Wings: Band On The Run

IN THE immediate post-Beatles period, Paul McCartney was a critic's whipping boy. Compared to the lustrous pop of Abbey Road, the open-hearted panoply of All Things Must Pass, 1970's McCartney sounded shockingly underdone. Those that weren't scornful were perplexed. 1971's Ram, while these days sounding rather like a ragged masterpiece, was perceived as more sloppy work from an ex-talent taking this 'loosening up' thing too seriously His new 'group', Wings, notoriously featuring his missus on elementary organ, debuted with 1971's willfully shabby Wild Life and released peculiar single like the simple-minded 'Give Ireland Back To The Irish' and the for-the-kids 'Mary Had A Little Lamb'. 1972's Red Rose Speedway boasted one bona fide beauty in 'My Love' and almost sounded like a proper record in places, but still fell short of what were by now significantly fallen expectations.