Five years into the Paul McCartney Archive Collection series, the former Beatle has made it very clear that he only likes to look back on the best parts of his solo career. The latest releases in the series - remastered editions of 1975’s Venus and Mars and 1976’s Wings at the Speed of Sound - come from easily his most successful period as a solo artist.
After the immediate success of 1973’s Band on the Run - the first release in the Archive series, McCartney decided that he needed to prove that Wings was a real band, not just a vehicle for his solo material. So, with these two albums, you’ll find tracks not sung by McCartney. Both feature a song written by guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and others sung by guitarist Denny Laine, drummer Joe English and McCartney’s wife, Linda.
Venus and Mars is easily the better of the two albums. While it only has one big single, “Listen to What The Man Said,” the album tracks are brimming with originality. Sure, it’s not as good as Band on the Run, but songs like “Rockshow” and “Magneto and Titanium Man” prove that McCartney could rock with the best of them. “Letting Go” is also one of the great underrated songs in McCartney’s catalog.
Unfortunately, Speed of Sound is possibly one of the worst albums McCartney ever recorded. He only sings on six of the 11 tracks, although he did write two of the ones handed over to other members. It does include the smash hits “Let ‘Em In” and “Silly Love Songs,” so it’s not a complete waste. And “Beware My Love” is a great song. But the rest is throw-away material released to fill up a full album.
While I didn’t spring for the big giant deluxe editions of either album, the standard two-disc sets should suit me and most other Macca fans well enough. Venus and Mars’ bonus disc is packed with 50 minutes of material, including the amazing “Junior’s Farm”/“Sally G” single. Speed of Sound’s extra disc runs just 20 minutes and is filled with demos. There is a version of “Beware My Love” that features drumming from Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham that blows English’s work out of the water.
Last year, McCartney released Wings Over America, which is actually a better representation of his most successful period. Venus and Mars features a few good album cuts that non-McCartney fans should discover, but it’s really hard to recommend Speed of Sound to the average fan.