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Wingspan: Paul McCartney's Band on the Run
Highlighted by 150 full-color and black-and-white photographs, as well as intimate interviews, a personal scrapbook of McCartney's band Wings follows the group as they became one of the hottest acts of the 1970s, tracing the history of Wings from the break up of the Beatles through the 1980s and chronicling some of their biggest hits. Original. 30,000 first printing.
Paperback
First published February 1, 1982
About the author
Paul McCartney
776books463followersSir James Paul McCartney MBE, known as Paul McCartney, is an English singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, poet, entrepreneur, painter, record producer, film producer, and animal-rights activist. He gained worldwide fame as one of the founders and members of The Beatles. McCartney and John Lennon formed one of the most influential and successful songwriting partnerships and "wrote some of the most popular music in rock and roll history". After leaving The Beatles, McCartney launched a successful solo career and formed the band Wings with his first wife, Linda Eastman McCartney, and songwriter/singer Denny Laine. He has worked on film scores, classical music, and ambient/electronic music; released a large catalogue of songs as a solo artist; and taken part in projects to help international charities.
McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the most successful musician and composer in popular music history, with 60 gold discs and sales of 100 million singles. His song "Yesterday" is listed as the most covered song in history and has been played more than 7,000,000 times on American television and radio. Wings' 1977 single "Mull of Kintyre" became the first single to sell more than two million copies in the UK, and remains the UK's top selling non-charity single. (Three charity singles have since surpassed it in sales; the first to do so—in 1984—was Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?", whose participants included McCartney.)
His company MPL Communications owns the copyrights to more than 3,000 songs, including all of the songs written by Buddy Holly, along with the publishing rights to such musicals as Guys and Dolls, A Chorus Line, and Grease.
An iconic figure in contemporary culture, he is regarded internationally as an entertainer and humanitarian. Aside from his musical work, McCartney is an actor, a painter, a poet, and an advocate for animal rights, vegetarianism, and music education; he is active in campaigns against landmines, seal hunting, and Third World debt.
McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the most successful musician and composer in popular music history, with 60 gold discs and sales of 100 million singles. His song "Yesterday" is listed as the most covered song in history and has been played more than 7,000,000 times on American television and radio. Wings' 1977 single "Mull of Kintyre" became the first single to sell more than two million copies in the UK, and remains the UK's top selling non-charity single. (Three charity singles have since surpassed it in sales; the first to do so—in 1984—was Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?", whose participants included McCartney.)
His company MPL Communications owns the copyrights to more than 3,000 songs, including all of the songs written by Buddy Holly, along with the publishing rights to such musicals as Guys and Dolls, A Chorus Line, and Grease.
An iconic figure in contemporary culture, he is regarded internationally as an entertainer and humanitarian. Aside from his musical work, McCartney is an actor, a painter, a poet, and an advocate for animal rights, vegetarianism, and music education; he is active in campaigns against landmines, seal hunting, and Third World debt.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 22, 2014
Some interesting information and photos. But whoever formatted the layout is a disgrace! It's embarrassing to read the randomly spaced text and weird picture placement.
January 28, 2021
Between 1970 and 1980, Paul McCartney's second act after the Beatles ended up being time spent in another band that had eight lineups or so during the course of the decade around the core three members of Paul and Linda McCartney and Denny Laine, formerly of the Moody Blues. Unlike the Beatles, Wings was a group with a clear dominant member in Paul McCartney, and it is little surprise that the text of this particular retrospective comes from interviews with Macca himself, which is not surprising at all because with the death of Linda he is one of only two members of the group that have been consistent throughout the history of Wings and by far the most significant one. This book has a lot of photographs and a fair amount of information that fans of the Wings will appreciate. The book is also told in a chronological fashion, which helps the reader to understand the tentative beginnings of the Wings in McCartney's unwillingness to go entirely solo after the breakup of the Beatles. The result is a story that has been told in other books but is told well here as well in a somewhat basic but expressive form.
This book is a bit less than 200 pages long and it is divided into nine chapters. The book opens with an introduction by Paul McCartney himself on Wings and its history. After that comes a chapter that looks at the beginning of Wings in the context of the end of the Beatles (1), after which Paul McCartney first recorded an eponymous solo album and then began Ram in the search for backing musicians for his album Ram, recorded with his wife at their home in Scotland (2). After this the first fluttering of Wings took place as the band started to work together (3) and get its feet under it in initial touring at home and abroad (4). After this there is a chapter on the troubled Band on the Run sessions in Lagos where a rudimentary studio and some violent locals caused trouble (5), as well as a discussion of their first visit to the United States and the recording of a material in Nashville and New Orleans (6). This is followed by their successful Wings Over America tour, which became a very successful live album (7), after which the band ended up recording on boats as well as recording a pro-Scottish song that became one of the greatest-selling tracks in British chart history (8), after which an abortive Japanese tour led to the breakup of the band (9). This is then followed by a Wings discography, a look at the Wings touring during the 1970's, as well as an index.
It is hard for contemporary listeners to understand just how big Wings was as a band, especially since the Beatles have remained in the popular memory and Paul McCartney as a solo artist similarly remains popular and relevant as an artist with occasional popular album releases and even the odd hit (see, for example, his successful collaborations with Kanye West only a few years ago). If Paul McCartney's work during the 1970's was not uniformly well-appreciated by critics, nor did it have anything remotely approaching a uniform lineup, it is still a body of work that on its own is still a remarkable body of work, and this book does a good job at pointing out that this body of work was well appreciated by audiences in both the United States as well as the UK and even in other places around the world where the group toured, for example, in Australia as well as mainland Europe. It is striking that although Paul McCartney enjoyed and wanted to tour that he continued to make albums at a rapid pace and that his touring and recording both were sometimes hindered by a certain adventuresome quality that got him in trouble, not least for his occasional use of marijuana even as he cultivated an image of Wings as a family friendly band that took their families with them on tour (not least because both Paul and Linda were in the band and didn't want to leave their kids for weeks or months at a time while they gallivanted around the world on tour).
This book is a bit less than 200 pages long and it is divided into nine chapters. The book opens with an introduction by Paul McCartney himself on Wings and its history. After that comes a chapter that looks at the beginning of Wings in the context of the end of the Beatles (1), after which Paul McCartney first recorded an eponymous solo album and then began Ram in the search for backing musicians for his album Ram, recorded with his wife at their home in Scotland (2). After this the first fluttering of Wings took place as the band started to work together (3) and get its feet under it in initial touring at home and abroad (4). After this there is a chapter on the troubled Band on the Run sessions in Lagos where a rudimentary studio and some violent locals caused trouble (5), as well as a discussion of their first visit to the United States and the recording of a material in Nashville and New Orleans (6). This is followed by their successful Wings Over America tour, which became a very successful live album (7), after which the band ended up recording on boats as well as recording a pro-Scottish song that became one of the greatest-selling tracks in British chart history (8), after which an abortive Japanese tour led to the breakup of the band (9). This is then followed by a Wings discography, a look at the Wings touring during the 1970's, as well as an index.
It is hard for contemporary listeners to understand just how big Wings was as a band, especially since the Beatles have remained in the popular memory and Paul McCartney as a solo artist similarly remains popular and relevant as an artist with occasional popular album releases and even the odd hit (see, for example, his successful collaborations with Kanye West only a few years ago). If Paul McCartney's work during the 1970's was not uniformly well-appreciated by critics, nor did it have anything remotely approaching a uniform lineup, it is still a body of work that on its own is still a remarkable body of work, and this book does a good job at pointing out that this body of work was well appreciated by audiences in both the United States as well as the UK and even in other places around the world where the group toured, for example, in Australia as well as mainland Europe. It is striking that although Paul McCartney enjoyed and wanted to tour that he continued to make albums at a rapid pace and that his touring and recording both were sometimes hindered by a certain adventuresome quality that got him in trouble, not least for his occasional use of marijuana even as he cultivated an image of Wings as a family friendly band that took their families with them on tour (not least because both Paul and Linda were in the band and didn't want to leave their kids for weeks or months at a time while they gallivanted around the world on tour).
June 18, 2022
Just like the television special that share's its name, Wingspan tells you next to nothing about the band Wings. We get Paul's memories on the final days of the Beatles, how Linda motivated him to rise out of depression and start making music again; how they formed a band. And then we learn very little about the band and the band members themselves. Why was Wings the band so important if it was essentially just Paul McCartney with anonymous sidemen? How is that different than the band backing him up on the 1989-93 world tours, or the band playing behind him today? Denny Laine was with Wings for their entire 10 year existence, but you have to look pretty hard to find his name in this book. Jimmy McCulloch gets mentioned a bit more - but not for his guitar playing, but for his drinking. This project was a missed opportunity - and just another example of Paul McCartney stroking his own ego. Even the discography is very limited. The best thing about the book? The photos.
November 13, 2023
The history of a band. Probably not of interest to any but the über Wings fan, but some interesting tidbits for us. It's got Paul's memories and commentary, but there were three core members of Wings, and hearing from Linda and Denny, even if only from past interviews, would have given readers a fuller view of the experience. The coffee table size is awkward in paperback (I assume it was released in hard cover initially), but there are lots of photos that include each incarnation of the band, as well as the McCartney children, who were omnipresent at that time.
February 16, 2023
Of the many (many) books I've read about Wings, this is one that is quite simply FUN. Put together by McCartney and his team, it has his memories of each album, time on the road, even the infamous jail time in Japan. There's a handy album/song/chart # listing at the back, with exact dates of release and charting. Pretty cool for us Wings nerds.:)
February 11, 2019
This came out with the Wingspan project. Brilliant!
December 21, 2021
If you liked McCartney after the Beatles, you need to grab this. It's like having a scrapbook of the past in your hands.
June 30, 2022
It was a brilliant insight
November 9, 2013
I listened to my parents' Wings records when I was growing up and kept my affection for this band. The book is mostly pictures with Sir McCartney's offhand chatter to accompany them, and I said "aw" out loud more than once reading the stories behind some of the songs and the name of the band. I adore Paul and Linda for their creativity, devotion to each other and taking their family out on the road with them. A nice memoir to spend an afternoon with.
December 13, 2016
Band on the run sessions made words and images!
You should read it while listening to the album but is not only based on that album but in the after Beatles life too and the problems he had after the break up and how LINDA help him in many, many ways!
You should read it while listening to the album but is not only based on that album but in the after Beatles life too and the problems he had after the break up and how LINDA help him in many, many ways!
October 4, 2010
An amazing book. Great photos. It's a quick study on Wings. A great companion to the DVD.
June 18, 2022
The history of Wings in Paul's words. Quite good.
August 6, 2015
Fun stuff to read about McCartney's experiences as an ex-Beatle.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews