Paul McCartney’s fifth album since The Beatles’ split, Band On The Run was critically acclaimed and became Wings’ most commercially-successful album. It was credited to Paul McCartney & Wings.
The album was issued two weeks after John Lennon’s Mind Games. Although the title track of Lennon’s LP was a hit single, McCartney’s release ultimately proved more successful.
Two hit singles – the title track and ‘Jet’ – were issued from Band On The Run; three in the United States, where Capitol opted to include Wings’ recent standalone single ‘Helen Wheels’ on the album.
McCartney was at a peak in 1973, enjoying both the praise of critics and high sales. His James Bond theme ‘Live And Let Die’ had finally established Wings as a serious group, and Band On The Run consolidated his position as one of the decade’s leading creative forces.
The success of Band On The Run is more remarkable, then, given the troubled circumstances surrounding its recording. McCartney had to contend with band members leaving, a hostile reception in Lagos, armed robbery, adverse weather and temporamental studio equipment. Against the odds, Wings emerged triumphant.
Wings take flight
Most of the songs which appeared on Band On The Run songs were written at High Park Farm, the base in Kintyre, Scotland that Paul McCartney had bought in 1966.
Each of the songs’ composition was credited to McCartney alone, apart from ‘No Words’, on which Denny Laine was given a co-credit for the first time. The song was written before Red Rose Speedway, the Wings album which preceded Band On The Run.
I’m kind of an odd-job man in this group. I look on Band On The Run as definitely their album. We’re not a group anymore. I’m one of the three or I’m an individual. If it was Wings, I’d feel more a part of it. But it’s not my songs and I’d like to feel more involved and contribute as much as they do. I did write one of the songs on the album and Paul helped me out with it. I’d like to do more like that.
Paul and Linda McCartney had grown tired of recording in the United Kingdom, and requested from EMI a list of their international recording studios. They settled on Lagos in Nigeria and were set to leave in August 1973.
The idea to go to Lagos was originally just to have some fun, because I didn’t fancy recording in London. I fancied getting out and EMI have got studios all over the world, including one in communist China, but because that was so far away, we decided to go to Lagos, because it would be sunny and warm.
Just weeks before their departure, however, lead guitarist Henry McCullough left the group. He had become disenchanted with McCartney’s particular ways of working, which he felt stifled his creative freedom. McCullough was also disdainful of Linda McCartney’s musical skills, saying: “Trying to get things together with a learner in the group didn’t work as far as I was concerned”.
McCartney was sanguine about McCullough’s departure, describing it as necessary for the good of the band. The disagreement reportedly arose during a rehearsal when McCullough was reluctant to take direction on a composition by Denny Laine.
Henry was asked to play a certain guitar lick on one of Denny’s songs and he refused. Next morning, he phoned up and said he wanted to quit. Henry left over what they call ‘musical differences’ and it was actually that. We were rehearsing and I asked him to play a certain bit. He was loath to play it and kind of made an excuse about it couldn’t be played. I, being a bit of a guitarist myself, knew it could be played. And rather than let it pass, I confronted him with it and we had a confrontation. He left rehearsals a bit choked and then rang up to say he was leaving. I thought, ‘Fair enough.’ So it was exactly the stereotyped ‘musical differences’.
Wings’ plans to record in Lagos continued. However, an hour before their flight was due to depart from Gatwick Airport, drummer Denny Seiwell announced that he, too, was leaving the band.
Denny rang up five minutes before we were leaving to record in Lagos and just said, ‘Hey, man, I can’t make the trip.’ I don’t think he wanted to go to Africa. I think it was a bit much, but then again, I think everybody should do what they want. That’s what we said Wings should be. If anybody fancies leaving, great.
Unpeturbed, the multi-instumentalist Paul opted to play drums. Wings were reduced to a core line-up of the McCartneys and Denny Laine, along with one of The Beatles’ former balance engineers, Geoff Emerick.
We thought that it would be warm and sunny out in Africa. We thought it would be like a fab holiday place but it’s not the kind of place you’d go for a holiday. It’s warm and tropical but it’s the kind of place you’d have monsoons. We caught the end of the rainy season and there were tropical storms all the time. There were power cuts too and loads of insects. It does bother some people but we’re not creepy-crawly freaks. Linda doesn’t mind lizards. But someone else, for instance the engineer we took out, who did Sgt Pepper and Abbey Road, he couldn’t stand them. So a couple of the lads put a spider in his bed. It was all a bit like scout camp.
I was definitely influenced by Clive Arrowsmith’s photographic technique, and more recently, as an astronomer for most of my life, I’ve taken group shots of people observing through my telescopes at night under ambient inner city street lighting. Reading this today, it’s apparent that I’ve used his exact technique, many times without ever really knowing it until I just read it now here in this site. Thank you for posting this great information. I would also like to see the video that was made with this album cover shoot. I’m hoping that someone can indicate where that video is possibly in YouTube, or other video venues as a rare excerpt. As I also work in video motion pictures at times that I produce myself or have acted for others, in recent years as a background extra actor, I’m now invited to act as a lead character
Can anyone tell me what is so fantastic about the Band on the run LP? I find it extremely overrated.
damn catchy tunes from start to finish
Same here. I like bluebird, let me roll it (best one by far) and that’s all…
“Band On The Run” and “Jet” are two of the biggest hits that any Beatles member wrote about they busted up. “1985” and “Let Me Roll It” might be the two most underrated songs that any Beatles wrote during his solo career. It’s a very good album (not GREAT – it needed McCartney and Lennon on it to be GREAT), but for me clearly one of the 5 best solo records that any of the Fabs did after their implosion.
It’s coherent thematically and musically overall. It’s very much the sound of the day of the day, had several big hits on it and was everywhere, bought by many younger and older folks than who weren’t necessarily Beatles or Wings fans. It was a backbone for the big Wings over America tour which was the biggest money grossing tour of the seventies. While Ram has been now re-evaluated and is now preferred by many, BOTR shot McCartney out in front of the other solo Beatles, though George had good seventies singles which were hits, none of his albums sold like BOTR after his ATMP. John was on the way down commercially after Imagine album. BOTR is a great listen years later. As for the song, I prefer the one hand clapping version.
Had McCartney not had the great success with BOTR album, his career would have been completely different and he may have given up which would have been a pity as he’s done some interesting stuff throughout the decades and is a survivor with a very long career. Many by then had lost interest in solo Beatles, but this album and later his extraordinarily successful tour brought renewed interest not just in him but in the other solo Beatles and to a younger generation to the Beatles in general. Tastes are a matter of opinion, but this album and what it accomplished should not be questioned on a Beatles forum of all places. He wasn’t even my favorite Beatle when this came out, but I and two siblings as well as two different friends each had a copy of this album. All Beatles fans should be happy at the success of any Beatle.
Great lp one of my all time favorites. Great tunes great production all voices in fine form very Beatlesque in scope. While Paul says this was not conceived as a concept album it sure comes off that way. Almost all of its songs convey a sense of travel and searching from Band breaking out of confinement to flight, Jet with its propulsive production that actually feels like a jet in flight, Bluebird an escape to a tropical island where the singer actually takes flight, Mrs Vanderbilt is maybe a deeper dive into said island trying to escape society, Let Me Roll It again movement in the title, Mamunia we’ve now traveled to Africa, Helen Wheels road song, No Words no lyrics of movement or travel but like many of the songs it’s dynamics are of forward moving momentum, Picasso shifting time signatures leaps back and forward in time of memories and snippets of songs that have come before, moving on to the next life, 1985 again another propulsive song moving forward in time wrapping up with a reprise if the title song. Sorry Paul this sure feels like a concept album not a story centric lp but a loose concept of freedom personal and physical and travel, that’s not to say you couldn’t easily make a jukebox musical out of this the themes are all laid out needing only a narrative to tie them together.
Just as John Lennon said: this is a great album.
And I see how It’s creative and a fun collection of good songs/melodies.
@marc seibold
Heres the footage of Band on the run cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp1mIu-xwg0
When I was little, I heard this album for the first time at a record store that was playing it constantly in the Sears Department store when it came out. At that time we were visiting my grandparents and they often wondered where I was during the days. I was at the department store listening to this album.
Also I thought all the persons featured on the jailbreak scene were members of McCartney’s band. At that time I had know idea that Paul was playing the drums on all the songs. I thought it was a different drummer. But Paul can sure keep a beat. A much better drumming performance than he did on his first album.
I own an original first release vinyl copy of the album, which has been looked after and this afternoon played it on my recently upgraded record deck and phono preamp and boy, didn’t it sound good! My audio system has somewhat improved since the 1970s and some of the properly cared for vinyl from that era can still give the recent 180gm re pressings a run for their money.
Band On The Run & Red Rose Speedway are my favourites from Paul McCartney..
I really love the album “Band on the Run” and it is the best album that Wings ever created. Even under less than favourable circumstances, Paul was still able to create his most celebrated post-Beatles masterpiece, and despite that Wings were temporarily without a drummer and lead guitarist, that was not a problem, as the multitalented Paul could easily overdub the drums and lead guitar parts when he needed to in addition to bass guitar – I’m not sure if Paul and Denny shared lead guitar duties or if Paul played all the lead parts himself.
I know that the American pressings of the album had “Helen Wheels” added to the running order, but unlike in the 1960’s, this time around Capitol had the decency to not remove or replace any of the songs, so the running order otherwise remained unchanged.
I know that Paul used a Fender Jazz Bass at the recording sessions in Lagos (I have seen photographs taken by Linda or other photographers to confirm this), but I don’t know which songs he used his Rickenbacker bass on – either way, his bass really stands out on “Mrs. Vandebilt”, “Band on the Run”, “Jet” and “Let Me Roll It”.
It never occurred to me that Linda played the Moog solo on “Jet” as well as the bass drones, but she had obviously come a long way since the earliest days.
All in all, “Band on the Run” is the best album that Wings ever made.
BOTR was a very coherent type album with all songs seen as basically good and was very much in the musical style of the day, as someone above asked what’s so great about the album, the same person who gets on many Paul threads dumping on him, sometimes in multiple posts on the same thread. It was a huge breakthrough album for him. However, I notice online that youngsters and hipsters far prefer the earlier Paul/wings albums because of their earthiness, indie sound and simpler less polished type of recording techniques and lyrics they say.
I find BOTR way overrated too. But then again I didn’t listen to the whole album until the 90’s. Maybe I would feel differently about it if it was associated with my youth like the songs on the radio we’re. As a kid I thought the song Band on the Run was a masterpiece. Jet was a masterpiece too. Let Me Roll it was great! But that’s it for me on this album. Everything else is bland. It’s tough to live up to The Beatles output.
No words is one of my favourite McCartney/Wings songs and in my opinion the best track on Band on the run. For me it holds Beatles quality.
Does anyone agree? If not, why?