Paul McCartney And Wings - Rockshow Blu-ray Review

Written by General Jabbo

In 1976, Paul McCartney and Wings mounted their only U.S. tour, the aptly nicknamed Wings Over America. The tour was a massive success and spawned a live album of the same name. It had been 10 years since McCartney had toured the U.S. on the Beatles' final outing and, with Wings at the height of their popularity, the time was right to return to the States. Sensing the enormity of the tour, McCartney had shows in New York, Los Angeles and Seattle filmed with the hopes of putting together a concert film.

The film was titled Rockshow, after the song of the same name, but didn't receive its theatrical premiere until 1980. By then, Wings had a different lineup and were at the end of their run due in part to McCartney's pot bust in Japan on the eve of the band's tour. Sadly, Jimmy McCulloch, the talented, but troubled lead guitarist in the Rockshow performance didn't live to see its theatrical premiere, having died of a drug overdose the year before. While Rockshow had been previously released on video, laser disc and DVD as part of The McCartney Years, none of those releases were the complete show. This has been rectified on the new Blu-ray, which is fully restored from the film and audio masters.

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Paul McCartney And Wings - Wings Over America CD/DVD Review

Written by General Jabbo

By the time 1976 rolled around, Paul McCartney and Wings were at the height of their popularity, having amassed numerous hits and successful tours abroad. There was one thing left to do however, something McCartney had not done since 1966 while still a member of The Beatles -- tour America. After a tour of Europe and Australia, Wings traveled to North America for their first (and only) tour of the continent.

The tour was a major success, with many cities hosting multiple sold-out nights. The live document of the tour, Wings Over America, also did well, reaching number one in the U.S. The album has recently been remastered as part of the Paul McCartney Archive Collection. This review focuses on the 2-CD Standard Edition as well as the DVD that is included with the Deluxe Edition.

Read the rest of the review at www.blindedbysound.com by clicking here.

Paul McCartney - McCartney II (Special Edition) CD Review

Written by General Jabbo

Much like its predecessor, 1970's McCartney, signaled the end of the Beatles, its follow-up, 1980's McCartney II, came at the end of Wings. Whether Paul McCartney intended that to be the case is a matter of opinion, but he has not had a named band since nor has there been a third album in the McCartney series.

McCartney II was originally supposed to be a double album but ultimately got released as a single disc. 31 years later, the tracks intended for the double LP have been included as bonus cuts on McCartney II (Special Edition).

Read the rest of the review at www.blindedbysound.com by clicking here.

Paul McCartney & Wings - Band on the Run: Special Edition CD Review

Written by General Jabbo

After the breakup of the Beatles and the subsequent release of two quirky, yet charming albums — McCartney and Ram — Paul McCartney decided he'd missed being in a band and Wings was born. The band's first two albums didn't exactly wow the critics and, making matters worse, guitarist Henry McCullough and drummer Denny Seiwell left the band, reducing Wings to a trio of Paul and Linda McCartney and Denny Laine. Undeterred, the group traveled to Lagos where they recorded Band on the Run, an album that remains a high-water mark of McCartney's post-Beatles career, newly remastered in a two-CD/one-DVD special edition.

Much has been said about Band on the Run over the years and, for fans of McCartney, it is certainly a must-own. The title track, as well as "Jet" and "Let Me Roll it" are McCartney in-concert staples and considered classic tracks. The remaining tracks boast the same quality, from the syrupy "Bluebird" to the driving piano of "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five," this is McCartney at his best.

Remastered by the same team that did the recent Beatles remasters, the sound is clear and detailed and avoids the modern, overly loud production found on too many CDs. This is likely the final word on this album and its sound quality is now up to par with its song quality.

Band on the Run's British track list has been made canon and, as a result, American fans looking for "Helen Wheels" on the main disc will not find it, but it does reside (along with its B-side, the excellent "Country Dreamer") on the bonus CD. The disc also includes a number of live tracks from the One Hand Clapping documentary, including a spirited take on "Jet" with excellent drumming from short-lived Wings member Geoff Britton.

The third disc is a DVD that includes promotional videos for "Band on the Run," "Mamunia," "Helen Wheels," as well as the entire album itself, and a "making of the album cover" documentary. The highlights of the DVD though are Wings in Lagos, a short series of never-seen home movies from the group's trip to Africa and the documentary One Hand Clapping, which is available legitimately for the first time here. While the video quality in One Hand Clapping often borders on bootleg and the track "Suicide" is oddly omitted, it is still likely as good a version of this fine document of Wings in the studio as fans will see.

Band on the Run proved to skeptics that McCartney still had it after the Beatles. The remastered CD as well as the two bonus discs make Band on the Run: Special Edition an essential CD for McCartney fans.

Article first published as Music DVD Review: Paul McCartney & Wings - Band on the Run: Special Edition on Blogcritics.

The McCartney Years DVD Review

Written by General Jabbo

It’s been nearly 40 years since that other band Paul McCartney was in before Wings called it a day. During that time, he carved out one of the most successful solo careers of all time. It was also during this period that McCartney followed his old band’s lead and made promo films for many of his hit singles. Those films comprise the bulk of The McCartney Years.

With three DVDs and over 400 minutes of material, The McCartney Years is an exhaustive look at the solo career of Paul McCartney. The set contains over 40 promo films from “Maybe I’m Amazed” from 1970’s McCartney to a seldom seen “Band on the Run” clip that oddly features The Beatles instead of Wings to “Fine Line” from 2005’s Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. The films have been restored from the original prints with remastered audio as well as new 5.1 Surround Sound mixes.

Viewers can choose to watch the videos chronologically, or in playlists selected by McCartney, who offers insightful commentary on a number of tracks. For instance, we learn that the Plastic Macs band name from the “Coming Up” video was a take-off of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Plastic Ono Band. Each menu on the DVD also includes a rare video from the McCartney archives that plays while the viewer makes his or her selection.

The set also includes the documentary, Creating Chaos at Abbey Road, McCartney’s Superbowl performance and his performance at Live Aid. Disc three features parts of three concerts, Rockshow, which captures a Wings 1976 performance, MTV Unplugged and his 2004 performance at the Glastonbury Festival – all available on DVD for the first time.

While billed as a definitive collection, The McCartney Years is far from complete. Many promo films are missing, most notably from 1979’s Back to the Egg LP. Also, none of the three concerts on disc three are complete, giving the impression that it is a teaser disc for a later release of complete versions of these shows. Most troubling though is that all of the videos have been remastered to 16:9 widescreen. This is an issue because many of the videos were not shot this way originally and some of the shot is lost as a result.

Nevertheless, these issues don’t take away from the overall enjoyment of the collection. The videos look and sound great and the amount of picture lost from the widescreen conversion likely will not bother most fans. It is a treat for an artist of McCartney’s stature to open the vaults like this and present a collection such as The McCartney Years. One can only hope that this will lead to further archive releases down the road.