Hey guys, longtime Beatlemaniac but I only recently started getting into Paul’s solo work. Until about a month ago I’d only listened to Ram and Band On The Run. If you were going solely by the opinions of—say, the people over on r/Beatles— you’d get the impression that those were the only two albums worth listening to, with the occasional personal favorite here and there (i.e, Venus and Mars, Flaming Pie, McCartney I, etc...). Really glad to report though that I’ve enjoyed just about everything I’ve listened to so far. And believe me I’ve been listening, obsessively, haha.

Anyway, preamble out of the way, I wanted to have a discussion about Red Rose Speedway. I see it on the lower end of people’s McCartney album rankings, which I find interesting, and there isn’t much discussion about it online.

This album was the precursor to Band On The Run, and to me it seems really overlooked because of that fact, in addition to its interesting release backstory. For those unaware, it was initially intended to be a double album until the label stepped in and made the band condense it into a single album. This version of the album received a lot of mediocre reviews, and I can honestly understand why as the song selection was... interesting... and the overall flow of the tracklist was pretty rough.

Fast forward to 2018, and as part of the Archive Collection re-release, Paul gives us the original double album. Here’s my Spotify playlist with the track list if you’re interested! Now I’m a huge sucker for alternate history and lost media, so this was immediately intriguing to me. After listening to this version, I’m honestly surprised there isn’t more discussion about it. So here’s my thoughts on it;

For one, I think it tells a better story about the development of Wings as a band. This release tells a story about a band that’s exploring different sounds and finding their identity. There is a wide diversity of material on here; I mean there are songs that would fit right in on something like Ram, alongside songs that are more traditional pop rock like you hear on Band On The Run. There are songs where Paul doesn’t take the lead, and it’s even got a couple live takes that showcase the band’s live dynamic. Not to mention the Abbey Road-esque medley!

All things considered, this version is a very fun and casual listen from front-to-back. Lots of songs that are a lot of fun to sing along to and don’t take themselves too seriously (which I personally find to be one of Paul’s strongest songwriting traits!). There are also serious songs on here too though! The album’s not perfect, but it’s a huge improvement over the 1973 release and, in my eyes, is the definitive way to listen to it.

But what do y’all think? Is this version of the album underrated, or is that just me?