Venus & Mars

Paul McCartney, Wings - Venus & Mars

Venus & Mars
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CD Details

Artist: Paul McCartney, Wings
Brand: Venus
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Extra tracks, Import, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 1993-06-08
Music Label: EMI
Soundtracks:
  1. Rock Show
  2. Love In Song
  3. You Gave Me The Answer
  4. Magneto And Titanium Man
  5. Letting Go
  6. Venus And Mars(Reprise)
  7. Spirits Of Ancient Europe
  8. Medicine Jar
  9. Call Me Back Again
  10. Listen To What The Man Said
  11. Treat Her Gently(Lonely Old People)
  12. Crossroads Theme
  13. Venus And Mars
  14. Zoo Gang
  15. Lunch Box/Odd Sox
  16. My Carnival

Music reviews of Venus & Mars

Music Review: Wings at the pinnacle
Rating: 5 Stars

It seems, thankfully, the solo McCartney (and Wings) albums are being rediscovered (something I am doing myself) and there's no better place to start than Venus and Mars. One thing you can guarantee about a McCartney solo record is that there is always experimentation taking place, usually in a variety of musical genres (just like he did on Beatles albums), and nowhere else does that description fit better than it does on this album. From rock, blues, music hall, pop and whimsical ballads, all are present on this Wings offering. Granted, some of the aforementioned experimentation on Paul's post-Beatles albums doesn't always work, but on Venus and Mars it does, with solid results. Track for track it is one of the most enjoyable listens in McCartney's catalog. The melodies and arrangements are superior to any of his contemporaries (Lennon included) and the chord variations and changes allow for a rich and varied audio experience.

Recorded amidst a very festive atmosphere in New Orleans, Venus and Mars features some of McCartney's finest (and funnest) 1970s work. The album starts with an incredibly awesome satire of the seventies rock scene on "Venus and Mars/Rockshow" (also a top 20 hit in the United States). References abound in this song to Madison Square Garden, sex, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Jimmy Page, weed and more, and apparently legend holds that Venus was supposed to be Linda and Paul was Mars in the lyrics 'Venus and Mars are alright tonight.' The structure of the song changes so many times that it is indeed a mini-rock opera track. In some places the album has an 'arena rock' feel to it, and perhaps it was created with this in mind as Venus and Mars acted as a springboard to a huge Wings world tour undertaken by the band in 1975 and 1976. The title track subsequently set the stage perfectly as the opening song on the tour. It's followed by one of Paul's best ballads ever, "Love In Song," featuring great lyrics and wonderful harmonies with Linda. (Ex-Wings drummer Geoff Britton plays on this track as well as "Medicine Jar" and "Letting Go." He left early on during the recording of Venus and Mars after conflicting with guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and was replaced by Joe English.)

"Letting Go" is a brooding brass rocker with an excellent McCartney bass line, and seems to reference Paul's then-continuing struggle for Linda's acceptance as a musician, with such lyrics like "Ah, She Sings It So/I Want To Put Her On The Radio/One Day And There You Are/Ladies And Gentleman - A Brand New Star." The musical genre variation continues with the rocking "Magneto and Titanium Man" which is one of those trademark McCartney 'story' songs (based on the comic book characters) given an edge by his trademark throaty vocals and some great harmonies by the band---another great song in a live setting. The bluesy "Call Me Back Again" features yet more New Orleans-like brass and another awesome McCartney gutsy vocal.

Longtime Wings member Denny Laine gets a vocal turn on the McCartney-penned "Spirits of Ancient Egypt," which features the trademark Wings harmonies and some funky guitar licks. The feisty and young Wings guitarist Jimmy McCulloch (ex-Thunderclap Newman), suffering from drug addiction at the time, sings lead on his autobiographical "Medicine Jar," seemingly warning of the dangers of drug and drink. The song is an eerie foreshadowing of his eventual death in 1979 of a heroin overdose.

The musical diversity of the album continues with the music hall shuffle of "You Gave Me the Answer," a throwback to old Beatles tunes like "Honey Pie" and "Your Mother Should Know," the jazzy #1 hit classic "Listen to What the Main Said," and the mellow "Treat Her Gently/Lonely Old People" medley, which seems to be out of place on this mostly jumping, '70s rock affair. The cut is saved by its addictive melody and the fact that it seems so sad today to listen to Paul and Linda singing "here we sit, two lonely old people" with Linda having passed several years back. Perhaps the song benefits in hindsight for sentimental reasons, but it does revisit themes of loneliness that can be found in Paul's songwriting ("Eleanor Rigby," "Hey Jude" and "Let It Be" to name a couple), and is worth a second listen.

As another reviewer on Amazon stated earlier: "Great entertainment from start to finish...but just make sure you FINISH at the album proper (track 13)....any consideration of the "bonus" material would require one to detract a star from the rating." The bonus tracks "Lunch Box/Odd Sox" and "My Carnival" (inspired by Mardi Gras) are two jams featuring guest New Orleans musicians that clearly denote the party atmosphere present at the New Orleans recording sessions for Venus and Mars. "Zoo Gang," recorded in Africa during the Band on the Run sessions, is another experimental instrumental song with an African-tinge, and was the B-side to the "Band on The Run" single. However, enjoyable as these tracks are, they are throwaways in comparison to two other major tracks recorded at early sessions for Venus and Mars (this time in Nashville) and released as a single separate from the album -- "Junior's Farm" (with the awesome McCulloch guitar work) and "Sally G" -- a double-sided hit for Wings in 1974. Their glaring omission is astounding, and would have made this package even stronger with their inclusion at the expense of the other three bonus tracks.

Venus and Mars was created by what turned out to be the finest Wings lineup: Paul, Linda, Denny, Jimmy and Joe. The musicianship is top notch, the arrangements and chord progressions ever changing, and the trademark Wings vocal harmonies are brighter than ever. Following Band on the Run as it did, Venus and Mars is a classic McCartney solo record and certainly one of the most diverse listens of the 1970s. With the world's chief melodist and tunesmith at the helm, backed by an eager (if somewhat star-struck) band, all inspired by the challenge of proving themselves as a vital entity separate from The Beatles, and the resulting tension such conditions produce, helped create one of the finest Wings albums and McCartney solo works.

Highly recommended. Also recommended is the double live album Wings Over America, which features many Venus and Mars songs, some thought to be even better in a live setting.

Originally released in 1975, and Wings' third straight number #1 album.
More Venus & Mars free music reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Description of Venus & Mars

Digitally remastered reissue of their #1 1975 album featuring the #1 smash 'Listen To What The Man Said', plus 'Letting Go', 'Venus And Mars/ Rock Show' and three bonus tracks: 'Zoo Gang', 'Lunch Box/ Odd Sox' & 'My Carnival'. 16tracks total. 1993 Parlophone release.
Released in the glow of Wings' biggest and best album, Band on the Run, Venus & Mars found Paul McCartney in his element--a working rock star, being screamed at again, cheerfully riding the last rays of his youth. Adulation always brought the best out of him, and Venus & Mars is nearly the equal of its more lauded predecessor. McCartney never strays from his favorite themes (sex, drugs, rock & roll, and marriage), but his confidence is high as he mixes gorgeous, airy production numbers like "Listen to What the Man Said" and "Letting Go" with the ribald and hilarious. "Rock Show" matches the Who's "Long Live Rock" as the finest and funniest of those self-celebratory '70s stomps. McCartney's effortless marshalling of melody and arrangement hoists the blander material out of trouble, and the best stuff's powered by genuine, rediscovered verve. Facile and frivolous, but not at all bad. And their version of the "Crossroads" theme is wicked. --Taylor Parkes

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