Call Me Back Again: Paul McCartney Oversees New Wings Compilation
On November 4, Paul McCartney releases Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run, an oral history of the superstar’s other band. The hardcover tome, created in collaboration with film director Morgan Neville and editor Ted Widmer, tells Wings’ story through text, photographs, a timeline, a gigography, a discography, and more. But the book is missing one thing: the music. Macca has that covered, too: on November 7, MPL, Capitol, and UMe will release the simply-titled Wings in a variety of formats.
Wings supersedes 1978’s perennial Wings Greatest as the go-to compilation for the band’s works. (2001’s Wingspan: Hits and History, despite its title, chronicled Macca’s solo material as well as that of the band.) A 32-track iteration arrives on 2 CDs, 2 LPs, or a Blu-ray (with Dolby Atmos, 5.1, and high-resolution stereo mixes) while a “highlights” version has 12 songs on 1 CD or 1 LP. All of the physical formats are accompanied by a booklet with an introduction from McCartney; the 3LP and 2CD editions have an expanded booklet (32 pages) adding photographs, artwork, and more. McCartney oversaw the package art with Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell of Hipgnosis, the same studio that designed artwork for such Wings releases as Band on the Run, Venus and Mars, and Wings Over America. Powell has also contributed album-by-album notes to the expanded booklet while Pete Paphides and Humphrey Ocean add text and original artwork, respectively.
The 32-track version of Wings tells the band’s story via songs from all of their studio albums spanning 1971’s Wild Life to 1979’s Back to the Egg; every one of those LPs originally reached the U.S. top ten, with all but Wild Life doing the same in McCartney’s native United Kingdom. Red Rose Speedway, Band on the Run, Venus and Mars, and Wings at the Speed of Sound all reached the coveted No. 1 spot in the States. The collection does a commendable job of rounding up the band’s U.S. chart singles with just a handful of moderately-charting studio tracks (“Give Ireland Back to the Irish,” “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” “Seaside Woman”) and the much more successful live versions of solo McCartney songs (“Maybe I’m Amazed” and “Coming Up”) missing from the track listing. U.K. No. 1 “Mull of Kintyre” and U.S. chart-toppers “My Love,” “Band on the Run,” “Listen to What the Man Said,” “Silly Love Songs,” and “With a Little Luck” are among the many highlights here that are still classic rock radio staples today. The new set appears to utilize the remastered versions of these tracks as assembled for the McCartney Archive Collections and various projects in recent years. Some album tracks and even the One Hand Clapping version of “Soily” add some deep-cut flavor to the expected hits and favorites.
Wings looks to be a solid overview of the music created in the wake of The Beatles’ break-up by Paul McCartney with his wife Linda, Denny Laine, and musicians including, at various times, Denny Seiwell, Henry McCullough, Jimmy McCulloch, Laurence Juber, Steve Holley, Geoff Britton, and Joe English (plus guests such as Allen Toussaint on “Rock Show” and Tom Scott and Dave Mason on “Listen to What the Man Said”). It’s due on November 7, and you’ll find pre-order links and the track listing(s) below. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Wings (MPL/Capitol/UMe, 2025)
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Blu-ray
1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
1LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
* available on 1CD/1LP edition
CD 1/LP 1 and LP 2, Side A
- Band on the Run *
- Hi, Hi, Hi
- Silly Love Songs *
- Letting Go
- Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five *
- Live and Let Die *
- Mamunia
- Junior’s Farm
- Helen Wheels
- Some People Never Know
- Let ‘Em In *
- Get on the Right Thing
- Jet *
- My Love *
- Call Me Back Again
CD 2/LP 2, Side B and LP 3
- Getting Closer
- Listen to What the Man Said *
- I’ve Had Enough
- Love is Strange
- London Town
- Arrow Through Me *
- Venus and Mars/Rock Show
- She’s My Baby
- Bluebird
- Deliver Your Children
- Let Me Roll It
- Mull of Kintyre *
- Wild Life
- C Moon
- With a Little Luck (DJ Edit) *
- Soily (from One Hand Clapping)
- Goodnight Tonight *
CD 1, Tracks 1, 5, 7 and 13 and CD 2, Tracks 9 and 11 released on Band on the Run – Apple PAS 10007 (U.K.)/SO-3415 (U.S.), 1973
CD 1, Track 2 and CD 2, Track 14 released as Apple single R5973 (U.K.)/1857 (U.S.), 1972
CD 1, Tracks 3 and 11 and CD 2, Track 8 released on Wings At the Speed of Sound – MPL PAS 10010 (U.K.)/MPL/Capitol SW-11525 (U.S.), 1976
CD 1, Tracks 4 and 15 and CD 2, Tracks 2 and 7 released on Venus and Mars – MPL/Capitol PCTC 254 (U.K.)/SMAS-11419 (U.S.), 1975
CD 1, Track 6 released on Live and Let Die (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) – United Artists UAS 29475 (U.K.)/UA-LA100-G (U.S.), 1973
CD 1, Track 8 released on Apple single R5999 (U.K.)/1875 (U.S.), 1974
CD 1, Track 9 released on Apple single R5993 (U.K.)/1869 (U.S.), 1973
CD 1, Track 10 and CD 2, Tracks 4 and 13 released on Wild Life – Apple PCS 7142 (U.K.)/SW-3386 (U.S.), 1971
CD 1, Tracks 12 and 14 released on Red Rose Speedway – Apple PCTC 251 (U.K.)/SWAL-3409 (U.S.), 1973
CD 2, Tracks 1 and 6 released on Back to the Egg – MPL PCTC 257 (U.K.)/MPL/Columbia FC 36057 (U.S.), 1979
CD 2, Tracks 3, 5, 10 and original version of 15 released on London Town – MPL PAS 10012 (U.K.)/MPL/Capitol SW-11777 (U.S.), 1978
CD 2, Track 12 released on MPL/Capitol single R6018 (U.K.)/4504 (U.S.), 1977
CD 2, Track 16 released on Venus and Mars (The Paul McCartney Archive Collection) – MPL/Hear Music/Concord HRM-35650-00, 2014
CD 2, Track 17 released on Parlophone single R6023 (U.K.)/MPL/Columbia 3-10939 (U.S.), 1979
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16 thoughts on “Call Me Back Again: Paul McCartney Oversees New Wings Compilation”
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I suppose it’s been 25 years since Wingspan, but this glorified Spotify playlist is not what fans want. The Archive Collections of London Town and Back To The Egg are long overdue, and would be better tributes to Denny Laine.
Agreed
This isn’t for fans. It’s timed to match the book, which is likely the same stories we’ve heard before, coming out two weeks before Anthology. Like Anthology? Find more about Paul by reading the book and/or listening to the band that followed.
Fans definitely want the Archives to continue. There’s also a new LP in the works too.
There’s at least *one* fan who is over the moon to have a cross-section of hits and album tracks like this available in physical hi-def Atmos for the first time.
I’m with you on that, JG. I did not start frequenting indie/used record stores until I was in college; most of my early catalogue acquisition was at Barnes & Noble or Borders. There’s (hopefully) a kid in the suburbs who’s maybe going to make their discovery about Wings through this compilation and will hopefully go back and see what’s come out, if so inclined.
(That being said, I did have a bit of a chuckle receiving a streaming-only advance link to this compilation in my inbox, loaded with masterings of tracks I can easily find and program into a playlist.)
I think that’s always so important to remember; not every title we cover here is for “us” (although I know some of us are completists!) but could still serve another purpose. With WINGSPAN long out-of-print and WINGS GREATEST HITS on the slender side, there’s something to be said for a collection such as this, which will likely find its way into Barnes and Noble, possibly Walmart and Target, maybe even one of the better FYEs. With that said…bring on the remaining Archive Collection volumes! 🙂
Absolutely – my thought exactly! This is simply the McCartney PR machine at full tilt
Yet another compilation and “Girls School” is left off. I’m a sucker for a good comp, but when you rehash the same songs over and over it seems very unnecessary.
What a waste. A Wings Singles A’s and B’s collection would have been better. What is his obsession with Soily? I’ve never liked that song. Yet another compilation without Girls School or Sally G. I could go on and on. I am passing on this collection.
James likes “Soily.” That may be why it keeps coming up.
Joe – Paragraph 2: “A 32-track iteration arrives on 3 CDs, 2 LPs, or a Blu-ray (with Dolby Atmos, 5.1, and high-resolution stereo mixes) while a “highlights” version has 12 songs on 1 CD or 1 LP.” I think that should be “2 CDs” and not “3CDs.”
That Pure McCartney collection released in 2016 did not stay in print very long.
Clearly, what the world needs is yet another Paul McCartney compilation.
Yes, but on 8 track!
I agree that the track listing is nothing to get excited about, but, I am looking forward to having Dolby Atmos mixes of the songs. IMO, this was a golden opportunity for Paul to finally issue the 1977 Wings recording of “Waterspout”, which was in a few of the [never released] COLD CUTS lineups plus (as I recall) the late 1980s ALL THE BEST compilation (where it was dropped at the last minute).
Waterspout is his best unreleased, could have been a hit, recording.