Paul McCartney and Wings ‘Wild Life’ Album Turns 50

‘Wild Life’, the third post-Beatles album for Paul McCartney, was released 50 years ago this week.

‘Wild Life’ was the first Wings album, McCartney’s new group after The Beatles. Wings was Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, Denny Laine and Denny Seiwell. It was released on 7 December, 1971.

Like The Beatles ‘Let It Be’ and ‘Abbey Road’, both recorded in 1969, ‘Wild Life’ came just six months after the previous McCartney album ‘RAM’ and that was released 13 months after the first McCartney solo album ‘McCartney’.

Between ‘Abbey Road’ and ‘Wild Life’ there were two Beatles albums, three McCartney albums, two John Lennon albums, two Ringo’s and George’s epic ‘All Things Must Pass’.

McCartney recorded ‘Wild Life’ in just over one week from 25 July to 2 August 1971 at Abbey Road Studios. Five of the eight songs were captured in a single take.

Wings played their first show on 9 February 1972 in Nottingham, England.

The setlist was:

Blue Moon of Kentucky
Give Ireland Back To The Irish
Help Me Darling
Thank You Darling
Wild Life
Bip Bop
Shuffle Blues
The Mess
My Love
Lucille

Encore:
Long Tall Sally

‘Wild Life’ reached no 3 in Australia, number 10 in the USA and number 11 in the UK.

An extended box set of the album was released in 2018.

CD1: Remastered album
1. “Mumbo” – 3:58
2. “Bip Bop” – 4:10
3. “Love Is Strange” (Baker, Vanderpool, Smith) – 4:52
4. “Wild Life” – 6:41
5. “Some People Never Know” – 6:37
6. “I Am Your Singer” – 2:19
7. “Bip Bop Link” – 0:52
8. “Tomorrow” – 3:28
9. “Dear Friend” – 6:00
10. “Mumbo Link” – 0:46

CD2: Rough mixes
1. “Mumbo (Rough Mix)” – 3:58
2. “Bip Bop (Rough Mix)” – 4:22
3. “Love Is Strange (Rough Mix)” (Baker, Vanderpool, Smith) – 4:27
4. “Wild Life (Rough Mix)” – 6:41
5. “Some People Never Know (Rough Mix)” – 6:44
6. “I Am Your Singer (Rough Mix)” – 2:18
7. “Tomorrow (Rough Mix)” – 3:36
8. “Dear Friend (Rough Mix)” – 5:53

CD3: Bonus tracks
1. “Good Rockin’ Tonight (Home Recording)” (Roy Brown) – 0:58
2. “Bip Bop (Home Recording)” – 3:17
3. “Hey Diddle (Home Recording)” – 2:33
4. “She Got It Good (Home Recording)” – 0:44
5. “I Am Your Singer (Home Recording)” – 2:53
6. “Outtake I” – 0:29
7. “Dear Friend (Home Recording I)” – 4:49
8. “Dear Friend (Home Recording II)” – 2:02
9. “Outtake II” – 0:13
10. “Indeed I Do” – 1:14
11. “When the Wind Is Blowing” – 3:51
12. “The Great Cock and Seagull Race (Rough Mix)” – 4:02
13. “Outtake III” – 0:10
14. “Give Ireland Back to the Irish” – 3:44
15. “Give Ireland Back to the Irish (Alternate Version)” – 3:46
16. “Love Is Strange (Single Edit)” (Baker, Vanderpool, Smith) – 4:14
17. “African Yeah Yeah” – 2:44

DVD: Bonus video
1. “Scotland, 1971”
2. “The Ball”
3. “ICA Rehearsals”
4. “Give Ireland Back to the Irish (Rehearsal)”

PaulMcCartney.com free download
1. “Dear Friend (Orchestra Up)” – 5:59

The ‘Wild Life’ album set Wings up as the Paul McCartney vehicle right through the 1970s.

The Wings albums to follow were:

Red Rose Speedway (1973)
Band On The Run (1973)
Venus and Mars (1975)
Wings At The Speed of Sound (1976)
London Town (1978)
Back to the Egg (1979)

In 1980 McCartney released another solo album ‘McCartney II’ and to this day has recorded as a solo artist.

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