Album release: Wings Over America by Wings

Wings’ live album Wings Over America was released in the United States on 10 December 1976.

It was the band’s second album of the year, following Wings At The Speed Of Sound in March 1976.

Wings Over America topped the Billboard 200 in America in early 1977. In the UK it peaked at number eight; it is likely that a number of prospective purchasers were put off by its high £6.80 price. It did, however, sell several million copies in McCartney’s home country.

That had to be a triple album in the end, because we were doing two-hour shows and there was no other way to get two hours of music on record. This album just called to be a triple album. If we could have made it a double album, we would have made it a double album. I don’t like releasing huge price items; I prefer everything to cost 50 pence. I’m not in just for the profit, in spite of what some people might think. This bloke who works with handicapped children wrote to us saying the album was the one that really lifted the children and he wanted to thank us for that.

A single, ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ backed with ‘Soily’, was released on 4 February in the UK and 7 February in the US. It reached number 10 in the Billboard Hot 100 in America but peaked at number 28 in the UK, spending just two weeks in the top 30 there.