UK album release: Red Rose Speedway by Paul McCartney and Wings

Wings’ second album, Red Rose Speedway, was released in the United Kingdom on 4 May 1973.

Red Rose Speedway was the follow-up to 1971’s Wild Life. It was released in the USA on 30 April 1973.

A single, ‘My Love’, was released ahead of the album and became a transatlantic success. The b-side was ‘The Mess’, recorded live in The Hague in 1972.

Red Rose Speedway was credited to Paul McCartney and Wings, suggesting that the group needed the former Beatle’s name to lift their public profile and sales. It was a canny move: the release coincided with The Beatles’ 1962-1966 and 1967-1970 compilations, and George Harrison’s Living In The Material World.

In the UK the album peaked at number five, spending 16 weeks all together on the chart. In America it topped the Billboard 200, spending a total of 31 weeks on the chart.