Wings – Band On The Run

Biography
Wings, also known as Paul McCartney and Wings, were an Anglo-American rock band formed in 1971 by former Beatle Paul McCartney with his wife Linda on keyboards, session drummer Denny Seiwell, and former Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine. Wings were noted for frequent personnel changes as well as commercial success, going through three lead guitarists and four drummers. However, the core trio of the McCartneys and Laine remained intact throughout the group’s existence. Created following the McCartneys’ 1971 album Ram, the band’s first two albums, Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway (the latter featuring guitarist Henry McCullough), were viewed as artistic disappointments beside Paul McCartney’s work with the Beatles. After the release of the title track of the James Bond movie Live and Let Die, McCullough and Seiwell resigned from the band. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wings

Album & Cover
Band on the Run is the third studio album by Paul McCartney and Wings, released in December 1973. It marked the fifth album by Paul McCartney since his departure from the Beatles in April 1970. Although sales were modest initially, its commercial performance was aided by two hit singles – “Jet” and “Band on the Run” – such that it became the top-selling studio album of 1974 in the United Kingdom and Australia; in addition to revitalising McCartney’s critical standing. It remains McCartney’s most successful album and the most celebrated of his post-Beatles works. The majority of Band on the Run was recorded at EMI’s studio in Lagos, Nigeria, as McCartney wanted to make an album in an exotic locale. Shortly before departing for Lagos, however, drummer Denny Seiwell and guitarist Henry McCullough left the group; with no time to recruit replacements, McCartney went into the studio with just his wife Linda and Denny Laine, doubling on drums, percussion and most of the lead guitar parts himself as well as bass.[4] On arriving, it was discovered that the studio was below standard, and conditions in Nigeria were tense and difficult; the McCartneys were robbed at knife-point, during which a bag containing unfinished song lyrics and demo tapes was taken. After the band’s return to England, final overdubs and further recording were carried out at AIR Studios in London. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Band_on_the_Run

Fashion photographer Clive Arrowsmith took the photograph for the front of this album, while Hipgnosis hired the actors and directed the shoot and putting all the artwork together. It wasn’t a very Hipgnosis cover because Paul McCartney wanted total control and his ideas only…a control freak. The cover, in my opinion, did not do the music on the album any justice, it was/is a great record. Geoff Halpin did the text for the title. 

Cover Location:
Who Did What: Cover Design – P. & L. McCartney. Photography – C. Arrowsmith. Art Direction – Hipgnosis
Label: Apple SO-3415(US), Apple PAS 10007(UK)
Source: Vinyl. Album. Cover. Art, The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue: Aubrey Powell

Tracklist

Credits
Engineer – Geoff Emerick
Performer – Denny Laine, Linda McCartney
Producer – Paul McCartney
Saxophone – Howie Casey
Written-By – Laine (tracks: B2), McCartney