Paul McCartney - Wingspan (Hits & History)

While his fellow ex-bandmates busied themselves with various high-profile projects (John Lennon with Imagine and a series of high-profile media events; George Harrison with All Things Must Pass and The Concert for Bangla Desh), Paul McCartney climbed into a van with his wife and a few journeyman players and gigged at university student unions for what amounted to spare change. Of course, by 1976 they were one of the biggest draws in rock, having the last laugh--if not necessarily the final word. Gathering the cream of their recorded output on a generous double-disc sampler-cum-TV-special-soundtrack seemed a promising effort at historical revisionism, but Wingspan itself is a distinct misnomer: fully 17 of the 40 tracks here hail from various pre- and post-Wings McCartney solo albums. Completely overlooked are unheralded B-sides such as "Oh Woman, Oh Why," "Little Woman Love," "Country Dreamer," "The Mess," "Walking in the Park with Eloise," "Sally G," and "Girl's School"--some of McCartney the bandleader and solo artist's scrappiest and most interesting work. All the expected hits are here and more, ranging from spunky rockers and hook-rich bubblegum to syrup-drenched ballads. What's lacking is a fresh and less myopic perspective. --Jerry McCulley Amazon.com

Hits and album tracks

Some people may regard this as a missed opportunity, as it collects together many of Paul's hits since the break-up of the Beatles (whether solo or with Wings) but includes a selection of album tracks at the expense of several minor hits. I don't mind this approach as most of the hits that really matter are here. The most notable omissions are the duets with Stevie Wonder (Ebony and ivory) and Michael Jackson (Say say say, The girl is mine), the novelty song with the frog chorus (We all stand together) that became a a British top three hit and two other British top ten hits (Wonderful Christmastime, Once upon a long ago). With the exception of The girl is mine (a track from Thriller that has never appeared on any Paul McCartney album) and Wonderful Christmastime (which can be found on multi-artist Christmas compilations and is in any case better heard that way), all those tracks can be found on the Brithish version of an earlier compilation (All the best). The American version of that compilation only includes two of the missing tracks (Say say say, Ebony and ivory).

Given the decision to include some album tracks that were never released as singles, it would have been interesting to read Paul's explanation as to his choice of album tracks. Sadly, the booklet contains no such explanation although it contains plenty of pictures. We are therefore left to speculate as to the reason's for Paul's choices although I understand that they just happen to be Paul's favorites among the songs that weren't big hits.

With such a diverse range of material to choose from, anything other than a straight greatest hits compilation was likely to provoke fierce debate among fans and so it has proved as you can see by looking at other reviews here and elsewhere. Even a straight greatest hits isn't so simple because Paul, whether solo or as the leader of Wings, sometimes had different hits in different countries. The most extreme examples are Uncle Albert Admiral Halsey (an American number one that didn't chart in Britain) and Mull of Kintyre (a British number one that was a huge hit in many other counties but a flop in America). These tracks sit next to each other on the hits CD here. It would have been unthinkable to leave either off a set like this, though each was only included on one version of the single CD All the best, where the British track listing differed from the American version. When it comes to other hits that only charted in one country, there would be plenty of scope to argue about which ones should be included and which omitted.

Perhaps the strangest thing about this collection, given that it is not a straight greatest hits compilation, is that it contains nothing recorded after 1984. I'll admit that I haven't followed Paul's career closely since then but he has had plenty of minor hits (at least in the UK) since then and one might have expected that one or two of his later recordings would have featured on the History CD. Still, this is an interesting collection that includes most of Paul's really obvious post-Beatles hits in Britain and America. June 2, 2008

Strange Compilation - Great Music

A very strange compilation indeed; some but not all the greatest hits, some but still missing vital b-sides and album tracks and topping it all, this compilation includes Macca material both before the formation of Wings and solo material 2-3 years after he disbanded the group. Macca also had a TV program regarding his years with Wings around the release of this project. My guess is that all this was more a thinly disguised tribute to the late Linda rather than a Wings compilation.

Being obviously incomplete in these aspects, this its still a very enjoyable album. Most of the hits are to be found here and many album tracks justify being given a second spin. The sound has been remastered and one can clearly hear the difference compared to some earlier CD pressings. Viewing this as a complete compilation and this is clearly a disaster; with an approach of a sampler and this is a great buy. Macca made great songs and a few fantastic records. He, however, also released music which should have been put aside, no such duds are to be found on this set. May 27, 2008

TONY GOT IT RIGHT

Thank you so much Tony (Anthony) for I too wear outta date clothes and consider Paul and Linda McCartney to be one of the twentieth century's greatest love stories as well as that other couple...from around the same time.
This collection is fine and if other reviewers feel that it has missed this and that out, I would just ask: if you are so aware and enamoured by these "omissions", probably you have acceptable forms (digital or otherwise) of this stuff. If so for goodness sake just re-arrange and burn your preferences and stop moaning.

Mikaal
(michael mouse)

ps love
x April 5, 2008

Almost pulled the trigger....

But then I saw that Nineteen Hundered And Eighty Five was missing.

How an earth could they let that happen?

Nice collection otherwise.

The search continues...

April 4, 2008

LIKE A LOT.

Like alot needed to have all Wings stuff on it, And left the solo out. March 11, 2008

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