Wings
Wings Greatest

THE REVIEW

A compilation of pure hits cannot give an idea of a band's or artist's work, it mostly consists of moments that never comprehensively cover the career and are limited to the big singles, the ones everyone wants to hear. However, at one time these compilations made sense, tracks that appeared only on 45s were united on a 33, making listening easier without having to keep changing records in the worst case, or in building a tape compilation in the best, losing an entire afternoon (the famous tape to give to the girlfriend). "Wings Greatest" was released in '78, a market necessity for Paul McCartney and company to strike while the iron was hot from "Wings Over America" and "London Town." Many flaws, the first being that some tracks are missing like "Give Ireland Back to the Irish", "C Moon", "Girl's School," and "Mary Had a Little Lamb" all released on 45s and not included on any 33, and above all, there is no unreleased track to justify its purchase by completists. In fact, the band had the track, the Caribbean "Waterspout," but following a suicidal logic, it was removed from the final mix just before release. Strange fate for this song, left out two more times at the last moment, first from "London Town" and then in 1987 from the compilation, slightly more complete but not too much, "All The Best" by Paul alone. The sequence of the two sides immortalizes the Wings with all their major hits from "Jet" to "With a Little Luck", passing through "Band on the Run" and "Junior's Farm". It's surprising to see the inclusion of "Another Day" and "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" by Paul and Linda alone, to open side A and side B respectively, perhaps to emphasize that the Wings are their creation. Much better to buy the band's entire discography, singles, and unreleased tracks if possible, to get a fairer and more complete view of a group that was not just a backing band for Paul but something more; Denny Laine was a trusted lieutenant with some great shots up his sleeve, and just remember that the Wings had three great lead guitarists like the now-departed Henry McCollough and Jimmy McCulloch, and the classical guitar talent of Lawrence Juber, to prove the quality of Macca's project.

P.S. The art deco statue purchased by Linda was taken to the top of the Alps to shoot the cover photo, the same statue will be visible on the mantelpiece in the cover of "Back to the Egg," the band's last album from 1979. Inside is a poster with a photo that originally depicted the Wings in a five-member lineup with Joe English and Jimmy McCulloch, but the two left in '77 and were cut out in the final editing.