‘McCartney Legacy Volume 2’ Arrives From Noted Beatles Historian
by Best Classic Bands Staff
Noted Beatles author Allan Kozinn has issued the follow-up to 2022’s The McCartney Legacy, Volume 1, described as the most complete work on the life and work of Paul McCartney ever published. Volume 2, which arrived on December 10, 2024, via Dey Street Books, and written again with researcher Adrian Sinclair, continues to paint the portrait of one of the world’s greatest musicians, his work post-Beatles, and his life from 1974 to 1980. The new title is available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.
From the publisher’s announcement: By 1974 the Beatles were a distant memory, and Paul McCartney had already gone on to release a solo album and form a new band, Wings. By the end of the decade Wings would be the bestselling band of the 1970s. [Ed., Not likely.] The McCartney Legacy, Volume 2 begins in 1974 at the height of Wings popularity and the beginning of McCartney’s next chapter.
Picking up immediately after its predecessor which covered 1969-1973, Kozinn and Sinclair have brought the same exhaustive research ethos to Volume 2 that made the first volume a critical success, following McCartney the man, establishing himself as a musician beyond Beatlemania and his legacy throughout the 20th century through the present day. Volume 1 is available here.
Of that first volume, The Times (U.K.) wrote, “Anybody in the future who wants to know anything about the subject will find the information here. [The authors] have entirely succeeded in the task they set themselves—to find out and inform the reader of everything there is to know about the life of Paul McCartney between 1969 and 1973.”
Paul McCartney during the recording of the “Rockestra Theme” at Abbey Road Studios, October 3, 1978
The acclaimed albums recorded during the period covered in Volume 2 include Venus and Mars, Wings at the Speed of Sound, and the triple live Wings Over America, and Back To the Egg. McCartney’s oft-bootlegged, One Hand Clapping, was recorded live in the studio in 1974. [It finally got an official release on June 14 and is available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]
McCartney’s work in the more than five decades since the Fab Four’s breakup has been extraordinarily successful and enduringly popular—his dozens of post-Beatles albums have sold upwards of 90 million copies; and McCartney’s 2019 “Freshen Up” tour was the highest grossing tour ever, in the entire world. He has since returned to the stage with his “Got Back” tour.
Author Allan Kozinn was a music critic and culture reporter for The New York Times from 1977 to 2014, where he was, in effect, the Times’ Beatles desk. In that capacity, he interviewed 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) and Got That Something! How The Beatles’ ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ Changed Everything (2013).
The principal researcher for the 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. Since going freelance 15 years ago, he’s worked for such major broadcasters as the BBC, ITV, Sky, Channel 4, National Geographic, Discovery and MTV. His 2010 documentary Stealing Shakespeare (BBC/Smithsonian) was Emmy nominated for Best Documentary.
2 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationThe first volume in this series by Allan Kozinn was a laudable undertaking, but the font used in the text was minute, making it hard for failing baby boomer eyes.
It looks as though the editor is questioning whether Wings was the most successful act of the 70s. The editor should do some research before being snarky. According to metrics from Billboard Top 40, Wings was indeed the top act of that decade just as The Beatles were in the 60s.