Re: The album running-commentary and general listening discussion thread. Part 2!

[Guest]

Shame about the cultural appropriation, and the fade out rather than actually writing a end of the song, that was the best one yet.

[Guest]

State of the art keyboards (in 1979), attempt at falsetto vocals, possibly.

Sounds like a punk Barry White.

Horns. strange disco bass line.

[Guest]

I bet this is jamiroquai's favourite Wing's song.

[Guest]

Downwards keychange, and it's ova.




Right, I'm going to have a shower before I attempt side 2. See if I can wash off that disco

Back soon.

[Guest]

I'm back!

Over Easy side:

[Guest]

Rockestra Theme. Nothing.

[Guest]

To You.

I bet Tom Robinson liked this.

[Guest]

I think I've still got some water in my ears...

[Guest]

Strange keyboards trying to liven up a rather lightweight song.

[Guest]

After the Ball.

Sounds like 70s Queen after they'd gone off a bit. Only not as good.

[Guest]

You could image a Brian May guitar orchestra on that bit, which is sorta what we got, but no errr. quite.

Fretless bass.

Million Miles.

Sorry what was that?

It's like he can't finish a song, so we get the half he has done on his homework.

[Guest]

I'm getting similar vibes on Winter Rose/Love Awake.

Probably a mistake to put the 2 half songs combos next to each other.

[Guest]

The Broadcast.

Going for the Roger Waters talking bits on records.

"Rather inferior."

This could work, but not just slapped onto a record halfway through the second side.

Rockestra's back!

This sort of thing never works.

[Guest]

Baby's Request.

I'm losing the will to live…

Hang on, nice keyboard sound.

[Guest]

Well, it's almost over.

I prefered Side 1 to side 2, Old Siam, Sir was the best one,



And it was the single, doesn't he usually get that wrong and puts out the wrong singles?

I also preferred Wild Life.

[Guest]

I can't remember Venus and Mars well enough to say, but I preferred the couple of experimental tracks on Press to Play more, but it was much, much better than Wings at the Speed of Sound. :shudder:

[Guest]

Now to look back and see what everyone else made of it…

[The Call of the Wendigo]

Let's see how the Steve Hoffman forum ranks the Wings albums.

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/rate-the-albums-from-wings.307151/

[Guest]

Back to the Egg was the final Wings album, revealing now more than ever that both Paul and John Lennon were incomplete without each other. Nevertheless, Paul’s fashioned yet another in his continuing saga of catchy little albums filled with catchy little melodies that are rather sparse on narratives, relying on is worn though all be it infectious pop franchi$e.

So here I stand with the final and very unsatisfying Wings album, an album that I can only describe as malingering and slightly irritating, laced with rather uninspired melodies and slickly inspired half-assed arrangements. Back to the Egg does not contain one cut that sounds considered or fleshed out, though all are filled with disjointed imagery, creating an unfocused musical snapshot … though of what, I have absolutely no idea. Despite have some really big names sit in on this adventure, the likes of John Bonham, Pete Townshend and David Gilmore, Wings are on a runaway train to oblivion, leaving listeners with a goodnight kiss they won’t even remember in the morning. Though others have said as much with fewer words:

This album is nothing more than a slipshod demo by an aimless band. If it had arrived unsolicited in the offices of Columbia, it would have been returned in the next mail with a terse “No thank you.”

I can think of few other prominent rock musicians who’d have signed their names to this kind of drivel. McCartney’s gross indulgence is matched only by his shameless indolence, and ‘Back to the Egg’ represents the public disintegration of a consistently disappointing talent.

Paul McCartney (how does this man sleep?) has been plagiarizing his own material for years now, and he’s finally run out of recycled ideas. With a few key word changes, the lyrics that began this piece could end it on an appropriately grim autobiographical note.
Where have you gone, Emmitt Rhodes? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

Attempting to incorporate and influence this record with contemporary sounds such as R&B and jazz, mixed with a slight ting of harder rock, is a deeply flawed album that ascends even more dramatically with the addition of power pop and new wave, which only shows how out of step McCartney was with the times in his attempt to secure a foothold and falling headlong to the floor. Better that he stay with what he knew best, and done that more proficiently, than to have attempted to become something he wasn’t.

There’s noting on this album that hasn’t been compromised or sold out, this was Paul’s last ditch effort to regroup with his new label, where he not only let them down, but his fans as well. To me, the album artwork says it all, an image of Wings lost in space with no hope of ever returning.

*** The Fun Facts: The design for the album's artwork was by Hipgnosis, (of Beatles fame) the company responsible for previous Wings album covers such as Venus and Mars and the recent Wings Greatest compilation. The front cover depicts the five members of Wings in a room looking down through space at planet Earth through an open hatchway in the floor. The picture was taken by photographer John Shaw at his London studio. Photos of the individual band members appeared on the back cover, credited to both Linda and Paul McCartney.

Review by Jenell Kesler

[Guest]

Hipgnosis, (of Beatles fame)

Lolwut?


The Hoffers seem to be down with Band on the Run. Maybe I should pickup a copy the next time I'm in the record for a £1 bins.

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