Luca Perasi, author of weighty tomes focused on Paul McCartney's recording sessions and songwriting, takes a new tack here: zeroing in on just one Macca project in a relatively compact book.
The result is a great: A nice little companion piece to one of Paul's best and most popular LPs.
Perasi packs in a lot of information, charting all phases of the album, from it's challenging beginnings (guitarist Henry McCullough and drummer Denny Seiwell quit Wings on the eve the band's departure to Lagos, Nigeria, where Paul chooses to record the project; Paul, Linda McCartney and Denny Laine arrive in Lagos to find a very primitive recording studio; Paul gets sick; he and Linda get mugged and demo tapes for the album's songs are stolen; Paul pisses off both Ginger Baker and Fela Kuti, etc.), through its promotion, reception and legacy.
Each song on the album is carefully analyzed, from its lyrics, production and who played what, and there's a nice selection of pictures throughout, including news clippings, promo photos and ads, and more.
Perasi also includes footnotes and a bibliography, which are handy for those wanting to do more reading on the topic.
One note, though: The English translation of the book (Perasi is Italian) is excellent, but it's in present tense. As a result, some of the narrative reads oddly, but you get used to it. All of the information is clear, easy to absorb, and it's obvious that Perasi has taken great care to ensure that it's accurate.
Macca and Band on the Run fans will want to add this one to their shelves. You can order the book via Amazon here.
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