Wings Maybe I'm Amazed/ Soily (Parlophone, NZP 3554, 1976)
Linda McCartney Alias Suzy and The Red Stripes Seaside Woman/ B Side To Seaside (A&M, K 8003, 1977)
Wings Mull Of Kintyre/ Girls School (Capitol, CP 610, 1977)
Wings With A Little Luck/ Backward Traveller/ Cuff Link (EMI/Parlophone, NZP 3564, 1978)
Wings London Town/ I'm Carrying (EMI, R 6021, 1978)
A mixed bag this time around as quality control is again an issue. Without Lennon, a genius that was at least an equal to Macca, some dodgy stuff got through along with the great stuff.
Maybe I'm Amazed is a live version from 1976. It's a stand out on the McCartney album and a good rock song in a live set. Not sure if it's a single though.
The Linda song is a vanity project. It's easy to say snide things about her vocal ability and while she is embarrassing on cue here, she did provide some wonderful harmonies in a Wings context.
Mull Of Kintyre was huge, of course, and as a jolly singalong it's hard to fault but it hasn't aged particularly well.
The other two A sides begin the quality slide in earnest. McCartney can sound twee at times - I give you With A Little Luck as exhibit A.
Hidden gems: Soily is a great encore rave up song. Starts out with genuine excitement and doesn't let up. Still sounds punky to my ears.
Throw a blanket over the other B sides.
Mike McGear Leave It/ Sweet Baby (Warner Brothers, K 16446, 1974)
Paul McCartney and Wings Junior Farm (sic)/ Sally G (Apple, NZP 3487, 1974)
The Country Hams Walking In The Park With Eloise/ Bridge On The River Suite (EMI, EMI 2220, 1974)
Wings Listen To What The Man Said/ Love In Song (Capitol, NZP 3511, 1975)
Wings Letting Go/ You Gave Me The Answer (Capitol, NZP 3521, 1975)
Wings Magneto And Titanium Man/ Rock Show (Capitol, NZP 3524, 1975)
In the mid seventies Paul and Linda started flexing their collective muscles a little bit to share the golden touch with the rest of the McCartney family.
First up is an A side by Paul's kid brother Michael, recording as Mike McGear. Paul and Linda and other Wings members appear to great effect on the song (and the parent album McGear).
It's a damn good song (it charted at the time) and Mike is not overshadowed by his more famous brother. His vocals over the top of Wings' musicianship is a winning combination.
Next up with the family connection is Paul, Linda et al as The Country Hams doing an old song, an instrumental, of his dad's (Jim McCartney). It's a pleasant enough vanity project.
The other A sides come from Macca's band Wings and they are a catchy bunch. I love the bounciness of Listen To What The Man Said and the bravado of Magneto. Letting Go has a wonderful heavy vibe and Junior's Farm (another casualty of NZ sloppy labeling) is a beefy rock track.
Did I say 'catchy'? Not 'alf! Macca can't half spin a toon.
Hidden gems: Sweet Baby by McGear is a gem and it didn't make the album cut (until the bonus track reissue that is) but the most wonderful throwaway B side is Sally G. It's an country shaggy dog story as only our Paulie can do. There was a time when these songs appeared effortless. Now he struggles to come up with a memorable melody. No? Don't agree? Can you sing anything off New for me? Thought not.
McCartney's Wings My Love/ The Mess (Apple, NZP 3453, 1973)
Paul McCartney and Wings Live And Let Die/ I Lie Around (Apple, NZP 3456, 1973)
Paul McCartney and Wings Helen Wheels/ Country Dreamer (Apple, NZP 3462, 1973)
Paul McCartney and Wings Jet/ Bluebird (Apple, NZP 3466, 1973)
Paul McCartney and Wings Jet/ Let Me Roll It (Apple, NZP 3469, 1973)
Paul and Linda were busy during 1972 - 1973 - singles came from Red Rose Speedway, Band On The Run and a James Bond film. A huge output by today's standards.
Definite quality on display here too. My Love is a great ballad, a great love song in that it's not a sappy sentimental thing but a sincere heart-felt love song to Linda, Live And Let Die is a great Bond theme - all silly bombast and Jet/ Helen Wheels are great rockers. Macca is the complete package over these four A sides. He can do it all.
What great years in the Macca ouevre!
Here's My Love from the funky James Paul McCartney TV special - which I loved when it came on TVNZ. I recorded it on my trusty cassette player at the time, now we have the great youtube to access it all.
Hidden gems: Oh my my - there are definite gems on the B sides. The Mess has only ever been a B side (and then a bonus track to the album Red Rose Speedway). It's a live version of the song that was originally intended for the album when it was going to be a double. I for one am sad it was never an expanded album that was released. I love RRS and having more of it would have been gear fab.
I Lie Around and Country Dreamer were also intended for the double version of RRS and they are both terrific songs. Denny Laine provides a great relaxed vocal on I Lie Around.
Bluebird and Let Me Roll It are from Band On The Run. LMRI is a great Lennonesque rocker. Not sure why New Zealand decided to have two different B sides to Jet, but there you go, they did!
Paul McCartney Another Day/ Oh Woman Oh Why (Apple, NZP 3398, 1971)
Paul and Linda McCartney Uncle Albert Admiral Halsey/ Too Many People (Apple, NZP 3410, 1971)
Paul and Linda McCartney Eat At Home/ Smile Away (Apple, NZP 3406, 1971)
Wings Give Ireland Back To The Irish/ Give Ireland Back To The Irish (Version) (Apple, A 9866, 1972)
Wings Mary Had A Little Lamb/ Little Woman Love (Apple, A 9924, 1972)
Wings Hi Hi Hi/ C Moon (Apple, NZP 3449, 1972)
Welcome to the wacky world of Paul McCartney singles. He used a number of guises along the way (you'll see what I mean as I go) so for ease of brain I've collected them all together under 'Paul McCartney'.
This bunch forms his 1971 and 1972 efforts - from the parent album Ram and single only songs, or a combination of both in the case of Another Day. Good fun!
Now let me declare some prejudices at the outset: I'm a Lennon obsessive first and foremost, a Beatles collector second and a Beatles related product completist third (that explains all the Apple Records singles appearing in this countdown and the Ringo stuff to come).
That means that some of McCartney's stuff can be dodgy for me to listen to, even now. His quality control has never been a strength.
But having said that - McCartney had some amazingly awesome singles. There are five in the list above (one guess which one's the naff one).
Another Day didn't make the Ram cut and I can see why - it IS a natural single though. Even though Lennon has a pop at it in How Do You Sleep? it has a great pop hook and it's deceptively simple. It's McCartney in Rita Meter Maid third person narration mode which he's clearly a master of, but one which Lennon disapproved of.
Uncle Albert etc is one of my favourite Macca songs ever. In fact Ram is an terrific album which I've always loved. This brings back wonderful memories of my teenage bedroom at 18 Korma Rd. in Royal Oak, listening to the radio in my room, soaking up the oddities of this track. Something about it always brings me back to that teenage me.
Whatever your politics and whether or not you regard this as radical opportunism, Give Ireland etc is another wonderful song with a great pop hook. It was a single one off and displays Macca's genius in a glorious way.
Hi Hi Hi is McCartney as rocker and, my oh my - he sure can rock.
Hidden gems: The first four B sides all come from Ram and are, for me, best heard on that album. The real hidden gem here is C Moon. Another example of Macca's tossed off genius for a catchy chune.
It's really hard to pick one track to highlight among these fantastic songs but this clip comes complete with some wonderful home movie footage of the McCartney's Ram days on their home in Scotland.
George Harrison Love Comes To Everyone/ Soft Touch (Dark Horse, DRC 8844, 1979)
George Harrison All Those Years Ago/ Writings On The Wall (Dark Horse, DRC 49725, 1981)
George Harrison Teardrops/ Save The World (Dark Horse, DRC 49785, 1981)
George Harrison Got My Mind Set On You (extended version)/ Got My Mind Set On You (single version); Lay His Head (Dark Horse, 0-20802, 1987)
George Harrison When We Was Fab (extended version); Zig Zag/ That's The Way It Goes; When We Was Fab (reverse ending) (Dark Horse, 0-20860, 1987)
The final installment of George singles (until I finish vinyl and begin looking at CD singles that is) takes us from the George Harrison to Cloud Nine albums. By then the 12" single was having its day in the sun. Fab and Mind both come in for the extended 12 inch treatment.
By then George's chums Ray Cooper and Jeff Lynne were on board for production duties. I like the retro sound they got out of the band and George sounds like a man refreshed on the Cloud Nine singles - especially after the dreary lacklustre Somewhere In England and barking mad even more lacklustre Gone Troppo albums.
The All Those Years Ago and When We Was Fab singles are my favourites, of course.
Years Ago was his response to John's murder and is a wonderfully warm tribute to the man who was a leader and big brother figure for George. The track is also special as it features Ringo Starr on drums, as well as Paul and Linda McCartney and Denny Laine on backing vocals. An early Threetles entry really.
Both Years and Fab are unusual as George was not much for looking back. Maybe the Jeff Lynne influence and the Travelling Wilburys had something to do with that. Whatever the reason the nicely judged whimsy of When We Was Fab was a real tonic in 1987 and it holds up today.
My favourite part of the gear Fab video is when Ringo's on drums, the walrus/Paul's on bass and a guy walks past carrying the back of Lennon's Imagine cover.
Hidden gems: Nothing of rarity value on the first three singles but Lay His Head IS RARE! It has never been released on an album or as a CD bonus track. It was removed from the Somewhere In England album at the time due to record company pressure. Amazingly they thought they knew better than George! These days, of course, you can find it on youtube but as a piece of vinyl it only appeared as a B side. Zig Zag is also rare (although it has turned up as a bonus track on the Cloud Nine CD).
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