Let’s face it, having to follow-up a huge-selling, defining LP of the time was not an altogether new experience for Paul McCartney. In fact, it would be easy to lose count of just how many times Paul and Beatle-buddies John, George and Ringo pulled it off with aplomb during the heady days of yore.
But in 1975, McCartney (32) by now five years into a solo career that began when the Beatles broke up at the turn of the decade, the challenge returned for the first time in this era of being a ‘former’ Fab. Paul, these days fronting an aggregation named Wings, was faced with the task of making a successor to ‘Band on the Run‘ (1973), which not only became a worldwide hit but also restored McCartney’s reputation as an inspired talent – this after something of a patchy start to his post-Beatle chapter.
Since 1970 McCartney had made two albums in his own right – ‘McCartney‘ (1970), ‘Ram‘ (1971) – and a pair ‘Wild Life‘ (1971)/’Red Rose Speedway‘ (1973) under the Paul McCartney and Wings banner. None of them, in truth, had been truly exceptional, yet this all changed with the magnificent ‘Band on the Run‘ – Wings by this point down to a trio of Paul (bass/keyboards/guitar), wife Linda (keyboards) and ex-Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine.
The first steps toward the next Paul McCartney/Wings album were taken with recruitment of drummer Geoff Britton and 21 year-old guitar virtuoso Jimmy McCulloch, who at such a tender age had already forged a formidable reputation as a member of first Thunderclap Newman and then Stone the Crows. Indeed, initial portents for this newly-formed quintet were hugely encouraging, sessions in Nashville during the late-summer of 1974 yielding, amongst other tracks, the excellent ‘Junior’s Farm‘ that subsequently became a well-deserved U.K. hit single as the year drew to an end.
As things transpired it proved the high-water mark for that incarnation of Wings. On undertaking further recording work at Abbey Road, Britton vacated the drum stool after a series of disagreements with McCulloch – the McCartney’s, Laine and the young guitarist, departing for New Orleans in the early days of 1975 to supplement what had already been cut in London.
In the meantime, New York-born drummer Joe English was brought into the fold, six weeks of work through January and February, resulting in the solid, if unspectacular ‘VENUS AND MARS‘ (May 1975 and credited solely to ‘Wings’) – McCartney, discovering just has each ex-Beatle had to varying degrees, it was easier to follow one masterpiece with another when the others had been around.
That said, ‘Venus and Mars‘ has plenty to commend it. McCartney proved he was a still a master tunesmith, his flair for melody at times masking some thin lyrics – Paul and Linda a partnership in every sense, as they receive combined songwriting credit on eleven of the thirteen tracks.
Despite most of the album being recorded in New Orleans, little of the musical milieu associated with that city seeps through into what is on offer. The McCartney’s and their wing-men create a steady-as-you-go soft rock entity with Paul also taking the role of producer – and while it was compared unfavourably to ‘Band on the Run‘ in some quarters, the album clearly struck a chord with the record-buying public who made it a number one around the world.
From the outset Paul comes across in buoyant mood and after enjoying enormous success last time out with an LP that despite the ‘& Wings‘ attachment was, in effect, his triumph alone, he now sounds able to engage with his musical past. The opening acoustic guitar chords of the first up title-track sound instantly familiar, as if heard yesterday so to speak.
The folk overtones of the melody take on a mystical vibe as a sitar joins the instrumentation, Paul setting the scene for a concert about to happen, (‘Sittin’ in the stand of the sports arena/Waiting for the show to begin’), the piece at just over a minute long weaving its way into the rollicking ‘Rock Show‘ – that goes for broke in depicting a gig from the perspective of the performer.
Against a pounding piano – played by New Orleans session maestro Allan Toussaint – thudding drums and brash electric guitars, McCartney revels in delivering lines such as ‘Tell me, what’s that man movin’ cross the stage/It looks a lot like the one who used to be Jimmy Page/It’s like a relic from a distant age‘, Paul going so far as to throw in reference to a couple of the best known concert venues on the planet with:
‘They’ve got long hair at Madison Square/You’ve got rock and roll at the Hollywood Bowl.’
Things continue at a far old gallop, Wings sounding akin to a Mott the Hoople-like ensemble as Paul sticks his tongue in his cheek to sing, ‘The lights go down, they’re back in town, O.K./Behind the stacks you glimpse an axe/The tension mounts, you score an ounce, olé!‘ – and as if he has not had enough fun already, then adopts a tone not dissimilar to that of Mott front-man Ian Hunter to sing the bridge, McCartney conjuring this scarcely believable image of himself:
‘In my green metal suit, I’m preparing to shoot up the city/And the ring at the end of my nose makes me look rather pretty.’
Unable to resist dropping the name of one last renowned rock location, (London brought forth with ‘That decibel meter doesn’t seem to be reading low/But they were louder at the Rainbow‘), Paul takes things to a conclusion with some ‘Get Back‘-styled adlibbing – a reminder perhaps, that once upon a time on a Saville Row roof top he played his bass in the ultimate rock show.
But in times ahead the ‘Venus and Mars’/Rock Show‘ combination would open every performance on the forthcoming world tour Wings were about to undertake. Indeed, songs from this album featured heavily on the set-list during a marathon run of enormously successful concerts, particularly in the United States, that culminated the following year in the live ‘Wings Over America‘ triple-set, that included eight ‘Venus and Mars‘ selections.
In fact, it could be argued some of the material improved from the instantaneous feel of being performed in concert opposed to the somewhat staid studio readings. This is undoubtedly true of ‘Magneto and Titanium Man‘ an up-tempo Beach Boys pastiche based on Marvel comic book characters and distinguished by a superb guitar solo from McCulloch – much the same applying to ‘Spirits of Ancient Egypt‘ that features a vocal performance from Laine in a number that sounds like T. Rex one moment and Lindisfarne the next.
Through the latter Paul gives Denny the most wryly funny lines on the record, the gem in the first verse, ‘You can take a pound of love and cook it in the stew‘ eclipsed in the third by ‘You’re my baby, I know you know/You could sell an elevator to Geronimo.’
It is a toss-up whether ‘Medicine Jar‘ works better as a studio or live take, as both are equally accomplished. Written by McCulloch and Stone the Crows drummer Colin Allen, so therefore the only legitimate track not credited to Paul and Linda, this mid-paced rocker would have not sounded out of place being performed by Elton John at this juncture. It alludes to the temptations of drugs and alcohol, the inference clear in lines such as, ‘Dead on your feet, you won’t get far/If you keep on sticking your hand in the medicine jar.’
Sadly, the song would prove fatally prophetic as the richly-talented McCulloch would succumb to a drug-related heart attack at the age of just 26 in September 1979.
An altogether superior effort to ‘Wino Junko‘ the same two writers would contribute to the next album (‘Wings at the Speed of Sound‘), ‘Medicine Jar‘ was one of the three tracks to be recorded in London when drummer Britton was still in the band, the others being reflective ballad ‘Love in Song‘ and a blues-pop workout entitled ‘Letting Go.’
On the former Paul produces a superb lead vocal, (his singing throughout is of customary high order), in contemplating the uncertainties of a relationship. The sentiments expressed are wrapped in a dramatic string arrangement and sympathetic synthesiser patterns, threaded together by McCartney on acoustic guitar. Where once it was a warm gun, these days it is ‘Happiness in the homeland‘ that sustains him and ultimately the song is testament to the cozy domesticity he shares with Linda, ‘My, you’re so fine when love is mine, I can’t go wrong.’
While there is nothing to truly dislike in the content or delivery, the track has become best known for the one on which Paul plays the same bass, that he had recently purchased, as used on the 1956 Elvis Presley hit ‘Heartbreak Hotel.’
In contrast ‘Letting Go‘ is an enjoyable, funk-flavoured tear-up, infused with a blaring horn section and blazing guitar riff that join forces to compensate for a perfunctory lyric, the track better represented on ‘Wings Over America‘ where sheer exuberance wins the day.
Chosen to open side two is a reprise of the title-track that comes in a minute longer than when used as an introductory piece to begin the record. The slightly altered lyrics accentuate the inter-planetary notion, which is further emphasised by some science fiction sound effects. An unusual place to plonk a track of this nature, a ‘reprise’ in relation to rock albums generally left until the very end as summation of what has gone before.
Using one to begin the second side was an idea clearly not lost on the Eagles – who the following year would sequence ‘Wasted Time Reprise‘ in the same spot.
Arriving in the middle of side two, ‘Call Me Back Again‘ is a sprightly R&B concoction that does have a slight flavour of New Orleans, Paul producing a likeable if slightly exaggerated vocal for another set of undistinguished lyrics. Taken at face value the narrator is imploring his girlfriend to pick up the telephone and make contact, but some commentators make the assertion it is Paul reaching out to John in the hope of reestablishing better terms between them.
At the time there were rumours Lennon, currently living in L.A. and separated from Yoko Ono, was intending to visit McCartney in New Orleans, but on reconciling with his wife, headed back to New York instead. Thus a partial Beatles-reunion failed to materialise – the group, however, are evoked in the way Paul sings ‘Call Me Back Again‘, his phrasing not that far removed from ‘Oh Darling‘ on ‘Abbey Road.’
The showpiece piano ballad in the vein of ‘Maybe I’m Amazed‘ and ‘My Love‘ Paul had taken to writing as a solo performer arrives almost at the end, affecting vocal and rich melody each present and correct on ‘Treat Her Gently – Lonely Old People.’
Embracing two different narratives, the first sounds a plea to a friend that he shows understanding toward his companion, ‘Treat her gently, treat her kind/She doesn’t even know her own mind‘, while the second goes far into the future when the couple are in their dotage:
‘Here we sit, two lonely old people/Eking our lives away/Bit by bit, two lonely old people/Keeping the time of day.’
It is all very pleasant, if a touch contrived, such material prompting disparagement from ex-‘Fab’ George, who reportedly described it as ‘Granny music‘ – the grandparents (and parents) of The Beatles of an age to remember the era Paul attempts to recreate on ‘You Gave Me the Answer‘, an amusing 1920s skit Paul wrote as a tribute to father Jim, who once played trumpet in a Liverpool-based rag-time band.
Singing lines such as ‘You gave me the answer to love eternally/I love you and you, you seem to like me,’ in an affected Noel Coward voice, McCartney was not the only seminal writer currently evoking the vaudeville age, Ray Davies including a piece of similar hue on The Kinks ‘Soap Opera‘ album that had been released only a fortnight before.
Quite what Paul was aiming for in closing the record with a 60-second rendition of the theme tune from U.K. soap opera ‘Crossroads‘ (written by Tony Hatch) is hard to say. If an attempt to show just how different he was in his approach to making albums from the other former-Beatles then it succeeds on that level, nobody on earth able to imagine (no pun intended), John including a version of the music from rival soap ‘Coronation Street‘ – however well performed – on one of his records.
But if that was difficult to fathom, there was no such strangeness attached to ‘Listen to What the Man Said‘ that finds McCartney at his most majestic, this catchy, optimistic track, decorated with clarinets, smart guitar work from Dave Mason and the cheery saxophone breaks of Tom Scott.
Receiving stellar background vocal support from Linda, Paul has rarely sounded more amiable or assured than when singing, ‘And love is fine for all we know/For all we know, our love will grow/That’s what the man said/So won’t you listen to what the man said?‘ – his delight even extending to throwing in a ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah‘ vocal line at the end.
Such confidence was well-founded as the pristine commerciality of the track saw it race to number one on the Billboard charts when released as a single.
The success of ‘Listen to What the Man Said‘ was mirrored by that of the album, ‘Venus and Mars‘ reaching top spot in the U.S. and U.K. on its way to selling four million copies before the year was out. It met with a generally favourable critical reaction, Rolling Stone describing the album as ‘a solid collection of good songs‘ although in England the New Musical Express was less enthused, offering ‘a largely uninteresting retake of ‘Band on the Run‘ as their assessment.
Elsewhere in 1975 as his contemporaries Bob Dylan (‘Blood on the Tracks‘) and Pete Townshend (‘The Who By Numbers‘) aired their troubles, be they divorce or disillusionment – and being lauded by the critics for their candour – Paul McCartney sounded happy to breeze along creating slick, sometimes sumptuous rock, content in leaving deep soul-searching to others.
Nevertheless, for the rest of the 1970s he would reign as the most successful ex-Beatle since their split – as most predicted at the time he would be.
This review is respectfully dedicated to my beloved, much-missed Auntie Joy (1927-2021) – who bought her nephew ‘Venus and Mars’ as a present at Christmas 1975.
WINGS – VENUS and MARS (Released May 30 1975):
Venus and Mars/Rock Show/Love in Song/You Give Me/Magneto and Titanium Man/Letting Go/Venus and Mars (Reprise)/Spirits of Ancient Egypt/Medicine Jar/ Call Me Back Again/Listen to What the Man Said/Treat Her Gently – Lonely Old People/Crossroads;
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