Band on the Run is an album by Wings, released in 1973.^[1] McCartney's fifth album (or Paul McCartney & Wings' third), it became his most successful album since the breakup of The Beatles and the most celebrated of his solo albums.^[2] It was 1974's top-selling album, and revitalized McCartney's critical standing. Image File history File links BOTRCover. ... A studio album is a collection of previously unreleased, studio-recorded tracks by a recording artist. ... Paul McCartney, as photographed by Richard Avedon for the 1968 LP The Beatles (aka The White Album). Sir James Paul McCartney,KBE, MBE (born June 18, 1942), better known as Paul McCartney, is a British musician, composer and producer. ... is the 341st day of the year (342nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the song by James Blunt, see 1973 (song). ... Alternate uses: Lagos (disambiguation) Lagos is the largest city in Nigeria and, with its population of 13. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Rock music (disambiguation). ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Apple Records logo, featuring a Granny Smith apple. ... For other uses, see EMI (disambiguation). ... In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. ... Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who first gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles. ... The All Music Guide (AMG) is a metadata database about music, owned by All Media Guide. ... Image File history File links 4. ... Robert Christgau (born April 18, 1942), is an American essayist, music journalist, and the self-declared Dean of American Rock Critics.[1] In print, his name is sometimes abbreviated as Xgau. ... This article is about the magazine. ... Paul McCartney, as photographed by Richard Avedon for the 1968 LP The Beatles (aka The White Album). Sir James Paul McCartney,KBE, MBE (born June 18, 1942), better known as Paul McCartney, is a British musician, composer and producer. ... Red Rose Speedway is Paul McCartneys fourth album release and second Wings album, officially credited to Paul McCartney & Wings upon its 1973 release, after the relatively weak commercial performance of the bands debut Wild Life had been credited only to the then-unknown Wings. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Wings was a rock music band led by Paul McCartney and formed in August 1971, shortly after the breakup of The Beatles. ... The White Album, see The Beatles (album). ...

In 2000 Q magazine placed Band on the Run at number 75 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2003, the album was ranked number 418 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. A contemporary review by Jon Landau in Rolling Stone (issue #153) described the album as "the finest record yet released by any of the four musicians who were once called The Beatles".^[3] Q is a music and entertainment magazinepublished monthly in the United Kingdom. ... This article is about the magazine. ... The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time is the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone magazine published in November 2003. ... Jon Landau is an American music critic, manager, and record producer, most known for his association in all three capacities with Bruce Springsteen. ...

Background

After the success of Red Rose Speedway, "Live And Let Die" - the new James Bond theme song - was released as the next "Wings" single (without McCartney's name in the artist credit) and became a worldwide smash. It was at this juncture that Paul and wife Linda McCartney began contemplating their next album. Bored with recording in the UK, they really wanted to challenge themselves and Wings by going to some exotic locale. Asking EMI to send him a listing of all its international recording studios, Paul happened upon Lagos in Nigeria and was instantly taken with the idea of recording in Africa. Alongside the McCartneys, guitarist Denny Laine was set to go, as well as lead guitarist Henry McCullough, and drummer Denny Seiwell. However, a few weeks before departing in late August, McCullough quit Wings in Scotland; with Seiwell following suit the night before the departure, this left just the core of the band, Paul, Linda and Denny Laine, to venture to Lagos alone. Red Rose Speedway is Paul McCartneys fourth album release and second Wings album, officially credited to Paul McCartney & Wings upon its 1973 release, after the relatively weak commercial performance of the bands debut Wild Life had been credited only to the then-unknown Wings. ... link title Live and Let Die, from the James Bond film and soundtrack Live and Let Die, is one of Sir Paul McCartneys most successful singles. ... “007” redirects here. ... Linda Louise, Lady McCartney (September 24, 1941 – April 17, 1998) was an American photographer, musician, and animal rights activist. ... For other uses, see EMI (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Lagos (disambiguation). ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ... Denny Laine (born Brian Hines, on 29 October 1944, in Birmingham) is an English songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his roles as former guitarist and lead singer of The Moody Blues and, later, co-founder (along with Paul McCartney) of Wings. ... Henry McCullough (born 21 July 1943) is a guitarist, who has played guitar in such bands as Spooky Tooth, Paul McCartneys Wings, and The Grease Band. ... Denny Seiwell is a drummer, and was a founding member of Paul McCartneys band Wings. ...

While there, both the McCartneys were mugged at knifepoint, and were accosted in the studio by legendary musician Fela Kuti for fear that Paul was plagiarizing African music (fears which McCartney quickly assuaged by playing Kuti the recorded music), and were persuaded to record at Ginger Baker's studio in Lagos (where he lived at the time) by the man himself, once he heard that the McCartneys were in town. It was a most action-packed time, clearly, and one which only saw the recording of the ensuing album's backing tracks. Fela Anikulapo Kuti (born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, October 15, 1938 - August 2, 1997), or simply Fela, was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist, and political maverick. ... Peter Edward Ginger Baker (born August 19, 1939, Lewisham, South London) is an English drummer who gained fame as a member of the Graham Bond Organization (GBO) and Cream from 1966 until 1968. ...

In October, after the band's return to London, final overdubs and orchestral tracks were added and the album was finished. "Helen Wheels" was released as a non-album single at the end of the month, becoming a worldwide Top 10 by the end of the year. As Band On The Run was being prepared for release, Capitol Records, who distributed The Beatles' Apple Records label in the United States, slotted "Helen Wheels" into the album - although it was never McCartney's intention to do so. The 1993 international CD reissue of the album - without the single interrupting the album's line-up - confirms this. Although "Helen Wheels" was never included on British versions of the Band on the Run CD (except as a bonus cut on the 1993 "Paul McCartney Collection" edition of the CD), American editions of the CD (starting with the Columbia Records release of 1984) continue to feature the song. The artwork on the first (1987) Capitol Records release of the CD, however, not only failed to include the song's title among its contents, but it also only listed nine tracks on the album when there were actually ten. This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Capitol Records is a major United States-based record label, owned by EMI. // The Capitol Records company was founded by the songwriter Johnny Mercer in 1942, with the financial help of movie producer Buddy DeSylva and the business acumen of Glenn Wallichs, (1910-1971) (owner of Music City, at the... The White Album, see The Beatles (album). ... Apple Records logo, featuring a Granny Smith apple. ... Columbia Records is the oldest brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888, and was the first record company to produce pre-recorded records as opposed to blank cylinders. ...

Release

Band on the Run was issued that December to positively glowing reviews. The commercial reaction was slow, with the album gradually inching its way up the charts, but by the spring of 1974, bolstered by the hits "Jet" and the title track, Band On The Run was a large success. It reached #1 in the US on three separate occasions, a first, and eventually went triple platinum. In the UK, it spent seven weeks at the summit that summer, becoming the top selling British album of 1974. Its lingering success was also beneficial in allowing Wings the time to locate a new guitarist and drummer, and to integrate them into the band before beginning new recordings.

In early 1975, Band on the Run won the Grammy award for "Best Pop Vocal Performance By a Duo, Group or Chorus." Grammy Award statuette The Grammy Awards, presented by the Recording Academy (an association of Americans professionally involved in the recorded music industry) for outstanding achievements in the recording industry, is one of four major music awards shows held annually in the United States (the Billboard Music Awards, the American Music...

The lead track, "Band on the Run" generally set the pace for the rest of the album. To tie back in with the album's title, the final track, "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" (also known as "1985"), fades into the "Band on the Run"'s chorus, to close off the album.

In 1993, Band on the Run was remastered and reissued on CD as part of "The Paul McCartney Collection" series with "Helen Wheels" and its b-side "Country Dreamer" as bonus tracks. In recorded music, the terms A-side and B-side refer to the two sides of 7 inch vinyl records on which singles have been released since the 1950s. ...

In 1999, a special 25th Anniversary Edition was released.[1]

In May 2007, The album was made available through the iTunes Store The iTunes Store is an online business run by Apple Inc. ...

Cover

The cover of Band on the Run is also noteworthy. Shot on 28 October 1973, it depicts the now well-known shot of Paul, Linda, and Denny plus six other celebrities dressed as convicts caught in the spotlight of a prison searchlight. They are: Michael Parkinson (journalist and UK chat-show host), Kenny Lynch (singer, actor and comedian), James Coburn (Hollywood actor), Clement Freud (gourmet, raconteur, Member of Parliament, Just a Minute panellist and grandson of Sigmund), Christopher Lee (UK actor, best known for roles in horror films and as Saruman in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy) and John Conteh (Liverpool boxer who later became World Light-Heavyweight champion). The picture was taken against a garden wall in Osterley Park, Brentford. References to the cover were to be made later by McCartney himself (in the video for "Spies Like Us", along with Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd) as well as others (such as the movie poster for the Dreamworks' animated film Madagascar, which depicts the main characters standing against a wall in a pose similar to the original "Band on the Run" photo.) is the 301st day of the year (302nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the song by James Blunt, see 1973 (song). ... Michael Parkinson CBE (born 28 March 1935) is an English broadcaster and journalist. ... Kenny Lynch with Lulu Kenny Lynch, OBE (Born Stepney 18 March 1939) is a British 1960s singer, songwriter, entertainer and actor from London. ... James Coburn in Sam Peckinpahs Cross of Iron (1977). ... Sir Clement Freud Sir Clement Raphael Freud (born April 24, 1924) is a British writer, broadcaster, and politician. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a parliament. ... Just a Minute is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game which has been running continuously since its first broadcast on December 22, 1967. ... Sigmund Freud (IPA: ), born Sigismund Schlomo Freud (May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939), was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. ... Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE (born May 27, 1922) is an English actor known for his professional longevity and his distinctive basso delivery. ... John Conteh (born Kirkby, May 27, 1951) was a British boxer and former world Light-Heavyweight boxing champion. ... For other uses, see Liverpool (disambiguation). ... Osterley House with Stable Block to right Design for the entrance facade of Osterley House by Robert Adam A design for one of the walls of the Estruscan dressing room at Osterly Park by Robert Adam. ... , Brentford is a suburb in the London Borough of Hounslow at the confluence of the River Thames and the River Brent in West London, situated approximately 8 miles (12. ... Chevy Chase (born October 8, 1943) is an Emmy Award-winning American comedian, writer, and television and film actor. ... Daniel Edward Aykroyd CM (born July 1, 1952) is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning Canadian/American comedian, actor, screenwriter, and musician. ...

Track listing

All tracks written by Paul and Linda McCartney, except where noted. Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who first gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles. ... Linda Louise, Lady McCartney (September 24, 1941 – April 17, 1998) was an American photographer, musician, and animal rights activist. ...

1. "Band on the Run" – 5:10
2. "Jet" – 4:06
3. "Bluebird" – 3:22
4. "Mrs Vandebilt" – 4:38
5. "Let Me Roll It" – 4:47
6. "Mamunia" – 4:50
7. "No Words" (P. McCartney, Denny Laine) – 2:33
8. "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)" – 5:50
9. "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five" – 5:27

Band on the Run is the title song from Paul McCartney and Wings acclaimed Band on the Run album, one of McCartneys most ambitious and best-loved songs. ... Jet, a hit song from Paul McCartney and Wings acclaimed Band on the Run album, is about one of McCartneys dogs. ... Mrs Vandebilt is from Paul McCartney and Wings most critically acclaimed album Band on the Run. ... Let Me Roll It is the fifth track on the Paul McCartney & Wings album Band on the Run. ... Denny Laine (born Brian Hines, on 29 October 1944, in Birmingham) is an English songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his roles as former guitarist and lead singer of The Moody Blues and, later, co-founder (along with Paul McCartney) of Wings. ...

American track listing

This variation of the album was released by EMI subsidiary Capitol Records in the United States, and remains the American version. For other uses, see EMI (disambiguation). ... Capitol Records is a major United States-based record label, owned by EMI. // The Capitol Records company was founded by the songwriter Johnny Mercer in 1942, with the financial help of movie producer Buddy DeSylva and the business acumen of Glenn Wallichs, (1910-1971) (owner of Music City, at the...

1. "Band on the Run" – 5:10
2. "Jet" – 4:06
3. "Bluebird" – 3:22
4. "Mrs Vandebilt" – 4:38
5. "Let Me Roll It" – 4:47
6. "Mamunia" – 4:50
7. "No Words" – 2:33
8. "Helen Wheels" – 3:44
9. "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)" – 5:50
10. "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five" – 5:27

Band on the Run is the title song from Paul McCartney and Wings acclaimed Band on the Run album, one of McCartneys most ambitious and best-loved songs. ... Jet, a hit song from Paul McCartney and Wings acclaimed Band on the Run album, is about one of McCartneys dogs. ... Mrs Vandebilt is from Paul McCartney and Wings most critically acclaimed album Band on the Run. ... Let Me Roll It is the fifth track on the Paul McCartney & Wings album Band on the Run. ... Helen Wheels is a song by Paul McCartney and Wings. ...

Personnel

• Paul McCartney – lead, rhythm and bass guitars, drums, piano, keyboards, percussion, vocals
• Linda McCartney – organ, keyboards, percussion, vocals
• Denny Laine – rhythm, lead and bass guitars, vocals

Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who first gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles. ... Lead guitar refers to a role within a band, that provides melody or melodic material, as opposed to the rhythm of the rhythm guitar, bass, and drums. ... The electric bass guitar (or electric bass) is a bass stringed instrument played with the fingers by plucking, slapping, popping or using a pick. ... A drum kit (or drum set or trap set) is a collection of drums, cymbals and sometimes other percussion instruments arranged for convenience playing by a single drummer. ... A short grand piano, with the top up. ... Piano, a well-known instance of keyboard instruments A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. ... “Percussion” redirects here. ... In music a singer or vocalist is a type of musician who sings, i. ... Linda Louise, Lady McCartney (September 24, 1941 – April 17, 1998) was an American photographer, musician, and animal rights activist. ... Organ in Katharinenkirche, Frankfurt am Main, Germany The organ is a keyboard instrument played using one or more manuals and a pedalboard. ... Piano, a well-known instance of keyboard instruments A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. ... Denny Laine (born Brian Hines, on 29 October 1944, in Birmingham) is an English songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his roles as former guitarist and lead singer of The Moody Blues and, later, co-founder (along with Paul McCartney) of Wings. ... Rhythm guitar is a guitar that is primarily used to provide rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment for a singer or for other instruments in an ensemble. ... The electric bass guitar (or electric bass) is a bass stringed instrument played with the fingers by plucking, slapping, popping or using a pick. ...

Additional personnel

• Howie Casey – saxophone
• Ginger Baker – percussion
• Remi Kabaka – percussion
• Tony Visconti – orchestrations
• Ian and Trevor – backing vocals

The saxophone (colloquially referred to as sax) is a conical-bored instrument of the woodwind family. ... Peter Edward Ginger Baker (born August 19, 1939, Lewisham, South London) is an English drummer who gained fame as a member of the Graham Bond Organization (GBO) and Cream from 1966 until 1968. ... Gorillaz are a virtual band, composed of four fictional animated band members: 2D, Murdoc, Noodle and Russel. ... For other uses, see Tony Visconti (disambiguation). ... For the use of the term orchestration in computer science, see orchestration (computers) Orchestration or arrangement is the study and practice of arranging music for an orchestra or musical ensemble. ... A backup vocalist is a vocalist that sings in harmony with the lead vocalist, with other backup vocalists, or alone but in the background of a song. ...

Chart positions

Album

Singles It has been suggested that Billboard be merged into this article or section. ...

Certifications

is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the song by James Blunt, see 1973 (song). ... is the 1st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ... is the 155th day of the year (156th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ... is the 121st day of the year (122nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 331st day of the year (332nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 331st day of the year (332nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 331st day of the year (332nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ...

Notes

1. ^ McGee, Garry. p. Page numbers needed
2. ^ McGee, Garry. p. Page numbers needed
3. ^ Landau, Jon. Wings:Band on the Run review, Rolling Stone #153, 1974-01-31. Retrieved: 11 June 2006.

Jon Landau is an American music critic, manager, and record producer, most known for his association in all three capacities with Bruce Springsteen. ... This article is about the magazine. ... Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ... is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

• McGee, Garry “Band on the Run: A History of Paul McCartney and Wings", Taylor Trade Publishing, 28 April 2003, ISBN 0-87833-304-5