Customer Reviews

Wild Life

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Here is an album many people seem unsure about liking; it's been that way since it was released in the early 70's. I think it's well worth checking out because, unlike Macca's later work, every song on this disc has something going for it. Usually, I don't like to go song by song through an album because it makes the review too long, but this album has few songs, and they are so different from each other it really seemed the best way, so:

MUMBO: Mumbo Jumbo, Paul mixes up some magic with his first Wings lineup on this opening garage-rocker. I think he was very pleased to be playing with a band again, and he cuts loose with a paint-peeling vocal and some great grunge guitar. People who had criticized Paul for being 'soft' might have been comforted by this one.

BIP BOP: Yeah, it's got a childish lyric, he wrote it for his kids! I personally love Paul's acoustic bluesy numbers, this one is very reminiscent of '2 Legs' on 'Ram', the album before this. Surreal and cool.

LOVE IS STRANGE: The great story behind this number can be read in another review below. This is a great reggae-style cover of the old Mickey And Sylvia number, with some crazed slide guitar from Sir Paul. Fun and charming.

WILD LIFE: Another rocker with the Wings lineup. This is probably my least favorite song on the album, but I still enjoy the strange backing vocals and the lyrics (an early foray into animal rights) especially where McCartney sings 'Aminals' instead of 'Animals'!

SOME PEOPLE NEVER KNOW: My favorite track. Triunphant, lyrical, melodic, this song is what we expect from Macca, and what he delivers here. Very much like the better cuts from 'Ram', Paul has it all working here. And to those who complain about the out-of-tune guitars, remember, they didn't have electronic tuning in those days. And Paul may have had one or two low-alcohol lagers while recording 'Wild Life'...

I AM YOUR SINGER: Extra-charming ballad from Paul And Linda. We've all heard the complaints about Linda, but I honestly think the contrast between her 'hard' American voice, and Paul's 'soft' English voice, can work really well, as it does here. Paul also does some great guitar here, love that vibrato twang!

TOMORROW: A nice piano popper with vocals so high-pitched, I'd swear Paul sped up his voice. Try singing along and you'll see what I mean. This song is like a somewhat more rockin' 'Another Day' with a great bluesy 'Oh Darling!' end bit...lovely!

DEAR FRIEND: Woo-hoo...creepy, haunted, jazzy, spectral, shadowy...this is Paul at his most creepy and melancholic (who thought he had it in him?) . A sad letter of loss and confusion to John Lennon, Paul mournfully noodles on piano while horns, drums, and other things come in and out. The song seems to end and restart and is very hypnotic. One of a kind stuff and very very good.

But what about those extra tracks eh? 'IRISH" was banned by the BBC and is tremendous rocked-out fun, nice to see Paul be political for once. 'Mama's Little Girl' is a neat little acoustic number, reminiscent of 'Mother Nature's Son'. 'Little Woman Love' is some sexy, New Orleans-style pianobilly (a personal fave)...and then there's 'Mary Had A Little Lamb'. What can I say, the guy had children to amuse AND a sheep farm, OK? Give him a Wee Break!

So, don't be afraid, get 'Wild Life' and live it up with Paul, Linda, & all the gang...

Paul McCartney once said that to like Wild Life, you had to be a fan of his. I'm a major fan of his but I still can't totally get into this album.

This is the first Wings album, released in late 1971. They should have waited and produced a better album, but Paul wanted to see if he could record an album in two weeks. He could but not a good one...

Still, even though much of it ("Dear Friend," "I Am Your Singer") isn't good, there is one brilliant song on it ("Some People Never Know"), and another pretty good one ("Tomorrow").

All in all, I'd agree with Paul in that it's just for fans. That doesn't guarantee that you'll like it but at least it makes you have one more album for your McCartney collection.

I first owned this vinyl album in the 70's. I was in high school and it was NOT my favorite McCartney album, but I bought it for my collections.

Some 20 years later, as I finally got around to replacing my McCartney vinyl with CD's, I wasn't sure that I would buy, Wild Life. It just wasn't a "must have."

When the remasters came out with the bonus tracks, I figured it would be worth it just to have "Give Ireland Back to the Irish." Well, was I in for a surprise. Maybe its because I am in my 30's now, as Paul was when he wrote and recorded this album with his group, but it speaks to me now more than ever. "Tomorrow" has become one of my favorite tracks from the band (and with its inclusion on Wingspan, it must one of Paul's favorites too.) I am not offended by the lyrics to "Bip Bop" and find singing "Mary had a Little Lamb" along with my niece truely fun! Who knew home spun, simple music would appeal to me in my young adulthood? Maybe I had too many hormones ragin in high school.

Finally, as stated above Give Ireland Back to the Irish is on of Paul's best, most fun songs. Yeah, I know its political, but it also happens to be a great rocker!

Maybe I'm just sentimental, but this was the first McCartney album I ever owned. I have long since lost the vinyl, but thankfully the CD captures every note and more. I will admit it took me awhile to get used to the first track, but everything else is pure McCartney, for better or worse, and while I don't consider it his best work, it is certainly far from being his worst. "Wings at the Speed of Sound" as a whole, is definitely inferior to "Wings Wild Life"

I personally love this CD. But I guess it's a question of personal preference. And, I guess it's sentimental value does account for a great portion of my affection for this little known, and obviously misunderstood collection of tunes. I guess that's why I like it so much, they're really not much more than "tunes" but each one strike a chord in ME. And that's all that REALLY matters...

I really don't get why people talk so much smack about this album. Sure, it lacks the experimental quality of Ram, but it truely sounds like a band's first album. In that respect, a seasoned professional like Paul McCartney really succeeds. Wings Wild Life is intimate, unpolished, and maybe even a little crude.
On "Mumbo," Paul manages to put together a throat-shredding yet lyricless piece which is shocking (I can't imagine what his fans must have thought upon hearing this for the first time back in 1971!) but rather interesting. Yeah, "Bip Bop" IS pretty queer lyrically, but the vocal effect and guitar riff are nevertheless entrancing. The over 6 1/2-minute "Wild Life" is a song that Paul wrote after (as the lyrics clearly describe) walking through an African park and seeing a sign which read, "Remember: the animals have the right of way." I find it to be an incredible piece of music. Paul screams his lungs out, "WILD LIFE," as the band harmonizes beautifully, "whatever happened to?"--a nice clash of sound. The lyrical and instrumental buildup on this song is amazing. On "Some People Never Know," a sweet love song and another long one, Paul & Linda do a near-duet. The result is actually very nice. Linda handles most of the lead vocals on "I Am Your Singer" competently. A lot of people made fun of her vocal capabilities, but no one ever seemed to realize that her voice matched Paul's perfectly...despite the fact that he obviously overshadowed her skill-wise. The piano-based "Dear Friend" has the eeriest sound of any record Paul has ever made. Desolate & beautiful.
Bonus Tracks: Of all the bonus tracks to be included on the CD reissues of Paul's albums, the collection of these four is the best. You've got to admire a guy who has the stones to release a song such as "Mary Had A Little Lamb" as a single just to thumb his nose at the people who banned "Give Ireland Back To The Irish." "Little Woman Love" is a quick one that could sound right at home musically on the Beatles' Rubber Soul album. Then, of course, there's the beautifully melodic "Mama's Little Girl," a soft number which went unissued officially until 1990!

(actually 2 1/2 stars) This album is just what you would expect, I suppose, from the author of Martha My Dear and Why Don't We Do It In The Road...McCartney has always been about having a good time, best foot forward and all that, and I'm sure that the idea at the time was to record an upbeat, homey-sounding little record with off-the-cuff spontaneity. Well, sink me if that isn't what he did! I think one problem with Wild Life, though, is that Paul was still a bit down in the dumps about his still-recent divorce from the other three lads, and with Lennon taking potshots at him in the press along with the lackluster reception for Ram...well, even the normally bubbly Macca's self confidence must have been running a bit low. The uncertainty is a bit palpable all over Wild Life; Mumbo, for example, might have been a scorching rocker if Paulie had been bothered to write some lyrics and do a couple more takes; Dear Friend is a conflicted counter-attack on Mr. Ono Lennon without a whole lot of conviction; Paul comes across as hesitant to really let loose on his erstwhile bandmate. Bip Bop...well, let's just say it lives up to it's title...I must admit at odd times, usually when in my cups, I'll go around humming its absurdly catchy tune. Lyrics? well,they're better than the ones for Mumbo...I'll let it go at that. OK, I'm being a bit snide, I know...there is some good stuff here; I really like Tomorrow, with those nice, echoey BV's from the McCartneys that used to be a highlight (to me, anyway) of Paul's pre-Venus And Mars output; the cover of Love Is Strange is...well, lovely but strange. Some People Never Know has a pretty melody, but Linda was just a little too much up front in the mix...again, some second takes might have helped here. Really, to me, only the painfully flat I Am Your Singer is unlistenable. Do I recommend you spend your hard earned cash on Wings Wild Life? Well, be forewarned that only the staunchest Beatlefans (of which yours truly counts himself amongst same) will really enjoy it. This was definitely one of Mr.Mc's valleys,and the curious buyer should take this into consideration. It becomes a better bargain, though, if this import version has the same bonus tracks as the US release several years ago (the nice folks at Amazon.com didn't provide a track listing for this release)...I've always had a soft spot for his covert f-you to his critics Mary Had A Little Lamb, and its B-side Little Woman Love is a rollicking number that would have improved Wild Life considerably. So there you go!

Paul was in a tough time, true, and he was married anew...with a new family and friends and a new band...having come from the incredibly successful journey of the Beatles. The cut "Dear Friend" validates the whole album. Just listen to it. If you care or have any sense of what Paul is/was all about, you will know this song revealed a part of him he had not been able to before, or, I suspect, had not even known before! This is important music for those who care about Paul. And I do. Yes, other of his music is considered better and it is a reach to call this experimental...but this piece of work is so important to those who know and love Paul for who he is!

Wings Wild Life is a decent debut by Paul McCartney's band Wings. It has an "intimate-like" quality that makes for comfortable listening.

Highlights include the reggae influenced "Love Is Strange", the soft acoustic ballad "Some People Never Know", and the hidden gem of this album "Tomorrow".

Some of the tracks sound like a jam session ("Mumbo", Bip Bop), probably due to the fact that it was recorded and mixed in 2 weeks.

The dark tracks on this album, "Dear Friend" (supposedly an answer to John Lennon's "How Do You Sleep?") and the title track are decent.

The filler tracks (the little "Link" tracks, as well as "I am Your Singer") are just what they are "Filler".

I found the only bonus track that was interesting was the rocking "Give Ireland Back To The Irish".

All in all not a superb piece, but an interesting album to listen to once and a while.

Macca at his finest! It's got so much feeling and emotion to it, very raw work! It is certainly one of Paul's most unique albums, which is what makes it so good. Appreciate it for what it is and not what you think it should be! Just shows that this man can do anything perfectly!

I don't care now, and didn't care when this was originally released, what others said about it, this is a great album. His first solo album, McCartney, had too many short unrealized ideas and his second, Ram, was over produced in places. Wings Wild Life does not suffer from any of these faults. Instead we are left with good rock and roll played by what sounds like a small group of friends having a good ol' time and there's nothing wrong with that.