‘Wild Life’: The Paul McCartney album that his fans originally hated

Time can be a hell of a healer, and if there is a perfect theatre for that particular performance to play out on, then it is in the world of music. Not all music instantly hits with its audience, and time can be necessary to allow it to mature. The term “grown on me” might not have originated from someone listening to an earworming track, but it is certainly where I hear the phrase most often. Music needs space to settle sometimes; not everything can be a smash right away, whether you’re Paul McCartney or otherwise.

McCartney is, without a doubt, one of Britain’s finest songwriters. A complete professional and a uniquely placed individual in the world of music. His position has been steadfast at the top of the tree for over six decades, and that is not a feat many can match up to. Add to that the fact that along the way he has also delivered some of the most beloved songs of all time, and it’s hard to question the great man.

But, on more than one occasion in his career, he has certainly been questioned. While he’s widely regarded as a true great of the genre, it can sometimes be difficult to align with his unique take on songwriting. Typically fashioned with a baroque pop edge and a nod to the music hall tradition, McCartney’s tracks can sometimes veer too close to the world of tweedom. It was enough to push songwriting partner John Lennon to label his music as “granny shit”.

Of course, this was only for a few songs, but McCartney employed meticulous attention to detail in almost everything he ever did. Having famously made The Beatles record take after take of ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer‘, McCartney’s diligence in the studio is as legendary as any other part of his legacy. It meant that when he released a decidedly looser affair with 1971’s Wings effort Wild Life, it was poorly received by fans.

A country-infused trip through the backwaters of McCartney’s creative mind, the album is perfect material for a hazy day in the garden or a walk along the canal — listen to ‘Bip Bop’ and try not to smile. It is probably only the title track which feels that close to McCartney’s previous work. Otherwise, there is a real sense that this was the album McCartney used to take a breath.

The record is pretty tight for most artists, but for McCartney, fresh out of being the lynchpin of one of the most successful groups of all time, it felt like he had abandoned his ethics as well as his beloved band. And that might well be the main reason the record was, initially at least, rejected by a swathe of his fans. This was McCartney out on his own; this was him with a new band.

McCartney fans had probably grown up with The Beatles, and their split would have also likely left a bit of scar tissue on their hearts, even more so when you consider that the rhetoric of the day put most of the blame on McCartney for breaking up the Fab Four. So, to have him shake it up with a new outfit producing music that didn’t match what they had known of him before, perhaps it is only natural that there was some hesitance to the LP.

However, time heals all, and as more and more fans have gone back to the 1971 LP, it has become clear that McCartney’s apparent rejection of everything that came before wasn’t accidental but the whole point of the project. This is a record meant to put space between him and The Beatles, and the only way he knew how to do that was to get loose. Really loose.