Monday, July 9, 2012

Red Rose Seedway



Back in August, 1972, Paul and Linda had been arrested for marijuana possession in Sweden, the first in a lengthy string of drug busts for the McCartneys. A month later, police raided their farm in Scotland and seized cannabis plants from a greenhouse. Paul decided to plead not guilty, with the flimsy excuse that a fan had mailed him some seeds and he planted them unaware of their illegal nature. On March 8th, 1973, he and Linda were fined £100 at the Campbeltown courthouse, and were interviewed outside by a BBC reporter.

Having finished recording their new LP, Red Rose Speedway, Wings spent most of March and April videotaping a TV special to promote the record. Titled James Paul McCartney, the show contained musical performances from Wings such as "Mary Had A Little Lamb" (shot on location March 10th), an acoustic medley from Paul during a Linda photo shoot (taped March 15th), and a mini-concert by Wings in front of an audience at Elstree Studios (shot March 18th).

The latest Wings single, "My Love"/"The Mess" was released March 23rd in the UK; the band filmed a promo clip for the A-side, including a live vocal from Paul, for airing on Top Of The Pops April 5th:



Production of James Paul McCartney wrapped on April 1st with in-studio performances of "Little Woman Love/C Moon", "My Love", and "Live And Let Die", Paul's theme song for the upcoming James Bond film. The TV special aired on ABC in the US April 16th, and May 10th on ITV in the UK, to generally poor reviews.

The new album (issued April 30th in the US, May 4th in the UK) and single fared much better, giving Wings its first US #1 hits on the Billboard album and singles charts.

1 comment:

  1. I remember seeing the James Paul McCartney special when it first aired....I was four!!!! I was already heavily into the Beatles....that's all I talked about, ad infintum. So my parents let me watch it, and I remember the "Live and Let Die" part, and the "Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance" number. (my folks also let me watch The Point around the same period, and of course, every time they showed a Beatles movie on TV, it didn't matter what hour....I remember my uncle waking me up in the middle of the night, had to have been 1973, and letting me watch A Hard Day's Night at, like, 1 in the morning. It had to have been that, because I remember catching the end of Midnight Special or Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, which included a performance by Del Shannon!

    Anyways, just thought I'd share that little memory.....back then, you'd see something on TV and never see it again. I would never have thought in a million years that I'd be able to just go to You Tube and see the James Paul McCartney on a whim!

    ReplyDelete