Graham Reid | | 3 min read
Soily
From time to time Elsewhere will single out a recent release we recommend on vinyl, like this reissue which comes as a double album with an insert of album credits etc.
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No less than John Lennon, Paul McCartney's immediate post-Beatles career was messy and frequently critically derided.
His 1970 McCartney album was widely dismissed and the circumstances around it – the notorious self-interview which effectively announced the end of the Beatles – tainted it even further.
His follow-up – in its orchestral embellishments the direct opposite of McCartney's lo-fi and often acoustic demo sound – was Ram and by being attributed to “Paul and Linda McCartney” many saw it as him doing a John'n'Yoko.
The album had very dismissive reviews (although in later years has been recognised as one of his best) and then he tried to get a band Wings off the ground.
Although the Wings debut Wild Life (1971) had its moments, as did the follow-up Red Rose Speedway (73), but neither could compare to Beatles albums like Abbey Road, or the best albums of his former friends: Lennon's extraordinary Plastic Ono Band and hugely popular Imagine; Harrison's massive All Things Must Pass and even Ringo's run of hit singles.
It wasn't until the Band on the Run album in late '73 that McCartney found solid ground and regained his audience.
Ironically it was borne out of trying circumstance: two Wings members quitting on the eve of departure to sessions in Lagos, the studio hired in dire condition, McCartney getting mugged there and losing lyrics and demo tapes . . .
But that album's massive success and critical acclaim buoyed him up and that confidence is evident on One Hand Clapping, an album recorded live in the studio with a newly minted Wings band in 1974.
At the time Band on the Run was topping the charts and he had a back-catalogue of solo songs to draw on. He also leaned back into his late-period Beatle classics Let It Be and the Long and Winding Road which segues into Lady Madonna as well as some hoary old favourites like Blue Moon of Kentucky (which he'd heard as a teenager sung by Elvis).
Although the sessions – intended for a film – were not released at the time, over the years they were bootlegged and a few songs appeared scattered around releases in the Archive Collection. The film was in the Band on the Run expanded Archive Collection set.
The sessions recorded over four days in Abbey Road have now been made available as a double CD and double vinyl (with more tracks).
As a snapshot of a newly confident artist with rockers in his pocket (the then-unreleased Junior's Farm, Jet, Soily, Let Me Roll It, Hi Hi Hi, Wild Life) alongside ballads (the still beautiful My Love despite its sometimes trite lyrics, Bluebird, Tomorrow) and those songs which had stood out on previous albums (Maybe I'm Amazed, Wild Life).
There's also a sense of McCartney's affection for music hall (I'll Give You a Ring which appeared much later on Tug of War, the snatch of Baby Face).
McCartney often pulled the best out of himself in a live situation, be it live in the studio like this (and CHOBA B CCP), on the road (Wings Over America, Tripping the Live Fantastic) or the one-offs like the Amoeba Gig.
One Hand Clapping may just be a space-filler until the next instalment from the Archive Collection (tipped to be the Chaos and Creation album and sessions) but it's a pleasure to hear the energy he and the band pour into the rockers and the joy he takes in just fooling around: the intro to Power Cut, Love My Baby, the somewhat arch Let It Be which he doesn't take as seriously as you might expect, the quick dismissal Long and Winding Road to get to Lady Madonna . . .
Not essential McCartney for the collection but worth hearing as a voice from half a century ago.
And it's always nice to hear Denny Laine singing Go Now.
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You can hear this on Spotify here
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