Band on the Run

By 1973, three years after the break-up of the Beatles, Paul McCartney had yet to regain his artistic credibility or find favour with music critics for his post-Beatles work. After completing a successful UK tour with his band Wings in July 1973, he planned their third album as a means to re-establish himself after the mixed reception given to Wild Life (1971) and Red Rose Speedway (1973).

Keen to record outside the United Kingdom, McCartney asked EMI to send him a list of all their international recording studios. He selected Lagos in Nigeria and was attracted to the idea of recording in Africa. In August, the band – consisting of McCartney and his wife Linda, ex-Moody Blues guitarist and pianist Denny Laine, Henry McCullough on lead guitar, and Denny Seiwell on drums – started rehearsals for the new album at the McCartneys' Scottish farm. During one rehearsal session, McCullough and McCartney argued, and McCullough quit. Seiwell left a week later, the night before the band flew out to Nigeria. This left just the McCartneys and Laine to record in Lagos, assisted by former Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick. Paul McCartney had chosen Lagos, as he felt it would be a glamorous location where he and the band could sun on the beach during the day and record at night; the reality, however, was that, after the end of a civil war in 1970, Nigeria was run by a military government, with corruption and disease commonplace.

Recording

Lagos

The band and their entourage arrived in Lagos on 30 August 1973. EMI's studio, located on Wharf Road in the suburb of Apapa, was ramshackle and under-equipped. The control desk was faulty and there was only one eight-track tape machine. The band rented houses near the airport in Ikeja, an hour away from the studio. McCartney, Linda, and their three children stayed in one, while Laine, Emerick, and Wings' two roadies, Trevor and Ian, stayed in another.

The group established a routine of recording during the week and playing tourist on the weekends. McCartney temporarily joined a local country club, where he spent most mornings. The band was driven to the studio in the early afternoon, and recording would last into the late evening or early morning. To compensate for the departed band members, McCartney played drums and lead guitar parts on top of bass guitar, with Laine playing rhythm guitar and Linda adding keyboards. Laine explained: "We put the backing track down first, and we had to remember the arrangement, but just play the drums and the guitar part. So you're now learning the songs in little pieces, rather than as a song." McCartney had originally considered former Cream member Ginger Baker to play drums on the album, but Baker declined when he found out the band were using the Lagos studio rather than Baker's own ARC studio in Ikeja to record the album. The sessions began on 3 September. The first track they recorded was "Mamunia", followed by "Band on the Run" and "Helen Wheels". The second week, 10–14 September, the band recorded "Mrs. Vandebilt", the McCartney–Laine collaboration "No Words", and "Let Me Roll It". The following day, to thank Baker for assisting in the Kuti incident, Wings recorded the song "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)" at Baker's ARC studio, with Baker himself shaking a tin can filled with gravel on the track. While out walking that same night against advice, the McCartneys were robbed at knifepoint. The assailants made off with all of their valuables, stealing a bag containing a notebook full of handwritten lyrics and songs, and cassettes containing demos for songs to be recorded. According to Emerick: "Within seconds, [McCartney] turned as white as a sheet, explaining to us in a croaking voice that he couldn't catch his breath. We decided to take him outside for some fresh air ... [but] once he was exposed to the blazing heat, he felt even worse and began keeling over, finally fainting dead away at our feet. Linda began screaming hysterically; she was convinced that he was having a heart attack ... The official diagnosis was that he had suffered a bronchial spasm brought on by too much smoking."

Following his hospital visit, McCartney decided to return to England. Wings hosted a beach barbecue to celebrate the end of recording, and on 23 September 1973, they flew back to England, where they were met by fans and journalists. Upon returning to London, the McCartneys received a letter from EMI dated before the band had left England, warning them not go to Lagos due to an outbreak of cholera.

London

Having recorded most of the album in Lagos, the band spent October 1973 finishing it at George Martin's AIR Studios in London. The first thing McCartney did was prepare the release of a single from the Lagos sessions. He chose "Helen Wheels", the only fully completed track, as the A-side, choosing the Red Rose Speedway outtake "Country Dreamer" as the B-side. The following day, 3 October, McCartney spent time transferring many of the eight-track Lagos recordings to sixteen-track, while the band also recorded "Bluebird" and Linda's song "Oriental Nightfish". Two days later, the band taped "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five".

The McCartneys and Laine continued overdubbing the Lagos recordings throughout October. All of the album's orchestral arrangements were taped at AIR in a single day, 17 October, conducted by Tony Visconti. Visconti was given three days to write the arrangements, including for the 60-piece orchestra on the title track. He said the arrangements were collaborations with McCartney. Another contributor was saxophonist Howie Casey, who overdubbed solos on "Bluebird", "Mrs. Vandebilt", and "Jet", and would go on to become Wings' regular horn player. On 8 October, Nigerian musician Remi Kabaka added percussion to "Bluebird". Mixing briefly took place at London's Kingsway Studios for two days, as AIR was booked, before completing at EMI Studios by the end of October. Compared to the almost year-long production of Red Rose Speedway, Band on the Run was completed in only eight weeks.

Music and lyrics

it depicts the McCartneys, Laine, and six celebrities dressed as convicts and posed as though caught by a prison searchlight. The six celebrities are television presenter and journalist Michael Parkinson, singer and actor Kenny Lynch, actor James Coburn, broadcaster and politician Clement Freud, actor Christopher Lee, and boxer John Conteh. Parkinson recalled the shoot as "a lovely day, a family day", saying that "even though we resembled a motley crew we genuinely knew each other and liked the idea of posing together." Since the band's name did not appear on the cover, Capitol Records adhered stickers listing so to the front. The back cover is a photograph, also taken by Arrowsmith, depicting a police officer's desktop trying to track down the fugitives, Paul, Linda and Laine. Also featured are three black-and-white solo shots of the trio, each rubber-stamped with a circular passport stamp with the words London on the top, Sep 1973 in the centre and Lagos on the bottom. The desk features a cup of coffee, writing utensils, a cigar and paperwork, among other items. The inner sleeve contains song lyrics and a black-and-white image of the McCartneys and Laine with a group of Nigerian children, taken during the last day in Lagos. A poster was also included, featuring Polaroid camera snapshots by Linda and other session shots, taken in both Lagos and London. The disc labels feature some references to Apple Records, which differ between the British and American editions. (as Apple PAS 10007), and in the U.S. on 5 December (as Apple SO 3415). Its release came two weeks after John Lennon's Mind Games. Rather than having the band promote the album on radio and television or with a tour, McCartney undertook a series of magazine interviews, most notably with Paul Gambaccini for Rolling Stone. and combined to form, in the words of authors Chip Madinger and Mark Easter, "a remarkably forthcoming interview in comparison to the 'thumbs-aloft' profiles usually allowed by [McCartney]". It was McCartney's last album released on Apple Records.

"Helen Wheels" was released as a non-album single in the UK on 19 October 1973, and became a top 10 hit in America the following January. For commercial reasons, Capitol Records, Apple's US distributor, requested "Helen Wheels" be added to the album. McCartney believed the song did not fit the album's concept, but agreed to add it to the American version, sequenced between "No Words" and "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)", but absent from the British version.

Commercial performance

Initially, the album did not sell especially well, with the record-buying public wary after Wings' preceding releases. On the UK Albums Chart, Band on the Run climbed to number 9 on 22 December, remaining there for a second week before dropping to number 13. On America's Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, it peaked at number 7 on 2 February 1974, and then spent the next six weeks in the lower reaches of the top ten. The album went on to achieve considerable success, however, thanks to the popularity of the two singles "Jet" and the title track. the public's apparent lack of interest in Band on the Run led him to agree to the recommendations of Capitol's head of marketing, Al Coury, who had similarly pushed for the inclusion of "Helen Wheels" on the album's American release. McCartney, therefore, authorised single edits of the two A-sides taken from the album. The single's success provided new impetus for the album, which hit number 2 in the UK at the end of March and topped Billboards listings on 13 April. Due to the popularity of "Band on the Run", In Britain, the album finally hit number 1 on 27 July, and it stayed there for seven consecutive weeks.

The album topped the Billboard chart on three separate occasions during 1974,

Band on the Run was eventually certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and would go on to sell 9 million copies worldwide, becoming EMI's top selling album of the 1970s in the UK. By 1984, it had sold 6 million copies, the highest amount for any ex-Beatle's work, at the time an equal to the Beatles' biggest success, Let it Be.

Critical reception

Upon its release, Band on the Run received mostly favourable reviews. Rodriguez writes that, after the disappointment of McCartney's post-Beatles work, "It was exactly the record fans and critics had long hoped he would make." Many described it as McCartney's best post-Beatles work yet. Sounds magazine's Steve Peacock praised Band on the Run as a "brilliant and completely uninhibited album" that surpasses all of McCartney's post-Beatles work "in terms of creativity and awareness". Jon Landau of Rolling Stone described the album as, "with the possible exception of John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band, the finest record yet released by any of the four musicians who were once called the Beatles". Rolling Stone named Band on the Run one of the Best Albums of 1973.

Writing in The New York Times, Loraine Alterman considered the album to be "bursting with a great deal of compelling music even if the lyrics at times make as much sense as that cover photo". She admired the "fascinating range of sounds" offered in the title track, as well as the "lovely, romantic aura" of "Bluebird". While noting the importance of studio production to the overall effect, Alterman wrote: "McCartney has managed to make the complexities of multi-track recording sound as natural and fresh as tomorrow." In Melody Maker, Chris Welch described a "happy, almost exultant freedom" pulsating throughout the album, with the music being "open, unpressured and eminently satisfying". Disc Rosemary Horide declared Band on the Run an "outstanding album, with a lot more of Paul's individual sounds than his previous albums have had". She placed it in her top three albums of the year.

One mixed review came from Robert Hilburn in the Los Angeles Times, who believed Band on the Run was better than McCartney's previous outings, even saying that "McCartney's vocals are bolder and his arrangements are more confident and tailored" than those records, but was ultimately disappointed in "what we all know McCartney should be able to provide". Similarly, The Philadelphia Inquirer Jack Lloyd said that the songs were "not especially spectacular examples of creative songwriting at its best", believing that listeners would not want to "hear time and again". Writing for the Ottawa Citizen, Bill Provick called the album "too shallow", the writing "atrocious", and the instrumentation "competent" yet "antiseptic and strangely sterile". He also believed most of the songs did not warrant repeated listens. Village Voice critic Robert Christgau wrote in 1981: "I originally underrated what many consider McCartney's definitive post-Beatles statement, but not as much as its admirers overrate it. Pop masterpiece? This? Sure it's a relief after the vagaries of Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway." He praised the title track and the "Afro-soul" introduction to "Mamunia", calling them "the high points". Christgau ultimately awarded the album a C+ rating, indicating "a not disreputable performance, most likely a failed experiment or a pleasant piece of hackwork". Band on the Run is generally considered one of McCartney's best solo records, and one of the best Beatle solo albums, with Paste magazine's Matt Mitchell deeming the best in 2023. He wrote on its 50th anniversary that it stands as a masterpiece that has "aged gracefully" and "remains a timeless document of our greatest pop songwriter's prime".

Rankings

In 2000, Q magazine placed Band on the Run at number 75 in its list of the "100 Greatest British Albums Ever". In 2012, it was voted 418th on Rolling Stones revised list of "the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". The following year, NME placed it at number 333 in a similar list. In 2013, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2022, Ultimate Classic Rock included it in its list of the best 100 rock albums of the 1970s. In 2023, Paste magazine ranked it the sixth best album of 1973.

Track listing

All songs written by Paul and Linda McCartney, except "No Words" (written by Paul McCartney and Denny Laine).

Side one

"Band on the Run" – 5:12
"Jet" – 4:09
"Bluebird" – 3:23
"Mrs. Vandebilt" – 4:40
"Let Me Roll It" – 4:51

Side two

"Mamunia" – 4:51
"No Words" – 2:35
"Helen Wheels" – 3:45 (US version and select CD reissues)
"Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)" – 5:49
"Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" – 5:28

Reissues

Band on the Run was issued on CD on 29 February 1984 in the US by Columbia Records, with a reissue by Capitol on 1 December 1988. In the UK, EMI issued it on CD on 4 February 1985. On this version, "Helen Wheels" appeared as track 8, between "No Words" and "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)", as it had been positioned on the original US release. The package includes liner notes written by historian Mark Lewisohn, and an extra disc of live renditions of songs from the album throughout the years, as well as brief new renditions by McCartney. Spoken testimonials are also included from McCartney himself, the late Linda (to whom this retrospective release is dedicated), Laine, Dustin Hoffman (the inspiration behind the writing of "Picasso's Last Words"), and the celebrity faces on the cover (including James Coburn, who was in Britain to film The Internecine Project (1974) when the picture for the album cover was taken, and Christopher Lee).

Archive Collection

The Paul McCartney Archive Collection series started with Band on the Run, released on 2 November 2010. The Archive Collection was administered by Hear Music and Concord Music Group and the album was released in multiple formats: a single remastered CD version of the original UK album (excluding "Helen Wheels" from the track listing), a 2-disc vinyl LP version with the remastered album and a selection of bonus audio materials, a 2CD/DVD edition including a collection of bonus materials in addition to the original album, a 2CD/2DVD edition sold only at Best Buy with additional bonus materials on the second DVD, a 3CD/DVD Deluxe Edition with the additional bonus materials in the other versions and an audio documentary originally produced for the album's 25th anniversary release and a 120-page hardbound book containing photos by Linda McCartney and Clive Arrowsmith, a history of the album, and additional materials. Within the Deluxe Edition was additional included a High Resolution 24-bit 96 kHz (with no dynamic range compression) download of the audio content released for the Archive Collection editions. The Archive Collection reissue won the Grammy Award for Best Historical Album at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in 2012.

In promotion of the Archive Collection edition, a Record Store Day 2010-exclusive vinyl single of "Band on the Run" backed with "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" was also released.

Disc 3 (deluxe edition)

This disc contains an audio documentary of the album, originally released in 1999 as Disc 2 of the 25th Anniversary Edition reissue.

DVD (special and deluxe editions)

"Band on the Run" music video
"Mamunia" music video
Album promo
"Helen Wheels" music video
Wings in Lagos
Osterley Park
One Hand Clapping
Track listing:
One Hand Clapping Theme
"Jet"
"Soily"
"C Moon"
"Little Woman Love"
"Maybe I'm Amazed"
"My Love"
"Bluebird"
"Let's Love"
"All of You"
"I'll Give You a Ring"
"Band on the Run"
"Live and Let Die"
"Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five"
"Baby Face"

Download only (pre-order bonus tracks on paulmccartney.com)

"No Words" – 2:56
"Band on the Run" – 6:57

50th anniversary edition

A 50th anniversary edition of the album was released on 2 February 2024. The US version of the album, with "Helen Wheels" included, was "cut at half speed using a high-resolution transfer of the original master tapes from 1973 at Abbey Road Studios, London". Additionally, in promotion of the anniversary, "a second LP of previously unreleased "underdubbed" mixes of the songs" was released. The "underdubbed" mixes are rough mixes prepared by engineer Geoff Emerick on 14 October 1973, before the final mixes with Tony Visconti's orchestrations added to the tracks. The 50th anniversary also included streaming versions of the "Underdubbed Mixes" and a Dolby Atmos mix by Giles Martin and Steve Orchard of the full US version of the album.

Reviewing the 50th anniversary edition, Stephen Thomas Erlewine rated it a 9.0/10 in Pitchfork. He said that the "underdubbed" mixes have "instructive value"; the tracks feel incomplete without vocals and Tony Visconti's orchestrations, but "nevertheless capture how Wings interacted as a band".

Personnel

According to Bruce Spizer:

Wings

Paul McCartney – lead and backing vocals, bass, acoustic and electric guitars, piano, keyboards, drums, percussion
Linda McCartney – harmony and backing vocals, organ, keyboards, percussion
Denny Laine – harmony and backing vocals, co-lead vocals , acoustic and electric guitars, percussion

Additional personnel

Howie Casey – saxophone on "Jet",

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