Band on the Run: A History of Paul McCartney and Wings

by Garry McGee

Overview

After the breakup of the Beatles in 1971, Paul McCartney formed Wings with his wife Linda on keyboards, ex-Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine, and American session drummer Denny Seiwell. For ten dramatic and turbulent years, the band weathered the critics, endured pot busts, survived a harrowing recording stint in Nigeria, changed drummers constantly, and produced a great deal of remarkable music. McGee's tale of one of the most successful bands of the seventies—the first book to focus exclusively on Paul's post-Beatles years-tells the stories behind the #1 hits "Listen To What the Man Said," "My Love," "Band on the Run," "Jet," "With a Little Luck," and "Coming Up." McGee reveals the band's inner dynamics and its relationship with the press and public, examining Paul's determination to pursue a new sound, the criticisms Linda initially got from fans and bandmates, and the character conflicts that kept the lineup changing.
Appendices include interviews with former Wings guitarist Henry McCullough, a complete discography, a list of singles with Paul's comments on each, and rankings from the sales charts. Band on the Run also includes a trove of rare Wings promotional material—album covers, posters, ads, and candid photos of the band on tour.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780878333042
Publisher:	Taylor Trade Publishing
Publication date:	03/11/2003
Edition description:	1ST TAYLOR
Pages:	284
Sales rank:	1,075,550
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

Garry McGee was born and raised in Iowa and is a 1992 graduate of Iowa State University with a BA in Telecommunicative Arts. While there he took classes under such luminaries as Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley and Lee Hadley of the Hadley Irwin writing team. He worked in the Los Angeles film industry for several years and is currently producing a documentary on the last surviving hotel designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. He lives in Mason City, Iowa.

Editorial Reviews

Band On The Run successfully strives to present an accurate portrait of Paul McCartney, the Wings band, and their musical contirbution to popular culture in the twentieth century.

Bookwatch

McGee's done his homework, and he has a vast, amazing array of memorabilia... A fun look at a talented (but not always loved) musician.

Mundane Sounds - Joseph Kyle

As a book-length exploration of McCartney's first post-Beatles band, this is the stuff.

Booklist

As a book-length exploration of McCartney's first post-Beatles band, this is the stuff.

Booklist

McGee's done his homework, and he has a vast, amazing array of memorabilia... A fun look at a talented (but not always loved) musician.
— Joseph Kyle

Mundane Sounds

In the mid-1970s, Paul McCartney found some brief, post-Beatles success with Wings. Originally consisting of McCartney, wife Linda, and former Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine, the band pleased both critics and fans with Band on the Run, which was recently rereleased. McGee, who has worked in the film industry for several years, has written a fan's notes on the band's approximate ten-year life span (1971-81) through breakups, arrests, and infighting. Drawing on previously published articles, he chronicles already well-known stories about the band members' denigration of Linda's musicianship, Paul's ego and control over the music, Laine's high-profile split with McCartney, and the McCartneys' constant marijuana use that once got the band kicked out of Japan. In addition, McGee provides brief but graceless and uncompelling analyses of each single and album, as well as exhaustive lists of the band's official permutations, concert tours, album releases and single releases, Grammy nominations and awards, and presence on the U.S. and U.K. record charts. Overall, fans will find no new information about McCartney and Wings here; the lack of interviews with McCartney or Laine means that this book is neither useful nor definitive. Not recommended.-Henry L. Carrigan Jr., Lancaster, PA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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