During the sessions, personal tensions caused Britton to quit after six months, forcing the band to recruit American drummer Joe English to finish the album.

Preceded by the single "Listen to What the Man Said", Venus and Mars peaked at number 1 in the US, the UK and other countries around the world.

After recording Band on the Run (1973) as a three-piece with wife Linda and guitarist Denny Laine, McCartney added Jimmy McCulloch on lead guitar and Geoff Britton on drums to the Wings line-up in 1974.

[3] The sessions proved to be productive, not only resulting in a finished album, but also several additional songs, including two future McCartney B-sides, "Lunch Box/Odd Sox" and "My Carnival".

McCartney also decided to link the album's songs together much like the Beatles had on Abbey Road to give Venus and Mars a more continuous feel.

[4] John Lennon, often in a nostalgic mood during his "lost weekend" period, had told his then-girlfriend May Pang that they would visit the McCartneys during the recording sessions for Venus and Mars, and considered writing with Paul again.

The album cover, which Paul summed up as "a package that would be nice to get, and also something recognizable" was photographed by Linda, depicting two billiard balls in a black background, which are yellow and red to fit the colours of the planets Venus and Mars.

[17] Hipgnosis did the art design, incorporating billiard balls and cues in the lettering and illustrations by George Hardie;[18] in return, McCartney would later lend a 16-track tape recorder to Hipgnosis member Peter Christopherson's band Throbbing Gristle to record their 1979 album 20 Jazz Funk Greats.

In 2014 the album was re-issued by Hear Music/Concord Music Group as part of the fifth set of releases, alongside Wings at the Speed of Sound, in the Paul McCartney Archive Collection.