 "Longtime favorite well worth the listen" | 2008-08-23 |
| - Reviewed By bekintex |
I'm trying to fill in my CD collection since the prices have gotten so low. I'm not sure why I never moved this album from vinyl to CD, but finally did it and I'm glad I did.
"Band on the Run" isn't my favorite McCartney CD, but it does have some of my favorite songs on it, including:
Band on the Run
1985
Jet
With the extended version, this CD is well worth the price and a nice addition to the collections of Beatle fans.
Rebecca Kyle, August 2008 |
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 "WINGS FLYING HIGH" | 2008-08-21 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1LZ4Q5FQ6IUM2 |
| Band On The Run,McCartney's best solo album,along with Ram,McCartney carried on the idea of Sgt. Pepper having celebrities in the background of this conspicuous cover,with Linda,James Coburn,Christopher Lee and other known actors,making this the second best cover in rock-n-roll,Band On The Run recorded in Lagos,Africa with x-Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine,a great masterpiece was created with catchy tunes,consisting of McCartney originals,Band On The Run,Jet,Drink To Me(Picasso's Last Words),Mrs. Vanderbilt,Bluebird,Let Me Roll It,and others,every song a winner,this mini box set contains two disc,the original album and disc two features interviews with the musicians and celebrities,a McCartney masterpiece. |
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| "Second-best Beatles solo effort" | 2008-04-20 |
| - Reviewed By tsull325 |
This is Paul McCartney's best ever solo album, and for Beatles fans, the second-best solo album of the four, George Harrison's epic "All Things Must Past" is, in my opinion, the best fab four solo album.
"Band on the Run" isn't that far back. Paul shows why he's simply the best popular music writer who ever lived. These songs flow right along from the great hits to the excellent album tracks, really not a bad tune in the bunch.
The title track is epic Paul at his storytelling best. Much like "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey," the title track tells a story and has an intro, bridges, and a great finale. Yes, it was greatly overplayed in the 70's and even today, but it really holds up. Today's songwriters should take note: This song is an example of how you tell a story, instead of just those songs pining for lost love. Paul tells an interesting tale of a band.
Moving right into "Jet" -- Paul's favorite concert tune, he plays it at all of his shows, a real hard rocker and a lot of fun. Yep, I don't know what the lyrics mean either, so be it.
"Bluebird" is a wonderful, beautiful ballad ... Paul can write those, too, of course. "Mrs. Vanderbilt" is a bit whimisical, like the later tunes on this CD, but it sounds nice.
"Let Me Roll It" is one of the best album tracks in the history of Rock N'Roll. I haven't checked the liner notes on whether it's Paul or Denny Lane playing that unreal, catchy guitar hook, but it's an all-timer. Another great one played in concert.
"Maumunia" is a pleasant, soft song, and "No Words" is a short, fine piece ended at the right time. "Helen Wheels" is back to straight forward rock n'roll and was a nice hit for Paul and Co. "Picasso's Last Words" is just a drinking tune, nothing special, but kind of funny. Nineteen hundred and eighty-five is another whimisical song, probably could've ended with something better.
Nevertheless, a great album, a true treasure lost in the annals of time and should get more recognition as a masterpiece. |
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| "LIKE A LOT." | 2008-03-11 |
| - Reviewed By User: ANWZ9UJZ71CL7 |
| IT's funny I love this cd but I think wings had better lps than this one. Put it still is great. |
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| "Best Wings Record" | 2007-11-30 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1N69F7WVWJDLM |
| Every track on this album is good if not great. If you are an ultimate fan of Paul McCartney, get the 25th anniversary issue for the interviews. If you don't care for the extras, get this. The songs "Band On The Run" and "Jet" are worth the price of the CD alone. If you are only to get one Paul McCartney album, get this one. |
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| "Band on the Run 25th Anniversary Edition" | 2007-11-20 |
| - Reviewed By User: A276M3NSIY9B82 |
ESSENTIAL ALBUM!!! This is Macca's best album, ever! Of all the albums released by the former Beatles, this one is the closest thing to what the Fab Four did together. Band on the Run topped the charts at #1, it was his third album to do so. Three singles were released from this album, "Band on the Run" which went to #1, his third single to do that, "Helen Wheels" peaked at #10 & "Jet" which peaked at #7. In just three short years the former Beatle was proving himself to be the most successful of the Fab Four.
Band on the Run is one of Sir Paul's most adventurous albums. The story behind the recording of the album is no less entertaining. The majority of this album was recorded in Lagos, Nigeria. When Paul had heard that EMI (Capitol Records) was building a studio there he wanted to put it to use. Upon announcing this to his bandmates his drummer & lead player decided they didn't want to go. McCartney, always a difficult person to deal with, decided to go ahead & record the album with only himself, wife Linda & Denny Laine. When they arrived in Lagos Paul found the studio not completed (they would be the first musicians to record there), many Nigerians were upset thinking they were there to 'steal' their music, transportation & housing were atrocious & the government itself in a state of flux. I mention all these things to show how difficult it was to record this album &, yet, it is, almost without any doubt, the best album he recorded. He did this under all these pressures; actually playing all the instruments except for Linda on synthesizers & Laine on rhythm guitar.
Band on the Run doesn't have a weak song on it, I wouldn't consider a single song here to be filler. And as adventurous as the song "Band on the Run" is & acknowledging that it was a #1 single, it's actually the weakest song here. The album opens with the title track followed by "Jet" one of his solid rockers. Then comes "Bluebird", one of his absolute best album tracks, it could have been a single. It's chorus is dynamic, has great harmonies & an incredible sax solo in it. "Mrs. Vanderbilt" follows, though it might be the next weakest song from the album it is, nonetheless, an entertaining piece. "Let Me Roll It" is also one of the best album tracks he ever recorded, it's another song that could have been released as a single. Played in 6/8 gives it a very special feel, Paul plays a very distorted lead guitar. With the reverb drenched vocal & distorted guitar, that, in some ways, reminiscent of Lennon's "Cold Turkey", one can see why some consider this song as a McCartney tribute to a former Beatle. "Mamunia" is a beautiful ballad that has some impressive lyrics, something that McCartney has received much criticism about. "No Word" co-written with Laine, is next that's another solid piece of creativity. Then there's "Helen Wheels", a song about his sand buggy, a play on words, & one of the best leads recorded by him. One of the amazing things about this song is that it hasn't a single chord change! It's a solid piece of recording studio wizardry; McCartney is acknowledged by many in the business at being sheer genius at this. Then there's "Picasso's Last Words", a song suggested by Dustin Hoffman, that has several different movements & speed changes. It's another piece of studio wizardry. The album closes with "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five", another one of Paul's best album tracks. He plays piano to great effect & is an incredibly rocking song. Unfortunately, this song has the sort of lyrics that McCartney is constantly criticized over; they don't make any sense. This is another one of those cases by him where he's more concerned about the lyric scansion than the lyrical sense; they sound good & they flow extremely well. Because it's such an incredible song I'm willing to forgive him for what could be considered to be a weak set of lyrics.
The 25th Anniversary Edition of Band on the Run includes a bonus disc. It's unfortunate for the fan, though, because it's one of those things that you'll play one time & then never pull it out again. I say unfortunate because we're paying for this bonus disc &, though it has a lot of informative insights on it, it's just not worth the price. It's the kind of stuff that could have been included in the accompanying booklet. Disc two contains mostly interviews (and some music) with Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, Denny Laine, Geoff Emerick (recording engineer), Tony Visconti, Al Couri, Clive Arrowsmith, James Coburn, John Conteh, Kenny Lynch, Michael Parkinson, Christopher Lee, Clement Freud & Dustin Hoffman. They discuss various aspects of recording, producing & engineering on the album. Some of the interviews discuss how the various personalities were assembled for the cover photo shoot. Out of the 21 tracks listed on this disc we only get four complete songs & all of them were recorded at rehearsals. I wouldn't have minded these four songs as bonus tracks attached at the end of the original release but most of the rest is entirely dispensable as sound recordings. There are plenty of song fragments also within the interviews that might have been interesting if we had gotten the entire song. The booklet comes with a good set of liner notes & song lyrics. There's also a mini poster that has a lot of photographs while they were in Lagos, Nigeria. This is great because the original LP came with this item.
Unless you're one of those fans that want everything available by Sir Paul don't get this. You can still get this cd without the extras & save yourself a few dollars. I'm one of those that just had to have this though. |
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