This is the first of a series of mini-reviews of Paul McCartney’s studio albums, ranked worst to best. (Don’t worry; I’ll keep them short.)

Starting with the very worst McCartney solo album: Wings’ Wild Life, or Wild Life by Wings.

WHY IT’S BAD: Imagine you have a garage band with one extremely talented member, two average members, and one member who can’t really sing or play, but who’s in the band because she’s married to the talented guy. Also, this guy dumbs down his songs so that she can play them. That’s Wild Life in a nutshell.

BEST SONGS: Love Is Strange, which is a reggaefied cover which is rather pleasant; Dear Friend, Paul’s plea for reconciliation to John, orchestrated by George Martin. I also like the instrumental version of Bip Bop, Bip Bop Link.

WORST SONGS: Bip Bop (that’s almost the whole lyrics!); Wild Life, where Paul mispronounces “aminals” repeatedly; I Am Your Singer, a duet with Paul and Linda which lyrically and sonically….ew.

SAVING GRACE: If you’re in the right mood and can ignore the wretched songwriting (which is very hard to do when you consider THIS IS A FORMER BEATLE!!), it’s a laid-back pleasant enough atmosphere.