At one point in time, between May and June of 1976, Paul McCartney’s band, Wings engaged in the 32-date American leg of their massive world-wide tour. It must have been pretty special because McCartney elected to gather recorded audio from the US tour to assemble a 3LP set named Wings Over America.
Wings Over America was released in December of 1976, just mere months after the conclusion of the full world tour (Wings Over Wembley, Oct 19-21, ’76). The complete album contained 28 carefully selected performance tracks that included a healthy mix of Wings, Beatles, and other tunes.
The album sold over 4 million copies of the expensive set in just the US alone. Needless to say, it was as successful as the tour. It could even be considered a decent trade-off for the shows if you couldn’t attend (with three shows at Chicago Stadium, I was still SOL in finding the appropriate number of tickets needed).
Recently, McCartney began an audio overhaul of his catalog titles beginning with the band’s best known album, Band On The Run, and continued with Ram, McCartney (I), and McCartney II. Wings Over America is the latest in the series titled Paul McCartney Archive Collection.
The classic set is lavishly attended to if you were to acquire the massive Super Deluxe Edition, however there are more accessible versions that include the 28-track 2CD which replicates the original release, and a 3LP digitally remastered replication of the original issue.
The 2CD set is a wallet-styled cardboard package with each of the two CDs slipped into an opening on each panel. In one of the panels is a simple 8-page booklet with a few photographs, credits, and track-listings for each CD. There’s much more to McCartney’s Rockshow, of course, as there is a DVD coming of the original theatrical film.
Sonically, the set sounds great. Fantastic even. But by now, especially if you’re a McCartney fan and are picking these Archive Collections up as they reissue, you are already well aware of how good they sound (or will sound).
Wings Over America was the remastered reissue I most looked forward to. Yes, even more than Band On The Run, Ram, and McCartney. Up next are Venus And Mars, and Wings At The Speed Of Sound.
Release Date:
Label: Hear Music
Website
Availability: 2CD, 2CD/DVD, 3LP, Super Deluxe Edition Box
–Matt Rowe
A- for the remastered sound, D for the barebones packaging for the non-deluxe edition, and F for including additional unreleased music in either package. I can’t figure out why additional music wasn’t included because I’ve read that they recorded over 70 hours of music on that tour. And the deluxe version didn’t have much extra music either. Even so I am glad I picked it up. This was first album I ever bought so it was a must buy.
I was there the second to last night of this tour at the LA Forum . The night before, Ringo came out before the last two songs, fueling speculation of a Beatles reunion. Which in 1976 was still a possibility. We were seated stage right, up high, but in position to see the band entering and exiting the stage. My friends and I had our binoculars glued on that backstage area, and to this day my buddy claims to have seen John Lennon back stage (history and fact are cruel to the delusional masses). All that aside, it was a life changing show! Of all the concerts I have been to since then, and there has been many, I have yet to see one that can match the excitement, power and pure joy that I felt that night! Oh yeah, this remastered version of the album is pretty f**king good.