Every Wings Album Ranked From Worst To Best
5. Red Rose Speedway
You might think a star of McCartney’s magnitude is above studio meddling but in the early '70s a series of critical and commercial disappointments left him having to compromise.
After underwhelming sales for Wing’s debut LP Wildlife, EMI insisted the band be billed as Paul McCartney & Wings this time around, in case people didn’t spot the group’s famous bass player.
They also made Paul edit a proposed double album down to a single disc. Red Rose Speedway lost a couple of its most striking songs in the process. The released version is uneven and heavy on ballads. Producer Glyn Johns was so unimpressed by the band’s music and lack of discipline in the studio that he quit part way through the recording. The record is also weighed down by the schmaltzy albatross that is My Love.
Still, if you can look past the soppy, saccharine hit there’s still plenty to enjoy. Not least the upbeat and whimsical Get On The Right Thing, a deep cut that deserves much more love. Elsewhere, Little Lamb Dragonfly is a wistful highlight.
It’s telling however that the best thing recorded during the entire session was Live and Let Die, which was written for the Bond film of the same name and not even considered for RRS.