Sir Paul McCartney has spoken to ClashMusic about the need for experimentation which runs through his career.
After the tumultuous split of The Beatles, Paul McCartney was left wondering to do with his life. Facing the prospect of court cases involving his friends, the singer embarked on a series of unusual solo albums.
‘McCartney’ and ‘RAM’ demonstrated that while Paul McCartney still had a unique melodic touch, he was keen to move beyond the public’s perception of him as a chirpy tunesmith.
Recalling those albums, Paul McCartney reflected on his need to experiment. “I certainly was enjoying the freedom of just doing something different. I’ve always been like that, and I still am – it’s like me doing The Fireman project: suddenly I can actually try something new” he told ClashMusic.
“And then, the other element was that I knew I couldn’t just try and make a carbon copy of The Beatles – I knew that was impossible; without John, George and Ringo there was no way I could do that. So I knew I had to try and make something new. So each of the albums was to try and establish an identity for Wings that would then be recognised in time as Wings music – the Wings sound.”
Wings were formed with a number of guest musicians, including his wife Linda. However a split shortly before entering the studio overshadowed work on their now massively successful album ‘Band On The Run’.
“That was like a bombshell. You can imagine me getting off that phone call: it was like, ‘Ah. Okay. Try and hold your nerve; try and keep it together.”
“What do we do now? Sod it, we’re going’. And at that moment it was one of those, ‘I’ll show you. I will make the best album I’ve ever made now. I will put so much effort into it because I wanna just prove that we didn’t need you guys’.”
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