Wings at the Speed of Sound

Wings at the Speed of Sound is the fifth studio album by the British–American rock band Wings, released on 25 March 1976. Issued at the height of the band's popularity, it reached the top spot on the US album chart—the band's fourth consecutive album to do so—and peaked at number 2 on the UK album chart. Both singles from the album also reached the top 5 of the UK and US singles charts, with "Silly Love Songs" reaching number 1 in the US.

The album was recorded and released in the midst of Wings' highly successful Wings Over the World tour, with songs from the album performed on the tour after its release. Subsequently, performances of "Let 'Em In", "Time to Hide", 'Silly Love Songs' and "Beware My Love" were included on the live album Wings over America, released in December 1976.

In response to critics who believed Wings was merely a vehicle for Paul McCartney, the album featured every member of the band taking lead vocals on at least one song, and two songs from the album are written or co-written by band members other than the McCartneys.

History

After a series of concerts in Australia in November 1975, Wings took a break from the tour to spend the holidays with their families and in January 1976 booked time at Abbey Road Studios in London to finish the recording of Wings at the Speed of Sound begun late the previous year. It was the first time Wings had recorded a full album in England since Red Rose Speedway. Due to tour commitments, Wings were not allowed to record in another location. By the end of February, the album was complete, and Wings went back on the road.

Around the time of the studio sessions for Wings at the Speed of Sound, Wings were facing criticism for being merely a vehicle for McCartney. He encouraged each of the band members to contribute a song during the sessions. McCartney had previously attempted to create a democratic album in the proposed double LP of Red Rose Speedway, though his record label rejected it.

Engineer Peter Henderson later commented, "I remember one of my first engineering jobs, working with Paul McCartney on Wings at the Speed of Sound — he'd do two vocal takes and ask, 'Which is the better one?' And when he played guitar, he'd really lean into it and give it everything he got."

Two tracks ("The Note You Never Wrote" and "Warm and Beautiful") were arranged by Fiachra Trench.

Recording

The album was recorded at Abbey Road in two different periods of sessions: initial sessions took place in August/September and October 1975, with work resuming in January–February 1976. During the playback of "Must Do Something About It", Paul heard drummer Joe English singing and decided to have him take the lead vocal. In "Cook of the House", McCartney played the double-bass, while "Silly Love Songs" was arranged in a disco-style, in a similar fashion to Al Green's "Sha La La". Fiachra Trench had the Gabriel String Quartet adding strings to "The Note You Never Wrote".

Artwork

The cover artwork was designed by Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis; Hipgnosis had designed the artworks for Band on the Run and Venus and Mars. Shot by Linda and Powell, the artwork features the album title against the marquee of the Leicester Square Theatre in London. Powell said that it shot early in the morning on the top of an aerial work platform during a cold night: "We set it up at night and we shot it with available light [...] the light that came through on a long-time exposure from the opaque Perspex of the actual cinema. It only took us a couple of hours, then it was all back to [Paul's] for a cup of coffee." For the inner sleeve, Paul commissioned a painting by Humphrey Ocean, which depicts the doors of a theater opening to a Robert Ellis photograph of the band underneath a banner reading Speed of Sound. McCartney enjoyed his painting so much tha that he employed Ocean as the artist for the Wings over America tour. The inner sleeve also contains photographs from the recording sessions taken by Linda, while the back cover features multiple-exposure photographs of the band members by Clive Arrowsmith, arranged in five rows—similar to the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night album cover.

Release

Wings at the Speed of Sound was released in the United States on 25 March 1976, and a week later in the United Kingdom.

The album reached number 2 in the United Kingdom (and was the 4th best-selling album of 1976). It became McCartney's most successful American chart album since his days in the Beatles, spending seven nonconsecutive weeks at number 1 throughout the summer (blocking the new Beatles compilation Rock 'n' Roll Music, which reached number 2). Wings at the Speed of Sound sold 3.5 million copies worldwide.

Much of the album's success can be attributed to its two singles: "Silly Love Songs", a response to his critics, which became one of 1976's biggest-selling singles, followed by "Let 'Em In", which also scaled the singles charts. Amid all this, Wings finally went to North America for the Wings Over America Tour, playing McCartney's first shows there in ten years (after the Beatles' final tour of America in 1966) to euphoric reaction; four selections from At the Speed of Sound were included in the tour setlist: "Let 'Em In", "Silly Love Songs", "Time to Hide" and "Beware My Love".

Denny Laine covered "Time to Hide" and "The Note You Never Wrote" in 1996 on his album Denny Laine Performs the Hits of Wings.

Critical reception

Wings at the Speed of Sound received lukewarm critical reviews. Stephen Holden, writing in Rolling Stone, described it as a "Day with the McCartneys" concept album. The introduction, "Let 'Em In" was perceived as an invitation to join the McCartneys on this fantasy day, with explanation of their philosophy ("Silly Love Songs"), a lunch break ("Cook of the House"), and a chance to get to know McCartney's friends (Denny Laine in "The Note You Never Wrote", Jimmy McCulloch in "Wino Junko", etc.). Reviewing in The New York Times, John Rockwell called the album "a more refreshing testimony to Mr. McCartney's current skills and ambitions than the earlier, more pretentious [Venus and Mars] was." Nevertheless, Rockwell noted that McCartney, compared to his Beatles works, has "settled into his solo career for the straightforward production of 'disposable' pop".

Chris Welch of Melody Maker wrote a quite favorable review: "This is not an album that hits you with the sustained power of Band on the Run or Venus and Mars. Much good music then on an album that will engender fierce comparisons with the past two albums, but will increase the growing worldwide appeal of Wings." More negatively, Sounds magazine's Barbara Charone called Wings at the Speed of Sound "a major disappointment", criticising it for lacking the "magic and excitement" of Wings' live shows. More positively, in his book Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970–1989 (2023), author Luca Perasi writes that the album was a "smart marketing move by McCartney" to "strengthen Wings, presenting them as a real group with an album which had room for everyone to shine."

Further releases

In 1993, Wings at the Speed of Sound was remastered and reissued on compact disc as part of The Paul McCartney Collection series; "Walking in the Park with Eloise", which had been released under the name the Country Hams, its B-side "Bridge on the River Suite", and the Wings track "Sally G" (the B-side to their single "Junior's Farm") were added as bonus tracks. All were recorded in Nashville in 1974.

Track listing

All tracks written by Paul and Linda McCartney, except where noted.

Archive Collection reissue

On 23 September 2014 the album was re-issued by Hear Music/Concord Music Group as part of the fifth set of releases, alongside Venus and Mars, in the Paul McCartney Archive Collection. It was released in multiple formats:

Standard edition: 2-CD; the original 11-track album on the first disc, plus 7 bonus tracks on the second disc.
Deluxe edition: 2-CD/1-DVD; the original 11-track album, the 7 bonus tracks disc, and a hardback book featuring unpublished photographs, new interviews with Paul, material from Paul's archives and expanded track-by-track information. The deluxe version bonus DVD comprises filmed material from around the time of the album release, some of which has never been seen before. The DVD features rare and previously unseen footage, including the documentaries "Wings over Wembley", "Wings in Venice" and the "Silly Love Songs" music video.
Remastered vinyl: The album is available on a special gatefold vinyl edition (the vinyl edition includes a download card).
High resolution: Digital album is available as both standard and deluxe versions – including mastered for iTunes and in high resolution.

Disc two – bonus audio

"Silly Love Songs" – 2:44
"She's My Baby" – 3:46
"Message to Joe" – 0:24
"Beware My Love" – 5:35
"Must Do Something About It" – 3:37
"Let 'Em In" – 4:18
"Warm and Beautiful" – 1:27

Disc three – DVD

"Silly Love Songs" – 5:45
"Wings Over Wembley" – 13:22
"Wings in Venice" – 3:10

Personnel

Paul McCartney – vocals, bass guitar, acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards, double bass on “Cook of the House”
Linda McCartney – vocals, keyboards
Denny Laine – vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, bass guitar, piano, harmonica
Jimmy McCulloch – vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, bass guitar
Joe English – vocals, drums, percussion

Additional musicians

Tony Dorsey – trombone
Thaddeus Richard – saxophone, clarinet, flute
Steve Howard – trumpet, flugelhorn
Howie Casey – saxophone
George Tidwell – trumpet
John Bonham – drums (Archive Collection issue version of “Beware My Love” only)
uncredited session musicians – orchestrations

Production

Paul McCartney - Producer
Peter Henderson - Engineer

Charts

Weekly charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

! scope="col" | Chart (1976–77)

! scope="col" | Peak<br />position

! scope="row" | Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)

| 2

! scope="row" | Japanese Albums (Oricon)

| 4

! scope="row" | Spanish Albums (El Musical)

| 15

! scope="col" | Chart (2014)

! scope="col" | Peak<br />position

! scope="row" | US Billboard 200

| 45

Year-end charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

! scope="col" | Chart (1976)

! scope="col" | Position