The Sound of ‘One Hand Clapping’: Legendary Paul McCartney & Wings Concert Special Gets Debut Standalone Audio Release
One of Paul McCartney’s oft-bootlegged live performances will finally get an official release this summer: the soundtrack to his 1974 “rockumentary” One Hand Clapping.
This acclaimed performance with Wings, recorded at Abbey Road Studios in the wake of the release of Band on the Run, will be available June 14 on two CDs or two LPs, featuring the 15 songs used in the special and another disc of 12 songs recorded during the four-day session that birthed the program. A bonus 7″, available exclusively with online orders, will include a further six solo performances by McCartney, recorded on the final day in the backyard at Abbey Road and featuring versions of “Blackbird,” “Country Dreamer” and a few snippets of covers (“Twenty Flight Rock,” “Peggy Sue”). A Dolby Atmos mix by Giles Martin and Steve Orchard will be available to stream as well.
Though 10 of these tracks have been included as bonus cuts on entries in the former Beatle’s 2010s-era reissue campaign The Paul McCartney Archive Collection, this is the first time the One Hand Clapping audio has been released on its own and in proper context. Returning in August 1974 to the legendary London studio where nearly all of The Beatles’ discography was cut to tape, McCartney and Wings – his wife Linda on keyboards, guitarists Denny Laine and Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Geoff Britton – had just come off a fruitful Nashville session that produced a future U.S. hit single (“Junior’s Farm”), while Band on the Run – Wings’ third album – was in the middle of a seven-week run atop the U.K. charts, definitively proving McCartney’s post-Fabs career was safely assured.
With director David Lichtfield and an assortment of guest musicians – an orchestra conducted by Del Newman, saxophonist Howie Casey (who contributed memorably to Band on the Run) and the Tuxedo Brass Band – the material recorded for One Hand Clapping featured standout tracks from Band on the Run (“Jet,” “Bluebird,” “Let Me Roll It,” “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five” and the title track) along with others in McCartney’s growing solo oeuvre (“Maybe I’m Amazed,” “Live and Let Die,” “My Love,” “Hi, Hi, Hi”). A few snippets of Beatles tunes (“Lady Madonna,” “Let It Be,” “The Long and Winding Road”) were played during the sessions, along with some spirited early rock covers (“Baby Face,” “Blue Moon of Kentucky”), with Paul trading between bass, guitar and keyboards throughout.
One Hand Clapping will feature original sleeve art initially designed to promote the special for prospective broadcasters. It serves as the companion piece to this year’s 50th anniversary edition of Band on the Run, which paired the original album with an unreleased, resequenced “underdubbed” mix of the album prepared without orchestrations. You’ll be able to give One Hand Clapping a round of applause on June 14, and can pre-order it below. (As an Amazon affiliate, we earn commission from qualifying purchases at the below links.)
Paul McCartney & Wings, One Hand Clapping (MPL/Capitol/UMe, 2024)
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP/7″: Official Store
CD/LP 1
- One Hand Clapping
- Jet
- Soily
- C Moon/Little Woman Love
- Maybe I’m Amazed
- My Love
- Bluebird
- Let’s Love
- All of You
- I’ll Give You a Ring
- Band on the Run
- Live and Let Die
- Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five
- Baby Face
CD/LP 2
- Let Me Roll It
- Blue Moon of Kentucky
- Power Cut
- Love My Baby
- Let It Be
- The Long and Winding Road/Lady Madonna
- Junior’s Farm
- Sally G
- Tomorrow
- Go Now
- Wild Life
- Hi, Hi, Hi
7″
- Blackpool
- Blackbird
- Country Dreamer
- Twenty Flight Rock
- Peggy Sue
- I’m Gonna Love You Too
All tracks from CD 1 released in One Hand Clapping film, 1974
Disc 1, Tracks 1 and 14 released on Venus and Mars (The Paul McCartney Archive Collection) – MPL/Hear Music/Concord HRM-35652-00, 2014
Disc 1, Tracks 2, 7, 11 and 13; Disc 2, Track 1 and Disc 3, Track 3 released on Band on the Run (The Paul McCartney Archive Collection) – MPL/Hear Music/Concord HRM-32564-00, 2010
Disc 1, Track 5 released on McCartney (The Paul McCartney Archive Collection) – MPL/Hear Music/Concord HRM-32799-00, 2011
Disc 2, Track 4 released as PaulMcCartney.com digital bonus track to Venus and Mars (The Paul McCartney Archive Collection)
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12 thoughts on “The Sound of ‘One Hand Clapping’: Legendary Paul McCartney & Wings Concert Special Gets Debut Standalone Audio Release”
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I believe so far, all audio has been mono or taken from video (even in the official releases). Let’s see how they will do now.
I have two ONE HAND CLAPPING (audio) CD bootlegs [on different labels] from 1990 and 1994, respectively. Both are in true STEREO. I am assuming that the new Dolby Atmos mix was sourced from the original multi-tracks.
P.S. neither bootleg has the complete song content, as listed in this article
You are right, but even the released tracks sounded sourced from video. However the snippet heard on Instagram sounds amazing.
One Hand Clapping bootlegs usually split the acoustic tracks to other bootlegs (Good Times Coming, Piano Session, and I remember there was an 80s bootleg in vinyl with all the content from the 7″.).
Anyway, as a McCartney archive tradition, this is still not the complete session. Suicide is obviously missing.
No video contest? No buy then!
The ONE HAND CLAPPING video that was included with BAND ON THE RUN – Deluxe Edition (2010) — which was the first release in the Paul McCartney Archive Collection — has a running time of 51 minutes, 49 seconds. So, it appears that the (audio) material included in the upcoming release runs longer than that video.
Remember when CDs, which can hold more music would have bonus tracks not on the LP?
Now it’s vinyl-only bonus tracks. Huzzah. CD buyers get screwed again.
This is lousy trend to have bonus tracks relegated to vinyl only. No better than the Flowers in the Dirt SDE fiasco, really. Thanks, Paul.
I welcome these release like I welcome all McCartney archive with a small a releases. But it begs:
a) Why has this release of One Hand Clapping not got all the tracks on the CD issue? Instead a host of tracks have been syphoned off to a 7 inch single making for another untidy, incomplete release.
b) What has happened to the McCartney Archive series? And does anyone at MPL really care? As it stands the Archive has left with major holes in it which undermines the entire idea of an Archive series.
c) In particular will we ever see the last Wings albums: ‘London Town’ and ‘Back to the Egg’ which we have been waiting five years for?
Will anyone at MPL have the good manners, professionalism and care for the fans to let us know! Some hope!
“London Egg” please!
Terrible artwork.
It’s the original artwork – A Paul’s original, in fact.
paul has one thing on his mind and thata $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$