After the official breakup of The Beatles in 1970, Paul McCartney pulled himself together and released two solo albums….McCartney & Ram.
Both albums were successful commercially, #1 and #2 respectively, and both platinum. Crtics were a little harsh, although many opinions were revised years later. McCartney was truly a solo album, with Paul playing all the instruments. The main song was “Maybe I’m Amazed”. Ram was much more heavily produced, with a lot of musicians, and a #1 single, “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey”. McCartney’s wife, Linda, provided background vocals, and also received co-songwriting credit.
McCartney had a problem…he wanted to perform live, but he didn’t have a band. He also didn’t want to perform Beatles songs, because expectations would be too high. Instead, McCartney decided to start a band, and he eventually settled on the name Wings. The answer as to whether Wings was really a band will be answered soon, but first here’s how it all unfolded.
Paul McCartney added former Moody Blues guitarist & vocalist Denny Lane, session drummer Denny Seiwell, and his wife Linda on keyboards & vocals. Wings rushed out the album Wild Life (above left) in late 1971, and the band started playing small venues, often unannounced. Guitarist Henry McCullough was added, and the group toured.
In 1973, the album Red Rose Speedway was released, and although it contained a #1 song, “My Love”, the album was also considered a critical failure. The band then had a worldwide hit in 1973 with the James Bond movie theme “Live And Let Die” (with the help of producer/arranger George Martin). Things started looking up as Wings was about to record their third album, but guitarist Henry McCullough and drummer Denny Seiwell quit.
And so begins the answer to the “real band or not” question. No, Wings was not a real band. Not in the normal sense of a group of players coming together and being relative equals. McCullough and Seiwell quit mostly because they felt they were lowly-paid sidemen. That’s what Wings really was…Paul McCartney with musicians he hired. The next album would prove that Wings hardly even needed musicians except McCartney.
Band On The Run was a huge success, and is the bestselling Beatles solo album. Like on his first album, Paul McCartney played most of the instruments, but did have some help from his wife and Denny Laine (who remained with McCartney throughout the band’s existence). Here’s the list of all the albums released under the name Wings, although they were sometimes called Paul McCartney and Wings.
Besides the main three members, Paul, Linda, & Denny, here’s the breakdown of the other three lead guitarists & four drummers, and when they were with the group.
Now, the history of Wings is being celebrated with a new collection of songs, and a new book. The CD’s & Vinyl Redords will be out November 7th, 2025.
The book’s release date is November 4th. It’s over 500 pages.
The one place Wngs became a real band was in concert. Following Band On The Run and the next album, Venus And Mars, the Wings Over America Tour provided a great concert experience for McCartney fans, plus by then some Beatles songs were also performed.
But wait, there’s more. A new Paul McCartney documentary called Man On The Run will be released on Amazon Prime Video February 25th, 2026. The film mostly covers from the end of The Beatles through the 1970’s Wings era. The early reviews I’ve read say it’ll be a “must see” for McCartney fans.
Extra: The Wingspan: Hits & History collection is actually better than the new one. As you can see from my CD booklet, quite a few of the 40 songs are solo McCartney tracks that are missing from the new set.
