Paul McCartney & Wings ‘Band on the Run’ Gets 50th Anniversary Edition
by Best Classic Bands Staff
Paul McCartney & Wings’ Band on the Run has gotten an expanded 50th anniversary edition. News of the title, which arrived February 2, 2024, via UMe, was revealed on Dec. 4—50 years to the week of its original release. The collection is available on 2-CDs [U.S., U.K.], and features the original album plus a second disc of “Underdubbed” mixes. There’s also a half-speed mastered LP [U.S., U.K.]. Listen to the “Underdubbed” mixes of many of the album’s classic tracks and see the remastered (in 4K) music videos for “Helen Wheels” and “Mamunia,” below.
From the Dec. 4 announcement: The multiple GRAMMY-winning #1 smash was originally released in December of 1973. Featuring the immortal title track, worldwide hit “Jet,’’ the wistful “Bluebird,” long-time live staple “Let Me Roll It,” the multi-faceted “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me)” and climactic closer “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five,” Band on the Run is Wings’ most successful and celebrated release ever.
The 50th anniversary edition of Band on the Run will be available in a variety of formats, beginning with a single LP. This special vinyl edition was cut at half speed using a high-resolution transfer of the original master tapes from 1973 by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios, London. The single vinyl album configuration mirrors the U.S. tracklist, which features the song “Helen Wheels” and includes a Linda McCartney Polaroid poster. (Did you know this song was named after McCartney’s Land Rover, which was playfully nicknamed “Hell on Wheels”?)
The 2-LP vinyl edition features the original U.S. album, remastered at half speed, and a second LP titled “Underdubbed” Mixes Edition, housed in a premium slipcase. The set also includes two Linda McCartney Polaroid posters. A 2-CD format features the original U.S. album, “Underdubbed” mixes, and a double-sided fold-out Polaroid poster taken by Linda McCartney.
Speaking about the “Underdubbed” version, McCartney said: “This is Band on the Run in a way you’ve never heard before. When you are making a song and putting on additional parts, like an extra guitar, that’s an overdub. Well, this version of the album is the opposite, underdubbed.”
Band on the Run (Underdubbed) presents the album’s nine classic songs for the first time without any orchestral overdubs, available digitally. The previously unreleased rough mixes were created by Geoff Emerick, assisted by Pete Swettenham at AIR Studios, on October 14, 1973. The tracklist, newly ordered as detailed below, mirrors the original analog tapes discovered in the MPL archives.
Finally, Band on the Run is also be available in Dolby ATMOS for the first time, newly mixed by Giles Martin and Steve Orchard.
Of the countless classic albums McCartney has released throughout his illustrious career, Wings’ Band On the Run holds a place of particularly high esteem. The album not only delivered on the promise of Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway but also consolidated Wings’ status as standard bearers of ‘70s rock ’n’ roll.
Linda McCartney and Paul McCartney, Band on the Run promo shoot (© 1973 MPL Communications Ltd. Photographer Clive Arrowsmith; used with permission)
By the summer of 1973, McCartney had a fresh batch of songs earmarked for a new album. Looking through a list of EMI’s international studios, he chose Lagos, Nigeria, to be the location of its recording, becoming enthralled with the idea of recording in Africa. Just days before departure, lead guitarist Henry McCullough and drummer Denny Seiwell quit the band. Wings were now, suddenly, a trio. Paul, his wife Linda, and band member Denny Laine (along with recording engineer Geoff Emerick) toiled in the Lagos studio’s relatively rudimentary conditions, working up the new songs over two months. Disaster struck one night when Paul and Linda were robbed at knifepoint while walking home from a friend’s house, the thieves making off with a cassette of home demo recordings of the songs. Paul was able to remember the songs as he’d only recently written them.
This ad for the album and title track appeared in the June 8, 1974 issue of Record World when both topped the charts
Noted for its suite-like structure of three distinct movements, the title track was not an obvious pop hit, but it would top the Billboard Hot 100 and propel the album back up the charts, becoming a #1 smash in both the U.S. and U.K., returning to the top spot twice more in America, and becoming the best-selling studio album of 1974 in Australia, Canada, and the U.K.
Band on the Run has only grown in stature over the years. After scooping two Grammy Awards in 1975, the Deluxe Edition was awarded a third in 2012—followed by the album’s induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2013. It took until 2010 for ‘Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five’ to be performed live, but now, as McCartney’s solo career continues unabated, it is a regular presence in his live sets.
Related: Our Album Rewind of Band on the Run
The complete track listing is below. When you buy something using a link on this page, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting Best Classic Bands.
Band on the Run 50th Anniversary Edition Track list
Disc One – Band on the Run
1. Band on the Run
2. Jet
3. Bluebird
4. Mrs. Vandebilt
5. Let Me Roll It
6. Mamunia
7. No Words
8. Helen Wheels
9. Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me)
10.Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five
Disc Two Band on the Run (Underdubbed Mixes)
1. Band on the Run
2. Mamunia
3. No Words
4. Jet
5. Bluebird
6. Mrs. Vandebilt
7. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five
8. Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me)
9. Let Me Roll It
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3 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationMcCartney may think that he invented the term “underdubbed,” but “Underdub” was the name of a song by Hatfield and the North in 1975..
Maybe they heard Paul using the word in the early 70’s and used it in their song title?
Gee , it seems like only yesterday that I bought the ” 25th anniversary ” CD box of this great album. That too had bonus cuts , different ones. I have the original US album , the CD remaster w bonus cuts , the 25th anniversary… I’ll pass on this for now , but will listen to it on line. It’s a great way for new fans to be introduced to the album .
I still have to save up for the red & blue newly mix CDs.