Review Summary: Venus and Mars are alright tonight? Well, thanks to this album’s excellence, so is Earth
After the fantastic “Band on the Run” from less than 2 years prior to this album, it was becoming more clear as time went on that Wings was going to have the potential to be another legendary band like the Beatles—all with one guy being in and writing for both of them. Sure, “Wild Life” may have been just okay at best, but the likes of the underrated “Red Rose Speedway” and the aforementioned exceptional “Band on the Run” made it to where things were looking great for Macca’s second huge band. And even though Wings wouldn’t quite make it to that legendary status in the long run, they’re still remembered as a damn good underrated band by many, nonetheless—myself included. And this album would help continue to cement that forever, as this very well might be the band at their peak. While some could argue it’s not as straightforward as “Band on the Run”, it has it’s own qualities that make it every bit as good, but for different reasons. In fact, some aspects are simply better than anything the band has done previously.
One of those aspects is diversity. That’s not to say any of the previous albums had none, but I feel this one pulls it off the most flawlessly. And that’s because even though it has a lot of variety, it all still comes together as one complete package, and a damn fun one at that. Whether it be the hard rockin’ “Rock Show” and “Medicine Jar”, the beautifully hypnotic title track (both versions) and “Love in Song”, the adorable and wonderful ragtime dance callback “You Gave Me the Answer”, the bouncy and hooky “Magneto and Titanium Man” and “Listen to What the Man Said” (the former being awesome comic book references), the slower, yet soulful “Letting Go”, the bluesy and ambiguous “Spirits of Ancient Egypt”, the boisterous and heartfelt “Call Me Back Again”, the beautiful and mature “Treat Her Gently - Lonely Old People”, or the rockin’, yet orchestral instrumental “Crossroads” that wonderfully closes the album, there’s more than enough here to warrant this album having something for everyone—and yes, I did just cover the whole track list in one overly long sentence. And while I may have included two songs in some of the examples I gave, there’s still no song here that sound quite the same as any other on this album.
And it’s not just diversity that this album excelled at. It’s the writing, as well. It was clear that Macca and company wanted to go above and beyond compared to their last album. And they did that by not just incorporating more diversity, but some more themes as well. Examples being the aforementioned comic book inspired “Magneto and Titanium Man”, as well as the aforementioned rocker and tragically ironic anti-drug song “Medicine Jar” sung by Jimmy McCulloch, who passed away far too young due to heart failure brought on from morphine and alcohol poisoning. Still a great song, and one good way to help cement his legacy as an underrated rock musician. That’s not all though. Even love songs like “Spirits of Ancient Egypt” and “Listen to What the Man Said” have themes of their own to push the creativity of them as high as possible—much like the rest of the album. Mix all of that with every song having excellent hooks, and what you’ve got here is a collection of songs that really really work.
Overall, it’s a damn shame how mixed the reception of this album seems to have been, because there’s really nothing about it I dislike. The music is great, the composition is superb—even from Denny Laine and Jimmy McCulloch, the production is consistently great, the structure is solid, and the focus is still there. It is one of the most creative and rewarding albums I’ve ever heard at this point, and one that I’m happy to see get more attention as time goes by. Do yourself a favor and check this out, because this is one hell of a rock show that will prove difficult in letting go, as it’ll give you the answer to what a mid ‘70s masterclass is—regardless of what some critics may say.
