The follow-up to The McCartney Legacy, Volume 1, the most complete work on the life and work of Paul McCartney ever published. Volume 2 continues to paint the portrait of one of the world’s greatest musicians, his work post-Beatles, and his life from 1974 to 1980.
This second installment of the groundbreaking multivolume Paul McCartney biography, THE McCARTNEY LEGACY, VOLUME 2: 1974-80 finds Paul McCartney in the afterglow of Band on the Run, an album that topped the Billboard 200 three times in 1974, and won him his best reviews since his time in the Beatles. But he also faced rebuilding his band Wings, and getting it into shape not only for the studio work that would follow his most successful album to date, but also to tour Britain, Europe and Australia before conquering the USA with the groundbreaking Wings Over America tour. This intensely creative time in McCartney’s life saw him writing and recording four studio albums with Wings (Venus and Mars, Wings at the Speed of Sound, London Town and Back to the Egg), the biggest selling British single of the 1970s, ‘Mull of Kintyre,’ and a solo album packed with electronic experimentalism, McCartney II. During a period of diverse musical evolution, McCartney melded his own melody-driven approach with in-vogue styles like disco, punk and new wave.
Away from Wings, McCartney dabbled in music publishing, science fiction writing, semi-autobiographical filmmaking, animation, viral marketing, journalist boycotting, and smuggling cannabis past authority figures with mixed success. McGear, an album Paul co-wrote with his brother, Mike, tops a long list of lesser known projects and collaborations – some of which never saw the light of day – that kept McCartney busy between hit records.
For the second half of this decade, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr remained ever present in McCartney’s life. Collaborations were mooted, and multi-million dollar offers for one-off reunion concerts were plentiful, but the scars of the Beatles’ bitter separation, and their complex, hard to untangle business ties complicated their private and public relationships.
THE McCARTNEY LEGACY series is the first truly comprehensive biography, and the most finely detailed exploration of McCartney’s creative post-Beatles career, ever undertaken. As well as thousands of never-before-seen documents, this rich volume of music history is informed by hundreds of interviews, including exclusive collaborations with all four surviving members of Wings – Geoff Britton, Joe English, Steve Holley and Laurence Juber – plus countless other including producers, musicians, recording engineers, designers and architects who worked with McCartney between 1974-80.
This definitive music biography offers an unparalleled look into McCartney’s most dynamic decade:
- The Wings Experience: From the chart-topping success of Band on the Run to rebuilding the Wings band for the groundbreaking Wings Over America tour.
- Genre-Bending Creativity: Witness McCartney’s musical evolution as he melds his signature melodies with the in-vogue sounds of disco, punk, and new wave.
- Beyond the Music: Explore a fascinating range of lesser-known projects, from co-writing an album with his brother to dabbling in science fiction, animation, and filmmaking.
- A Beatle Apart: Get the inside story on his complex relationships with John, George, and Ringo, and why the multi-million dollar offers for a Beatles reunion never came to pass.
- Meticulously Researched: Based on thousands of never-before-seen documents and hundreds of interviews, including exclusive conversations with surviving members of Wings.
Allan Kozinn was a music critic and culture reporter for the New York Times from 1977 to 2014, where he wrote principally about classical music. In that capacity, he interviewed Paul McCartney several times, and saw him perform in a great variety of configurations and venues—from singing with a hand mic at the Lonestar Roadhouse, playing rock oldies at the Cavern, in Liverpool, and performing in small halls like the Ed Sullivan Theater and the Highline Ballroom, to full-scale concerts at Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium. He currently contributes regularly to the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and other publications. He has taught courses at the Juilliard School and New York University (including a course on the Beatles at the latter), and has written seven books, among them The Beatles—From the Cavern to the Rooftop (1995), Got That Something! How The Beatles’ ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ Changed Everything (2013), The New York Times Essential Guide—Classical Music (2004).
The principal researcher for the McCartney Legacy series, Adrian Sinclair studied film at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and served a traineeship with ITV in Yorkshire, England, where he learned his craft as a documentary film editor. He’s worked for almost every major broadcaster in the world, including the BBC, ITV, Sky, Channel 4, National Geographic, Discovery and MTV. As well as receiving recognition for his work from the Royal Television Society in England, Adrian’s 2010 documentary Stealing Shakespeare (BBC/Smithsonian) was Emmy shortlisted for Best Documentary.
