When it comes to all of the projects that arose after The Beatles broke up, one might want to argue that Paul McCartney landed on his feet with the formation of Wings.
While his other former bandmates were largely operating on their own, McCartney’s decision to establish another new band may have been something of a risk because it was always going to be compared to his ‘other’ band. However, the fact that he managed to rise above this within the first five years of them being a group goes to show that McCartney was more than up to the task.
While things may have started slowly, with the group’s debut album, Wild Life, only receiving a lukewarm reception and experiencing poor sales, you’ve only got to consider the calibre of music that McCartney was releasing alongside this. His self-titled solo debut, and Ram, which is credited to both him and his wife, Linda, were both indicative that McCartney hadn’t lost his touch when it came to writing exceptional works of art, and it was only going to be a matter of time before brilliance came in the form of a Wings album.
1973 would be the year it all fell into place, with the release of both Red Rose Speedway and Band on the Run, both coming out in the space of seven months. These days, these two records are considered the finest that Wings made as a group, and stand out as being two of McCartney’s highlights from what ended up being a productive decade after his split from The Beatles.
However, in that interim period between Wild Life, he did have to recruit a new member to accompany him, Linda, guitarist Denny Laine and drummer Denny Seiwell, in order to further bolster the band’s sound. When American guitarist Henry McCullough became available, having previously been working with Joe Cocker in the Grease Band, McCartney jumped at the chance to have him on board.
Red Rose Speedway was a considerable step up from its predecessor, and you can tell that McCartney was becoming more confident with the ensemble that he had pieced together on this record and was finding more inspiration in his songwriting. Things were beginning to show that Wings had it in them to match the quality of the Fab Four’s output, and that the comparisons between the two eras of McCartney would soon come to an end.
McCullough would comment on this change in McCartney’s outlook in the lead-up to Red Rose Speedway’s release, and said that McCartney was absolutely thrilled to have created something of this magnitude with his new group. Talking specifically about the collaborative process, McCullough said, “There’s a couple of things I’ve written that might be nice to do and I think Paul would be cool about that,” before adding that McCartney was a huge fan of his work. “He’s heard the Grease Band album and he says to me ‘I’m really pleased to be working with guys like you, you know.’ He’s as knocked out to be playing with us as we are to be playing with him.
Unfortunately, McCullough would depart Wings after this album, along with Seiwell, and the group would go on to create Band on the Run as a trio. While this album may well have ended up being Macca’s post-Beatles masterwork, there’s no doubt that he still reflects fondly on Red Rose Speedway, and the connection that he felt with McCullough was certainly a great factor in why he felt the album was so precious
