Paul McCartney and Wings - Wings Over America - 1976
Paul McCartney - Good Evening New York 2009
I wasn't planning on getting this new live release from Sir Paul, but Rhino Records in Claremont CA was selling it for $9.99 and I just couldn't resist
First of all (even at it's regular retail price), it's hard to go wrong with this 3 disc set (2 CDs /1 DVD). You pretty much know and like all of these songs anyway. It includes a good overview of Beatles, Wings, Paul's solo, and songs from his recent side project "The Fireman".
But what was really fun for me was comparing this live album to his 1976 live release "Wings Over America".
Originally release as 3 Vinyl disc album, WOA chronicled Paul's first tour of America with his band Wings. This was also his first tour of America since the Beatles last tour during the mid 60's, and at the time, the hysteria over this concert was just amazing. For a lot of fans who couldn't get tickets, this album was as close as we where getting.
The other amazing thing (at the time) was that it was the first time anyone had heard his perform Beatle's songs live in over a decade. At this time, all the Beatles where busy working on solo careers and trying to distance themselves from their earlier bands work. WOA featured 5 Beatles songs along with heaping of songs from his solo work.
By way of comparison Good Evening New York features 19 Beatle songs and only 12 Paul solo songs!
Also fun was comparing the difference between Paul's current touring band and Wings (his band for a good part of his 70's output), Especially when it's the same song.
Here's a few quick comparisons
Band on The Run: On GENY the a keyboardist fills in for the horn section but on WOA it's just the band doing the song a lot more rocking and raw.
Let Me Roll It: WOA plays it more slow and bluesy. on GENY the song is more upbeat and rocking.
The Long And Winding Road: on WOA Paul opens with an improvised melancholy piano solo. A real horn section fills in for the album versions orchestra and the song is slower. on GENY there is a different improvised intro but it has the same feel. But this version is a bit more uptempo and synth strings replace the horns and are more in the background.
Also of interest is that Paul performs the John Lennon song "Give Peace A Chance" and George Harrison's "Something". Two songs that he never sang on initially. This album's version of Something is similar to the version that he performed at the George Harrison memorial concert. As for Give Peace A Chance....I think it's great that he decided to do this song, but I don't think that it's great that he chose to burst into three-quarters of the way into a live rendition of "A Day in the Life". Also I think that this song suffers from having the synth replacing the horns on this one.
I could go on but you get the idea.
I think what most impresses me is that with more than 30 years time between these two releases it's amazing to notice just how on top of his game Paul McCartney has remained as a live performer.
The corporate music industry smacks of blatant ageism, but I've always said that if musicians do their job right they get better as they get older, and not worse. Paul has certainly proved this
Good Evening New York is widely available in the standard 2 CD 1 DVD edition that I have and a deluxe 2 CD 2 DVD edition
Wings Over America is a our of print but is easily available as download version from Amazon and you can still get the CD version for a reasonable pice if you know where to look
Get Wings Over America on CD for about 20 bucks
Get the mp3 version for $9.49
Get the physical version of Good Evening New York for just $13.99
mp3 version just 9.49
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