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69. 'Band On The Run' - Paul McCartney & Wings (1973)
47 Plays7 months ago
‘Winging It’
Welcome to another episode of The Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll Podcast - where we dive deep into the world of music and dissect iconic albums that have left an indelible mark on the industry. In this episode, we're turning our attention to one of the most celebrated albums of the 1970s: ‘Band on the Run’ by Wings.
Having lost some of his musical credibility for his work post-Beatles amongst critics, Paul McCartney travelled to Nigeria, 2 band members down, to record an album that would restore any faith that fans and critics had (foolishly!) lost in him and his songwriting abilities!
‘Band On The Run’ is full of intricate songwriting, lush production and catchy melodies that have become staple McCartney songs - making it one of Paul’s most respected and renowned works. From the infectious title track to the soulful "Let Me Roll It" and the anthemic "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five," we'll explore the album's diverse mix of rock, pop, and experimental sounds as well as the concept-style lyrics exploring themes of escape, liberation and resilience!
So join us as we celebrate the work of McCartney and explore why this album remains a cornerstone of Paul’s post-Beatles career and a beloved masterpiece in the annals of rock music history.
Episode 69 Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4gAX93zYMxDhoJoI41dJdP?si=61590e807f684248
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Transcript
Introduction and Album Overview
00:00:12
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Long Live Rock and Roll Podcast with your host Mr. Lasmy Kalidi's here and on the screen opposite me, Mr. Felipe Amorim. How are you doing, bro? Doing great, brother, how are you? Good, yeah, very well, thank you very well. How have things been? Things have been great, man. Enjoy, you know, my life not so close to the city centre anymore, isn't it? So you're like in the countryside of London now, aren't you? Exactly, that's the thing. The countryside of London.
00:00:42
Speaker
Brilliant.
Background and Production Details
00:00:43
Speaker
Excellent. Well, we are back with another album episode. And as you've seen probably from the artwork on this and the title, if you haven't read it, we are doing Band on the Run by Wings, a very, very famous album of the 70s. As usual, I'll just kick you off with a bit of quick info. So the album was released 30th of November, 1973, recorded between August and October, 1973 in Nigeria.
00:01:07
Speaker
get to. It was recorded at the EMI and ARC studios in Lagos and the Kingsway recorders in London. The genre is most typically associated with his rock, clocking in at just over 41 minutes. The label was Apple and the producer was Paul McCartney himself. So before actually before we get into it, I've got a quiz for you.
00:01:28
Speaker
Whoa, quiz right away. Ready? I tell you why I want to do the quiz right away is because you can sort of talk about things that happened in the quiz later in the episode. Right. Right. So let's kick off with the quiz. Question one. The song Mamounia is named after what? After the house they stayed in whilst recording the album. Almost. It's a hotel in Morocco, Marrakech.
00:01:58
Speaker
in April 1973.
Recording Challenges and Stories
00:02:00
Speaker
So it wasn't during this recording process. It was a few months earlier. I'm consulting my notes. That's why I did it properly. I'm not cheating. Right. Right. Do you know what it means though? The song Mamounia? No. The word. No, I don't. What does it mean? Go on Bones Point. Safe Haven. Oh, nice. Okay. There you go. Question two. Which famous drummer plays percussion on Picasso's last words? Ginger Baker.
00:02:26
Speaker
There you go, Cream's very own Ginger Baker playing percussion in this song. Ian Home and Trevor Jones do BVs, so backing vocals, on the song, No Words. Who were they? They were the Wings roadies. Oh, bro, you've done your research today. I'm very impressed. OK, after being robbed at knife point during their time in Nigeria, what did Paul and Linda McCartney lose? Demo tapes and lyrics.
00:02:54
Speaker
bloody hell man you're doing really well okay this might be the only one that gets you out a little bit oh yeah fair enough you've done well on the others what was the song jet named after oh there's a controversy on this one it could be a pony
00:03:12
Speaker
That's my answer, that's what I thought. Some people say it was after a dog, but I think it was his daughter's pony. That's the answer I've got, yeah. I haven't actually looked into the dog side of it.
00:03:27
Speaker
version of the story. Bro, four out of five. I'm impressed. Well done. Well done. Good. I love the album as you can tell. Yeah, yeah. Excellent stuff. Bro, actually, funnily enough, though, I'm the one who chose this album because it was one of those staple
Critical Reception and Impact
00:03:40
Speaker
solo Beatles albums. That's why I chose it. I thought we should really do one. But yeah, if you love it this much, go on.
00:03:49
Speaker
Can we start talking about how the album came about, how the songs came about? And the one thing I didn't know, actually to be fair, I didn't even know that was your choice because we decide like quite early in the year or the previous year before we start recording. So for listeners interested in the process, we basically, Felipe sends me like 20 albums at the start of the year. I pick 20 albums and then randomly
00:04:15
Speaker
just select which ones we do on which days. I love this one so much that I'm impressed that I never suggested that before. I'm impressed as your choice but yeah I'm glad you made that choice. So the thing is they had some songs that were working on songs with
00:04:34
Speaker
the lineup they had as Wings at the time, which is Paul McCartney's band he formed immediately after. Not immediately after, he did a solo album and then Wings after the Beatles. But there were some arguments with the drummer and the guitar player and they quit the band.
00:04:53
Speaker
uh two days before they've traveled to nigeria to record the album can you imagine that so yeah going to prepare a recording and two your band members quit on you my god yeah and the one thing i didn't know about that is so it was uh denny lane who's a piano player guitar player used to play with a band called the moody blues and paul and linda just the three of them that's the the lineup that did the whole album produced uh
Themes of Freedom and Creativity
00:05:20
Speaker
and recorded all the songs and I'm quite impressed because I didn't know about that first time I listened to the album and I was like wait a minute so is that Paul playing every single drum track in the album
00:05:32
Speaker
And it's like, yeah, so it's got such a character, musically speaking, as a bassist, guitar player, piano player, singer and drummer. You would think it's like he hired people to play those instruments as you normally do. And he actually did that, just like McCartney, his first solo album, he did all on his own. And he did kind of the same here with help from Linda
00:06:02
Speaker
Denny Lane. But the thing is, um, yeah, I didn't know that I thought that was a wings album with the whole lineup. Yeah, it is impressive. And I think, you know, I alluded to it in the quiz there, but he they went to Nigeria and I was reading that they went to Nigeria, so that they could have a peaceful time whilst recording the album. He wanted to be on the beaches in the morning and then come back and record in the afternoon. He wanted a nice time of it. But Nigeria,
00:06:31
Speaker
For those who don't know, in 1973, Nigeria had just finished its own civil war, which ended in 1970. So you were left with a militant government, disease, corruption all around the country. Basically, from what I'm reading, Nigeria was not a nice place to be in 1973, but Paul McCartney thought it'd be nice. He was totally unaware of that. Based on the geography of the place, that's going to be a good place. He just went somewhere exotic, just somewhere unusual.
00:07:00
Speaker
Exactly. Basically, he talked to the labels of EMI, the label Appo. Oh, Appo was the label. Yeah, the EMI was the studio. Yeah. So basically, he spoke to them about, you know, can you give me all places in the world where you guys have a studio? I'm going to choose the one that's like
00:07:19
Speaker
nothing to do with England. I want to be in a different place. And they sent him the place. Isn't this NASA? Okay, I'm going to go to Lagos in Nigeria. That was that. So that was the decision. He would he didn't know anything about it. He got there like they only had one
00:07:34
Speaker
how they call it the tape, just like a one and they could only do eight tracks at the time so that kind of stuff and yeah so the and some of the gear was was 40 as well so like it wasn't a great studio it wasn't a great time in that country at that particular time in history and he was totally unaware of that and then they got robbed but let's yeah
00:07:57
Speaker
them. And I just found out as well they took their three kids with them as well. Yes, culture shock that must have been exactly under the keyboard guitar player as well. He had his family with him. So they rented some houses around the area like an hour away from the studio actually. And they would spend some time with the family and some time in the studio recording. So you mentioned about the studio and I'll just go on to straight I'll go straight on to one of the biggest points on the album.
Musical Style and Influences
00:08:22
Speaker
Despite everything you said about how crap the studio was.
00:08:26
Speaker
The production of this album is unbelievable. It's great, isn't it? It's unbelievable. They touched it up in Air Studios in London. Yeah. So they did a lot of work over dubs and other stuff. Yeah, but I think you've still got to have... But the sound of the room and everything else is actually great, isn't it? Exactly, yeah. The arrangements and the instrumentation is a really, really well-crafted album.
00:08:54
Speaker
Everything sounds so perfect. I can't get over this 1973. It just has this sound and this professionalism about it.
00:09:03
Speaker
It happens even in the first song, band on the run, within seconds. It's like that... It's so clean. Do you know what I mean? It sounds fantastic. You don't even need to listen to the remastered version of it. You can listen to this standard album, the original one, it sounds great. It's one of those again.
00:09:26
Speaker
But yeah, you know, production wise, he did continue, didn't they? They just continued in this scale, the scaling of trying to make their albums sound better and them just sounding better in general. Anyway, you want to go? Any topics you want to talk about? Yeah, in regards to the production as we end this topic now. So they finished in London at George Martin's, George Martin's
00:09:52
Speaker
I think it's called Air, or I don't know if it's actually pronounced A-I-R, it was Air. George Martin didn't participate in it, it was just his studio. So they went to London to do some overdubs and I think Jet was entirely recorded.
00:10:13
Speaker
Yes it was, you're right. I remember reading that. So they did that and I think we must mention the name because I don't have the name for you. I know you can google it. The guy who did the orchestral arrangements for the album
00:10:30
Speaker
Tony Visconti. Yes, exactly. That man did such an amazing job because he had three days to write and record and conduct the orchestra. Three days? Three days. Wow. All the orchestral parts in the album are absolutely beautiful. They are. They're George Martin-esque, aren't they? Yeah. And I think it's only fair we compare to the Beatles because inevitably we will be comparing Paul McCartney to the Beatles because that's his previous project. But
00:10:58
Speaker
Yeah, as you said, Tony Difasconti has done an amazing job here. The orchestra makes the album, in my opinion. I think you take away the orchestra and it's not the same album at all. Yeah, exactly. I think with this, yeah, with this...
00:11:10
Speaker
All those, let's say, not so pleasant things happening, you would expect the album to be a bit, I don't know, to reflect some sort of tension, some sort of sadness or fear, whatever. But it's such a beautiful album, such an easy album to listen to, start to finish. Most of the songs that Cheerful are nice.
00:11:33
Speaker
the lyrics are nonsensical in a good way so there's nothing dense or political or anything like that and I think it's interesting because it's also relaxed and so like I'm not trying to prove anything but at that time McCartney kind of had to prove he could do well without the Beatles because of course two Wings Records didn't go that well. He fell out of favor with audiences and critics because they just didn't take to his work post the Beatles.
00:12:04
Speaker
Now, so I'm gonna ask you a question. Yeah. And for those listening and watching, Felipe is a massive Beatles fan. I'd also consider myself to be a massive Beatles fan, but I've only recently got into them the last five or six years. You've loved the most of your life. So my question to you is, as a Beatle, how do you follow the Beatles music? I mean, as a...
00:12:33
Speaker
yeah i would say there's no way i mean if imagine this one day you wake up and you're like wow i have a beetle like singular not a member of the beatles so yeah how do you do that i don't think it's possible at all you got to remember that the loads are
00:12:57
Speaker
Beatles, not only from his partnership with John Lennon but like Ringo Starr is the one who came up with the phrase hard days night. He's the one who came up with eight days a week. So imagine just how would you write those songs without those lines if you don't have a guy as creative and funny as Ringo by your side. So they had this massive influence on post-song writing to the point that even the
00:13:23
Speaker
Beatles breakup is based on a line by George Harrison. You've got to tell the story. No, no, no, I don't actually remember it. Basically, basically, at the beginning of the song, if I ever get out of here, that phrase, when they were like, when the band was done and dusted, they were just going through the bureaucratic stuff that you need to go through to finish a band. So that's all the financial stuff.
00:13:54
Speaker
business meetings. And then George Harrison said, if I ever get out of here, and I was just that. And so see the Beatles, there was still influence in Paul McCartney like years later. So yeah, and how do you get so creative without those amazing batmates, also with everyone expecting you
00:14:17
Speaker
and the amazing musician you are known for. Yeah it is and I think when you look at, I mean you could arguably, let's take, and I think we should actually do this soon, you're due to send me a few more albums soon so what I'm going to do is I'm going to stick in Imagine and
00:14:40
Speaker
What's the famous George Harrison one? That one. I'm going to put them in. I will get them done over the next few months, right? Because I think it's good to do one of each of them. If you compare these three albums, Band on the Run, All Things Must Past and Imagine, individually, they have gone down in the rock history books for being fantastic albums. And they are fantastic albums, like, undoubtedly. But each album has moments where you go,
00:15:09
Speaker
Do you know what? I could have done with a bit of John here. Or I could have had a George Harrison solo here. Or, oh god, this verse would be perfect with a bit of a Paul McCartney bassline.
00:15:20
Speaker
And I think that is a curse that will, well, I say will, if it's in the future, that has lingered on the likes of Paul and George and John up until his death for their lifetimes. Because we've said it before, we said it when we did Rubber Soul, and don't worry listeners, there will be plenty more Beatles albums coming up before this show ever ends. But it's undoubted that what made them so good was all four of them
00:15:46
Speaker
putting their ideas into the ring, throwing their ideas in. And like you said, even if it's Ringo saying a hard day's night or eight days a week or whatever it was, even just that can make a song. And to have four incredible, okay, let's say two incredible songwriters with two excellent musicians and bandmates around them, having that entity broken apart and each of those four people being on their own,
Song Analysis and Structure
00:16:12
Speaker
whilst all these albums, imagine all things must pass, the band on the run whilst they are incredible albums, I feel they're all just missing one little bit that the other Beatles could have put in. Well, what do you think about that? Yeah, I agree with you on that. So I know we have to take the albums for what they are. Yeah. And that's why I'm saying individually they are brilliant. But when you compare it to the Beatles, you're just like, ah, there's just that 1% missing.
00:16:38
Speaker
you remember when we're talking about bands that change the lead singer like when Ronnie James Dio joined Black Sabbath and he's not Ozzy. Well if you consider that as a different band under the same sort of genre or you know they it's like they're using the brand but they are a different entity. If you just take it from there it's
00:17:02
Speaker
instead of comparing, or you can compare to something else, to another band. So how many people at that time could write a collection of songs as good as the ones in band on the run? On their own. Yes, if the Beatles existed as an entity and Paul McCartney did the album on the side, everyone would say, well, maybe it's not like the Beatles. And I think he was
00:17:29
Speaker
uh he wasn't trying to sound like this guy from the Beatles I think in this album and he had his own thing going on there and I think like the song well to start with the song band on the run is quite unpredictable and at the same time is a hit isn't it like it's not a song that you would think well oh it's oh I know where the song is going now
00:17:53
Speaker
I used to hear the last part, so it's split into three sections, isn't it? So I used to hear that last part, and I used to be like, oh, this is what band look great, I'll go check it out. When I first clicked play on band on the run, I was like, wait, this isn't the song I heard. But it is, it just changes. Yeah, and it changes in a way that like the first out of three parts,
00:18:14
Speaker
Part one is one verse, part two is one verse, and then halfway through the song it changes and becomes something completely different. It's almost a little progressive, that song, isn't it? Especially in the early 70s. Yeah, and it kind of flirts with the idea of a concept album, right? He didn't want to do it. Yeah, this is a discussion point, isn't it? Because it's not an out and out concept album, is it? No, it's not. I don't know, like The Wall or something.
00:18:42
Speaker
There are similar themes running through the whole album, especially talking of escape, liberation, resilience, exploring freedom and stuff. Did you want to talk about that? Any lyrics to stand out to you? So the band on the run are this bunch of people escaping from prison. That's what it is. That's what the album cover reflects. And I have some interesting stories about the album cover as well.
00:19:09
Speaker
So the idea of like a man who is in jail wanting to get out of it and he managed to get out with his mates and they all escaped and it's a kind of like, it's kind of a happy ending with that because like they escaped and no one can find them, the police don't, they can't find them and the judge can't find them and they just escaped. They wanted to escape, they escaped, they're happy. If they are the heroes, which they're not.
00:19:38
Speaker
But anyway, so they stayed and they they've managed to, to, you know, to get to a better place, whatever, and they free. So I think that has to do with the initial conversation that George Harrison had with Paul, like, you know what, I, you know, I'm bored with these, like, business stuff, I just want to be a musician kind of stuff. And, and I think, well, that means for Paul, probably, you know, I don't know if he ever said that.
Commercial Success and Legacy
00:20:04
Speaker
But it's like, he wanted to be
00:20:10
Speaker
a form of beatle. It's like, this is my band, this is my music. He just wanted to keep going. He couldn't see himself doing anything else rather than music. I was recently watching an interview with him from 1999, which I'm gonna mention again later in the show, when he was saying like, it was like, imagine when you made redundant and you feel like I was there, maybe just go there, find another job. And he was like, yeah, I had the best job in the world. And then out of the blue, I don't have it anymore.
00:20:42
Speaker
so it's the best job in the world, being a B2. And then what do you do after that? So you don't just go and find another job, you need to create something from scratch and make it as good as possible. So I think there is that sense of freedom, like I can write my own stuff without the other guys, I can do an album that is really
00:21:04
Speaker
success and it was wasn't it like the best-selling solo album by any people well yes six million copies sold overall and it was the top selling studio album in the UK in 1974 right topped the charts in several countries USA UK Spain Australia Canada Norway big success yeah well deserved you know
00:21:30
Speaker
Sure. Just talking about the concept, I've made some notes on what each song, how the lyrics of each song contribute to the concept.
00:21:37
Speaker
As you said, banned on the run is breaking free from the constraints, embarking on a journey, escaping the authorities, seeking a bit of freedom. Jet is about leaving behind the past troubles and seeking a new start. Bluebird and No Word is like the themes of longing and introspection with it, just longing to be free, longing to have something greater than just what was. Let Me Roll It and 1985, the urgency and the determination and the desire and the passion to break free and to
00:22:07
Speaker
to escape the grasp of whatever sort of authoritative figure is over you. Maybe it was the record label. The songs can stand alone with each other, can't they? Sorry, the songs can stand alone on their own. You can listen to a song and you can take its lyrical themes and you can sort of extrapolate different meanings from each song, but you're still bringing them together and the concept is still loosely there, isn't it? Sort of breaking free, embracing the unknown, just yeah.
00:22:35
Speaker
there's a very simple concept and think about it like yeah freedom can mean and vague yes so many different things for different people right uh and i think um the fact there's this kind of loose approach to a concept yeah made it easier for him to write lyrics because paul is famous for writing melodies first so melodies
00:22:58
Speaker
And then he would fit the lyrics, he would just sing whatever and then replace the lyrics for something that makes sense or not. Because he's not afraid to admit that most of the lyrics in this album, they don't actually mean a thing. He couldn't, he said it pretty much couldn't explain what Jet is all about.
00:23:17
Speaker
But when you're pushed into that pressure and you just write whatever's at the front of your mind, it tells us a lot about what was at the front of his mind. Yeah, but isn't it like when you're writing a riff or a
00:23:31
Speaker
whatever you're writing musically, is about different sounds that work fine together. So why couldn't you do that with words? Like he said there was no point to say the word suffragette in the song jet, apart from the point that it rhymes and it sounds good. So who is the latest suffragette? What does she have to do with the story?
00:24:01
Speaker
Who are the characters? Who is Jet? Or is it a jet? None of it makes any sense and it's not intended to make sense. I think that's why people are calling it a loose concept album. It's not telling a story definitively but it's just encapsulating some themes and ideas. And the fact that the songs they kind of
00:24:27
Speaker
Well, at the end of the album, you have Jet and you have Mrs. Vanderbilt. The melodies, they come back. They come back in Picasso's Last Words, don't they? Exactly. I thought that was actually a really clever song because, first of all, the orchestration is brilliant, but it's really ambitious in the sense of taking
00:24:48
Speaker
the characteristics, moments, little melodies from those previous songs and sticking them all in one song. And he's done it really well. It's not cheesy. It's not bad. It's just done really nicely. Yeah. It's interesting. Like how can an album so well crafted at the same time? How can it be? I don't know.
00:25:09
Speaker
simple in a certain way. So there's a simplicity in the concept of the album, but there's complexity with arrangements in the execution. Yeah, perfect. Yeah, well done. I remember a great way of saying it. I've got a question I want to ask you, okay. Is Band on the Run Sargent Pepper Part 2
00:25:40
Speaker
For me, it's more like Abbey Road. I'm really interested to hear you say that because, first of all, Paul wrote most of Sgt Pepper, didn't he? Okay, all right, fair enough. But I just felt that the conceptness, that the fact that there was a concept behind it, Abbey Road doesn't have a concept running through it, does it?
00:25:58
Speaker
just how the songs blend into each other, the intense use of orchestration, band on the run, switching between sections, kind of like a day in the life. I just really heard similarities between Sargent, not heard.
00:26:14
Speaker
I suppose it's more in the structure of it and how some of the songs were structured and how some of them sounded, the order the songs went in, bringing back all those themes at the end in Picasso's last words or whatever it's called. I just really was listening to this thinking, this is like Sergeant Pepper. Well, what do you think about that?
00:26:32
Speaker
Well, um, I, as I said, I think it's more like Abbey Road, I'll tell you why, because Sergeant Peppers was written as a, as a concept from the beginning, isn't it? And then, obviously, you know, John had his contributions in the album.
00:26:47
Speaker
Paul had the whole idea in his mind before the album was a thing, really. And there's the whole thing of like a million overdubs, orchestrations, and the whole psychedelic vibe of it. I think that was all thought through. Whilst Abbey Road, it's a bunch of different songs that they decided to connect at some point
00:27:13
Speaker
for the sake of sounding good as an album. So at the end of the album we have Gordon's Lumbars, Carry That Weight and The End. Those are three parts of a song.
00:27:27
Speaker
You know, they're just like, well, he's one long song and I'm going to divide it three parts. So it's, I think Band on the Run is more like that than, than like a proper concert album. That's a great, yeah, that's a good, I was going to say, that's a very good, very good answer to that, to my question, because yeah. So, so you're saying the way he went over, he went about writing the songs and the way that the ideas came to him.
00:27:54
Speaker
although it might have executed in a bit of the Sergeant Pepper sound, the processing getting there was way more like Abbey Road, yeah. I think so. Good point. Good point. Anything you want to talk about? Do you want to go into the songs? Is there another sort of category you want to talk about? Yeah, well, I think, yeah, there's a lot of, let me see if there's, you know, I'm a pro, I've got like handwritten notes. Handwritten, oh boy. What a profession.
00:28:22
Speaker
I'll just check, I'm gonna go through my notes to see if there's, yeah. Yeah, well, as I said, I think there's, oh yeah, another thing about the fact they recorded in Nigeria, when they came back to England, they found a letter from the leap.
00:28:42
Speaker
From who? From the label, the record label. They actually arrived a bit too late. So only when they got back, there was a let's say, don't go to Nigeria. There is like an epidemic going on. Yeah, the cholera. And that was their main concern more than the military situation, whatever, is the fact that they could literally contract a disease and die.
00:29:13
Speaker
makes the story you'd open it and you'd be like yeah whatever also okay here's the thing ginger baker was there because he uh african music was his main interest and and and he mixed african music with jazz and rock as as we know and he i think
Musicianship and Collaboration
00:29:31
Speaker
some of the stuff was recorded in his studio he tried to convince them i think it was i think it was picasso's last words i think that song because he was there and he just shook a matchbox or something
00:29:41
Speaker
Exactly. Do you know what he actually played? It was only the outro. I think it was kind of a joke just to put his name on the album. So Gene Baker participated on this and people would comment about it. He doesn't play drums. It was a tin can filled with gravel. That was it.
00:30:00
Speaker
It's like percussion. And it's like, that's it. He's just shaking that thing at the last few bars of the song. And so some people told you that Baker is in this track with Paul McCartney. He doesn't do much. I bet there was just a joke. Yeah. One thing I want to talk about is the diverse sound of the album, because what we love, I think what I love about the Beatles is how good they are with just four instruments.
00:30:30
Speaker
And I know that that's not fair. There is more. There's George Martin's orchestra. There's keyboards in certain albums. So do you know what? I'll take that back. But what am I trying to say? I'm trying to say that Paul McCartney's songwriting, the quality is on display in this album. And I think he wasn't afraid to go for the unorthodox sounds. Like there's so much saxophone on this album.
00:30:55
Speaker
Can't recall hearing a saxophone to a solo on a Beatles album. Yeah, sax solos and pop songs would be really big in the 80s. Yeah, it's bands, probably bands like Wings and The Band as well that started introducing the saxophone into the pop music in the 70s. But I thought the emphasis on keyboards on this album as well had a really profound effect because that now, when I asked you the question, how as a Beatle
00:31:23
Speaker
do you make an album after the Beatles? I think that's what you do. You try something really different. I don't think the Beatles would ever have gone for a sound like that. Even just the intro band on the run. Like even just that, I mean, there's loads more sort of keyboard effects and sounds on the rest of the album, but that's the one that sticks out. But he's tried something and I think it's paid off. I think you've got pop music, essentially pop and rock music with unusual saxophone and unusual keyboard sounds, but they work.
00:31:53
Speaker
And also people knew Paul McCartney as a bassist most of all, in terms of what instruments he's playing most of the time would be the bass and the piano sometimes. But he does all the lead guitars in the album. Some of the rhythm guitars is not him, but most of the lead guitars are played by him.
00:32:24
Speaker
really high standards and so you wouldn't say there's a solo that wasn't that good or the riff wasn't that clever. No, it's all brilliant isn't it. Let's give some credit to the musicians actually, I've got the band here. So obviously on vocals, bass, guitars, piano, keys, drums and percussion you've got Paul McCartney,
00:32:47
Speaker
On backing vocals, organ, keyboards and percussion, you've got Linda McCartney. On backing vocals, guitars and percussion, you've got Denny Lane, who as you mentioned was the ex-Moody Blues guitarist. And then just some extra musicians, so Howie Casey played Saxophone on Jet, Bluebird and Mrs Vanderbilt. Ginger Baker played percussion on Picasso's Last Words. Remy Kabaka played percussion on Bluebird.
00:33:10
Speaker
Ian Home and Trevor Jones, the Wings roadies, they did backing vocals on No Words and Tony Visconti to The Beorchestration. So quite a small group, quite a tight-knit group for an album that sounds so big. And what was the album we were talking about recently where they just had, you know, hundreds of musicians on? Was it The Beach Boys?
00:33:30
Speaker
Yeah, I think you're, yes, you're right. Yeah. Well done. Good memory. Yeah, exactly. So they had session musicians to do their own parts. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's a normal thing, you know, when you want to do something more complex and you just like have your hired guns for, for, for the difficult stuff. But this album sounds as big with. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. But most of it, like the
00:34:01
Speaker
people only you know yeah and it's very impressive isn't it I think the unique sound that the bass sound they have is very very good what do you think of the bass lines as a bassist what do you think of it yes exactly so I was gonna say it's Paul McCartney so of course it's good but with the Beatles stuff there is a there's a profound emphasis on melody in the Beatles bass playing and I think that's because
00:34:31
Speaker
In a band that's full of melodies, whether it's George Harrison's guitar, John Lennon's vocal melody or Paul's backing vocal melody, at the time bass guitar was used, and we spoke about this with The Who actually, wasn't it? One of the recent episodes. At the time bass guitar was used to reinforce the root note of the chord and to be a marriage
00:34:54
Speaker
between the chord you're playing, so play a note that's in the chord that the guitars play, but also do something rhythmically that links it to the drums. And Paul McCartney was one of those sort of pioneering bass players in the pop music, just stepping out of it. And that's why his Beatles bass lines were so iconic, but here it's almost as if he's kind of taken a step back.
00:35:15
Speaker
They're great bass lines, but they're not, I'm not saying they're not as good as the Beatles ones, but they're just not as pronounced. They're not doing as much. Yeah. But I think that's what happens when you have to do the whole of the album. You kind of, as I always say, less is more. Thinking about the guitars, maybe he found himself as the lead guitarist and lead singer more than anything else. And he kept turning around and he kept turning around and saying, shut up bass player. Oh, it's me.
00:35:46
Speaker
when you're the bassist. Exactly. But yeah. Yeah, so I just want to mention if you
00:35:56
Speaker
the song of course no rush yeah the song yeah the song band on the run the first of the opening track i think do you know what i had in my mind that that song was about 10 minutes long okay you mean from when you last listened yeah and it's i just like no it's actually shorter it's like five minutes five minutes 12 yeah yeah i thought it was longer because
00:36:23
Speaker
and they go on so quickly, they're so short that gives the song a really fast pace because once you get used to a certain melody and chord progression it goes and changes it like out of the blue, it's like where are we going now? It's fantastically transitioned between your sections in the song, it's done really well. It's probably the
00:36:46
Speaker
Very Sargent Pepper-esque, if I may add. Yeah, more guitar based though, isn't it? It's more like, it's more rock than, I think that's what makes it different is maybe is really into the
00:37:02
Speaker
Well just take a look at the next song, Jet. I've got in my notes distorted bass, which I think it might be, if it's not it's just a really heavily affected guitar, but that song, that's rock isn't it? It's still one of the songs he plays, those two songs he still plays live. Does he really? I saw him play those songs live, but they play it so heavily.
00:37:25
Speaker
Yeah, you've got to check it out. From 2000 to now, any versions of those songs are much heavier than the original, so they sound great. And yeah, with Jet, you have this kind of back and forth between
00:37:40
Speaker
a half time and you know double it's like a double tempo kind of groove isn't it because it does it's not speeding up as low now it's like it goes you double the feel of the groove and then you go half time again it does that like all the time in the soul
00:37:58
Speaker
and it's it's it's it feel like they they dragging you with them like you know it's like you're part of it come on join us let's speed up let's slow down and you're there tapping your head like that exactly exactly there's no way to not physically react to jet i believe yeah that's correct i agree uh yeah i get the last thing about band on the run i think oh sorry part of lyrics is right uh i think in the second verse i guess uh if i ever get out of here
00:38:26
Speaker
thought of giving it all away to a registered charity. All I need is a pint a day. I'm going to get out of prison, all the money I stole or whatever, I'm going to give it all away. I just need a pint. Quite a humble lyric. Quite a humble criminal, the character. So again, that song is probably the one that the lyrics make more sense. And then Jet, you go into the nonsense.
00:38:55
Speaker
in a good way and I love it, it's great. I really enjoyed Mrs. Vanderbilt, I thought that was good, nice upbeat energy, really cool transmissions, transitions, and the chord progression I really enjoyed as well, you've got the nice prominent bass, the funky guitar lines, the horns that kind of liven it up a bit, that was one of my favourites. I think that's the only song that the bass actually leads the song, isn't it?
00:39:19
Speaker
Very prominent in it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And what a chorus, right? Yeah. Yeah. For anyone watching and listening, as usual, the playlist, the episode players will be in the show notes
Personal Reflections and Favorites
00:39:34
Speaker
below. So if you want to go along and listen to the album, actually, we haven't mentioned any other songs, but normally if we mention any other songs as well as the album, they'll all be in the playlist so you can listen to before or during your time with us. What's your favorite song?
00:39:48
Speaker
Oh, difficult one. I think the best song is Band on the Run, but my personal favorite might surprise you. Let me roll it.
00:40:04
Speaker
that does that has surprised me yeah no no no no i don't mind actually i actually got written grew on me the more i listened to it um i just didn't expect it to be yours it kind of has that um very solely feel it's almost a psychedelic as well it's yeah but it's the it's a it's a 12 8 or 6 8 if you come to me to um groove and um is what i teach my students that's why every time you know this those young drummers
00:40:33
Speaker
low blues, this song comes to my mind, because the mix is so clear, you can hear the drums. And I find it amazing, the bass line of the song is so clever, there's almost nothing during the verse.
00:40:47
Speaker
And then it tells the whole story during the chorus. And there's that main riff. So the guitar comes out of nowhere, plays this fast riff, but really short and stops. And I love that. I think it's so great. They're so different. And again, lyrics are just very simple and it's a beautiful melody. And I don't know why I think, I think I watched it. I think it was the first song from this album that I've listened to, maybe watching a live DVD from Paul VHS.
00:41:12
Speaker
Yeah. And I loved it. It's my favorite. Yeah. Lovely. What's your favorite? Well, I think my favorite is Band on the Run. I really enjoy that song. I think it's lovely. And the way that it moves seamlessly between those sections is great. But what I will tell you is the song that I really disliked at the start. Do you know what? I just give my opinion because you asked me before. This album has grown on me the more I listened to it to the point where I listened to it first time and I was like,
00:41:41
Speaker
I don't really like this. This feels a bit flat to me. I wasn't connecting with it and I'm not sure why, but then I sort of said, you know, this is what I do for you listeners and viewers. I power through, I listen to albums I don't like yet.
00:41:56
Speaker
And the more I listened to it, because you know we do have to do our research, we do have to listen to the songs more than once. The more I listened to it, the more it grew on me, especially the song I really disliked at the start was Mamounia, and then by the end it's probably a top three for me. I think these songs grow on you, I think they are.
00:42:14
Speaker
Songs like Bluebird, Roll With It, Mamounia, Picasso's Last Words. You just put an Oasis song in a Paul McCartney album. Let Me Roll It. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Songs like Bluebird, Let Me Roll It, Mamounia, Picasso's Last Words. I think they're quite, how do I say this politely? I think until you listen to them multiple times and extrapolate the layers, I think they're quite,
00:42:44
Speaker
I'm gonna use the word dull, but I don't mean it as harsh as it sounds. Do you know what I mean? There's nothing...
00:42:52
Speaker
way the band on the run you're on you've got one section and oh my god we've gone to another section oh my god now we've gone to another one those songs don't really have that journey it takes me on or the level of excitement but as you dig and listen deeper into it you figure out what the song's about like in memunia there's so many exotic percussion instruments in there stuff that you wouldn't expect to hear um i really spoke about picasso's last words
00:43:16
Speaker
Apparently those were the actual last words Picasso said. Drink to me. Yeah, drink to me, because I can't drink anymore. Or drink to me, drink to my health, something like that. Because I can't drink anymore. I just, yeah. And as I listened to each each song, I just had to say straight away, 1985, not for me. I'll just say that straight away. I didn't enjoy that one. But you guys just skip that song because Laz doesn't like it. Exactly.
00:43:42
Speaker
But no words, Mrs. Vanderbilt and Band on the Run really enjoy the energy, really love how the instruments are working with each other and each one is just perfectly doing enough. Nothing needs to be done more than the others. And then those other four, Bluebird, Rollwit, Mamounia and Picasso, the more I listen to them, the more they grow me. Right, the question for you, the version of the album listened to, does he have Helen Wills?
00:44:09
Speaker
mine doesn't I haven't listened to that but I read you gotta go and listen to that then because it's on some but you got it's really hard to find actually that's on the um there's there's a long version of this album on spotify with all uh with some like um uh sort of some some version of less overdubs and extra songs and stuff are you going to find a song called killing wheels which is not technically part of the album initially I think it wasn't
00:44:39
Speaker
part of the album at all in the UK, I think, and then it was released in America. I'm going to double check that. But this song... Oh, I just found it. Yes. For listeners and watchers, I'll put this one in the playlist as well. No, let's do a last reaction. So what do you think of it? Okay. It's like an early rock and roll song, isn't it? Sure. All right. Well, listeners, legally, we can't play it out loud, but you can get my reaction to it. I'll sort of play for it.
00:45:07
Speaker
Oh yeah, that's proper rock and roll. It's almost like ACDC, Zeppelin, yeah. Yeah, but no, there's a vibe. There's a vibe to it. There's kind of early stuff. I'm going to skip through it, so it's not a full three minutes, but... Oh my God, man, this is like a rock and roll throwback. Like when you hear the Beatles doing those rock and roll covers.
00:45:28
Speaker
Yeah, so have a listen when you have the time because that song has a story to it. Those lyrics they actually make sense. You carry on, I'm listening, this is great. The song is about the journey they would do from McCartney's farm in Scotland all the way to London.
00:45:50
Speaker
they described the journey, the road, and they were doing it in a land rover called Helen.
Singles and Album Cover Story
00:45:59
Speaker
So that car was called Helen. And it's just a joke with the
00:46:08
Speaker
Hell on Wheels. So that's a real story. That's them traveling down the UK, all the way from Scotland to London. And it's a journey they're planning. They did a million times. That was really good. Again, I'm sort of skipping every 30 seconds. That song was a single. They had this known album Singles at the time, right? So you release a single, it's not part of the album.
00:46:38
Speaker
But what happened with the album is when it was
00:46:44
Speaker
from the public and the critics. So yes, it was kind of about to become another failure commercially for Paul. And, and they then released Ban on the Run and Jet as singles and the album sales went through the roof. Yeah, and expected right because it's they they're great songs and then they released this known album single Helen Wills.
00:47:09
Speaker
And then later on the label decided to put in the album. But I think I don't know which country doesn't include it. I didn't make it to the album in the UK or something. Anyway, it's a great song. So I just listened to it quickly. I skipped every 30 seconds. It comes as a track eight. OK, well, that was that was a good placement, because I think at that point in the album,
00:47:33
Speaker
It needed a little pick me up after the sort of slowness of let me roll it in Mamounia. That was a great tune. I really enjoyed that Helen Wheels again for what I heard. I'm guided that I didn't hear it first time now. I think it's actually made the album just a little bit better. A nice little rock and roll throwback that isn't quite in. I feel like this with the Beatles, a lot of the albums, although you might have like a profound meaning.
00:47:58
Speaker
in the album overall, there might be just be one song that's just a little throwaway song like, like what goes on? Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's the song doing there? But they're just great. So that was great. Yeah, really enjoyed that one. Excellent. I mean, do you have anything else you want to talk about? Yes, I have something really interesting to mention. Really, really interesting. It's my favorite story about the album and it's the album cover.
00:48:25
Speaker
So Lass has, if you're watching this, you can see if you're just listening, Lass got, as his background has got a, the album cover, which is the prisoners, right? The band on the run, the prisoners, when the lights, the prison lights catch them, they try to escape the lights on them. So I've, so basically, there they go. So Linda, Paul, and what's the name, Denny Lane, they are,
00:48:56
Speaker
across. He banned a bunch of things. So for those watching, you can see on my screen. Yeah, now, right, so who are those people, right? And that's what I said, I've mentioned to Lars before we started recording, if he knew about the connection
00:49:13
Speaker
oh lord of the rings i can see it now so yeah so here's yeah you can see him can you see him Christopher Lee isn't it Christopher Lee yeah at the time he was yeah so he was like what's what's his character in the movie because i'd never watched it Saruman the white yeah so so at the time he was doing horror movies
00:49:32
Speaker
But yeah, I was just gonna say that's a disservice to Christopher Lee that we're only mentioning Lord of the Rings. He's been in everything. He was Dracula, he was in Star Wars, Lord of the Rings. And even during the war- I just said Lord of the Rings, I know you big fan. Even in the war, he was a Nazi hunter.
00:49:49
Speaker
He was part of a special ops unit that just was dedicated to hunting Nazis. So this guy's had a life. Anyway, this is not. So the whole thing is they had I think Linda came up with the idea and some people think while they organize. So they all British celebrities. I think they were British.
00:50:07
Speaker
And they're all friends with both. The idea was like, I need a few people to be in the album cover. Do you know who they are? You can Google and find. I have it here, but I'll tell you the most important ones. Let me turn my camera off. The two guys knew, to be fair, is Christopher
00:50:28
Speaker
a famous TV show in the UK. And that's Parkinson on the left, isn't it? Yes, exactly. His show is great. I mean, he interviewed every famous person you can possibly think of. And he died recently, wasn't it? Yes, he did, yeah. But the other guy, so I have it here, so apart from the band, you have comedian and singer Kenny Lynch, which I don't know,
00:50:52
Speaker
Hollywood film star James Coburn the former liberal MP Clement Freud and Christopher Lee and a boxer called John Conte. So they all I think from the UK. The thing is Paul knew those people and when you think about it also he proved
00:51:17
Speaker
these particular faces in the album cover like a Sgt Peppers, loads of well-known faces. And no, he just basically said, well, those are famous people that I knew and that I had their numbers and they were available at that specific day. So they got together on the night before
00:51:41
Speaker
allegedly used other substances as well. And they turned up for the photo shoot
00:51:55
Speaker
And the photographer wanted them to stand still because he brought, that's funny, the wrong film for the camera. He brought a daylight film for a night shoot. So he said it's not going to work. And the lights, not only that, the lights were not the lights he wanted. They're not strong enough. So the lights wouldn't be that
00:52:17
Speaker
of shots with them standing still and they couldn't stand still so they leaning against that wall and kind of kind of holding on to each other so they wouldn't fall because they were too hangover or whatever.
00:52:35
Speaker
smashed and so the fact that the the the camera film was the wrong one gave the photo the yellowish kind of tone okay really special so yeah that was accidental fantastic what a story that's brilliant yeah yeah um i suppose so should we finish that's it yeah we're done i i'll just i like i like looking at the critical
00:53:00
Speaker
view of this album. Reviewers, they praised the songwriting, the production, the musicality. It was awarded the Grammy for the best engineered album, 1975. So again, that's a testament to the production of the album. Q have it 75th out of 100 best British albums ever. Rolling Stone in their revised list, which is different to the one how many 20 years ago, have it at 418th out of 500. And in 2013, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
00:53:29
Speaker
I don't actually, I don't have a monologue for this one, but I can do one. I can, I'll improvise it. Yeah. Cause I kind of did the quizzes. Of course with you and the jazz trio. So yeah, I'll do an improvised monologue. So my thinking is, is that having, having come from
00:53:55
Speaker
I wouldn't say he's lost his musical credibility, but the critics were not favorable of his albums before this. And I think it's very hard as an artist to build yourself back up after you've been essentially shot down by the critics and even the audiences as well. But to have that on your plate and have two band members quit before six weeks recording,
00:54:22
Speaker
and to go to a place that you wanted to relax and thought it was going to be paradise only to find out it's actually a really dangerous place to be in and being robbed at knife point with your wife and losing your demos and your lyrics. I think Paul McCartney has pulled this album out of the bag. The production on it
00:54:43
Speaker
is incredible. And whilst a lot of Beatles stuff sounds like there's four guys in a room, again, we know that the Beatles were great on production, but still they were limited by their time, as in by the year they were operating on. I think Paul McCartney's done an incredible job of making this album sound modern and fresh. Like I said earlier, that intro part of Band on the Run still sounds magnificent.
00:55:06
Speaker
and for three people to have made this album and I think it's a very interesting dynamic that Paul and Linda McCartney were married because essentially that's a married couple and another person and I think it's quite a special achievement for essentially half of a band
00:55:26
Speaker
and two thirds of that half being married to have produced something so special and so good. Now it's far from my favorite album, including Beatles albums and Beatles solo albums.
00:55:38
Speaker
But there are lots of standout tracks here that I think are really special like Band on the Run, Picasso's Last Words, Mrs Vanderbilt I loved, but then in Amongst that you've got those calmer songs like Let Me Roll It, Mamounia, that really just sit with you and the more that you take it in and the more you listen, the more you extrapolate from it.
00:55:59
Speaker
I think that this album is responsible for Paul McCartney getting back on the throne that people once thought he was at. And then they said, oh, well, his last album's been good. I think he's done an incredible job to get back and prove to us just how fantastic he is as a songwriter and a musician.
00:56:18
Speaker
Agreed. Was that okay for an improvised dialogue? That was almost as good as the ones you were writing. Oh brilliant, brilliant. Maybe I'll have to improvise some from now on. But yeah, well I mean it is a great album and just because it's just because it's not my favorite. Listen, objectively I can't I can't disservice this. I can't call it less than an eight out of ten. It's brilliant.
00:56:39
Speaker
No one can please this man, just say. I like to be fair, I like to speak my mind like to be honest and if something doesn't sit with me that's just my opinion. The best thing I've heard about Lars is you forgive him.
00:56:57
Speaker
under Mona Lisa he would say yeah I think I could change this and that that would make it look slightly better. Was that one of your friends in Brazil? Yeah that was one of my friends in the UK because because you mentioned something about the ending of stereo to have the
00:57:14
Speaker
So yeah, so it could, it could have been a better album for last. No, no, no, no. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I know, but I don't know how I change it. I think it's just, you know, little things matter for me in songs. Like sometimes the key of a song and I'm so pedantic. I'm so weird, whatever. There's sometimes the key of a song doesn't sit with me sometimes the mood of a song. And it's just, listen, I'm just wasting time now. It's a great album. It's a great album. There are some great songs on it. Not my favorite that we've ever done, but, um, yeah.
00:57:43
Speaker
don't we end? I'll end by asking you what makes this album rock and roll. Wow, what we keep saying is freedom and it's a journey from you know captivity to freedom isn't it? That's the story, the main storyline is someone trying to break
00:58:06
Speaker
reason but it could be anyone just wanting to be free from anything and that's rock and roll and the fact that it's got so many different approaches like African percussion and then early rock and roll and then a bit of prog like band number one for me has a bit of prog and it's like there's no there's no limits
00:58:31
Speaker
in terms of styles or arrangements and I think that's what makes it rock and roll is yeah and I think to be honest what makes it rock and roll is use
00:58:50
Speaker
diseases and and someone robbing your lyrics. And you still keep the whole head and record a brilliant album. Score there and play that rock and roll. Let's just do the best we can do with the tools we have at the moment. So yeah, that's what it is. And I said last one, but one more question. Is this Paul's best work outside of the Beatles? My favorite for sure. Yeah, I think a lot of people agree with that. And it's the best I've heard as well. But yeah, brilliant stuff.
00:59:19
Speaker
Cool. All right, guys. Well, thank you for joining us for another episode of the Long Live Rock and Roll podcast. As we usually say, follow us on socials, get involved in some conversations, hit like and subscribe if you're watching on YouTube. If you're listening on Apple or Spotify, scroll down a bit and give us a review. It really helps us fly up the charts and be seen by other people and also helps you stay up to date with the new content coming out. If you like us on Instagram and Facebook and all that stuff and you'll be up to date. So thank you again for joining us.
00:59:46
Speaker
Yeah, and I'll let us know if you have any suggestions of our wonderful stuff. We might consider them. We definitely will, yeah. Yeah, thanks for being with us again. Keep on rocking everyone. I don't really know how to do it. Nailed it, yes. And as usual, I'll end there before we tell any more stories of your praises. And as usual, take care guys. And long live Rock and Roll.