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Wings over America by  Released10 December 1976Recorded7 May – 23 June 1976; October–November 1976 (studio overdubs)Studio, London (overdubs)Length115:33 chronology
(1976)Wings over America
(1976)
(1977) from Wings over America ""
Released: 4 February 1977

Wings over America is a triple live album by the British–American rock band , released in December 1976. The album was recorded during the American leg of the band's 1975–76 . It peaked at number 8 on the  and reached number 1 on the US  chart.

In addition to including several of McCartney's hits with Wings, the album features performances of five Beatles songs: "", "", "", "" and "". The album cover was designed by  – who were nominated in 1978, together with McCartney's production company MPL, for a  for this album – and depicts an airliner about to open its cabin door. Wings over America was remastered and reissued in May 2013.

Recording

Originally, Wings over America was to be a two-record set of highlight performances but this was rethought due to the success of a bootleg called Wings from the Wings, which was released as a triple record set on red, white, and blue vinyl, and contained the entire 23 June 1976 concert recorded at  in Los Angeles. This caused McCartney to release the album as a three-record set, compiled from various shows from the band's North American tour during May–June 1976. McCartney's sound engineer listened to 800 hours of tape and selected the five best performances of each song from the 30-song set list. McCartney chose and mixed the final set of recordings, mostly taken from the 23 June show. "" was recorded on 7 June 1976 at  in Denver. The live recordings then received studio overdubs during October–November 1976. According to Wings' drummer , "it took forever to get those 'Wings over America' tapes ready for the live album. We had to go into the studio and overdub most of the backing vocals."

Release and reception Professional ratingsReview scoresSourceRatingB6/102/5(favourable)7/107/10

Wings over America was issued six months after the end of the band's US tour. It was another commercial success for Wings, reaching number 1 in the US in early 1977 (the last in a five-album stretch of consecutive chart-topping albums for the band) and number 8 in the UK. For the five  songs included, McCartney elected to reverse the songwriting credit to . Years later 's widow  complained about the same songwriting credit on McCartney's  album but neither Lennon or Ono publicly voiced any disapproval about the change made in 1976.

Wings over America was the first triple set by a group to reach number 1 in the US, and was a critical success. "" was released as a single on 4 February 1977, peaking at number 10 on the  in the US, and at number 28 on the UK chart.

In a retrospective review,  critic  explained the wild success of the triple album: "The Beatles mystique was still very much attached to record and artist alike – at the time,  had seemingly burnt out a major chunk of his talent,  was losing his popular edge and had done a disastrous , and no one was expecting great things from  – and it seemed like McCartney represented the part of the group's legacy that came closest to living up to fans' expectations. Thus the album ended up selling in numbers, rivaling the likes of  and other mega-hits of the period."

Two related releases followed the album: the TV documentary  and a film titled , purporting to contain a complete show from Seattle. Although publicity material presented Rockshow as a document of this Seattle concert, it contains only five songs that were filmed at Seattle's ; the remainder of the film's 30 songs come from the band's New York and Los Angeles shows. Limiting their relevance, however, these additional releases appeared three and four years, respectively, after the 1976 live album.

Wings over America was issued as a double-compact disc in 1984 on . The album was first released in the UK on compact disc on 26 May 1987 by . Along with McCartney's  and  albums, Wings over America was reissued in the US on compact disc on 18 January 1988. The album was issued by  two more times on CD, in 1989 and on 19 February 1990. A 1999 reissue of the album by  in Japan reinstated the three-disc format from the original LP issue, and is the only edition of the album to do this. Up to this point, the Japanese CD edition was the only one that was remastered. On 14 April 2008, the album was released as a digital download on both  and . It was removed for some time off of digital music sites in 2010 and 2011, but as of August 2011 it is available for sale on .

The album was reissued on 27 May 2013 as part of the . The reissue was accompanied by the  exclusive edition of "" . Rockshow was also reissued, this time on DVD and Blu-ray, with its audio remixed into 5.1, on 10 June 2013.

Track listing

All tracks are written by  & , except where noted.

Side oneNo.TitleWriter(s)Length1."/" 9:562."" 3:513."" 4:044."", 4:02Side twoNo.TitleWriter(s)Length1.""P. McCartney5:102."" 5:043.""2:194.""McCartney–Lennon4:135."" 3:07Side threeNo.TitleWriter(s)Length1."" 1:552.""2:503."" 3:374.""McCartney–Lennon1:495.""McCartney–Lennon2:236.""McCartney–Lennon1:43Side fourNo.TitleWriter(s)Length1."" 1:472."" 3:113."", Bennett3:274."" 4:075."" 3:18Side fiveNo.TitleWriter(s)Length1."" 4:022."Time to Hide"4:463."" 5:464."" 4:49Side sixNo.TitleLength1.""4:252.""5:033.""2:574.""5:10Total length:115:33