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Saturday, October 18, 1980

Pugin Hall rehearsal #1

For Wings

Last updated on February 24, 2020


Master session

Location

  • Recording studio: Pugin Hall, Tenterden, Kent, UK

Timeline

Some of the songs from this session also appear on:

In October, Wings regrouped to rehearse tunes for the next album. The initial plan was to create another Wings album, produced by George Martin; do some rehearsals in October, start recording in November / December and continue recording in Montserrat (where George Martin’s recording company, AIR, owns a recording studio) in the new year. One month later, the plan changed. From Wikipedia:

By 1980, McCartney was growing weary of maintaining Wings and his personal and professional aspirations began to diverge from the group. The McCartneys now had three school-age children and had moved out of London to the countryside of East Sussex, desiring that their children have a normal upbringing. Musically, McCartney was dissatisfied by the band’s performances during the 1979 UK tour, and when rehearsals for the next album began in October, it was apparent his latest songs were not a good fit for the band. Consequently, he and George Martin, who would be producing the album, decided not to use Wings for recording. Instead, top session musicians and guest artists were brought in to make the best possible album. In November 1980, Holley and Juber were told they would not be needed for the new album and other than sessions in January 1981 to finish work on the Cold Cuts album of previously unreleased tracks, no further activities were scheduled for Wings. Juber has said he could see the “writing on the wall” regarding Wings’ future at that point and moved to New York to continue his career there.

[…] Paul’s artistic direction and that of the band were diverging. […] We were rehearsing tunes that needed to be realized in the studio. It was a rock band rehearsing sings with a broad pop sensibility and would have been better off simply sitting in Abbey Road for a while and actually recording.

Laurence Juber, in Guitar With Wings, 2014

Session activities

  1. Jam Session #1

    Recording

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Pugin's Hall Rehearsals 1980

  2. Jam Session #2

    Recording

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Pugin's Hall Rehearsals 1980

  3. Jam Session #3

    Recording

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Pugin's Hall Rehearsals 1980

  4. Jam Session #4

    Recording

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Pugin's Hall Rehearsals 1980

  5. Jam Session #5

    Recording

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Pugin's Hall Rehearsals 1980

  6. Jam Session #6

    Recording

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Pugin's Hall Rehearsals 1980

  7. Jam Session #7

    Recording

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Pugin's Hall Rehearsals 1980

  8. Average Person

    Written by Paul McCartney

    Recording

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Pugin's Hall Rehearsals 1980

  9. Average Person

    Written by Paul McCartney

    Recording

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Pugin's Hall Rehearsals 1980

  10. Average Person

    Written by Paul McCartney

    Recording

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Pugin's Hall Rehearsals 1980

  11. Average Person

    Written by Paul McCartney

    Recording

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Pugin's Hall Rehearsals 1980

  12. Average Person

    Written by Paul McCartney

    Recording

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Pugin's Hall Rehearsals 1980

  13. Average Person

    Written by Paul McCartney

    Recording

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Pugin's Hall Rehearsals 1980

  14. Mama's Little Girl

    Written by Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney

    Recording

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Pugin's Hall Rehearsals 1980

  15. Average Person

    Written by Paul McCartney

    Recording

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Pugin's Hall Rehearsals 1980

  16. Average Person

    Written by Paul McCartney

    Recording

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Pugin's Hall Rehearsals 1980

  17. Average Person

    Written by Paul McCartney

    Recording

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Pugin's Hall Rehearsals 1980

  18. Take It Away

    Written by Paul McCartney

    Recording

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Pugin's Hall Rehearsals 1980

  19. Improvisation

    Recording

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Pugin's Hall Rehearsals 1980


Going further

Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989

With 25 albums of pop music, 5 of classical – a total of around 500 songs – released over the course of more than half a century, Paul McCartney's career, on his own and with Wings, boasts an incredible catalogue that's always striving to free itself from the shadow of The Beatles. The stories behind the songs, demos and studio recordings, unreleased tracks, recording dates, musicians, live performances and tours, covers, events: Music Is Ideas Volume 1 traces McCartney's post-Beatles output from 1970 to 1989 in the form of 346 song sheets, filled with details of the recordings and stories behind the sessions. Accompanied by photos, and drawing on interviews and contemporary reviews, this reference book draws the portrait of a musical craftsman who has elevated popular song to an art-form.

Shop on Amazon

Eight Arms to Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium

We owe a lot to Chip Madinger and Mark Easter for the creation of those session pages, but you really have to buy this book to get all the details!

Eight Arms To Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium is the ultimate look at the careers of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr beyond the Beatles. Every aspect of their professional careers as solo artists is explored, from recording sessions, record releases and tours, to television, film and music videos, including everything in between. From their early film soundtrack work to the officially released retrospectives, all solo efforts by the four men are exhaustively examined.

As the paperback version is out of print, you can buy a PDF version on the authors' website

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Paul McCartney writing

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