venus and mars

Paul McCartney and Wings found a way to go into alignment (no matter what the man said) with the rock show relics and magnetic melodicism of this strange vacation.  After the critical and commercial success of 'Band on the Run' the trio of Paul and Linda McCartney and Denny Laine expanded to include guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Geoff Britton.  Paul wanted to record in New Orleans in late 1974, but when Laine had trouble getting a visa, they started out recording at Abbey Road Studios in London.  When the project got to Louisiana, Britton was replaced by local musician Joe English.  The sessions took place at Allen Toussaint and Marshall Sehorn’s Sea-Saint Recording Studio in Gentilly while the band stayed at Le Richelieu Hotel in the French Quarter.  

Paul says:   "I'd never been to New Orleans, except on tour when we never saw anything except the inside of a trailer. The only thing I remembered about New Orleans was the vibrator bed in the motel and it was sweating hot. So we went down to New Orleans in search of a musical town and the weather. Then we found out Mardi Gras was on while we were there. I'd written most of the stuff before we got there and Jimmy had written one of the tracks with a mate of his. We'd been in Jamaica before we went to New Orleans and for the first time ever, I'd got all the songs together like a scroll that went from here to the end of the room. So I had all that together and we just went and turned up and started recording. With this new album I did this scroll thing and sat down and put one song there, and another song here. Fiddle about. Fiddle about. The only time I've done this before was on the mini-opera on Abbey Road, the only time I've sat down with four sheets of paper and put them in order."

'Venus and Mars'  features Paul McCartney on vocals, bass, guitars, keyboards, and piano;   Linda McCartney on keyboards and backing vocals;  Denny Laine on vocals, guitars, and keyboards;   Jimmy McCulloch on guitars and vocals;  Joe English on drums and percussion;  and  Geoff Britton and drums;   with  Kenneth "Afro" Williams on congas;  Dave Mason on guitar;  Tom Scott on saxophone;  and  Allen Toussaint on piano.  Additional recording took place at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco.  

Paul reveals:    ''When we had a party in the States to celebrate having finished the album, someone came up to us and said 'Hello, Venus. Hello, Mars.' I thought, 'Oh. no.'' When I write songs, I'm not necessarily talking about me, although psychoanalysts would say 'Yes, you are, mate.' But as far as I'm concerned, I'm not.  The song 'Venus and Mars' is about an imaginary friend who's got a girl friend who's into astrology, the kind of person who asks you what your sign is before they say hello. That's it, 'a good friend of mine studies the stars.' In fact, in the first verse, it's 'a good friend of mine follows the stars,' so it could be ambiguous, a groupie or an astrologer...I didn't even know they were our neighbouring planets. I just thought of naming any two planets. What were the first that came to mind? I thought, Jupiter, no, that doesn't fit... Saturn... no... Venus and Mars... that's great, I'll just put those in. Later, it turns out they've just done an eclipse, Venus and Mars have lined themselves up for the first time in something like a thousand years. I didn't know they were the gods of love and war, either, and I wasn't thinking about the Botticelli picture someone ( George Melly) asked about ... I know it's sort of a rock-and-roll album but' there's other things I like that aren't necessarily rock-and-roll.  On this LP I thought I'd like to get some of that in, so 'You Gave Me the Answer' is real fruity, imagining tie and tails, my impression of the Fred Astaire era ... ["Magneto and Titanium Man"] Yes, that's about Marvel Comics. When we were on holiday in Jamaica, we'd go into the supermarket every Saturday, when they got a new stock of comics in. I didn't use to read comics from eleven onwards, I thought I'd grown out of them, but I came back to them a couple of years ago. The drawings are great. I think you'll find that in twenty years time some of the guys drawing them were little Picassos. I think it's very clever how they do it. I love the names, I love the whole comic book thing...And I've been reading a bit of science fiction, things like Foundation by Asimov. I love the scope of it, the vision of it, because you can write anything. The second time 'Venus and Mars' comes around, it says 'Sitting in the hall of the Great Cathedral/Waiting for the transport to come.' That's like in science fiction books, waiting for the space shuttle. 'Starship 21ZNA9,' that's the kind of thing you'll find in Asimov. I like that, sitting in the Cathedral, really waiting for the saucer to come down, to take him off to Venus and Mars or whatever." 

'Venus and Mars'  reached number eleven in Germany and Italy; nine in Japan; five in the Netherlands; two in Australia; and number one in Canada, France, Norway, the UK, and the US.  






http://www.paulmccartney.com/









"Listen to What the Man Said" was a top ten hit around the globe, and a number one smash in Canada and the US.  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRT3V-q_gBI





"Letting Go"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvTF_njw5ps





"Junior's Farm" – 4:23
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CThnAJHMlao



"Lunch Box/Odd Sox"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eigBceZqbU










'Venus and Mars'  
full album:




All songs written by Paul and Linda McCartney (listed as "McCartney"), except as noted.

1. Venus and Mars 0:00
2. Rock Show 1:17
3. Love in Song 6:48
4. You Gave Me the Answer 9:57
5. Magneto and Titanium Man 12:12
6. Letting Go 15:30

Side Two
7. Venus and Mars (Reprise) 20:02
8. Spirits of Ancient Egypt 22:07
9. Medicine Jar  (Jimmy McCulloch, Colin Allen) 25:01
10. Call Me Back Again 28:36
11. Listen to What the Man Said 33:22
12. Treat Her Gently/Lonely Old People 37:16
13. Crossroads Theme (Tony Hatch)  41:39

band on the run

Paul McCartney & Wings defied death and dissolution in Africa to produce the ecstatic escapism of this enduring classic.  Unsatisfied with the critical response to 'Wild Life' and 'Red Rose Speedway', McCartney decided he wanted to change things up and record in a more exotic location than London.  After looking over a list of international studios from EMI, he was taken with the idea of going to Lagos in Nigeria.  Not all of the members of Wings were as keen on the idea.  Paul says:   "A couple of the guys [lead guitarist Henry McCullough and drummer Denny Seiwell] left the band the night before we went to Lagos to make the record. That was like a bombshell. You can imagine me getting off that phone call: it was like, ‘Ah. Okay. Try and hold your nerve; try and keep it together. What do we do now? Sod it, we’re going’. And at that moment it was one of those, ‘I’ll show you. I will make the best album I’ve ever made now. I will put so much effort into it because I wanna just prove that we didn’t need you guys’...I don’t think the actual record is that angry. The first week of the record I felt pretty angry. You know what though? The truth is I get over things like that quite quickly. I mean, that night it was like, ‘Shit’. It was bad - two of your band has just left, and the drummer as well; he was fairly central. But Denny can play guitar - that wasn’t too bad - and then I just thought, ‘Well, I’ve done ‘McCartney’; I can drum, I can do this and that, and we’ll just completely rethink the whole thing’. But it was full of difficulties...We hadn’t actually rehearsed everything up with the band yet - we were gonna arrange them there - but I had it all planned in my head. And yeah, we did just have to think... particularly the recording method: that had to be different. We would just get the three of us - me, Linda and Denny - to do a track and get the basis of the song, and then I would do back in and add the missing parts. You did have to rethink what you were doing. I think the songs themselves were the same - it was the instrumentation and the arrangements that [changed]. But in a way I found that to be quite a good thing, because stripping things back is never the worst idea."

There were numerous challenges for the trio.  The country was run by a corrupt military dictatorship that did nothing to improve the standard of living in the country despite the enormous profits being made through oil production.  The studio on Wharf Road in the suburb of Apapa had a faulty control desk and only one Studer 8-track tape machine.  One night, Paul and Linda were mugged at knifepoint while out walking and a bag with demo tapes and a notebook full of lyrics was taken along with their other valuables.  On another occasion, Paul fainted from exhaustion and stress.  Nigerian Afrobeat star Fela Kuti accused the group of trying to steal African music and showed up at the studio where they played the tapes for him to prove to him that it was not the case.   Ginger Baker invited them to record at his ARC Studio in Ikeja, where the band was staying, and they went there for one day, recording one song.  When the album was done, they returned to London to do orchestral overdubs at Abbey Road Studios.  

'Band on the Run' features Paul McCartney on vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, piano, keyboards, drums, and percussion; Linda McCartney on keyboards and vocals; and Denny Laine on vocals;  acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, and percussion;    with Howie Casey on saxophone;  Ginger Baker and Remi Kabaka on percussion; Tony Visconti on orchestrations; Ian and Trevor on backing vocals; and Geoff Emerick as producer and sound engineer.  The album was an enormous success, going to number eighteen in Italy; fifteen in Germany; eleven in Japan; eight in Sweden; five in the Netherlands; four in Belgium; and number one in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, the UK, and the US.   The iconic album cover features Paul, Linda, and Denny;  with Michael Parkinson, Kenny Lynch, James Coburn, Clement Freud, Christopher Lee, and John Conteh.  







http://www.paulmccartney.com/

http://www.paulmccartney.com/albums/10444-band-on-the-run






McCartney interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfQaqJn7dC8











"Band on the Run" was a number one hit in Canada, New Zealand, and the US.  Paul says it harkens back to the Beatles:   "It was symbolic: 'If we ever get out of here... All I need is a pint a day'. It was feeling like that, the whole thing. Because we’d been...if you think about it, we’d started off as just kids really, who loved our music and wanted to earn a bob or two so we could get a guitar and get a nice car. It was very simple ambitions at first. But then, you know, as it went on it became business meetings and all of that, and eventually it was really not fun. You’d have to go into these meetings. So there was a feeling of ‘if we ever get out of here’, yeah. And I did." 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBX2dySWGew


Stuck inside these four walls, sent inside forever,
Never seeing no one nice again like you,
Mama you, mama you.
If I ever get out of here,
Thought of giving it all away
To a registered charity.
All I need is a pint a day
If I ever get out of here.
Well, the rain exploded with a mighty crash as we fell into the sun,
And the first one said to the second one there I hope you're having fun.
Band on the run, band on the run.
And the jailer man and sailor Sam were searching every one
For the band on the run, band on the run, band on the run, band on the run
Well, the undertaker drew a heavy sigh seeing no one else had come,
And a bell was ringing in the village square for the rabbits on the run.
Band on the run, band on the run.
And the jailer man and sailor Sam, were searching every one
For the band on the run, band on the run,band on the run, band on the run
Well, the night was falling as the desert world began to settle down.
In the town they're searching for us every where, but we never will be found.
Band on the run, band on the run
And the county judge, who held a grudge
Will search for evermore
For the band on the run, band on the run, band on the run, band on the run


"Jet" 
Paul says: "Jet was a pony in Scotland and then it morphed into a girl with marital troubles."  The song made it to the top ten on charts around the world.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8V1nFCP058






"Mrs Vandebilt" 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkcD-_SWblg




"Let Me Roll It" 
Paul says:    "‘Let Me Roll It’ wasn’t to John, it was just in the style that we did with The Beatles that John was particularly known for. It was really actually the use of the echo. It was one of those: ‘You’re not going to use echo just cos John used it?’ I don’t think so. To tell you the truth, that was more [about] rolling a joint. That was the double meaning there: 'let me roll it to you'. That was more at the back of mind than anything else." 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwesp_KgoXs






"Mamunia"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbZWZoYQ_Qo





"Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)" was inspired by a challenge from Dustin Hoffman.  It was the only song on the album recorded at Ginger Baker's studio in Ikeja.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD_8QkvnDLA






"Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c5pgo6zU10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aarB12YaAgE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xM7vq40cOU





'Helen Wheels' was released as a single before the album came out.  It did not appear on the UK release; but was included on the US version.  It went to number ten in the US and four in Canada.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_qdychzbz8







full album:



All songs written by Paul and Linda McCartney, except "No Words" by Paul McCartney and Denny Laine.

Side one
"Band on the Run" – 5:10
"Jet" – 4:06
"Bluebird" – 3:22
"Mrs. Vandebilt" – 4:38
"Let Me Roll It" – 4:47
Side two
"Mamunia" – 4:50
"No Words" – 2:33
"Helen Wheels" – 3:34 (US release)
"Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)" – 5:50

"Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" – 5:27

silly love songs

The "Cute" Beatle defied his critics with the sweetest, silliest pop confection he could whip up; and people couldn't get enough. Written with Linda and recorded with the Wings for 'Wings at the Speed of Sound', 'Silly Love Songs' not only explains his pop perspective, it embraces it. It was the leadoff single for the album and its funky little groove drove it up the charts all over the world. In the US, it first reached number one on May 22 and again on June 12 for a total of five weeks, selling over a million copies.

https://www.paulmccartney.com/

You'd think that people would have had enough of silly love songs.

But I look around me and I see it isn't so.

Some people wanna fill the world with silly love songs.

And what's wrong with that?

I'd like to know, cause here I go again

I love you, I love you,

I love you, I love you,

I can't explain the feelings plain to me, say can't you see?

Ah, she gave me more, she gave it all to me

Now can't you see,

What's wrong with that

I need to know, cause here I go again

I love you, I love you

Love doesnt't come in a minute,

Sometimes it doesn't come at all

I only know that when I'm in it

It isn't silly, no, it isn't silly, love isn't silly at all.

How can I tell you about my loved one?

How can I tell you about my loved one?

How can I tell you about my loved one?

(I love you)

How can I tell you about my loved one?

(I love you)