Back to the Egg was supposed to be the return to form for Wings. Released in the summer of '79 all I remember about this album is the cover. One of the older guys (I think he was maybe 22 or 23 if that) I worked with that summer said he heard it and didn't think much of it. It was a casual comment that stuck. It would be the last album attributed to Wings.
Over the years I've picked up a few albums by Wings and they've always been sort of hit and miss for me. There was a joke in the '70s that kids were too young to remember the Beatles and to them Paul McCartney was that guy who had been in Wings. Over time Wings became a footnote, and any of the classic songs by Wings were assimilated by Paul McCartney, the guy who was once in The Beatles. He was chief cook and bottle washer relegating Wings to a supporting role that was merely comprised to a floating cast of characters.
It's strange how pissy I get with Wings. The number of truly amazing songs they produced over their eight year span of recorded output is staggering. They
were a band at one time. Paul and Denny Laine along with Linda were the core trio. One can debate the relevance of Linda's contributions, but Denny Laine was the real deal and was a necessary foil for Paul.
I will admit I had really hoped this would be a pleasant surprise. Given my penchant for trying to like something come hell or high water to justify the money spent - even if it was cheap is sort of a failing. If you love everything, you love nothing. At some point you just have to call it and zip up the body bag. It was a surprise, just not the one I wanted.
Back to the Egg though does have some glimmers of possibility. The first side has "Getting Closer" which I sort of remembered, but it was never a big hit. It was a decent song. The other surprise is the rather frenetic punk infused "Spin it On" that is way more fun than it ought to be. However it's hardly two minutes, which was fine if you were The Ramones, but for Wings it seemed half baked. Still, it's a reminder that Paul could rock when he wanted to. "Helter Skelter" wasn't an accident. Heck "Old Siam, Sir" is one of the better tracks on the album. Paul sounds gritty and almost angry in his delivery. The problem is at this point I'm trying to find redeeming elements, and all I'm doing is comparing the songs on the album to the other songs on an album that I've already given up on.
To sort of prove the point the illustrious instrumental that won a Grammy in 1980 the "Rockestra Theme" that features Dave Gilmour, Pete Townshend, John Bonham, Kenny Jones, John Paul Jones and Ronnie Lane among others just proves that sometimes more is less. The reality is it's pretty decent but honestly it's more a novelty than anything.
"You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" anymore than you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. I had fourteen to choose from, and all I have is a bowl full of eggs and broken shells. I'm going to get out my needle and thread and try again. I may not be able to make a silk purse but maybe I can use it as a patch?
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