Paul McCartney is releasing the film One Hand Clapping. Fifty years ago, in August of 1974, Paul McCartney & Wings filmed the documentary. The video was of the band recording live in Abbey Road Studios. The audio album of the sessions was just released this past June, and beginning on September 26th, there will be limited screenings of the film in theaters.
The original project was shot on videotape, but has been restored (as best you can with old video) to 4K for this release. This new documentary has additional unreleased footage of Paul McCartney performing “Backyard Sessions” on acoustic guitar. Besides some of his own songs, he plays Rock & Roll classics like “Twenty Flight Rock” and songs by Buddy Holly. Included is the unreleased song “Blackpool”.
1974 was a time when the Wings album Band On The Run was #1, and there are five songs from that album performed live in the studio. Here are the songs as they appear on the double CD album.
The audio quality is high, and the band’s playing is very good…quite similar to their performances on the 1976 Wings Over America tour album. The three Beatles songs you see on Disc 2 are just Paul rehearsing at the piano, and are short segments.
There were two new members of Wings, Geoff Britton on the left, and Jimmy McCulloch on the right. Paul, Linda, and guitarist Denny Laine had recorded the Band On The Run album and needed the new drummer and additional guitarist for concerts.
The film will have an introduction by Paul McCartney that will also feature previously unseen Polaroid photos from 1974.
Tickets are being pre-sold for the September 26th screenings. No word yet about when One Hand Clapping might be available for streaming. Normally, screenings are a way to have a theatrical release prior to a film appearing on a streaming platform.
Extra: For more information and my review of the album One Hand Clapping, here’s the link. https://ontherecords.net/2024/06/lennon-mccartney2024-releases/