Paul McCartney has spoken to ClashMusic about the enduring success of his classic album 'Band On The Run'.
Formed out of the ashes of The Beatles, Wing endured a controversial birth. The rapid turnover of band members didn't help, with Paul McCartney retreating to Lagos to work on new material.
Recorded with a threadbare cast, the resulting material became 'Band On The Run'. An enduring success, it turned Wings into one of the biggest bands on the planet and sparked several massive hits.
After this, Wings became a more mainstream affair, releasing several multi-million selling albums. However their high water mark remains 'Band On The Run', due for a re-issue this month.
Speaking to ClashMusic, Paul McCartney revealed how Wings adjusted to their enormous success. "I think we just became a better band. I’d figured out what I’d been trying to work out, which was ‘what was the Wings sound?’ And once you had it, then you could be with it. The albums that came after that were still different, but now that we were more popular, we discovered what our fans liked. So then that’s your style."
Continuing, the songwriter elaborated on how he feels all songwriting partnerships progress. "I think that’s what happens with bands - it certainly happened with The Beatles and with Wings: you start off imitating people and just goofing around, trying to find out what works and what doesn’t work. And at the time of ‘Band On The Run’, things like ‘Band On The Run’ and ‘Jet’ and ‘Let Me Roll It’, we suddenly found songs that people identified with."
The massive success the band enjoyed threw Wings in the maelstrom of the mainstream. "I remember Richard and Karen Carpenter ringing me up to tell me about ‘Jet’ - they were like the last people on Earth I thought who’d like ‘Jet’! But they were like, ‘Oh, great record, man!’ So, you know, it was actually resonating with people. They were liking the stuff. For instance, Dave Grohl, it’s one of his favourites. Again, I wouldn’t think it would have been. So yeah, what we’d done was we’d found our style, and so that was like, ‘Okay, now we know what Wings is’. So we kinda stuck with it, and the nice thing about that is they are now big numbers in my show now."
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