Cd Review: Paul McCartney Archive Collection: BAND ON THE RUN

The monumental Paul McCartney & Wings album, BAND ON THE RUN, has been recently re-released as a newly remastered and expanded three disc set. And the result is a pretty awesome package that includes the original album along with a second audio disc of songs like the single "Helen Wheels" and rarity alternate versions of songs from the BAND ON THE RUN recording sessions. A bonus DVD film based on BAND ON THE RUN is also included. Overall, the package is very impressive with a very nice booklet included. And the whole package will only set you back about $30.

After some weak post-Beatles releases by Paul McCartney such as Wings WILDLIFE, which seemed like a quickly thrown together mess of second and third rate songs, 1973's BAND ON THE RUN seemed like such a monumental effort of quality material. It built on the mixed bag collection of songs from RED ROSE SPEEDWAY. Critics took a renewed interest in McCartney, and successful singles such as "Band On The Run", "Jet" and also stand alone single, "Helen Wheels"(this song wasn't on the UK version of the album, but appeared on both the U.S. and international version) a made McCartney a chart topping act once again. The album was also the best selling album of the year for 1974 in the UK as well.

Paul McCartney was at his best on BAND ON THE RUN. This album certainly deserved this special edition re-release version.

The Bottom Line: Paul McCartney's best post-Beatles release ever finally gets a treatment equal to the remastered Beatles editions. +++ 1/2(Three and a half stars, or just one hair shy of excellent).