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About Wings At The Speed Of Sound (by Viktor Paedia) After a series of
concerts in Australia in November 1975, Wings took a break from the tour
to spend the holidays with their families and in January 1976 booked time
at Abbey Road Studios in London to record Wings at the Speed of Sound.
It was the first time McCartney had recorded an album in England since
Red Rose Speedway. Due to the tour commitments, Wings was not afforded
the opportunity to record in another different and exciting locale, preferring
to work in a familiar environment. By the end of February, the album was
complete, and Wings dutifully went back on the road.
Around the time of the studio sessions for Wings at the Speed of Sound,
McCartney was facing criticism for Wings simply being a vehicle for himself.
He encouraged each of the band members to contribute a song during the
sessions, though this would become one of the reasons for the criticism
of the album. McCartney had previously attempted to create a democratic
album in Red Rose Speedway, though it would be rejected by his record
label.
Wings at the Speed of Sound was released in late March to average reviews.
Although the critics were not as enthusiastic as they had been for Band
on the Run and Venus and Mars, the fans certainly were, sending the album
to #2 in the UK, where it became the 4th best-selling album of 1976. It
became McCartney’s most successful US chart album, spending seven
unconsecutive weeks at #1 throughout the summer (and blocking the Beatles’
then-new compilation Rock ‘n’ Roll Music, which reached #2).
Much of Wings at the Speed of Sound’s success can be attributed to
its two smash singles. “Silly Love Songs,” a response to his
critics and one of McCartney’s biggest hits, followed the album in
April. It became one of 1976’s biggest-selling singles. This was
followed in July with “Let ‘Em In,” which also scaled the
singles charts. Amid all this, Wings finally went to North America for
the Wings Over America Tour, playing McCartney’s first shows there
in ten years (after The Beatles’ last tour in 1966) to euphoric reaction;
a few selections from Speed of Sound were included.
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