Waiting for the show to begin

Paul McCartney & Wings - Wings Over America - 1976

What makes a good live album?
It's a question I have asked myself a lot of times, actually. Especially because there are so few that I like a lot. Most of the time, even for those that I think are "acceptably good", the thing is that I hardly ever play them again.
I think it probably boils down to two things, at least for me: One is how well the album manages to translate the energy of a live gig. In that sense, it makes sense that I tend to prefer raw to virtuous, when it comes to live albums. Translating that energy is not always easy, and probably that's why while I can enjoy seeing pretty much anybody play live, I tend not to enjoy the albums so much.
The other thing is what happens to the songs, as in, are they somehow better in the live versions? It doesn't have anything to do with musicianship, again, but with whether or not the song sounds "edgier", somehow, in the live version.
For me, this album is a "yes" on both counts. And a really big "yes" at that. It's not one of my personal Top 3, but it comes pretty close. I love how imperfect this one is, how Paul's voice sounds ragged at times, how the choruses are not always spot on, how every song seems much rawer than their original versions. And I think they're much better off because of that.
Yes, it may be a bit long, with 30 tracks spanning about 2.30 hours of music, and not all the songs make much sense here. But the fact is that most of them actually do. And while it's a bit of a tour-de-force to listen to it in one go, I've been having a lot of fun doing so. I don't know how long it was since the last time I played the whole album, but it's definitely been one I've been coming back, in parts, consistently throughout the years.
You won't find long and amazing guitar or drum solos here, you won't also find too much interaction with the audience, and I think that would make this album even better. But I have seen Paul live, a long time after first listening to the album, and it was a brilliant and extremely fun gig, both on stage and under stage. And this album conveys that feeling perfectly.
  • The album contains five Beatles songs: "Yesterday", "Blackbird", "Lady Madonna", "The Long and Winding Road" and "I've just seen a Face". In the album, the songs appear as written by "McCartney-Lennon", reversing the convention the band had. Yoko Ono wasn't happy.
  • There's also five songs that Denny Laine sings, and one sung by Jimmy McCulloch. Think about that: those guys will get to tell their grandchildren that Paul McCartney sung backing vocals to them. Not many people can say that, not only about Paul, but about any super big star. 
  • What I think the album could do without is what used to be Side 5 in the original vinyl. It's pretty poor, and it feels like filler. Side 6 is better, but it's the only side in which the songs aren't really much better than the original ones, although they're great versions. 
  • One of the songs, "Hi, Hi, Hi" bas banned from the BBC over sexual explicit content, because the lyrics said, according to them (and to anyone who listens) "get ready for my body gun". Paul says they misheard, and that he actually said "get ready for my polygon". Because that makes a lot of sense.
  • It's a triple album, so I'm putting three songs here, trying to put some varied stuff: "Venus and Mars/Rock Show / Jet", because I think it's an awesome opening; "Go Now" a Moody Blues cover sung by Denny Laine (he was in the Moody Blues), and it's a song I absolutely love; and "The Long and Winding Road", because it's a beautiful version.



And also...

Garfield - Strange Streets - 1976

Just imagine Geddy Lee on vocals, but a version of him that uses and abuses tremolo so much that you start wondering if there's something wrong with him (like a seizure, I mean). Now imagine trembling Geddy singing Cat Stevens songs. That's pretty much what you'll have here. 
They were from Canada, I actually also have their next album. I'm not looking forward to it, but will give it a spin in a week or so, I guess. 
I'm putting the title track, just to put something.
Didn't like this one one bit. 


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