1974 Wings album coming?
A press release from Universal Music, Canada chapter, states that a new double album with Wings will be released on June 14, 2024, from when they recorded the TV documentary “One Hand Clapping” at Abbey Road Studios in 1974.
The new line-up of Wings had been on a trip to Nashville where they stayed at and recorded “Junior’s Farm” and also, among other things, recorded “Walking In The Park With Eloise” and “Sally G”. After Denny Seiwell and Henry McCullough had left the group before the “Band on the run” recordings, new guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Geoff Britton were recruited. The latter’s time in the group was not to last long, he was replaced by Joe English the following year.
But on the “One Hand Clapping” recordings he was there. The TV movie “One Hand Clapping” was completed but not released, but when Paul McCartney started his archival series with “Band On The Run” in 2010 a relatively poor quality cut of the film was included on the accompanying deluxe edition DVD. Apparently the original film had disappeared, so the released product was created by filming a video copy! “Baby Face” was cut from the film and used on the “Venus and Mars” DVD, when it was released in the archive series.
Recordings for “One Hand Clapping” spanned five days, with recording engineer Geoff Emerick in the control room and filmmaker David Litchfield handling the filming for a possible TV documentary.
On the first day on August 26, 1974, the band recorded live full versions of “Jet”, “Let Me Roll It”, “Junior’s Farm”, “My Love”, “Little Woman Love”/”C Moon”, “Maybe I’ m Amazed” and a short instrumental jam which was later titled “One Hand Clapping”.
On the second day of recording, they recorded “Band On The Run”, “Wild Life”, “Hi Hi Hi”, “Live and Let Die”, “Soily”, “Go Now”, “Blue Moon of Kentucky” and “Bluebird” .
Day three of the recording was all with Paul, who performed a series of songs alone at the piano, which has subsequently been called “The Cabaret Sequence”. Paul went through seemingly impromptu performances of “Suicide”, “Let’s Love”, “All of You”, “I’ll Give You a Ring” and “Baby Face”.
Day 4 saw the full band back in the studio to add overdubs to the live tracks recorded on the 26th and 27th: “My Love”, “Live and Let Die”, “Band On The Run”, “Bluebird” and ” Jet”.
On 30 August, the fifth and final day of recording, there was a separate arrangement intended as an interlude in the “One Hand Clapping” film: an acoustic solo performance by Paul in the backyard of Abbey Road studios. Although Paul again played several improvised versions of a number of classic rock songs from the 1950s, he also recorded fairly complete recordings of the Beatles classic “Blackbird” (dedicated to Idi), the then unreleased Wings b-side “Country Dreamer” and the yet to be released “Blackpool”. Afterwards, Paul retreated to Studio Two to record a tight solo piano version of “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five”, which in the released film morphs into the studio version from the “Band On The Run” album.
And that was really the last anyone heard of “One Hand Clapping,” aside from bootlegs of varying quality, until the archival release of “Band On The Run” in 2010. While the film was completed later in 1975, it was never released; possibly because the Wings had suddenly changed its line-up again, out with Britton – in with English. McCartney tended to finance such projects himself, then just leave them in storage, the same happened with the animated “Bruce McMouse Show” which was not released until 46 years later, also in connection with an archival release: ” Red Rose Speedway”. The documentary about “Rockestra” was completed in 1979, but it has not been released, the only thing that has come officially are clips forming a music video for “Rockestra Theme” which was included as a bonus track on the “Wingspan” DVD in 2001. Perhaps the “Rockestra”-film will turn up in connection with the archive edition of “Back To The Egg”?
The upcoming release will be as 2LP or 2CD, and also as a digital download and on streaming services in Dolby Atmos. An exclusive edition of the double LP will also have an accompanying seven-inch vinyl record with three tracks per side.
So what’s on the upcoming release? Here are the track lists.
* Previously released 2010 Band on the Run Archive Collection DVD
** Previously released as bonus audio on Archive Collection releases
Disc 1
SIDE ONE
- One Hand Clapping* 02:15
- Jet* 03:59
- Soily* 03:55
- C Moon/Little Woman Love* 03:19
- Maybe I’m Amazed* 04:52
- My Love* 04:15
SIDE TWO
01.Bluebird* 03:27
02. Let’s Love* 01:09
03. All of You* 02:04
04. I’ll Give You a Ring* 02:03
05. Band on the Run* 05:20
06. Live and Let Die* 03:26
07. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five* 05:50
08. Baby Face* 01:56
Disc 2
SIDE ONE
- Let Me Roll It** 04:28
- Blue Moon of Kentucky 03:05
- Power Cut 01:33
- Love My Baby 01:13
- Let It Be 01:02
- The Long and Winding Road/Lady Madonna 02:10
SIDE TWO
- Junior’s Farm 04:17
- Sally G 03:28
- Tomorrow 02:12
- Go Now 03:35
- Wild Life 04:30
- Hi, Hi, Hi 03:57
Disc 3 (7”)
- Blackpool 01:43
- Blackbird 02:27
- Country Dreamer** 02:17
SIDE TWO
- Twenty Flight Rock 02:08
- Peggy Sue 01:24
- I’m Gonna Love You Too 01:10
One Hand Clapping will also be available to stream in Dolby Atmos
Atmos mix by Giles Martin and Steve Orchard
One Hand Clapping by Paul McCartney and Wings:
Paul McCartney: vocals, bass, piano, electric piano, Hammond organ, celeste, harmonium, acoustic guitar
Linda McCartney: Moog, electric piano, Mellotron, tambourine, backing vocals
Danny Laine: vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar
Jimmy McCulloch: electric guitar, backing vocals
Geoff Britton: drums
Featuring Tuxedo Brass Band and Howie Casey
Orchestra conducted by Del Newman
Produced by Paul McCartney
Source: Pressparty.com
In Paul McCartney’s online store, space was also set aside for “One Hand Clapping”, but that page is now no longer available. Perhaps the press release that only the Canadian edition of Universal Music published was a little premature.
Here’s the press release in full:
• 2LP/2CD/Digital
• Online Exclusive: 2LP +7”
• June 14th, 2024
The wait is over: With the June 14 release of One Hand Clapping, one of the most bootlegged live albums in musical history will finally receive a proper release. In August 1974, when Band on the Run was enjoying a seven-week consecutive #1 stint at the top of the UK album charts, Paul McCartney and Wings headed to Abbey Road Studios for the filming of a video documentary and possible live studio album – One Hand Clapping. Despite overwhelming demand for newly recorded material from the biggest band in the world at that time, One Hand Clapping was never officially released.
Filmed and recorded over four days and directed by David Litchfield, the release of One Hand Clapping is a historic moment for Paul McCartney fans. Over the years, various parts of One Hand Clapping have been bootlegged with varying degrees of success. Some of the material has also appeared on official McCartney releases. However, the June 14 release of One Hand Clapping, which features the original artwork designed for the project, including a TV sales brochure for the unreleased film at the time, is the first time the audio for the film—plus several additional songs recorded off-camera–have been officially issued.
One Hand Clapping showcased Wings‘ new line-up, fresh off their return from Nashville, where they recorded the classic single Junior’s Farm. Following the sudden departure of Denny Seiwell and Henry McCullough the previous year on the eve of recording the Wings masterpiece Band on the Run, Paul, Linda, and Denny Laine were now joined by guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Geoff Britton. Additionally joining the band in the studio were orchestral arranger Del Newman and saxophonist Howie Casey, who had previously played with Paul in Hamburg and would go on to join the Wings touring band.
Opening with an instrumental jam that would become the One Hand Clapping theme song, the album features live-in-studio renditions of Wings mega-hits “Live and Let Die,” “Band on the Run,” “Jet,” “My Love,” “Hi, Hi, Hi,” “Junior’s Farm,” Paul’s much loved solo song “Maybe I’m Amazed,” reworked extracts of Beatles’ classics “Let It Be,” “The Long and Winding Road” and “Lady Madonna,” the Moody Blues hit “Go Now” with Denny Laine singing, and a Paul solo piano version of the Harry Akst/Benny Davis Tin Pan Alley classic “Baby Face.”
One Hand Clapping will be released in multiple formats, including an online exclusive 2LP + 7” package featuring an exclusive vinyl single of previously unreleased solo performances recorded on the final day of the sessions in the backyard of Abbey Road studios. These include the unreleased track “Blackpool,” The Beatles’ iconic “Blackbird,” Wings B-side “Country Dreamer,” and cover versions of Eddie Cochran’s “Twenty Flight Rock” (the first song Paul played to John Lennon when they met in 1957) and Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue” and “I’m Gonna Love You Too.”
One Hand Clapping serves as a celebration of the enduring legacy of Paul McCartney and Wings. It captured a moment when Wings had found and defined their signature sound – just as Paul had shaped popular culture the decade before with The Beatles, he was doing it once again in the 70s with Wings. This recording gives an insight into the inner workings of the band as they work and play together in the studio. It also underscores Paul’s incredible talent as a live performer: Fifty years on, Paul is still performing many of these songs in packed stadiums across the world.
This is great news – albeit fifty years late! It’s quite astonishing the number of Paul McCartney projects that have never seen the light of day, or which eventually got released years or even decades after the intended date – Hot Hits And Cold Cuts, The Bruce McMouse Show, Rockshow, Wings Over Europe, Rupert The Bear…
The footage of McCartney performing Peggy Sue was officially released on the Paul McCartney Special back in 1986.
Slightly bizarre that there’s no video content in this release.