Review Summary: The Rocky Road to Redemption
Wild Life had been a bit of a flop for Paul. Charting at pretty mediocre (for a Beatle) 11 and receiving lukewarm reviews, Paul was quickly losing respect. So far, all his albums had been critically savaged for being either undercooked, ridiculously sappy or completely inconsequential (sometimes all three). With this, Wings needed a hit. Two of their first three singles had been banned by the BBC and their cover of ‘Mary Had A Little Lamb’ was critically trashed. With the mounting pressure to deliver a good product, Paul and the group decided the best way forward was to get another guitarist in, this time Henry McCullough and to deliver a double album full of hard rock, sappy ballads and some experiments. At the last minute, the album was cut down to a single record and what we got was Red Rose Speedway. Did it save Paul from the depths of mediocrity?
Red Rose Speedway feels like a collection of odds and sods despite it all being new material (except the two tracks ‘Get On The Right Thing’ and ‘Little Lamb Dragonfly’ which were taped during the RAM sessions). Originally the double album was intended to include live tracks to showcase the group’s on stage chemistry but once the 2LP set was axed, the live tracks went along with it along with 8 other tracks. Anyway, the album itself. The opener ‘Big Barn Bed’ is a stomping, chugging track with a snappy and thick bass line from Paul. The overblown, but ultimately touching snappiness of lead single ‘My Love’ is graced with a lovely solo by McCullough and a simple but affective singalong chorus. ‘Get On The Right Thing’ is a catchy and pleasant pop rock tune and ‘One More Kiss’ is a painfully sugary ballad. Side 1 ends with the grandiose folk rock ballad ‘Little Lamb Dragonfly’ is silly but actually quite heart wrenching.
Side 2 gives us the brief but nice ‘Single Pigeon’ and the flamenco flavoured ‘When The Night’, both unassuming but enjoyable tracks before finally things start to turn around. The last two tracks are ‘Loup (1st Indian On The Moon)’ and ‘Medley’ respectively. Loup itself is pretty indescribable in the words and is so un-McCartney it’s bizarre. A near 5 minute space rock bass dirge with numerous segments and a set of wordless moans from the group backing the unsettling sounds. It feels like an acid trip in space which is likely how Wings intended it to sound. The medley (Full title: ‘Medley: Hold Me Tight/Lazy Dynamite/Hands of Love/Power Cut’) is near 12 minutes and features four song segments, all from discarded and unfinished songs the group had lying here, taped together into a single song. Lyrically, McCartney has never been the wordsmith his peers were. The medley makes this especially obvious, with the Hold Me Tight and Lazy Dynamite sections being so painfully simple and repetitive it’s laughable. Hands of Love kicks things up and offers a pleasant almost funky groove before Power Cut brings back the monotony again. It wouldn’t be bad if the track was say 8 minutes shorter, but it’s one of, if not Paul’s longest tracks and it’s so so... meh.
That’s how I can describe this album best. Meh. It’s not great, it’s not terrible. It’s not anything. It just exists. Like that one sandwich at the deli that no one ever buys but they keep making them. It’s just there. Maybe I’m being too cryptic here. Maybe a bit harsh too. Red Rose Speedway has some strong songs. The first side greatly outweighs the second in quality, with tracks like Big Barn Bed, My Love, Get On The Right Thing, When The Night and Loup are all fantastic songs here with excellent playing and catchy lyrics and melodies. It’s just the rest of the material is so one note and forgettable. They’re not bad songs, in fact some of them are actually really nice (Medley not withstanding). They’re just forgettable. I doubt if you ask any McCartney fan what their favourite song by him is, that they’ll say it’s Single Pigeon or One More Kiss. And in the end, isn’t that worse than being bad? What’s good here is fantastic but what’s bad is... very boring and forgettable. A reissue is set out next month (as of this writing) which will reinstate the original double album tracks including hidden gems like ‘The Mess’ and ‘I Lie Around’. Maybe with this version, they can get on the right thing
Standout tracks
Big Barn Bed
My Love
Get On The Right Thing
When The Night
Loup
