Paul McCartney At The Speed Of Sound CD - Import

Digitally Remastered Version Of The Wings Album That Includes Let Em In / Beware My Love / Silly Love Songs With 3 Added Tracks: Walking In The Park With Eloise / Bridge On The River Suite / Sally G. The First Two Of Those Tracks Were Performed By.

Wings: Paul McCartney (vocals, acoustic guitar, bass, drums, percussion); Denny Laine (vocals, acoustic guitar); Jimmy McCulloch (vocals, guitar); Linda McCartney (vocals, keyboards); Joe English (vocals, drums).
Additional personnel: Chet Atkins (electric guitar); Lloyd Green (slide & pedal steel guitar); Bobby Thompson (banjo); Johnny Gimble (fiddle); Bill Puitt (clarinet, saxophone); Thaddeus Richard (saxophone, horns); Norman Ray (baritone saxophone); Don Sheffield, George Tidwell, Barry McDonald (trumpet); Dennis Good, Dale Quillen (trombone); Tony Dorsey, Steve Howard, Howie Casey (horns); Floyd Cramer (piano); Geoff Britton (drums).
Recorded at EMI/Abbey Road Studios, England in 1976; Bonus tracks recorded at The Soundshop, Nashville, Tennesse.
Released the same month as the start of Paul McCartney's first post-Beatles tour of the U.S., this album stayed at number one seven weeks and featured the number one single "Silly Love Songs" and the Top Ten "Let 'Em In." Without the hoopla, it's actually a mediocre effort not helped by having other members of Wings contribute songs, although it contains one of those lost McCartney gems, the rocker "Beware My Love." (The CD contains three bonus tracks culled from non-LP singles: "Walking in the Park with Eloise," "Bridge on the River Suite," and "Sally G.") ~ William Ruhlmann
If Venus and Mars had the façade of being an album by a band, At the Speed of Sound really is a full-band effort, where everybody gets a chance to sing, even contribute a song. This, ironically, winds up as considerably less cohesive than its predecessor despite these efforts for community, not because Wings was not a band in the proper sense, but because nobody else in the band pulsed as much weight as McCartney, who was resting on his laurels here. Consider this: The two hits "Let 'Em In" and "Silly Love Songs" are so lightweight that their lack of substance seems nearly defiant. They have sweet, nice melodies and are well crafted, but as songs they're nonexistent, working primarily as effervescent popcraft of their time. And that's the case for most of At the Speed of Sound, as tracks like "She's My Baby" play like the hits, only without memorable hooks. There is a bit of charm to the record, arriving in Linda's awkwardly sung "Cook of the House," the mellow "Must Do Something About It," and especially "Beware My Love," the best-written song here that effortlessly moves from sun-drenched harmonies to hard rock. Apart from the latter, these are modest pleasures buried on an album that may have been a chart-topping blockbuster, but now seems like one of McCartney's most transient works. [The CD reissue contains three bonus tracks, including the trad jazz instrumental "Walking in the Park With Eloise," which his father wrote, and the charming laid-back country "Sally G," which is better than most of the songs on Speed.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
It's widely accepted that McCartney was never the serious artiste that Lennon was; he never claimed to be, and more importantly (as this album bears out) never needed to be. This 1976 recording found McCartney and Wings at their peak. It's full of glimmering pop gems more concerned with infectious hooks and unforgettable melodies than social relevance.
The opener "Let 'Em In" is almost childlike in its simplicity, and is effective precisely because of that lack of premeditation. "Cook of the House" and "Wino Junko" are good fun, conveying a loose sense of mirth that's both appealing and contagious. The highlight of the album is the near-manifesto "Silly Love Songs," in which Paul makes a case for the everlasting appeal of said compositions, and after a listen to AT THE SPEED OF SOUND, you can't help bu