“So disappointed”: The Wings album Paul McCartney considered terrible
Even artists at the very top of the game can be pulled down by statistics. While it’s impossible to truly measure the merit and worth of art, stats like sales figures or chart positions have weaselled their way in as one attempts to do so. However, as history has proven repeatedly, the selling power of an album versus its cultural legacy does not always align. That’s what Paul McCartney tried to tell himself in the late 1970s, but still, the figures got him down.
It was always going to be hard for McCartney, though. He’d been spoilt in The Beatles as not only did they reach dizzying heights, but it came as a surprise. When the band released their debut as four unknown boys from Liverpool, no one expected it to reach number one. It was the start of a history-making run, though, as the band went on to get 20 Billboard number ones, making them the artist with the most in their career. In the UK, they bagged 15 number-one albums, meaning it was rare for the Beatles to release something and not hit the charts.
When the band broke down, and he moved on to his solo projects and new groups, McCartney wasn’t quite as lucky. There was moderate success, though. Wings’ first three albums all charted in the UK and US. Band On The Run got them number one in several countries as the group finally broke through as an act in their own right, beyond being in the shadows of McCartney’s former unit. It seemed to revive them, keeping them on top for the next few albums, too.
But what comes up must come down. In 1979, when they released Back To The Egg, it not only failed to chart but was also absolutely slaughtered in the press. It was a savage reading of the record, but it was worsened not only by the fact that the band had been working on that album for a long time but also by the fact that McCartney was hitting a period of serious burnout.
“I did a bloody record a bloody year for a long time,” he said, discussing his insane output from the early 1960s through to this moment. Creatively exhausted and tired of the routine of it all, the harsh critical reception to this album was a serious blow. “Linda and I were so disappointed, thinking, ‘God, this is a terrible bloody record’”, he added as the treatment of the album got them down.
However, McCartney still believes that one day Back To The Egg will get its roses in retrospect. “My son pulled it out recently, and it’s really not as bad as I thought it was,” he said in 1997. “I think there may be some revisionism to come on these sloppy lyrics.”
Even if he admitted that perhaps he’d let some details slip, stating, “I put a lot of it down to laziness, where I just thought ‘Yeah, that’ll do.’” He still believes that there is worth to be found in this unappreciated album, as he said, “I think that sometimes I probably was right”.
