Back to the Egg (1979)


 
1. Reception 2. Getting Closer 3. We're Open Tonight 4. Spin It On 5. Again and Again and Again 6. Old Siam, Sir 7. Arrow Through Me 8. Rockestra Theme 9. To You 10.After the Ball/Million Miles 11.Winter Rose/Love Awake 12.The Broadcast 13.So Glad to See You Here 14.Baby's Request 15.Daytime Nighttime Suffering * 16.Wonderful Christmastime * 17.Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reggae * * CD Bonus Track

 

There was a period of about ten years that most people consider Paul McCartney's "funk", or, low point in his career. The beginning of this futile time arrived with this particular release, signifying the "return" of the band Wings, but only managed to be met with lackluster enthusiasm by just about everyone. This is probably the most unfocused thing that Paul McCartney has ever released. He's simply all over the place, and, had the majority of these songs been decent, that wouldn't have been necessarily a bad thing since McCartney was able to be successful with so many genres of music. This album just sounds like a cluttered mess.

He does manage to include a few really strong songs on this album. The fact that they're bunched together can seem as a blessing, or a curse, depending on your preferences. Again, Again and Again, Old Siam, Sir and, especially Arrow Through Me, all deserve credit of being respectable. Again, none of these songs sound like each other, which proves that McCartney's work doesn't have to be consistent on each album to be good. The rest of the material is just too scattered.

I'm not really sure what he's trying to do by including such "songs" as Reception or The Broadcast. Neither are really songs, they just sound like a newscaster and/or an interviewer talking about something that I never bothered to figure out what the point is supposed to be. It's obvious that he had spent a bit more care in the studio, even with a lot of this material, he could have produced something much more presentable.

And why is it that Paul McCartney was still putting out singles that were strong but weren't on the album released around the approximate time?? Yes, future discs would include these songs as "bonus" material, but it certainly didn't help matters at the time. The sin here is the omission of Daytime Nighttime Suffering. Fortunately it was added on a subsequent cd release. Also as a bonus on the compact disc is the every catchy-soon to be annoying holiday tune, Wonderful Christmas Time. I'm sure everyone has heard that one, so you make your own assessments of that song. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Regge is here as well. It's forgettable.

Wings would soon disband after this album, but at this point, no one really cared.

Go back to the main page
Go To Next Review