Band on the Run
I got into the Beatles just when they broke up. Therefore the early to mid-70s were all about Paul McCartney to me. He was my favorite Beatle, until I got older and appreciated the acerbic wit and angst of John Lennon (who died 38 years ago today). But lately Paul McCartney has been everywhere. At 76 he seems as ubiquitous as he was as a Beatle. He had a record to promote. So I've had occasion to realize that McCartney is probably our greatest living songwriter, at least in the pop/rock arena.
Now, he's no brilliant lyricist, but my god he could craft a melody. And I say that realizing I haven't listened to any of his output for the last forty years (the last McCartney album I bought was Londontown, and that was it for me). The man who wrote "Eleanor Rigby," "Hey Jude," "Yesterday," and "Let It Be" is a genius of any era.
Back to Band on the Run. I didn't buy the record because I didn't have the money for it, so I bought the singles of the title track and "Jet," both classic rock and roll records. I never got around to buying it on vinyl or CD, and now with the wonders of modern technology I can listen to it with a push of a few buttons on my iPhone. I already know all of the songs.
The record is something of a mixed bag, but has enough great songs to outweigh the meh ones. The title track, which kicks things off, is a suite, with three distinct movements. It's supposedly about a group of prisoners who break out of jail and escape into the desert, but of course it's surely about McCartney breaking free of the Beatles. The next song, "Jet," is one of my favorite rock songs of all time. I have no idea what it's about (Jet was the name of a pony on McCartney's farm, but this one mentions a major and a suffragette, who may be the same person). At the climax of the song, when McCartney sings:
"Jet, with the wind in your hair of a thousand laces
Climb on back and we''l go for a ride in the sky.
And Jet, I thought that the major was a little lady suffragette!
Jet!"
I get chills.
Mrs. Vanderbilt, a deliriously toe-tappable song (again, I don't know what it's about) is sheer joy, and then comes perhaps McCartney's most romantic sentiment, which is saying something, in "Let Me Roll It":
"I can't tell you how I feel
My heart is like a wheel
Let me roll it
Let me roll it you."
This very romantic song is accompanied by very a loud and distorted electric guitar, a clash that absolutely works.
The other great song is the last one, "Nineteen Hundred Eighty-Five," which seems to be another love song, but I'm not sure what the number refers to. I remember listening to it as a kid (it was the flip side of "Band on the Run") and thinking it referred to a year, which was then far off in the future. Now it is even further back in the past. It's a very weird song, with a honky-tonk piano and McCartney using his gruff, growling voice (the very same combo of "Monkberry Moon Delight," on Ram).
The other songs--"Bluebird," "Mamunia," "No Words," and "Picasso's Last Words" are average. That last one is the worst one on the album, but McCartney does something interesting--he repeats the themes of the other songs throughout.
On the American version of the album is "Helen Wheels," which is another great rock and roller. Pity they didn't include it on the remaster from 2010.
The album was basically made by three people: McCartney, his wife Linda, and Denny Laine. Two other members of Wings left the band just before recording commenced (it was recorded in Nigeria of all places) and so McCartney was pressed into double duty, playing drums, lead guitar, and bass. Of course, Stevie Wonder has made some albums where he plays all instruments.
How well I remember sitting by my stereo in my bedroom. I usually came home from school, had a snack, and then listened to music. Eventually I expanded my horizons and began listening to other artists, but for a couple of years I was all Paul's.
And yes, that's actor James Coburn on the cover.
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