album to do this.[nb 6][26] Up to this point, the Japanese CD edition was the only one that was remastered.[27] On 14 April 2008, the album was released as a digital download on bothiTunes andAmazon. It was removed for some time from digital music sites in 2010 and 2011, but as of August 2011 it was available for sale oniTunes.[28]
The album was reissued on 27 May 2013 as part of thePaul McCartney Archive Collection.[29] The reissue was accompanied by theRecord Store Day exclusive edition of "Maybe I'm Amazed"EP.[30]Rockshow was also reissued, this time on DVD andBlu-ray, with its audio remixed into 5.1, on 10 June 2013.[29]
All tracks are written byPaul McCartney except where noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Notes[31] | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Venus and Mars/Rock Show/Jet" | Recorded inCincinnati, 27 May 1976. | 9:56 | |
| 2. | "Let Me Roll It" | Recorded in Cincinnati, 27 May 1976. | 3:51 | |
| 3. | "Spirits of Ancient Egypt" | Recorded inSeattle, 10 June 1976. | 4:04 | |
| 4. | "Medicine Jar" | Jimmy McCulloch,Colin Eric Allen | Recorded in Cincinnati, 27 May 1976. | 4:02 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Notes | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Maybe I'm Amazed" | Paul McCartney | Recorded inKansas City, 29 May 1976. | 5:10 |
| 2. | "Call Me Back Again" | Recorded in Cincinnati, 27 May 1976. | 5:04 | |
| 3. | "Lady Madonna" | Paul McCartney–John Lennon | Recorded inDetroit, 7 May 1976. | 2:19 |
| 4. | "The Long and Winding Road" | McCartney–Lennon | Recorded in Kansas City, 29 May 1976. | 4:13 |
| 5. | "Live and Let Die" | Recorded inBoston, 22 May 1976. | 3:07 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Notes | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)" | Recorded in Boston, 22 May 1976. | 1:55 | |
| 2. | "Richard Cory" | Paul Simon | Recorded inInglewood, 23 June 1976. | 2:50 |
| 3. | "Bluebird" | Recorded in Cincinnati, 27 May 1976. | 3:37 | |
| 4. | "I've Just Seen a Face" | McCartney–Lennon | Recorded in Inglewood, 23 June 1976. | 1:49 |
| 5. | "Blackbird" | McCartney–Lennon | Recorded in Boston, 22 May 1976. | 2:23 |
| 6. | "Yesterday" | McCartney–Lennon | unknown | 1:43 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Notes | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "You Gave Me the Answer" | Recorded in Inglewood, 23 June 1976. | 1:47 | |
| 2. | "Magneto and Titanium Man" | Recorded in Boston, 22 May 1976. | 3:11 | |
| 3. | "Go Now" | Larry Banks, Milton Bennett | Recorded in Inglewood, 23 June 1976. | 3:27 |
| 4. | "My Love" | Recorded inUniondale, 21 May 1976. | 4:07 | |
| 5. | "Listen to What the Man Said" | Recorded in Kansas City, 29 May 1976. | 3:18 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Notes | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Let 'Em In" | Recorded in Inglewood, 23 June 1976. | 4:02 | |
| 2. | "Time to Hide" | Denny Laine | Recorded inNew York City, 25 May 1976. | 4:46 |
| 3. | "Silly Love Songs" | Recorded in New York City, 25 May 1976. | 5:46 | |
| 4. | "Beware My Love" | Recorded inDenver, 7 June 1976. | 4:49 |
| No. | Title | Notes | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Letting Go" | Recorded in Kansas City, 29 May 1976. | 4:25 |
| 2. | "Band on the Run" | Recorded in Denver, 7 June 1976. | 5:03 |
| 3. | "Hi, Hi, Hi" | Recorded in Denver, 7 June 1976. | 2:57 |
| 4. | "Soily" | Recorded in Denver, 7 June 1976. | 5:10 |
| Total length: | 115:33 | ||
Wings over America was reissued in several packages:[26]
Discs one & two (standard edition):Sides one to three are on disc one, while sides four to six are on disc two.
Disc three
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Let Me Roll It" | 4:19 | |
| 2. | "Maybe I'm Amazed" | Paul McCartney | 5:27 |
| 3. | "Lady Madonna" | McCartney–Lennon | 3:22 |
| 4. | "Live and Let Die" | 3:38 | |
| 5. | "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)" | 2:14 | |
| 6. | "Bluebird" | 4:28 | |
| 7. | "Blackbird" | McCartney–Lennon | 2:38 |
| 8. | "Yesterday" | McCartney–Lennon | 1:57 |
All tracks previously unreleased, recorded live at theCow Palace, San Francisco, 13 and 14 June 1976.
Disc four
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Wings Over the World" | 75:46 |
| 2. | "Photographer's Pass" | 7:45 |
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Canada (Music Canada)[58] | Platinum | 100,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[59] | Gold | 100,000^ |
| United States (RIAA)[60] | Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
Footnotes
Citations
