Paul McCartney, Wings Paul McCartney Wings/UK 1975

It is common knowledge even for non-fans that Wings’ heyday was from 1975 to 1976. In particular, with the existence of substantial official tours such as “Over America” ​​and “Rock Show,” it is easy to realize the moment when Wings reached the pinnacle of the rock world. The starting point of such a peak tour was the 1975 UK tour. This year began in the UK, and if it had gone as planned, it would have ended at the Nippon Budokan in November, but unfortunately, as history shows, this did not happen. After the formation of Wings, Paul had already successfully toured the UK in 1973. As a musician who takes things step by step, he would have been able to fill the venues even if he had used Wembley Arena or Earl’s Court, but only concert halls that had not changed much since 1973 were chosen. This was probably due in large part to the fact that this was a live tour that finally came to fruition after the collapse of the original Wings. Perhaps because of the careful selection of venues, there are almost no sound sources with decent sound quality on this tour. It is easy to imagine that the taper could not secure a good position because it was held only in small venues. On the other hand, the Over America tour, which is only in large venues, is supported by the situation that it was blessed with good sound sources of audience recording. However, there are many sound sources themselves. The problem is that there are almost no sound sources with good sound quality. Due to this situation, the items of the 1975 UK tour have remained extremely few to the present, and it can be said that it was a time when only maniacs could hear it. Among them, there was only one exceptionally easy-to-listen-to audience recording! That is the live performance at the Hippodrome in Birmingham on September 13th, which will be released this time. As expected, the venue was larger than in 1973 (the Birmingham Odeon at that time), but considering the popularity of the new Wings, who had already made their new album “Venus and Mars” a big hit, there is no doubt that the unexpected choice of venue rather than an arena pleased British fans. However, the audience recording released this time also has problems. First of all, the biggest negative point is that the opening “Venus and Mars”/”Rock Show” and even more so, the part from the middle of “Medicine Jar” to the end of the live performance are supplemented with poor sound quality. The sound quality of the latter part in particular is quite rough, which is typical of the 1975 UK tour. However, the sound quality of the other main parts is surprisingly high, with a clarity that is incomparable to any other sound source on this tour! Of course, it is not an audience recording with a close sound image like a sound board, but rather a sound image with a normal sense of distance, but it is still surprising that the sound quality is so easy to hear on the 1975 UK tour (although there is one sound skip in “Bluebird”). Not only is it very clear and clear, but above all, the hall class, and the peaceful realism that can only be said to be unique to UK concert venues, is the most enjoyable. In other words, although the members are already the same as the glorious Over America tour, the performance and the reaction of the venue are surprisingly homely. When that happens, the performance content is full of highlights. It may be because it is the beginning of the tour, but even so, the performance is different in dimension from the glorious high perfection of Over America later on, and it is extremely fresh. Among them, Jimmy McCulloch’s guitar stands out. Jimmy’s hard play explodes immediately in “Spirits Of Ancient Egypt” sung by Denny Laine. Once again, we are reminded that his joining has taken Wings’ sound to the next level. At the same time, what is surprising is that the reaction to each Beatles number that was introduced to Wings’ stage repertoire for the first time on this tour was not as enthusiastic as expected. Rather, the reaction to new songs at the time such as “You Gave Me The Answer” was no less than that, which is a scene unique to the peak of their career. Of course, the enthusiastic reaction to the standard “Yesterday” was in a class of its own, but the best scene of the day came with the previously performed “Blackbird”. In the middle of the performance, whistling imitating bird calls flew from the audience, and it fit into the atmosphere as if it were recreating the “White Album” version. The audience burst into laughter at this, and it was interesting because it was clear that even Paul was singing while holding back his laughter. Another amusing scene was “Listen to What the Man Said”, a new song at the time. Before Paul started playing, Denny hummed the riff, and Paul and the band joined in, resulting in a rare version with Denny humming the intro. Thus the performance itself was very homely (laughs). “Junior’s Farm,” which was performed at the Budokan and Tokyo Dome this spring and delighted Japanese fans, was the only live performance of the 1975 tour, and was the rarest repertoire of the tour. However, the performance heard here is quite loose, as it was only recently performed live. Linda’s back chorus is particularly rough, and one of them even made a mistake in the composition and tried to go to the chorus. On the other hand, unlike the current live version, it is also rare that the full chorus is sung. It is amazing that such a valuable performance with such good sound quality has been buried until now… Of course, this is a sound source that has been circulating among traders and on the Internet for a long time. For this release, the good sound quality has been taken advantage of, and the pseudo-stereo has been used to create a clearer and more homely atmosphere. The overall pitch has also been precisely adjusted. The difference in pitch between the beginning and end of the sound source, where the sound quality drops, has also been corrected. Unfortunately, the transitions that were applied when the sound source was released cannot be said to be polite, but the stress on listening has been reduced by eliminating the pitch error. Given these issues, it is true that this is not a Wings sound source that is suitable for everyone. However, the amazing ease of listening to the main sound source, and the homely excitement and fun of the performance, which are completely different from 1976, make this a rare sound source from the 1975 tour that will definitely satisfy enthusiasts! Live at Hippodrome, Birmingham, UK 13th September 1975 Disc 1 (57:53) 1. Venus And Mars/Rock Show 2. Jet 3. Let Me Roll It 4. Spirits Of Ancient Egypt 5. Little Woman Love / C Moon 6. Maybe I’m Amazed 7. Lady Madonna 8. The Long And Winding Road 9. Live And Let Die 10. Picasso’s Last Words 11. Richard Cory 12. Bluebird 13. I’ve Just Seen A Face 14. Blackbird 15. Yesterday Disc 2 (57:10) 1. You Gave Me The Answer 2. Magneto And Titanium Man 3. Go Now 4. Call Me Back Again 5. My Love 6. Listen To What The Man Said 7. Letting Go 8. Junior’s Farm 9. Medicine Jar 10. Band On The Run 11. Hi, Hi, Hi 12. Soily