Band on the Run is the third studio album by the British–American rock band Paul McCartney and Wings, released in December 1973. It was McCartney's fifth album after leaving the Beatles in April 1970. Although sales were modest initially, its commercial performance was aided by two hit singles – "Jet" and "Band on the Run" – such that it became the top-selling studio album of 1974 in the United Kingdom and Australia, in addition to revitalising McCartney's critical standing. It remains McCartney's most successful album and the most celebrated of his post-Beatles works.
The majority of Band on the Run was recorded at EMI's studio in Lagos, Nigeria, as McCartney wanted to make an album in an exotic locale. Shortly before departing for Lagos, however, drummer Denny Seiwell and guitarist Henry McCullough left the group. With no time to recruit replacements, McCartney went into the studio with just his wife Linda and Denny Laine. In addition to playing bass, McCartney also played drums, percussion and most of the lead guitar parts himself.
On arriving, it was discovered that the studio was below standard, and conditions in Nigeria were tense and difficult; the McCartneys were robbed at knifepoint, during which a bag containing unfinished song lyrics and demo tapes was taken.
After the band's return to England, final overdubs and further recording were carried out in London, mostly at AIR Studios.
Band on the Run is generally considered to be Paul McCartney's strongest solo effort. The album was also his most commercially successful, selling well and spawning two hit singles, the multi-part pop suite of the title track and the roaring rocker "Jet."
On these cuts and elsewhere, McCartney's penchant for sophisticated, nuanced arrangements and irrepressibly catchy melodic hooks is up to the caliber he displayed in the Beatles, far surpassing the first two Wings releases, Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway.
The focus found in Band on the Run may have to do with the circumstances of its creation: two former members quit the band prior to recording, leaving McCartney, wife Linda, and guitarist Denny Laine to complete the album alone (with Paul writing, producing, and playing most of the instruments himself). The album has the majestic, orchestral sweep of McCartney's Abbey Road-era ambition, with a wide range of style-dabbling, from the swaying, acoustic jazz-pop of "Bluebird" and the appealing, straightforward rock of "Helen Wheels" to the wiry blues of "Let Me Roll It" and the swaying, one-off pub sing-along "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)."
Though it lacks the emotional resonance of contemporaneous releases by John Lennon and George Harrison, McCartney's infallible instinct for popcraft overflows on this excellent release.
Side A
A1. Band on the Run (5:10)
A2. Jet (4:06)
A3. Bluebird (3:22)
A4. Mrs Vandebilt (4:38)
A5. Let Me Roll It (4:47)
Side B
B1. Mamunia (4:50)
B2. No Words (2:33)
B3. Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me) (5:50)
B4. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five (5:27)
A1. Band on the Run (5:10)
A2. Jet (4:06)
A3. Bluebird (3:22)
A4. Mrs Vandebilt (4:38)
A5. Let Me Roll It (4:47)
Side B
B1. Mamunia (4:50)
B2. No Words (2:33)
B3. Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me) (5:50)
B4. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five (5:27)
Notes
Release: 1973
Format: LP
Genre: Pop, Rock
Label: Apple Records
Catalog# 5C 062-05503
Vinyl: Lichte Gebruikerssporen
Cover: Voorkant Beschadigd
Prijs: €4,99
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