Back To The Egg - History

History

After the release of London Town, following the exit of both guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Joe English, McCartney hired two new members with a view to recording a raw rock and roll album after the soft rock of London Town and getting Wings back on the road. Laurence Juber became the band's final lead guitarist and Steve Holley Wings' last drummer. McCartney also decided to join forces in the studio with Chris Thomas (who had trained as a producer during the recording of The Beatles' 1968 double album The Beatles) for Back to the Egg.

By the end of June 1978, this last incarnation of Wings settled into Spirit of Ranachan Studios on McCartney's farm in Scotland, then moved onto Lympne Castle near Hythe in Kent (not far from McCartney's new home in Peasmarsh, near Rye, Sussex) in September and Abbey Road Studios in October, where McCartney organised a special one-off session. On 3 October, Wings recorded two tracks, "Rockestra Theme" and "So Glad To See You Here" with many celebrity guests under the heading of Rockestra. James Honeyman-Scott of the Pretenders, Hank Marvin of The Shadows, The Who's Pete Townshend, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, John Bonham and The Attractions's Bruce Thomas all took part.

Eager to release new material, Wings issued a non-album dance single "Goodnight Tonight" b/w "Daytime Nighttime Suffering" in late March 1979. It became a worldwide Top 5 hit and set the stage for Back to the Egg's release that June (the song would later appear as a bonus track on the CD reissue of McCartney II). With the title a McCartney-ism for getting back to basics, the band considered Back to the Egg the beginning of a new era in their career. It was certainly not intended as their swan song, as the members continued to record together until January 1981.

Back to the Egg reached #6 in the UK and #8 in the US. Different singles were released in different territories. The lead single in the UK was "Old Siam, Sir" which hit #35. In most other territories, including the US, "Getting Closer" was used instead, reaching #20 in the US. "Getting Closer" was then used as the second single in the UK reaching #60. The second single in the US was "Arrow Through Me", hitting #29, while in France, "Rockestra Theme" was used. Both of these singles used "Old Siam, Sir" as the B-side.

In 1993, Back to the Egg was remastered and reissued on CD as part of "The Paul McCartney Collection" series with "Daytime Nighttime Suffering" ("Goodnight Tonight"'s B-Side) and Paul McCartney's solo 1979 Christmas single "Wonderful Christmastime" b/w "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reggae" as bonus tracks.