Wings Wild Life Rare 1971 Apple Records Original Press Vinyl LP

$

25

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Wild Life Studio album by  Wings Released 7 December 1971 Recorded 25 July – 2 August 1971 Studio Abbey Road, London Genre Rock Length 37:43 Label Apple Producer Paul McCartney Wings chronology Ram
(1971) Wild Life
(1971) Red Rose Speedway
(1973)

Wild Life is the debut studio album by the British–American rock band Wings and the third studio album by Paul McCartney after the breakup of the Beatles. The album was recorded in eight days, from 25 July to 2 August 1971, at Abbey Road Studios by McCartney, his wife Linda, session drummer Denny Seiwell, whom they had worked with on the McCartney's previous album Ram, and guitarist Denny Laine, formerly of the English rock band the Moody Blues. It was released by Apple Records on 7 December in the UK and US, to lukewarm critical and commercial reaction.

Recording

In July 1971, with a fresh set of McCartney tunes, the newly formed Wings recorded the album in slightly more than a week with the mindset that it had to be instant and raw in order to capture the freshness and vitality of a live studio recording. Five of the eight songs were recorded in one take. Paul McCartney later cited the quick recording schedule of Bob Dylan as an inspiration for this. The first session was held at Abbey Road Studios on 25 July. Footage of McCartney playing "Bip Bop" and "Hey Diddle" from around this time was later included in the made-for-TV film Wings Over the World.

The album was rehearsed at McCartney's recording studio in Scotland dubbed Rude Studio, which Paul and Linda had used to make demos of songs that would be used in the album, and recorded at Abbey Road with Tony Clark and Alan Parsons engineering. Paul had lead vocal parts on all tracks, sharing those duties with Linda on "I Am Your Singer" and "Some People Never Know". "Tomorrow" features background vocals from Denny Laine and Linda McCartney.

After the rehearsals at Rude, the recording moved to Abbey Road Studios, where the album was completed in a few weeks. According to drummer Denny Seiwell, five of the eight recorded tracks were done in one take. One almost definite example of this is "Mumbo", the opener on the album. According to Clark, they were just jamming and Clark decided to start recording. McCartney, upon noticing, shouted "Take it, Tony" and started ad-libbing lyrics.

On the promotional album The Complete Audio Guide to the Alan Parsons Project, Parsons discusses how he did a rough mix of "I Am Your Singer" that Paul liked so much, he used it for the final mix on the album.

Music and lyrics

"Dear Friend", recorded during the Ram sessions, was apparently an attempt at reconciliation with John Lennon. It followed Lennon's attack on McCartney in the song "How Do You Sleep?", from the album Imagine, which had been in retaliation for McCartney's perceived digs at Lennon in "Too Many People" on Ram. Music critic Ian MacDonald cited "Dear Friend" as a counter-argument to the caricature of McCartney as an emotional lightweight.

Wild Life also included a reggae remake of Mickey & Sylvia's 1957 top 40 hit "Love Is Strange". A promotional single was distributed in the UK by Apple in December 1971 with catalogue No. R5932, but the commercial release was cancelled due to poor album sales.

Release and reception

After announcing to the media the band's formation on 2 August 1971, the group were named "Wings" on 9 October. On 8 November, the group held a press party in London to announce both the group and Wild Life, which was released on 7 December, in both the UK and US, to lukewarm critical and commercial reaction. The album reached number 11 in the UK and number 10 in the US, where it went gold. At the same press party, in an interview with Melody Maker, McCartney said that the group should soon be performing live. John Mendelsohn wrote in Rolling Stone that he wondered whether the album may have been "deliberately second-rate." In The Beatles: An Illustrated Record, Roy Carr and Tony Tyler called the album "rushed, defensive, badly timed, and over-publicized" and wrote that it showed McCartney's songwriting "at an absolute nadir just when he needed a little respect". The liner notes for Wild Life (and on the Thrillington album) were credited to Clint Harrigan, but in 1990 McCartney admitted to journalist Peter Palmiere that he was Harrigan. Lennon claimed to know the identity of Harrigan during their Melody Maker feud in 1972.

Track listing

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

Original release

Side one

1. "Mumbo" – 3:54
2. "Bip Bop" – 4:14
3. "Love Is Strange" (Mickey Baker, Sylvia Vanderpool, Ethel Smith) – 4:50
4. "Wild Life" – 6:48

Side two

1. "Some People Never Know" – 6:35
2. "I Am Your Singer" – 2:15
3. "Tomorrow" – 3:28
4. "Dear Friend" – 5:53