| Wings Greatest | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Compilation album by | ||||
| Released | 1 December 1978 (1978-12-01) | |||
| Recorded | 1970–1977 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 54:28 | |||
| Label |
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| Producer | ||||
| Wings chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B+[2] |
| The Essential Rock Discography | 7/10[3] |
| MusicHound | 3/5[4] |
| Q |  [5] |
Wings Greatest is acompilation album by the British–American rock bandWings, released in the UK on 1 December 1978.[6] It was the band's last release throughCapitol in the US. The album is the first official retrospective release from bandleaderPaul McCartney's post-Beatles career.
Wings Greatest was remastered and reissued in 1993, as part ofThe Paul McCartney Collection, and again in 2018.[7]
The album was compiled after McCartney's decision to leaveEMI's American label,Capitol, for a six-year stay withColumbia (United States and Canada only), though he remained with EMI worldwide during his US sabbatical from Capitol.
The album was originally intended as a double with the second LP beingCold Cuts: a collection of previously unreleased outtakes by Wings.[8] The resulting album becameWings Greatest single LP. Not one song was excerpted from 1971'sWild Life or 1975'sVenus and Mars.
Despite the album's name, it includes two Paul McCartney tracks released before the establishment of Wings: "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" (credited to "Paul & Linda McCartney" from their 1971 albumRam) and "Another Day" (a 1971 non-album single recorded during theRam sessions but credited to just "Paul McCartney"). All other tracks were credited as "Wings" or "Paul McCartney & Wings".
Four of the twelve tracks make their album debut with this compilation: "Another Day", "Junior's Farm", "Hi, Hi, Hi" and "Mull of Kintyre". "Live and Let Die" had previously appeared on the soundtrack album of the same name but did not appear on any previous McCartney albums.
The Bulgarian pressings of the album did not include the song "Live and Let Die".[9]
The album was promoted by a TV commercial in the UK, which featured several members of the public (played by actors) singing Wings tunes in public places. At the end a dustman, waiting in his lorry at a set of traffic lights (in Abbey Road), sings to himself an out of tune rendition of "Band on the Run", at which point Paul, Linda and Denny pull up alongside and Paul shouts out "You're a bit flat mate!". The driver leans out his window and says "Funny, I only checked them this morning!"[10]
Aubrey Powell andGeorge Hardie ofHipgnosis are credited with the design, as well as Paul andLinda McCartney.[11]
The front cover ofWings Greatest depicts achryselephantine (gold and ivory) statuette created by famedArt Deco sculptorDemétre Chiparus.[12] This antique statuette was purchased by Linda McCartney at a 1978 auction[13] and Paul McCartney decided this statuette would be ideal as the cover for the band's first greatest hits album.[13]
On 14 October 1978, the McCartney family flew to Switzerland, accompanied by a photographer named Angus Forbes, to arrange a photography session depicting the statuette in genuine snow. The snowdrift backdrop within the image was created with the assistance of a hired snow-plough, and the actual image upon the cover was an aerial photograph taken by helicopter.[11][13]
The rear cover depicts the record covers of the twelve releases, mostly singles, from which each of the songs were taken, in columns on either side of the album. In the middle is a photograph of Paul, Linda, andDenny Laine. The background is another scene of the Alps.
The statuette also appears on the inner sleeves of the original vinyl, as well as on the record's labels.[11] It can also be seen on the album cover of Wings' next (and last) studio album,Back to the Egg, in the background, on the mantlepiece.
All tracks are written byPaul andLinda McCartney except where noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performer | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Another Day" | Paul McCartney | 3:42 | |
| 2. | "Silly Love Songs" | Wings | 5:52 | |
| 3. | "Live and Let Die" | Paul McCartney and Wings | 3:11 | |
| 4. | "Junior's Farm" | Paul McCartney and Wings | 4:21 | |
| 5. | "With a Little Luck" | P. McCartney | Wings | 5:45 |
| 6. | "Band on the Run" | Paul McCartney and Wings | 5:10 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performer | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" | Paul and Linda McCartney | 4:48 | |
| 2. | "Hi, Hi, Hi" | Wings | 3:07 | |
| 3. | "Let 'Em In" | Wings | 5:09 | |
| 4. | "My Love" | Paul McCartney and Wings | 4:08 | |
| 5. | "Jet" | Paul McCartney and Wings | 4:06 | |
| 6. | "Mull of Kintyre" | P. McCartney,Denny Laine | Wings | 4:43 |
Weekly charts[edit] | Year-end charts[edit]
Certifications[edit]
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'Wings Greatest' released on December 1 covers their history from 1971 to 1978.
