Venus and Mars (Wings album)

After recording Band on the Run (1973) as a three-piece with wife Linda and guitarist Denny Laine, McCartney added Jimmy McCulloch on lead guitar and Geoff Britton on drums to the Wings line-up in 1974. Having written several new songs for the next album, McCartney decided on New Orleans, Louisiana as the recording venue, and Wings headed there in January 1975. Before the departure to New Orleans, Wings had recorded three songs at Abbey Road Studios in London in November 1974: "Letting Go", "Love In Song" and "Medicine Jar", all overdubbed later at Sea Saint Studios between January and February.[1]

As soon as the sessions began, the personality clash that had been evident between McCulloch and Britton during Wings' 1974 sessions in Nashville became more pronounced, and Britton – after a six-month tenure – quit Wings, having only played on three of the new songs. A replacement, American Joe English, was quickly auditioned and hired to finish the album.[2]

The sessions proved to be productive, not only resulting in a finished album, but also several additional songs, including two future McCartney B-sides, "Lunch Box/Odd Sox" and "My Carnival". McCartney also decided to link the album's songs together much like the Beatles had on Abbey Road to give Venus and Mars a more continuous feel.[3]

John Lennon, often in a nostalgic mood during his "Lost Weekend" period, had told May Pang (his then girlfriend) that they would visit the McCartneys during the recording sessions for Venus and Mars, and considered writing with him again. Lennon's planned visit never happened due to his reunion with Yoko Ono.[4]

Wings' interpretation of the theme to Crossroads, a British soap opera, was sometimes used to end the television programme in place of the regular theme tune, usually when there was a cliffhanger ending with a hint of sadness involved.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
Christgau's Record Guide	B+[6]
Classic Rock	8/10[7]
The Essential Rock Discography	6/10[8]
Mojo	[9]
MusicHound	2/5[10]
Q	[11]
Record Collector	[12]
Rolling Stone	(unfavourable)[13]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[14]

Preceded by the single "Listen to What the Man Said" in May 1975, Venus and Mars appeared two weeks later to generally favourable reviews and brisk sales.[15] The album reached number 1 in the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries around the world (as did "Listen to What the Man Said" in the US) and sold 4 million copies worldwide.[7] The reaction, though mainly positive, was less than what had greeted Band on the Run a year earlier.

The album cover, which Paul summed up as "a package that would be nice to get, and also something recognizable" was photographed by Linda, depicting two billiard balls in a black background, which are yellow and red to fit the colours of the planets Venus and Mars.[16] To fit the title, the inside photographs of the Wings were shot in the Mojave desert to capture a group photograph in an outerworldly location.[17] Hipgnosis did the art design, incorporating billiard balls and cues in the lettering and illustrations by George Hardie.[18]

Two additional singles, "Letting Go" and "Venus and Mars/Rock Show", were released. Although the latter almost reached the US top ten,[19] it did not chart at all in the UK.

In September, Wings began what would be their year-long Wings Over the World tour in the UK,[20] with concerts in Australia, Europe, the US and Canada to follow. Songs from Venus and Mars featured heavily in the concert setlist.

The album was first issued on compact disc by Columbia Records in 1984, although early pressings were pressed in Japan by CSR Compact Disc, which was etched in the inner ring. In 1993, Venus and Mars was remastered and reissued on CD as part of "The Paul McCartney Collection" series with "Zoo Gang" (a UK television theme that was the UK B-side of "Band on the Run" in 1974), "Lunch Box/Odd Sox" (B-side of "Coming Up" in 1980) and "My Carnival" ("Spies Like Us"' B-side in 1985) as bonus tracks. In 2007, the album was reissued in digital form on iTunes with the same bonus tracks, plus the extended "party mix" of "My Carnival"; however, this version has since been replaced by the 2014 reissue.

In 2014 the album was re-issued by Hear Music/Concord Music Group as part of the fifth set of releases, alongside Wings at the Speed of Sound, in the Paul McCartney Archive Collection. It was released in multiple formats.[21] The reissue was accompanied by the Record Store Day exclusive edition of "Letting Go" single.[22]

The album was also originally released in 4-channel quadraphonic. In 1996 the quadraphonic version of the album was issued on compact disc in the DTS 5.1 Music Disc format.

All songs written by Paul and Linda McCartney (listed as "McCartney"), except where noted.

All tracks are written by Paul & Linda McCartney.

• Paul McCartney – vocals, bass, guitars, keyboards, piano, percussion
• Linda McCartney – keyboards, backing vocals, percussion
• Denny Laine – vocals, guitars, keyboards, percussion
• Jimmy McCulloch – guitars, vocals, percussion
• Joe English – drums, percussion
• Geoff Britton – drums on "Love in Song", "Letting Go" and "Medicine Jar"
• Kenneth "Afro" Williams – congas on "Rock Show"
• Allen Toussaint – piano on "Rock Show"
• Dave Mason – guitar on "Listen to What the Man Said"
• Tom Scott – soprano saxophone on "Listen to What the Man Said"

Footnotes

Citations

Sources