Wings Over America

BlazeES

BlazeES

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I'll be the first to admit that many of the post-Beatle, Wing's "hit singles" were sappy albeit catchy for their era. There are a handful of McCartney songs I simply change the channel on, so to speak, and I'm not
embarrassed to say so. I also don't think it's sacrilegious in any way. But with that said, I've always felt there were some really, well performed gems on 'Wings Over America', which was released in 1976. As a side note, the 70's have some really stellar live recordings IMHO and apart from a selection of songs I'd be fine doing without, 'Wings Over America' was a really well rounded & tightly delivered performance and one of the best captured shows recorded for posterity. Next to ELP's 'Welcome Back My Friends...", it IS one of my all-time favorites. Being that the last Beatle's concert was held in San Francisco in 1966, I view 'Wings Over America' as a huge milestone by one of the four dudes that changed music forever. As an avid Beatles collector, I'm always interested in seeing what's new or what is slated for re-release, from the new crop of engineers at Abbey Road Studios, and I just discovered that 'Wings Over America' and 'Rock Show' (the film) are due out in the next few months. A long time coming, I'm excited to see how well the music and the film can be reprocessed and improved upon for these releases.

Looks like the world will get a chance to see the fruits of that labor in the months of May & June...
Life is Good!
 
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Web Police

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I am a Beatles and individual Beatles fan, but I never liked WOA very much, not because of the concept or material, it is just I have a hard time with live material as my brain always wants to compare it to studio material that I have heard over and over and over again so many times it is ingrained into my brain. Certain tracks are great, but I can never listen to the whole thing from beginning to end.

My favorite wings effort was Band on the Run which was the first album I ever bought.
 
BlazeES

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Interesting point of view Web & thanks! I get the "live vs. studio" thing and struggle with that myself with lots of different artists. But for me interestingly enough, and more often than not, it ends up being that I like the live versions better than the studio ones. In the case of WOA, I can enjoy the live versions of songs from "Venus and Mars' but never much liked the studio album. And in fact I've never owned it. Conversely, the Beatles era tunes on WOA, as cool as it was to finally hear (see) live performances of songs not previously performed live, the studio versions will always reign supreme. Another example of "live" versions I will only listen to instead of the studio versions is 'Frampton Comes Alive'. 'Performance - Rockin' the Fillmore' by Humble Pie is another one. Pink Floyd's 'Is There Anybody Out There?', the official live release of 'The Wall' from the '80/'81 shows also comes to mind. There are bunch of Rush songs I can't stand on studio but thoroughly enjoy on their live presentations. I will say this though, I've enjoyed WOA more as I've gotten older; it was WAY overplayed on the radio around the time it was released.

'Band on the Run' is quintessential Wings!


Web Police said:
I am a Beatles and individual Beatles fan, but I never liked WOA very much, not because of the concept or material, it is just I have a hard time with live material as my brain always wants to compare it to studio material that I have heard over and over and over again so many times it is ingrained into my brain. Certain tracks are great, but I can never listen to the whole thing from beginning to end.

My favorite wings effort was Band on the Run which was the first album I ever bought.
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orange

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I have WOA on 8-track!

My first album was a cutout 99 cent new copy of Starbuck-Moonlight Feels Right in 1979!
 
Web Police

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There are certain live albums that I like such as Frampton Comes Alive that I have heard over and over and they now seem to be the correct versions in my brain. I pretty much like any Wings material except when they let Linda in on the vocals. They should have given her a mic and not plugged in the other end. :rabbit:
 
BlazeES

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Web Police said:
There are certain live albums that I like such as Frampton Comes Alive that I have heard over and over and they now seem to be the correct versions in my brain. I pretty much like any Wings material except when they let Linda in on the vocals. They should have given her a mic and not plugged in the other end. :rabbit:
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LOL!
 
laatsch55

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Bob Seger "Live Bullet", and Loggins & Messina "On Stage" were mastered beautifully and the live aspect didn't seem to hurt the quality of the effort. My two favorites, but "Frampton Comes Alive" is right up there with em.
 
BlazeES

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laatsch55 said:
Bob Seger "Live Bullet", and Loggins & Messina "On Stage" were mastered beautifully and the live aspect didn't seem to hurt the quality of the effort. My two favorites, but "Frampton Comes Alive" is right up there with em.
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'Live Bullet' is another one of those albums I absolutely love - front to back - start to finish.
Although Bob's studio releases are good, I'd trade them all away for a clean copy of 'Live Bullet'.
What a great album for a road-trip..
 
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orange

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Web Police said:
There are certain live albums that I like such as Frampton Comes Alive that I have heard over and over and they now seem to be the correct versions in my brain. I pretty much like any Wings material except when they let Linda in on the vocals. They should have given her a mic and not plugged in the other end. :rabbit:
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Funny...just remember Linda is all over the studio recordings, as prominent as Denny Laine.
 
orange

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Supertramp's Paris was a piece of art too.
 
Web Police

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laatsch55 said:
Bob Seger "Live Bullet", and Loggins & Messina "On Stage" were mastered beautifully and the live aspect didn't seem to hurt the quality of the effort. My two favorites, but "Frampton Comes Alive" is right up there with em.
Click to expand...
Yep I will agree on the L& M album I love that one too. Certain artists lend them selve to excellent live recordings, it is the bands that over due in in the studio with 10,000 tracks that just can't seem to do justice in live versions.

What reall throws me for a loop is the bands where the lead singer cannot re-create their studio voices live. The guys that kind of talk/sing like Seger and Springsteen have no trouble pulling off live concert recordings. I think the simpler the setup the easier it is to recreate, kind of like Mcartney singing yesterday while playing his guitar. No if the Beatles tried I am the Walrus or Revolution number 9 live it would probably sound like hell.

I am pretty sure James Taylor and Michael Bubble could do know wrong in a live album. As you guessed already I like strong clear in tone vocals in my music, no screaching or hair, hair, hair like ZZ top or Dylan. Have you ever listened to Dylan's Christmas album?:rabbit:
 
gamve

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laatsch55 said:
gamve, I have that Little Feat CD and listen to it at least once a week.
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I was lucky enough to pick this album up years ago on mobile fidelity in mint condition before prices went crazy on Ebay.
Thanks guys for making me remember this exceptional album. In fact its prompted me to record it on the Studer A80 at
15IPS on some nice fresh Quantegy 456 this weekend. Might do Hoy Hoy at the same time :)

No Bugger it, doing it NOW. Heh He Wanita my chapita YEAH
 
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laatsch55

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My favorite wings effort was Band on the Run which was the first album I ever bought.[/QUOTE]

James Taylor "Sweet Baby James" for me.
 
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