Wings At The Speed Of Sound – PAUL MCCARTNEY***

Let 'Em In/The Note You Never Wrote/She's My Baby/Beware My Love/Wino Junko/Sillly Love Songs/Cook Of The House/Time To Hide/Must Do Something About It/San Ferry Anne/Warm & Beautiful

On At The Speed Of Sound Paul McCartney opens up the songwriting duties to members of his backing band Wings. Predictably the end results are rather disappointing, but redeemed by the two big hits, the superlative Silly Love Songs and Let ‘Em In. (US:1 UK:2)

“Paul’s attempt to make Wings more of a group effort largely falls flat here. If it weren’t for the two mega-hits Silly Love Songs and Let ‘Em In, this album would have ranked as one the weakest by any ex-Beatle in the 70s. As it stands, it’s still a pretty sub-par album.”

“I can understand what McCartney was trying to do – develop Wings into a band rather than a vehicle for his own talents – but all this proves is Wings were no Beatles. Linda’s Cook Of The House is plain embarrassing and must rank as one of the worst songs on any album by any artist.”

“If McCartney ever needed evidence that he was either better off ploughing a musical furrow as a solo artist or sticking with the band format but writing all the material himself, then Wings At The Speed Of Sound provides ample proof.”

“Well, this is a massive step down from everything Paul McCartney had done previously. There are two reasons for this. First, and most obviously, he began indulging the idea that Wings was actually a band, instead of a collection of backing musicians. Other than Cook Of The House, nothing is truly deplorable, but it's just not Paul McCartney.”

“Silly Love Songs and Let ‘Em In are both great pop songs, and Warm & Beautiful is one of his typical old time sounding, soppy ballads which is well executed. But the rest is a huge step down.”

“It is the one Wings album where we get solid songwriting contributions from the members of the group who are not Paul McCartney. Denny Laine's The Note You Never Wrote is an interesting, heartbreaking tune, and Time To Hide is a competent rocker. Jimmy McCullough's Wino Junko possesses the best groove on the album.”