Despite the title suggesting a revival, ‘Egg’ sounded as derivative and atypical as a new wave album as any other 1979 album. At a time when the monsters of the seventies, The Who and Led Zeppelin, passed from guitar music to the softer keyboard sound (no band with great results), so too Wings moved in a pop-oriented direction. With Laurence Juber and Steve Holley leading the way, Wings put together a set that no one could predict would be the last of Wings.

And it shouldn’t have been the last, but because of the actions of two major incidents. The first, the arrest of Paul McCartney in January 1980 for smuggling eight ounces of marijuana to Japan, halted his first tour of Japan. The second, the murder of McCartney’s songwriting partner, John Lennon, caused McCartney and his wife Linda to withdraw from the attention of fans around the world.

And so it’s a groan from a last record, uninteresting and bland, sandwiched between the peaks worthy of the understated brilliance of ‘London Town’ and the eccentric and esoteric ‘McCartney II’. Too old for the new wave, too safe for the Beatlelites, and simply too labor-intensive for any interested shopper other than the collectivists. He’s not the weakest Wings catalog (he’s got a moment or two, ‘Wild Life’ didn’t have any), but he’s definitely not a champion either.

Positivity has always been one of McCartney’s standout characteristics (he called one of his albums ‘New’, for God’s sake!). So let’s start with the positives. There are four: ‘Goodnight Tonight’, while a bit throwaway, has incredible crescendo flamenco and one of McCartney’s most edgy and erratic bass lines (John Lennon, who didn’t like the song, loved bass). Again and Again ‘was one of his best Wings ballads, second only to’ Deliver Your Children ‘. ‘Arrow Through Me’ immerses the listener in R&B style. ‘Daytime Nighttime Suffering’, released as the change from ‘Goodnight Tonight’, had a lyrical seriousness, over and above the pop-seasoned keyboard riff, one of McCartney’s strongest post-Beatles songs, an early example of proto-hit placement. -feminist (much better than Lennon’s Disappointing ‘Woman is the ****** of the world’). That being said, the fact that one of the positives found in this record was not initially posted to the record is an indicator of the weak material found here.

The ’70s rock extravaganza’ Rockestra ‘played more like a who’s who of rock than a good track, the white powder running through the track. With the participation of Pete Townshend, David Gilmour, Kenney Jones, Gary Brooker and Zeppelin, the duo John Paul Jones and John Bonham amid the chaos (Keith Moon was scheduled to play on the album, but died weeks before the recording), it turned out be one of the best in rock. indulgences and one of the biggest justifications for punk rock. ‘Old Siam, Sir’ was offensive even for 1979. ‘Spin It On’ had a catchy title but nothing else (certainly any listener did it a second time!) ‘Reception’, ‘The Broadcast’ and ‘Were Open This night ‘(each less than a minute and a half in length) turned out to be a little attempt at looking artistic. The closing song ‘Baby’s Request’ sounded as stupid as any nonsense from any radio station from the late 1970s.

And with that, McCartney’s second band came to an end, returning to work on his first true solo album in ten years. If Wings taught McCartney anything, it was that he was better when working alone (tellingly, ‘Band On The Run’ and ‘London Town’ are still his best records, both recorded when they come down to the nude trio of Paul, Linda and Denny. ). And with that McCartney went to work on a triple collection of killer albums (the criminally overlooked ‘McCartney II’, the pop genius’ Tug of War ‘, the’ 80s Beatles zenith ‘Pipes of Peace’) , his days as a bandleader behind him.