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Band on the Run is an album by Paul McCartney and Wings. It was the most popular album of the Beatles' solo works. It reached #1 four months after its release and had the distinction of reaching #1 on four separate occasions as its popular singles drove it back to the top of the charts. It spent 116 weeks on the Billboard charts. It received a Grammy Award at the Grammy Awards of 1975 for Best Pop Vocal Performance By a Duo, Group or Chorus.
Rolling Stone gave it the Album of the Year award and then, in 2003, its editors named it as the 418th greatest album of all time
The album was recorded in late 1973 in Lagos, Nigeria and included two hit singles - "Band on the Run" and "Jet". The band consisted of Paul McCartney himself, his wife, Linda, and Denny Laine, two other members having quit days before they left for Africa.
The cover of the album depicts the now well-known shot of Paul, Linda, and Denny plus six other celebrities dressed as convicts caught in the spotlight of a prison searchlight. The other six celebs are: Michael Parkinson, journalist and UK chat-show host, Kenny Lynch, singer, actor and comedian, James Coburn, Hollywood actor, Clement Freud, gourmet, racconteur and later UK politician, Christopher Lee, UK actor, best known for roles in horror films, and John Conteh, Liverpool boxer who later became World Light-Heavyweight champion.
The Band on the Run album has been re-released as a 25th aniversary edition on Compact Disc and now includes a second CD with previously unreleased demo versions as well as interviews with Paul, Linda, and the celebrities who appeared on the cover shot. The re-release immediately reached #1 on Billboard's re-release chart.
Track listing
Side one
- "Band on the Run" (McCartney-McCartney)
- "Jet" (McCartney-McCartney)
- "Bluebird" (McCartney-McCartney)
- "Mrs. Vanderbilt" (McCartney-McCartney)
- "Let Me Roll It" (McCartney)
Side two
- "Mamunia" (McCartney-McCartney)
- "No Words" (Laine-McCartney)
- "Helen Wheels" (McCartney-McCartney) (US version only)
- "Picasso's Last Words (Drink To Me)" (McCartney-McCartney)
- "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five" (McCartney-McCartney)
Group Members and Other Participants
- Paul McCartney - lead, rhythm and bass guitars, drums, piano, percussion, vocals
- Denny Laine - rhythm, lead and bass guitars, vocals
- Linda McCartney - piano, organ, keyboards, percussion, vocals
- Howie Casey - saxophone
- Ginger Baker - percussion
- Remi Kabaka - percussion
- Tony Visconti - orchestrations
- Ian and Trevor - backing vocals
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