The McCartneys and Laine then released 1973's Band on the Run, a commercial and critical success that spawned two top-ten singles in "Jet" and the title track.

With the new line-up, Wings released 1975's Venus and Mars, which included the US number one single "Listen to What the Man Said", and undertook a highly successful world tour over 1975–76.

Intended as more of a group effort, Wings at the Speed of Sound (1976) was issued midway through the tour and featured the hit singles "Silly Love Songs" and "Let 'Em In".

[3] As he had in the Beatles, McCartney would serve as the chief bassist and lead singer for Wings and he doubled on guitar, keyboards, drums and assorted instruments at various times.

[11][12] In their 1975 book The Beatles: An Illustrated Record, Roy Carr and Tony Tyler called Wild Life "rushed, defensive, badly timed, and over-publicized", and wrote that it showed McCartney's songwriting "at an absolute nadir just when he needed a little respect".

[13] Wings similarly struggled to gain artistic credibility, particularly during the early 1970s,[14] with critics, fans and McCartney's musical peers alike ridiculing the inclusion of Linda as a keyboard player and backing vocalist.

[21] Although some critics interpreted it as a sarcastic reaction to the ban on "Give Ireland Back to the Irish", it was in fact a serious effort by McCartney to record a song for children.

[25] After producer Glyn Johns had walked out on the project, however,[26] McCartney conceded to EMI's opinion that the material was "substandard" and cut it down to a single disc.

[27] Among the unreleased songs from the seven-month sessions was the Linda composition "Seaside Woman", which was finally issued in 1977, credited to "Suzy and the Red Stripes".

Near the end of the Red Rose Speedway sessions, in October 1972, Wings recorded the theme song to the James Bond film Live and Let Die, which reunited McCartney with Beatles producer/arranger George Martin.

Issued as a non-album single in mid-1973, "Live and Let Die" became a worldwide hit and has remained a highlight of McCartney's post-Wings concert performances (often accompanied by pyrotechnics).

[29] Both musicians were disenchanted with the group's musical direction and Linda's inclusion;[30] McCullough also objected to McCartney's domineering attitude towards him as a guitar player,[31] while Seiwell had long felt aggrieved at the lack of a formalised financial arrangement and his status as a lowly paid sideman.

The album topped the charts and contained the US number 1 single "Listen to What the Man Said", which also featured Dave Mason, formerly of Traffic, on guitar and Tom Scott on saxophone.

When the Venus and Mars recording sessions moved to New Orleans, Britton quit Wings and was replaced by Joe English who won the job at a secret audition before McCartney.

For this tour, added to Wings' stage act was a horn section consisting of Tony Dorsey, Howie Casey, Thaddeus Richard and Steve Howard, on saxes, brass and percussion.

Later in the year, the band started recording their next album in the Virgin Islands, but the sessions were interrupted by Linda's pregnancy and then by the departures of both McCulloch and English.

Undeterred by their departure, Wings released the already-completed McCartney–Laine ballad "Mull of Kintyre", an ode to the Scottish coastal region where McCartney had made his home in the early 1970s.

This new version of Wings released the disco-oriented single "Goodnight Tonight", backed by "Daytime Nighttime Suffering", which reached the top 5 in both the US and UK.

It contained the Grammy-winning song "Rockestra Theme", the result of an October 1978 superstar session with members of Wings, the Who, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd, among others.

In November and December 1979, Wings toured the UK, once again adding the horns and brass section consisting of Tony Dorsey, Howie Casey, Thaddeus Richard, and Steve Howard.

Also during this tour, a live version of the McCartney II track "Coming Up" was recorded in Glasgow and became Wings' sixth US number one hit the following year.

[48] McCartney was arrested immediately upon arriving at New Tokyo Airport for possession of 219 grams (7.7 ounces) of marijuana (with an estimated street value of 600,000 yen) hidden in Paul's luggage.

Laine had begun to feel that he was not being adequately compensated for his role in Wings, and was particularly bitter that he was employed as a contract writer on "Mull of Kintyre", a song he co-wrote with McCartney.

[57] The Country Hams was a pseudonym used by the group for the release of the single "Walking in the Park with Eloise" in 1974, a song written years before by Paul's father James.

[58] In March 1997, Denny Laine, Laurence Juber and Steve Holley did an impromptu "Wings" reunion at a Beatlefest convention in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

However, ten years later, in July 2007, Laine, Juber and Denny Seiwell reunited for one show at a Beatlefest (renamed Fest for Beatles Fans) convention in Las Vegas.

Laine, Juber and Seiwell performed together at the Fest for Beatles Fans in Los Angeles, California, in October 2014; the setlist included "Hi, Hi, Hi", "Live and Let Die" and "Rockestra Theme".

[citation needed] Laine, Juber, Seiwell and Holley performed together in January 2018 at Grand Oak Live, a music venue in Upland, California, headlining an event called Imagine Something Yesterday.

Ringo Starr was living in Los Angeles and was writing and recording, but as a solo artist had not been performing onstage other than rare guest appearances.

In all its incarnations Wings sounded like a band, not like a solo McCartney project and I think that reflects well not only on Paul's ability to share in the creative process, but also on the importance of Denny and Linda's contributions, too.