The 1979 album Paul McCartney conceded was a “complete disaster”
Paul McCartney operates in a league of his own when it comes to adulation in the music industry and is among the most respected artists who remain working today.
The fact that we are all still fortunate to live in a time when he continues to tour and record albums despite being in his 80s is something that nobody no longer takes for granted. For many, McCartney exists in an exclusive club above scrutiny, and the idea of him being a figure of ridicule seems ludicrous. However, for a time, he was precisely that.
While in the 1960s, nothing came easier to McCartney than writing a hit song, it didn’t last forever. No matter what he tried, it was a resounding success that connected with fans, who went out in their droves to purchase a copy and plant the new release at the top of the charts. In fact, he had so many songs in his arsenal that McCartney was wilfully donating them to his friends, giving a leg up to the likes of Peter and Gordon and The Rolling Stones.
Although he never chased chart success, it seemed to follow McCartney everywhere he went, leading to it becoming the norm. He even found transitioning from the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed band of all time easy with Wings, and seemingly, the good times would never stop.
During their time together, Wings was a vehicle that allowed McCartney to have bags of fun while also accumulating more success, releasing seven albums, four of which topped the charts in the United States. They were the perfect foil for his artistry during the bulk of the 1970s; however, the group’s final record, Back To The Egg, marked the beginning of their inevitable split.
By this point, McCartney had almost two decades of experience under his belt, and deep down, he knew Back To The Egg wasn’t the same calibre as his previous work. His gut feeling was echoed by scathing reviews of the record in the press, which were dissatisfied with his attempts at new-wave. Although commercial success isn’t always a thorough metric to measure art, Back To The Egg was the lowest-charting record from Wings’ catalogue since their debut in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
Rather than shift the blame, McCartney accepted that the record’s relative failure rested on his shoulders. He even spoke negatively about Back To The Egg before it was released, giving everyone else a free pass to join the pile-on.
In an interview with Reverb, McCartney looked back upon the record and remembered: “The interesting thing is that, looking back on some of the work, some of the stuff, it’s better than you think it was, but because it got such harsh criticism … from me. The critics gave us a hard run, but I was particularly hard on us. I remember looking at a book, there was an album we did, I think it was Back to the Egg, which didn’t do well, and I remember thinking, ‘God, complete disaster.'”
For many years, it was a disaster in McCartney’s eyes. However, time is the greatest healer, and his stance later softened on the record. As much as he knows it’s far from his best work, it does still have highlights like ‘Getting Closer’ and ‘Arrow Through Me’. While the chart position was not as high as he’d have wanted, he’s Paul McCartney, and one bad record will never define his legacy.
It was a conversation with David Bowie that led McCartney to see the error of his ways, stating, “Years later, I remember looking at it with Bowie in this old book – one of these who-did-what Hit Parade books, looking it up – and it was like No. 8 in America. And I thought, ‘Most people would give their right bloody arms to be No. 8.’ But eight, and I wasn’t satisfied, The Beatles had been No. 1. This is all right, keeps you going. But yes, a lot of the stuff is underrated, because of that.”
Back To The Egg wasn’t as bad as McCartney initially believed, nor was it received as horrendously as he thought; it was still a signifier that Wings were heading towards the exit door. Furthermore, their UK tour for the album was similarly ill-fated, suggesting that their time had been and gone.
While Wings were once the ideal vessel for him following the death of The Beatles, the time had now come for McCartney to fly solo. More records that didn’t quite hit the heights he’d have liked have followed, but for decades, he’s been in a position where artistic fulfilment is the only thing that matters rather than public perception.
