Capitol 11525
Producer: Paul McCartney
Track listing: Let ‘Em In / The Note You Never Wrote / She’s My Baby / Beware My Love / Wino Junko / Silly Love Songs / Cook of the House / Time to Hide / Must Do Something About It / San Ferry Anne / Warm and Beautiful
April 24, 1976
7 weeks (nonconsecutive)
With the release of Venus and Mars, Paul McCartney & Wings became known simply as Wings. Perhaps to prove the point that McCartney, his wife and keyboardist Linda, guitarists Denny Laine and Jimmy McCulloch, and drummer Joe English truly were a group, each was given a moment in the spotlight on Wings at the Speed of Sound.
McCartney wrote eight and handled the lead vocal on six of the album’s 10 songs, but the other members of the band were also participating. Laine, formerly of the Moody Blues, sang his own “Time to Hide” as well as McCartney’s “The Note You Never Wrote.” The tracks marked one of the first times a Laine lead vocal had been featured on a Wings album. His previous lead vocal with the group, “Spirits of Ancient Egypt,” was included on Venus and Mars, while “I Lie Around,” had been available only as the B-side to the 1973 hit “Live and Let Die.”
McCulloch, who had sung “Medicine Jar” on Venus and Mars, handled lead vocals on “Wino Junko.” Like “Medicine Jar,” the song would take on an ominous meaning following McCulloch’s drug-related death in September 1979.
On a much lighter note, Linda McCartney was featured on “Cook of the House,” while English laid down the vocal on “Must Do Something About It.”
While the more democratic operation of Wings may have created harmony in the group, even Linda McCartney admitted in retrospect that perhaps it was a mistake. She told Joan Goodman in Playboy that “None of Wings were good enough to play with [McCartney] including me, for sure. I mean, how do you go out with Beethoven and say, ‘Sure, I’ll sing harmony with you,’ when you’ve never sung a note? It was mad.”
Overall, Wings at the Speed of Sound featured much lighter fare than its two predecessors. As early as 1971, McCartney’s former Beatles mate John Lennon took aim at McCartney’s pop sensibilities in the song “How Do You Sleep?,” which featured the line, “The sound you make is Muzak to my ears.” In “Silly Love Songs,” McCartney seemed to mock his critics, while delivering just what the song title promised. “I liked that song,” McCartney told Paul Gambaccini in Rolling Stone, “but I listen to people and I just get crackers. All someone has to say is, ‘A bit poppy,’ or ‘That was a bit sickly, that one,’ and I expect the song to flop. Someone says, ‘It’s a bit too cute.’ Well, I know that. What do you think goes through my mind when I’m writing a song about silly love songs? I’m flashing on all this.”
Still McCartney admitted that he was bothered by the critics. “Unfortunately, it still tends to get to me! I still hear them saying it’s no good. I wonder if they’re right. I wonder if I’m right. And it’s great when something wins a poll and you can say, ‘Nyahh, nuts to you. I thought I was right.’ It’s vindication.”
Of course, McCartney had to feel vindicated when Wings at the Speed of Sound reached the pole position in its third week on the chart. With the album still holding the Number One spot, “Silly Love Songs” topped the Hot 100 on May 22, 1976. Vindication, indeed.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of April 24, 1976
1. Wings at the Speed of Sound, Wings
2. Presence, Led Zeppelin
3. Their Greatest Hits, 1971-1975 Eagles
4. A Night at the Opera, Queen
5. Eargasm, Johnnie Taylor