The release
McCartney II was issued at a turbluent time in Paul McCartney’s life. In early 1980 Wings had been scheduled to perform a sold-out tour in Japan, with further dates due in China. However, when the group arrived in Tokyo on 16 January, customs officials discovered 219 grams of marijuana in McCartney’s baggage.He was arrested and imprisoned for 10 days. The tour was cancelled and the various members of Wings dispersed around the globe. Only Paul and Linda remained in Japan; they arrived back in England on 26 January 1980 after charges were dropped.
McCartney had grown tired of Wings, and he threw himself into a publicity drive for McCartney II. The Japanese drugs bust had not harmed his popularity, and he gave a range of interviews to print, television and radio outlets.
Wings reconvened in July 1980 for rehearsals for an unspecified project. They rehearsed again in October at Park Gate Studios in England, with George Martin slated to produce their next album. However, although they rehearsed several songs which later appeared on Tug Of War and Pipes Of Peace, on 27 April 1981 it was announced that Wings were no more.
Although McCartney II marked the second phase of Paul McCartney’s solo career, there was a lengthy period of crossover as the Wings era came to a close. It was released in May 1980, but Wings had performed ‘Coming Up’ during their December 1979 tour.
A live recording from Glasgow during Wings’ 1979 tour was released as a b-side to the ‘Coming Up’ single, along with a Venus And Mars outtake, ‘Lunch Box/Odd Sox’, dating from 1975. ‘Coming Up’ reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, and number two in the UK, following its release as a single in April 1980.
In the US, many radio stations flipped the single and played the live version by Wings. The studio version, meanwhile, caught the attention of John Lennon, who at the time was nearing the end of his househusband period.
Somebody asked me what I thought of Paul’s last album and I made some remark like I thought he was depressed and sad. But then I realised I hadn’t listened to the whole damn thing. I head one track – the hit, ‘Coming Up’, which I thought was a good piece of work. Then I heard something else that sounded like he was depressed.
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
McCartney later claimed that ‘Coming Up’ helped spur Lennon into recording once again, following his five-year absence from the public eye.
I heard a story from a guy who recorded with John in New York, and he said that John would sometimes get lazy. But then he’d hear a song of mine where he thought, ‘Oh, s**t, Paul’s putting it in, Paul’s working!’ Apparently ‘Coming Up’ was the one song that got John recording again. I think John just thought, ‘Uh oh, I had better get working, too.’ I thought that was a nice story.
Bolstered by the success of ‘Coming Up’, McCartney II topped the album charts in the UK and reached number three in the US, and sold more copies than its predecessor, Wings’ Back To The Egg.
Further singles fared far less well. ‘Waterfalls’ was released in July 1980 in the US but failed to chart. In the UK it was issued a month earlier and peaked at number seven. The b-side was ‘Check My Machine’, the first recording from the McCartney II sessions.
The third and final single to be taken from the album was ‘Temporary Secretary’. Issued in the UK only as a 12″ single, it was limited to 25,000 copies and sold out in just 16 hours. The b-side was ‘Secret Friend’, another outtake from the McCartney II sessions.
Although critics were divided upon the release of McCartney II, it has since become a favourite among many of his fans. Indeed, its experimental nature pointed the way to his subsequent releases as The Fireman and Twin Freaks.
Reissues
The first compact disc edition of McCartney II in 1987 included ‘Check My Machine’ and ‘Secret Friend’ as bonus tracks. A second reissue in 1993 added the 1979 Wings hit ‘Goodnight Tonight’ as a third bonus track.
McCartney II was reissued in June 2011 as part of the Paul McCartney Archive Collection, as a single disc, double-disc special edition, two-CD and DVD version with a 128-page hardcover book, double-disc vinyl and digital download.
Why his second solo album? Do you credit Ram to Paul and Linda?
That’s who it was credited to, yes.
I think the title, McCartney 2, is the biggest hint!
The best thing about the album is Waterfalls – easily equal to any of the Beatles’ output in my overbearing opinion.
Yes, I agree about ‘Waterfalls.’ Very fine song. The production for the song was very much of its time, but that adds to the charm for me.
This is an album that makes very interesting listening, because of it’s mix of the experimental and the conventional. I didn’t get it until three years after it’s original release, but I remember loving the two singles off it in 1980. Coming Up is such a catchy song and one that John Lennon heard on the radio and helped spur him to getting back to recording himself. I also loved the promotional video that went with this. The other single Waterfalls,( as two others have said on this site), is Paul McCartney at his best. A beautiful song.Once again I liked the video that went with it. Nobody Knows and One of These Days are also great.
? First time I heard ‘Coming Up’ I was in my VW driving in LA. I was completely surprised by this power pop song! Thank you Paul. ?
Love this record, the conventional and the experimental tension makes it very interesting and cool listen for me, A signature traight it would seem of Paul, perhaps a result of him being a Gemini.
He should have left off all the conventional material and just released a pure experimental album.
I don’t always wake up screaming, but when I do, Temporary Secretary comes out.
100%
The album and its singles are truly incredible…contains a diverse range of genres and with some tunes sounding classical like, some pop, the great Coming Up freak version and live versions , synth new wave style stuff, sounded like but preceded vapor wave and trip hop. Coming Up is almost my favorite Macca video or video by any solo Beatle. The associated singles and their B sides are some great techno. That’s my favorite Macca year as love egg, it’s associated singles and all Macca related Kampuchea and his bass playing studio of coming up performances with his version of “Lucille” being one of his finest vocal performances. He was truly red hot then and can’t wait for the archive of back to the egg.
My remark about “jap tart” postcard put on the mantle someone mentioned on another thread Lennon never confirmed though he was living with Macca then and Macca’s spurned girlfriend Francie is the sole source and he himself had done song “woman is the N of the world” so he wouldn’t have room to talk. I tried to put the last comment on relevant thread on “frozen jap” but it was rejected as a duplicate comment. Someone had mentioned on that thread Macca’s poor treatment of yoko but LIB/GB footage shows Macca wasn’t looking at yoko when singing the song get back, but looking at John and there’s an outtake of Macca defending yoko to the others including George Martin.
The postcard story from Francie Schwartz was never verified by either John or Yoko and it has to be noted that Francie published her sensationalist tell-all book in 1972 at a time when Paul was trying to regain critical respect, but I guess that it never occurred to her that she could’ve faced a potential defamation lawsuit from Paul.
Did the 1st pressing ‘original’ release include the 45-rpm record with it?
My American album contained the 45 on the outside underneath the cellophane.
In my top three Macca solo albums, archive version is even better. I bought the additional maxi singles that I could find that go with this album. Album and maxi singles plus their b sides were decades later credited as being far ahead of their time.