WINGS
WILD LIFE
MPL/Capitol/UMe (LP)
Following the 50th -anniversary vinyl reissues of Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles catalog comes the anniversary reissue of Wild Life, the first album credited to Wings.
McCartney’s solo career got off to a rocky start in the 1970s. McCartney got mixed reviews for its back-to-basics sound, and he didn’t fare much better with the critics with the more elaborate production on Ram. But while those albums have become increasingly acclaimed over the years, Wild Life is a record that’s decidedly on the thin side.
One gets the sense that there wasn’t a lot of thought put into either song choice or performance, a curious approach for the otherwise meticulous Mc-Cartney. A keener editorial eye would’ve suggested paring down the title track, “Some People Never Know” and “Bip Bop,” all of which run twice as long as they should have. McCartney wanted Wings to be a group, not just himself and a backing band, but his wife, Linda, proves to be an erratic singer on her early outings, something painfully apparent on “I Am Your Singer.” She fares much better on Wings’ cover of Mickey and Sylvia’s “Love Is Strange,” an indication of the McCartneys’ growing interest in reggae.
McCartney’s former songwriting partner, John Lennon, was apparently still very much on his mind. There’s the jab about “a lot of political nonsense in the air” in the title track, and one wonders if the album’s raw opening number, the jam “Mumbo,” was perhaps a fillip to Lennon, Mc-Cartney demonstrating that he could be just as improvisational in his work, too. Most directly, there’s the elegiac ballad “Dear Friend.” It’s McCartney at his most heartfelt, extending an olive branch to Lennon, clearly hoping the two haven’t reached the borderline of their friendship. It’s far and away the album’s standout track and
