Disc 1 contains "Band on the Run," "Live and Let Die" and just about all of the other McCartney songs that cracked the Top 20 on either side of the Atlantic in the 1970s and early 80s -- and that's quite a long list. "Silly Love Songs" is the tune that the McCartney bashers love to hate, but it doesn't deserve its bad reputation (just enjoy the song's great bass line). The truly lame songs are "Pipes of Peace," "Goodnight Tonight," and the infamous "Another Day," which John Lennon ridiculed in his song "How Do You Sleep." The good news is the embarrassing "Say Say Say" and the vomit-inducing "Ebony and Ivory" were kept out of this collection.

Disc 2 fascinates and frustrates at the same time. It consists primarily of deep cuts from McCartney's seventies albums. The most pleasant revelations for many listeners may be the ones from Paul's first two solo albums, McCARTNEY (1970) and RAM (1971). The studio version of "Maybe I'm Amazed" is terrific, although it never received as much radio play as the more famous concert version. "Every Night" and "Junk" are full of McCartney's carefree acoustic melodicism. "Heart of the Country," "Too Many People," and "Back Seat of My Car" all demonstrate what a guilty pleasure RAM is. Whether that's an endorsement or a warning depends on how much you like McCartney. "Take It Away" was a Top 10 hit in 1982; doesn't it belong on Disc One instead?

Everybody and his brother has a list of songs that they believe should have been included on Disc Two. Here is mine: "That Would Be Something" from McCARTNEY, "Big Barn Red" from RED ROSE SPEEDWAY, "Beware My Love" from AT THE SPEED OF SOUND, and "Cafe on the Left Bank" from LONDON TOWN all cried out for inclusion. Also conspicuously absent is the outstanding B-side "Sally G," which should have been released as an A-side in 1974. (I love the last lines of that song: "I never thought to ask her what the letter G stood for/But I know for sure it wasn't good.")

"The Lovely Linda" (sorry Paul), "Man We Was Lonely," "Tomorrow," "Girlfriend," "Waterfall," "Bip Bop/Hey Diddle," and "No More Lonely Nights (playout version)" should have been jettisoned. "Let Me Roll It" and "Helen Wheels" are decent, but "Picasso's Last Words" and "1985" would have been more inspired selections from BAND ON THE RUN. It also would have been nice to have had the entire "Venus and Mars/ Rockshow" suite instead of some chopped up "single edit" of the song. Disc Two still makes for pleasant listening, but it could have been great.

Final grades: 4.5 stars for the first disc and 3.5 stars for the second disc, which balances out as a 4 star rating.

The "hits" side includes 17 great songs ("C Moon" is the only clunker and should've been saved for the history side). A lot of these I remember as I was growing up from a kid to a teenager, as opposed to hearing the Beatles' songs and records years after they disbanded. I particularly have fond memories of"Listen to What the Man Said" which has a nice sax solo, the romantic "My Love", the hard rockin' "Jet", the spirited "Comin' Up" (much better than the passable studio version), the fun "Let 'Em In", and "Band On the Run". "No More Lonely Nights" features a cool guitar solo by David Gilmour (now don't ask me why he included that hokey "fadeout" version at the end of history). "Silly Love Songs" is a commentary on the critics who made fun of his solo songs (I suppose unless you're in love, all love songs sound a little silly). Heck, even his former partner John had his share of "silly" love songs(witness "Oh Yoko"). Too bad this set didn't feature the full-length version of "With a Little Luck", but you can get that off "London Town" or "Wings Greatest". "Pipes of Peace" is the underrated title cut off his 1983 album (which featured an interesting video). "Mull of Kintyre" wasn't a big hit in the USA either, but I remember seeing the video for it when it 1st came out in 1977 on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. I would give 4 and 1/2 stars for the hits portion.

For the "history", I'd give this 3 and 1/2 stars. I was expecting more rarities like the 1972 single "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" and "Sally G" (the B side from 1974's "Junior's Farm"). Perhaps we'll see those on a box set. The history includes some of the best album cuts on McCartney solo albums, including hits "Maybe I'm Amazed", "Take It Away", the classic "Let Me Roll It", "Helen Wheels", "Venus & Mars"/"Rock Show", "Too Many People" (dedicated to you-know-who), and more obscure stuff like "Bluebird", the folky "Tug of War", "Back Seat of My Car" (which features some interesting experimentation)and the exquisite "Waterfalls". I can do without "Junk" (the instrumental singalong is much better since it doesn't have those gratingly cheezy lyrics). I personally would have liked to see more stuff from At the Speed of Sound like "Beware My Love" (a favorite of diehard fans) and more songs from Red Rose Speedway, and the classic "1985" (how could he forget that one?). But, all in all, if you liked/like Wings, there should be enough stuff that perhaps you never heard to keep you satisfied.