Cover artwork
Red Rose Speedway was released with a gatefold sleeve with a 12-page booklet. The front cover photograph depicted Paul McCartney in front of a motorcycle, and was taken in the roof studio of the Sunday Times newspaper offices.The booklet featured artwork by Eduardo Paolozzi and Alan Jones, as well as photographs of Wings in concert and on holiday in Marrakesh. Paolozzi had taught Stuart Sutcliffe at the Hamburg College of Art in the early 1960s.
Original copies featured a braille message on the back cover – “We love you baby” – which was intended for the McCartneys’ friend Stevie Wonder. The address of the Wings fan club, which ran until 1998, was also printed on the sleeve.
The release
A single, ‘My Love’, was released ahead of the album and became a transatlantic success. The b-side was ‘The Mess’, recorded live in The Hague in 1972.
‘My Love’ reached number nine on the UK charts, and topped the US Hot 100. It was Paul McCartney’s second US number one, and raised expectations for the album.
‘My Love’ showed how Wings had matured since Wild Life, and was an assured ensemble performance. It was therefore a disappointment to many that Red Rose Speedway contained just a handful of songs of the same quality, with much of the rest of the album erring towards the middle of the road. As McCartney himself later admitted, it was “such a non-confident record… We needed a heavier sound.”
Red Rose Speedway was credited to Paul McCartney and Wings, suggesting that the group needed the former Beatle’s name to lift their public profile and sales. It was a canny move: the release coincided with The Beatles’ 1962-1966 and 1967-1970 compilations, and George Harrison’s Living In The Material World.
The album was released on 30 April 1973 in the United States. It reached number one on the Billboard 200, spending a total of 31 weeks on the chart.
Red Rose Speedway was issued on 4 May 1973 in the United Kingdom. It peaked at number five, spending 16 weeks all together in the charts.
In 1987 the album was first issued on compact disc, with ‘I Lie Around’, ‘Country Dreamer’, and ‘The Mess’ as bonus tracks. It was remastered and reissued in 1993 as part of the Paul McCartney Collection series, with the bonus tracks ‘C Moon’, ‘Hi, Hi, Hi’, ‘The Mess’, and ‘I Lie Around’.
Although Ringo’s “Back Off Boogaloo” was released over a year before this collection, and although it is debatable that Ringo’s song was aimed at Paul, this is an album that seems to justify Ringo’s lyrics ‘everything you try to do, you know it sure sounds wasted’. “Red Rose Speedway” has moments of near brilliance. Some of it is quite beautiful (albeit mainstream) and then Paul sings some rather banal lyrics and the listener can feel the mood being abruptly dispelled. It’s kind of rude. At the time this came out I already had quite the collection of Beatle bootlegs and other inside information. I knew all about how Paul would plunk a lyric in place when writing a song to help keep the cadence. Unfortunately here it would seem that Paul all too frequently kept his first impulse lyric.
I hope the double album can be released one day, in its entirety. Although I do like Red Rose Speedway as a single LP, the double album was what Paul & Wings were originally trying to shoot for. It could have been a classic on par with Band on the Run or All Things Must Pass.
I do think this album is underrated and was a step in the right direction, leading up to the classic Band on the Run. My Love was a big hit and a favorite of mine.
Lightweight throwaway songs with atrocious lyrics. That said, the melodies are incredibly catchy. Paul claims to not remember the album closing medley.
In my opinion RRS is the worst Wings recording. Rolling Stone Record Buying Guide even concurred by rating it 1 star. Its debute album Wildlife was better.
I am looking for a picture of Paul shaving that is on the sleeve of Red Rose Speedway original record. I took it out and had it framed. I just love that picture. Unfortunately my house burned down so I no longer have it. Do you have one or know where i can get one ? Even a small one from the CD.
Thank you for your time
Sue
Susan, if the rumors of a deluxe reissue later this year are true, I bet that picture will be included as well as much more.
I love this album, and the more I listen to it, the more I love it. t will always be one of my favorites. I especially love When The Night, My Love (of course), and the closing medley which I am learning to play on the piano. I wish others had not judged it so harshly; its musically brilliant!
Deluxe edition of this album includes more songs, some more rock and songs of other styles . Original album medley had some …musically great “circle of fifths” parts. He was going for ambience and diverse genres in those days, not edge lord being part of a movement stuff lyrically so IMO his music from then stands up well while much of the other stuff from then sounds dated. This was the album where he noticeably branched out musically encompassing more genres.
I bought it then but didn’t appreciate it until many decades later. I very much like it now and it’s musical variety.
I love “My Love” (one of the best songs by Paul solo) and like 1-2 others on RRS … but as an album I even prefer Wild Life – the following Band On the Run and Venus&Mars are miles above in quality … ( sorry Paul, with huge respect to your whole oeuvre)