What did Paul McCartney consider the most authentic Wings album?

It wasn’t clear in the 1970s that Wings was anything more than a side project for Paul McCartney. He emphasised time and time again that this was one of the most collaborative bands he could put together, but there was a reason why the press started insisting on billing them as ‘Paul McCartney and Wings’ half the time they showed up for concerts. ‘The Cute Beatle’ was still the centre of attention throughout everything, but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t some room for everyone else to fit in.

That is, once the band was finalised. There was already some trepidation going into an album like Wild Life, but while many critics insist that the record is among the worst things that McCartney ever put out, it’s charming to hear them hashing out songs on the fly and finding different avenues to work in that might not always be the context of one of The Beatles’ classic albums.

But while Band on the Run is categorised as the definitive Wings album by most, it’s hard to really think of it as a group effort. The whole thing was put together after two of the band members quit in protest, so since most of the album was completed by Macca, Linda McCartney, and Denny Laine, this was practically an answer to what he had done on RAM with one member added into the mix.

Once everything was catapulted back into the spotlight, McCartney was feeling more democratic, and looking back on Wings at the Speed of Sound, he thought he had found the perfect balance by taking his foot off the gas, saying, “It turned out less of a McCartney production and more of a Wings effort. It wasn’t intended like that. There was one of the songs that I had sung, but I just let Joe, our drummer, sing it because he’s got a very nice voice, and he sang it great. Denny is a natural for a couple of tracks because he is, after all, a lead vocalist.”

Then again, being the most democratic doesn’t always mean good, either. But you’d hardly think that by listening to the standouts from the record, whether that’s the pop delight ‘Silly Love Songs’ or the rocking ‘Beware My Love’. But when looking at the biggest highlights on the record, do you ever begin to wonder why most of the tunes that work are attributed to only McCartney?

Suffice to say, the frontman was doing much of the heavy lifting at this point, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still some standout moments. Joe English does a fantastic job singing ‘Must Do Something About It’, but considering how well Jimmy McCullough did on ‘Medicine Jar’ one album before, hearing him rehash the same sentiment with a slower tune on ‘Wino Junko’ is far from his best effort.

And while ‘Cook of the House’ is far from the trainwreck that most people make it out to be, it’s not like it’s a masterpiece, either. Linda was clearly better suited to being in the background, fleshing out the keyboard parts, and hearing her sing when she wasn’t really up for the job at that point only feels awkward to listen to.

But it’s not like Wings at the Speed of Sound should be considered a lesser entry by McCartney at all. He was still trying out what worked and what didn’t behind the scenes, and even if not every track was phenomenal, they still had the mentality of being a great stadium-rock act with a show that might even manage to give the Fab Four a run for their money on the stage.