Offaly music columnist reflects on the release of iconic 'Band on the Run' album

The expanded 50th anniversary edition of  'Paul McCartney and Wings’  iconic  'Band on the Run'  is out now via MPL, UMe. And Universal Music Ireland.

A fixture of all-time greatest album lists for decades, the multiple GRAMMY-winning #1 smash was originally released in December of 1973. Featuring the immortal title track, worldwide hit  Jet,  Words (Drink to Me)  and climactic closer  Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five,  Band on the Run  is undoubtedly Wings’ most successful and celebrated release ever.

The 50th anniversary edition has already received high critical praise, selected as a  “Must-have reissue”  by the Sunday Times and awarded five stars in MOJO, described as  “Wings’ future-facing magnum opus, refreshed and underdubbed for 2024”. Uncut Magazine said, "fifty years on, Macca's miracle continues to define his essence,"  in a 10/10 album review, and the Associated Press heralded  "still sounds fresh and exciting today, a half century later.”

The 50th anniversary edition of  Band on the Run  is available in a variety of formats, beginning with the essential 1LP. This special vinyl edition was cut at half speed using a high-resolution transfer of the original master tapes from 1973 by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios, London. The single vinyl album configuration mirrors the US tracklist, which features the song  Helen Wheels,  and includes a Linda McCartney Polaroid poster.

The 2LP vinyl edition features the original US album, remastered at half speed, and a second LP titled  Underdubbed  Mixes Edition, housed in a premium slipcase. The set also includes two Linda McCartney Polaroid posters.

A 2CD format features the original US album,  underdubbed  mixes, and a double-sided fold-out Polaroid poster taken by Linda McCartney. Band on the Run (Underdubbed) is also released digitally.

Speaking about the  Underdubbed  version Paul said:

“This is Band on the Run in a way you’ve never heard before. When you are making a song and  putting on additional parts, like an extra guitar, that’s an overdub. Well, this version of the album is the opposite, underdubbed.”

Band on the Run (Underdubbed)  presents  Band on the Run’s  nine classic songs for the first time without any orchestral overdubs, available digitally. The previously unreleased rough mixes were created by Geoff Emerick, assisted by Pete Swettenham at AIR Studios, on 14th October 1973. The tracklist, mirrors the original analog tapes discovered in the MPL archives.

Finally,  Band on the Run  is now available in Dolby ATMOS for the first time, newly mixed by Giles Martin and Steve Orchard.

Of the countless classic albums Paul McCartney has released throughout his illustrious career, Wings’  Band on the Run  holds a place of particularly high esteem. The album not only delivered on the promise of  Wild Life  and  Red Rose Speedway, it consolidated Wings’ status as standard bearers of ‘70s rock ’n’ roll. As the soundtrack for a decade defined by the rock radio playlists it dominated,  Band on the Run  would set the bar not only for Paul’s future efforts but also for generations of arena rock stars.

Exactly 50 years after its release,  Band on the Run  sounds as vibrant and relevant as ever, and in reaching this magnificent milestone, deserves its amazing story to be celebrated one more time.

By the summer of 1973, Paul had a fresh batch of songs earmarked for a new album. Looking through a list of EMI’s international studios, he chose Lagos, Nigeria, to be the location of its recording, becoming enthralled with the idea of recording in Africa. Just days before departure, lead guitarist Henry McCullough and drummer Denny Seiwell quit the band.

Wings were now, suddenly, a trio. Paul, his wife Linda, and band member Denny Laine (along with recording engineer Geoff Emerick) toiled in the Lagos studio’s relatively rudimentary conditions, working up the new songs over two months. Disaster struck one night when Paul and Linda were robbed at knifepoint while walking home from a friend’s house, the thieves making off with a cassette of home demo recordings of the songs. Paul was able to remember the songs as he’d only recently written them.

Noted for its suite-like structure of three distinct movements, the title track  Band on the Run  was not an obvious pop hit, but it would top the US Billboard Hot 100 and propel its parent album back up the charts, becoming a #1 smash in both the US and UK, returning to the top spot twice more in America, and becoming the best-selling studio album of 1974 in Australia, Canada, and the UK.

Band on the Run  has only grown in stature over the years. After scooping two Grammy Awards in 1975, the Deluxe Edition of  Band on the Run  was awarded a third in 2012—followed by the album’s induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2013. It is considered the definitive Wings album and a firm fan favorite as new generations discover its genius. It took until 2010 for  Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five  to be performed live, but now, as Paul’s solo career continues unabated, it is a regular presence in his live sets.

Paul recently performed songs from  Band on the Run  and across his unparalleled catalogue at shows on his acclaimed  Got Back  tour. First launching in February 2022, Paul completed 16 huge gigs across the US before performing what the Times newspaper described as the  “best gig ever”  with his history-making headline set at Glastonbury in June 2022, a show that also saw Paul team with Dave Grohl for a special duet of  Band on the Run.

The latest leg of the Got Back tour saw Paul return to Australia for his first live performances there in six years before huge sold-out stadium shows across Mexico and Brazil.

KACEY MUSGRAVES

Seven-time Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter  Kacey Musgraves  returns with her fifth studio album  'Deeper Well', out March 15th via Interscope/MCA Nashville.

Musgraves co-produced  Deeper Well  with longtime collaborators Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk. Inspired by the energy of New York City’s Greenwich Village and its rich musical history, Musgraves recorded a good portion of the new album at the legendary Electric Lady studios.

“I was seeking some different environmental energy, and Electric Lady has the best mojo. Great ghosts,”  noted Musgraves.

With her keen observations of the world and discerning eye for the subtle nuances of life, Musgraves’ lyrics serve as a lens focusing on moments of life that often go unnoticed, turning them into timeless songs that strike a chord deep within listeners. Saturn returns, cardinals embody a dead friend, love is given and taken, streets rush by, belongings are packed and old chapters deserted, new love blooms, jade bracelets serve as talismans, deep lessons emerge, small details define everything, the woods are a refuge and New York City serves as the same gleaming beacon as Oz.

While most of the fourteen tracks are penned by Musgraves with Fitchuk and Tashian, Kacey is also reunited with Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne for beautifully contemplative track “The Architect”.

Title track and first single  Deeper Well  is out now, with a companion video directed by Hannah Lux Davis (Kacey Musgraves, Ariana Grande, Doja Cat, Nicki Minaj).

On the bright, almost folky title track, Kacey surveys her life and priorities. Recognizing what feeds her, what drains her and examining what’s left behind on the way to empowerment.

“Sometimes you reach a crossroads. Winds change direction. What you once felt drawn to doesn’t hold the same allure,” Kacey went on to say, “you get blown off course but eventually find your footing and forage for new inspiration, new insight and deeper love somewhere else.”

Deeper Well  is the follow up to Musgraves’ 2021 album  star-crossed, which debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Top Albums Sales chart and earned wide critical praise.  star-crossed  is the follow up to Musgraves’ groundbreaking 2018 album  Golden Hour,  which earned Kacey her third #1 debut on Billboard’s Top Country Album chart and distinguished her as only the third artist ever to take home Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards, Country Music Association Awards and Academy of Country Music Awards.

In 2023 Musgraves achieved her first #1 entry on the Hot 100 chart for  I Remember Everything, a duet with Zach Bryan.  I  Remember Everything  is the first country music duet in forty years since Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers’  Islands in the Stream  (1983) to reach this feat.

I Remember Everything  just won the Grammy Award for Best Country Song by a Duo or Group at the 66th annual ceremony. This latest win makes Musgraves the only artist in history to receive a Grammy Award for Best Country Album, Best Country Song, Best Country Solo performance and Best Country Duo or Group performance.