For the Love of Good Music

There was a lot going on in the year 1976. It was the Bicentennial year for the good ole US of A. I was in the 7th Grade, on the cusp of manhood. My musical tastes were blossoming into what would be my preferred tastes throughout the rest of my life, or at least thus far.

The album package and poster

My loving parents, especially my mother, supported my new musical tastes. At this stage, they were still rather innocent. I had not yet happened upon Aerosmith, Mahogany Rush or Van Halen, so she was unworried and unconcerned. One Christmas, they bought me a record player. It was just that--nothing more or less--yet I loved and used it. I was a cheap, inexpensive unit, too, but that didn't bother me either.

I had been a Beatles fan since I happened upon a few of their 45s that my dad had brought home with many others he had found in an old, defunct radio station. I had bought a couple Beatles anthologies on LP afterwards, and I can think of no better music to cut one's teeth on. Regardless of what you think about the Beatles today, they were unarguably the best songwriters of that era, perhaps of all time, at least in the pantheon of rock and roll. Given this fondness, I also liked the post-Beatles work of Paul McCartney.

In 1976, McCartney and his band, Wings, toured the US, recording a live album in the process. It was a great work, covering the entire live set and spanning three LPs, titled "Wings over America".  I purchased it as soon as possible. The price then was princely for an LP; I'm thinking it was about $11-12. Yet as it was three records, not one, it seemed a better deal. The album itself was a work of art, as many were in those days. The centerfold was a painting of the band on stage, showing all members of the band. I later discovered it was derived from a series of photographs of the individuals taken on the tour, later rendered as one work. You notice when seeing it that something is missing:  a bass player. This oversight was certainly not an issue for the artist and bugs probably no one else but me.

The Centerfold

I listened to WoA over and over and over again. It became, and remains, one of my favorite pieces of music. The guys playing with McCartney at that time were among the best, and he was at the top of his game as a songwriter, arranger and musician, not to mention as a showman.

Another poster included with the album

If my recall is correct, at one point one of the disks was damaged by heat, rendering the set unplayable in its entirety. WoA eventually disappeared from my rotation. Over the following years, I tried to find it on CD, and was unsuccessful. The copies I did find were overpriced, fetching $50 for the 2-disc set. Fast-forward 25 years...

A couple of months ago, I learned that WoA had been re-released on CD. Best Buy was selling a special package of the set which included a bonus disc of recordings from the WoA tour recorded in San Francisco. On the way home that evening, I dropped by Best Buy and snatched one up.

Even now, these weeks hence, I love having rediscovered this album. WoA gave me a love and appreciation for live music which has endured until today. I'm not a huge fan of live recordings per se, but there are a few live recordings in my Top 100 list.

Here's to Memory Lane! May its pavement always be free of potholes!