Orthodox views of Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles career usually single out Band on the Run from 1973 as the uncontested highpoint. But, as good as that album is, this one might have the edge. It is as dizzyingly varied as its author’s late-period work with his first group, and it’s smattered with experimental, bucolic touches. And, like the two albums that sit either side of it – McCartney (1970), and Wings’s debut Wild Life (1971) – it sometimes suggests a try-out for the home-baked music later pioneered by such talents as the Beta Band and Beck on the occasions he reached for an acoustic guitar.
The album’s lyrics and mood capture the strange, uncertain aftermath of the Beatles and the 60s, and that of a man suddenly adjusting to a new life.
Source: John Harris/theguardian.com