Wings Greatest

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Wings Greatest
Compilation album by Wings
Released 2 November 1978 (UK)
13 November 1978 (US)
Recorded November 1970 -
January 1978
Genre Rock
Length 54:28
Label Parlophone/EMI (UK)
Capitol/EMI (US)
Producer Paul McCartney
"Live And Let Die" co-produced with George Martin
Wings chronology
London Town
(1978)		 Wings Greatest
(1978)		 Back to the Egg
(1979)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4.5/5 stars [1]
Robert Christgau B+ [2]
MusicHound 3/5 stars[3]

Wings Greatest is a compilation album by the band Wings and is their eighth album as well as Paul McCartney's 10th since leaving The Beatles. It is notable as being the first official retrospective release from Paul McCartney's post-Beatles career. Excepting interest in its vinyl LP mix, this collection has become largely irrelevant since the releases of All the Best! and Wingspan: Hits and History.

Contents

[edit] History

The LP was compiled after McCartney's decision to leave EMI's American label, Capitol Records, for a six-year stay with Columbia Records (US and Canada only), though he remained with EMI worldwide during his US sabbatical from Capitol.

Wings Greatest is notable for including many of McCartney's post-1970 single-only releases, including "Another Day" (actually a "Paul McCartney" song, not a "Wings" recording), "Live and Let Die", "Junior's Farm", "Hi, Hi, Hi" and "Mull of Kintyre". In addition to "Another Day", "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" was originally credited to "Paul & Linda McCartney" and from their 1971 album Ram.

Despite the fact that McCartney had amassed enough hits by late 1978 to fill a double album of hits, he kept it down to a single disc for commercial reasons. Thus, several songs would be overlooked for Wings Greatest. Indeed, not one song was excerpted from 1975's Venus and Mars, despite "Listen To What The Man Said" being a #1 US hit.

The album was promoted by a TV commercial in the UK, which featured several members of the public (played by actors) singing Wings tunes in public places. At the end a dustman, waiting in his lorry at a set of traffic lights (in Abbey Road), sings to himself an out of tune rendition of "Band On The Run", at which point Paul, Linda and Denny pull up alongside and Paul shouts out "You're a bit flat mate!". The driver leans out his window and says "Funny, I only checked them this morning!"[4]

Although Wings Greatest has since been superseded by 1987's All the Best! and 2001's Wingspan: Hits and History, it still stands as a representative sampler of Wings' flight.

In 1993, Wings Greatest was remastered and reissued as part of "The Paul McCartney Collection".

[edit] Track listing

Side One
No. Title Writer(s) Performer Length
1. "Another Day"   Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney Paul McCartney 3:42
2. "Silly Love Songs"   P. McCartney, L. McCartney Wings 5:52
3. "Live and Let Die"   P. McCartney, L. McCartney Wings 3:11
4. "Junior's Farm"   P. McCartney, L. McCartney Paul McCartney & Wings 4:21
5. "With a Little Luck"   P. McCartney Wings 5:45
6. "Band on the Run"   P. McCartney, L. McCartney Paul McCartney & Wings 5:10
Side Two
No. Title Writer(s) Performer Length
7. "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"   P. McCartney, L. McCartney Paul & Linda McCartney 4:48
8. "Hi, Hi, Hi"   P. McCartney, L. McCartney Wings 3:07
9. "Let 'Em In"   P. McCartney, L. McCartney Wings 5:09
10. "My Love"   P. McCartney, L. McCartney Paul McCartney & Wings 4:08
11. "Jet"   P. McCartney, L. McCartney Paul McCartney & Wings 4:06
12. "Mull of Kintyre"   P. McCartney, Denny Laine Wings 4:43

[edit] Charts

[edit] Chart positions

Chart (1978–79) Position
Australian Kent Music Report Chart[5] 8
Canadian RPM Albums Chart[6] 25
Dutch Mega Albums Chart[7] 18
French SNEP Albums Chart [8] 2
Japanese Oricon LP Chart[9] 24
New Zealand Albums Chart [10] 16
Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart[11] 20
Swedish Albums Chart[12] 32
UK Albums Chart [13] 5
U.S. Billboard 200 [14] 29
West German Media Control Albums Chart [15] 18

[edit] Year-end charts

Chart (1979) Position
Australian Albums Chart[5] 53
UK Albums Chart[16] 43

[edit] Certifications

Region Certification
Canada (Music Canada)[17] Platinum
United Kingdom (BPI)[18] Platinum
United States (RIAA)[19] Platinum

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r12648
  2. ^ "CG: Wings". Robert Christgau. http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=4101&name=Wings. Retrieved 2011-09-09. 
  3. ^ Gary Graff & Daniel Durcholz, MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, Visible Ink Press (Farmington Hills, MI, 1999), p. 731.
  4. ^ "Wings Greatest". Jpgr.co.uk. http://www.jpgr.co.uk/pctc256.html. Retrieved 2011-09-09. 
  5. ^ a b Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0646119176. 
  6. ^ "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 30, No. 19, February 03 1979". RPM. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.0097a&type=1&interval=50&PHPSESSID=c6btf3r8hs459qqt5ln3o3dcv5. Retrieved 2011-10-03. 
  7. ^ "dutchcharts.nl Wings - Greatest Hits" (in Dutch) (ASP). dutchcharts.nl, Hung Medien. MegaCharts. http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Wings&titel=Greatest+Hits&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 
  8. ^ "InfoDisc : Tous les Albums classés par Artiste > Choisir Un Artiste Dans la Liste : Wings" (in French). infodisc.fr. http://infodisc.fr/Album_W.php. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 
  9. ^ a-ビートルズ "- Yamachan Land (Archives of the Japanese record charts) - Albums Chart Daijiten - The Beatles" (in Japanese). 2007-12-30. http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~yamag/album/al_beatles.html a-ビートルズ. Retrieved 2011-09-14. 
  10. ^ "charts.org.nz - Wings - Greatest Hits" (ASP). charts.org.nz, Hung Medien. Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. http://charts.org.nz/showitem.asp?interpret=Wings&titel=Greatest+Hits&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 
  11. ^ "norwegiancharts.com Wings - Greatest Hits" (ASP). norwegiancharts.com, Hung Medien. VG-lista. http://norwegiancharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Wings&titel=Greatest+Hits&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 
  12. ^ "swedishcharts.com Wings - Greatest Hits" (in Swedish) (ASP). swedishcharts.com, Hung Medien. Sverigetopplistan. http://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Wings&titel=Greatest+Hits&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 
  13. ^ "Chart Stats - Wings - Greatest Hits". UK Albums Chart. http://www.chartstats.com/release.php?release=38824. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 
  14. ^ "allmusic ((( Wings at the Speed of Sound > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r12643/charts-awards. Retrieved 2011-09-14. 
  15. ^ "Album Search: Wings" (in German). Media Control. http://www.charts.de/search.asp?search=wings&x=0&y=0&cat=a&country=de. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 
  16. ^ "Complete UK Year-End Album Charts". http://chartheaven.9.forumer.com/a/complete-uk-yearend-album-charts_post21.html. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 
  17. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Wings – Greatest Hits". Music Canada. http://www.musiccanada.com/GPSearchResult.aspx?st=Greatest+Hits&sa=Wings&smt=0. 
  18. ^ "British album certifications – Wings – Greatest Hits". British Phonographic Industry. http://www.bpi.co.uk/certifiedawards/search.aspx.  Enter Greatest Hits in the field Search. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Click Go
  19. ^ "American album certifications – Wings – Wings Greatest". Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?artist=%22Wings+Greatest%22.  If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
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