Album Spotlight: Paul McCartney & Wings—One Hand Clapping

Fresh off the phenomenal (critically and commercially) success of his last album Band On The Run, Paul McCartney went to Abbey Road and filmed a documentary of his new configuration of Wings playing a collection of songs live in the studio. The film, entitled One Hand Clapping, never got released. Dribs and drabs of it eventually turned up on rereleases of BOTR and McCartney, while the film itself got an underwhelming DVD release on the Archive Collection of BOTR in 2010. I, at least, was underwhelmed. The performances were good, but they kept getting cut short, which was quite frustrating. And the individual tracks on the CD releases didn’t seem like anything spectacular.

So imagine my surprise when this soundtrack was released in June, and I found it to be excellent. The remix by Giles Martin puts the fire in the performances into sharp relief. Paul, Linda, Denny Laine and new members Jimmy McCulloch and Geoff Britton really meld together. This may be the best iteration of Wings.

One Hand Clapping: The title instrumental, featuring a doomy synthesizer riff from Linda and sharp guitar work from Jimmy and Denny. Great bass underpinning from Paul as well. In the mold of B-sides such as Zoo Gang and Oriental Nightfish.

Jet: Excellent performance of the hit single. Paul is in spectacular voice on these songs, and Geoff adds power to the drumming. You don’t even miss the orchestra. As I said, this band is tight.

Soily: Never released as an album track, this version is the closest we’ll get, and it’s a good one. Not quite as strong as the live version on Wings Over America, but the lyrics are much clearer. What does it mean? Only Paul knows for sure. But it rocks.

C Moon/Little Woman Love: Two piano based B-sides, the former a great reggae tune, the later a short sweet love song which moves right along. Paul has always had a soft spot for these tunes, and they come out marvelously here.

Maybe I’m Amazed: Probably my favorite “live” version of this song, as it comes closest to the tempo of the studio version. A preview for the Wings Over America performance. Jimmy excels at the guitar solo.

My Love: Beautiful rendition of a beautiful song. Again, Jimmy handles Henry McCullough’s original solo with ease and passion.

Bluebird: Very close to the album version in terms of arrangement, unlike the more acoustic performance on Wings Over America. Lovely harmonies. Howie Casey reproduces his gorgeous saxophone solo.

Let’s Love*: One of several solo performances by Paul on piano (indicated by an asterisk). This is a number he had given to Peggy Lee. She does a great jazzy version (produced by Paul), but I prefer his playful take here. An all-too-brief number.

All Of You*: Paul never has released a band version of this ballad. A pity; it’s a sweet melodic midtempo tune which seems mostly finished.

I’ll Give You A Ring*: McCartney fans will recognize this as the 1982 B-side to Take It Away. It’s uncertain whether the studio take was recorded a year or two after this performance, or in 1981. At any rate, this version is fun, but he obviously hadn’t completed the lyrics yet as he keeps repeating the same verse. A bouncy ballad.

Band On The Run: A marvelous rendition of the hit single. Linda almost misses her cue for the first synthesizer riff, but pulls it off in time. This is where the listener discovers that Paul had an orchestra brought in to the studio. Awesome. Perhaps the best live version of all of them.

Live And Let Die: This IS the best live version. That orchestra plays its heart out. Just fantastic.

Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five*: I’m not sure what to think of this. Paul plays piano and sings, but it seems to be interspersed with the middle sections from the album? Or perhaps it is being performed live. The film doesn’t help. Still, it’s a powerful performance.

Baby Face*: Ah, this is adorable, even when Paul flubs the piano on the first take. The Tuxedo Brass Band backs him up. Fats Domino would be proud.

Let Me Roll It: I have never really cared for Paul’s penchant of performing this live; I think it’s somewhat repetitious. However, I think this is the best live version of it that I’ve heard. The tempo’s a bit faster, and the bass doesn’t cut off as much as in other takes.

Blue Moon of Kentucky: Another standard Paul loves to goof on; he did a version of this on Unplugged. It’s fun. He apologizes to Geoff Emerick, who’s doing the engineering.

Power Cut*: Played on celeste, with a funny little spoken introduction. Not a serious rendition, but I like it.

Love My Baby*: Another celeste song. Definitely unfinished, but a peppy tune.

Let It Be*: Don’t get your hopes up! It’s only 1:02. Paul must have been feeling comfortable to pull out a Beatles number, since he still wasn’t playing them live.

The Long And Winding Road/Lady Madonna*: See above. This is 2:10. Obviously not full performances, but it’s nice to hear him going back to the past.

Junior’s Farm: A superlative performance of the hit single. God, how I wish he’d played this live. But we have this, at least.

Sally G*: Paul on solo acoustic guitar for the B-side of Junior’s Farm. A good take.

Tomorrow*: God bless him for recording this, because it took a song which I couldn’t stand because of its production and made it something truly beautiful. Beats the Wild Life version by a mile.1My former crush David Cassidy did an excellent cover of this song. Well worth seeking out.

Go Now: The first Moody Blues hit back when Denny Laine was singing lead. Wings does a marvelous cover, both here and later live on Wings Over America.

Wild Life: Again, it’s better than the studio version. And Paul actually sings “animals” correctly! Some great guitar work from Jimmy, who wasn’t on the original. Includes a few extra lyrics and a new instrumental bridge, FWIW.

Hi, Hi, Hi: The album ends with a bang. Paul repeats the second verse, so it’s longer than the single, and it rocks hard.

One Hand Clapping may or may not be a great film—perhaps the restored version due in theaters later this month will upgrade its standing as far as I’m concerned—but the album is definitely worth listening to. A real keeper.