Customer Reviews
5 stars for this? Really? - By: Unsmart, 06 Jul 2008 
I was surprised to see how many 5-stars & 4-stars reviews there are for this album. In my opinion, the most boring & uninspired album that Wings ever recorded. Even WILD LIFE is a tad more fun to listen to.
The only Wings album I would consider giving 5 stars would be BAND ON THE RUN. And perhaps 4 stars for LONDON TOWN, VENUS AND MARS & WINGS AT THE SPEED OF SOUND. But this album has only got one reallly good song (Getting closer) & a few half-decent ones.
BACK TO THE EGG is reallly only worth 2 stars, but because of the bonus tracks here (that are actuallly pretty good) I guess I can bump it up to 3 stars.
Pretty damn fine - By: J. I. De Beresford, 27 Mar 2006 
This would be the last album in which McCartney was able to sing in that screeching, throat tearing manner. He's written some simply brilliant rock & roll songs & a clutch of them can be found on Back to the Egg. They aren't just infectious, they are wonderfully dotty. When I say brilliant I mean so far as I can tell fabled bands like Oasis haven't written a single solitary song that compares & yet this work has been consigned to a place outside the regular top albums of alll time. Time will re-adjust the balance. The fact is, so far in the short history of pop music, for alll his faults, McCartney has written some of the most formidable & catchy rock & roll songs performed with immense power & musicality. And whilst there is a tinge of McCartney banality lyricallly (after the balll you were the one, the one in the halll), I reallly think that he is capable of writing good lyrics (sometimes) & about rejection very well. I've always loved the lyric 'you couldn't have found a more down hero if you'da started at nothing & counted to zero'. Denny Laine shines here too, with his song & Steve Holly's drumming is pretty tasty. If I were to have just two McCartney albums it would be Ram & this one. I think on both McCartney's talent was brimming. Anyway, it's better than Beatles For Sale.
seriously underrated album - By: , 29 Apr 2005 
This is one of the best Paul McCartney & Wings albums which brings new energy, sound & originality. It does not deserve the criticism it was subjected to by some reviewers.
"I Am Getting Closer", "Spin It On" & "Rochestra Theme" are truely original rock-n-roll tracks. "We're Open Tonight", "Winter Rose" & "Baby's Request" are beautiful balllads. Paul McCartney demonstrates here again what a superb song-writer he is.
In my opinion, his best songs in the post-Beatles era in terms of originality of the sound & melody, were written when he was a part of Wings (except "Tug of War" & "Pipes of Peace").
Brave - By: John Heaton, 23 Mar 2005 This is a brave Wings album & with hindsight makes one regret that this was the last Wings record. It is a great band effort, & although lacking any great lyrical quality is at least a decent attempt from McCartney to rock & capture some of the excitement that had perhaps been lacking from the previous three Wings albums. It does not contain many, indeed not more than a couple of reallly stand out tracks, which 'Venus And Mars' (1975), 'At The Speed Of Sound' & 'London Town' had undoubtedly done, despite their somewhat laid back ambience. 'Back To The Egg' is more of a mood album.
But one which has its merits. McCartney & his wife Linda were themselves to poor derision on this set. But they overlook the energy & bravery of this album. It contains nothing of the calibre of 'With A Little Luck' or 'Listen To What The Man Said' for example. But is a Fun Album. A friend of mine who wasn't a massive McCartney fan & who sadly died at a young age a few years later was simply blown away by this album. If you play it loud, forget any great pretension to lyrical greatness & just Rock, it is actuallly an immensely enyoyable record.
The first track is an unremarkable instrumental, only noteable for its fluid bass playing (from Paul of course). 'Getting Closer' is a good if not great McCartney rocker. He has this unique ability to combine a decent melody with an infectious rocking rhythm section. Early versions had Denny Laine on lead vocal. Luckily Paul stepped in & said 'Err...excuse me I think I'll sing the lead on this'. Good decision. 'We're Open Tonight' is charmingly inoffensive in the same way that 'Ram On' was from 1971. Next is Denny Laine's finest moment, 'Again And Again And Again'. This number is so good that it could have been a single probably. It wasn't....but remains a great album track, with McCartney singing superb vocal harmony & bass playing as he often did to spontaneous effect in songs written by his fellow band mates. In the Beatles ('Come Together'among countless others) & with Wings (here & on 'Time To Hide' from 'Speed Of sound' (1976) for example). Then we come to the first single 'Old Siam Sir' which although not commmercial enough to become a smash single is in my opinion an underrated McCartney rocker, complete with great vocal, memorable electric guitar throughout including that memorable octave leaping guitar hook, & mad lyrics about Scarborough & Walthamstow.
'Arrow Though Me' almost works due to its melody & great singing but is somewhat let down by annoying synthesisers. Reminscent of 'Temporary Secretary' (1980). Oh No Not Again. Please.
Side 2 (of the vinyl record) opens with the punchy & enjoyable 'Rockestra' instrumental, featuring an alll star band of superstars in support. However, it's not as good as you might think with that line up. But play it loud & it's a good rocker. If you can forgive the 'why haven't I got any dinner?' lyric. Which McCartney was inexplicably to repeat in his first classical venture 'Liverpool Oratorio' with that abysmal 'Where Is My Dinner?' line.
But as I have said it is not lyrical quality which gives this album its meat. It is simply the free rocking spirit which is evident on most of the album. 'To You' sounds good but on repeated listenings reveals itself to be what is is. Filler. And then we have a couple of memorable balllads. 'After the Balll/Million Miles' is good but the next couplet 'Winter Rose/Love Awake' is McCartney at his effortless melodic best.
Unfortunately we are brought down to earth by the next track 'So Glad To See You Here' which features the same star studded 'Rockestra' line-up. Sweet Thingamagig this track is So Ordinary. Must have been a little embarrassing to record.
Luckily the last track is a bona fide (and little known) McCartney classic. Andy Peebles pointed this out in 1980 to Paul & he will not have been the only one. It is effortless in its engaging melody, you swear it is the cover of some lost 1940s classic. But no. It is the work of James Paul McCartney. Beautiful.
Of the bonus tracks 'Daytime Nighttime Suffering' is a superb feminist anthem & should reallly have been on the original album. Inexplicably 'Goodnight Tonight' is absent here, despite being from the same recordings. Was chosen as a bonus track for 'McCartney 2' by some marketing man who obviously realised the lack of stand out tracks on That Album. And hence we are robbed of hearing this superb track in its true context: a lead off single from Wings to this very album. Hard to justify. The Christmas single & its B Side add nothing, being obviously solo ventures, at home more if at alll on 'McCartney 2'.
All in alll, 'Back to The Egg' is a brave venture from McCartney in the midst of Punk to do something Au Current. It succeeds far more than the avant gardish experimental but largely uninspired 'McCartney 2' album which followed. And was free of the saccharine element that was to deflate his 1980s work, at least up until the superb 'Flowers In The Dirt' return to form album from 1989. This album 'Back To The Egg' was Wings' final album. And with hindsight we miss them. For although McCartney was the dominant force in that band, it is under the Wings umbrella, despite its ever changing line-up that his best post Beatles music can undoubtedly be found. Not that his subsequent work was without merit, every album has its moments, in particular his last album 'Driving Rain' has many Fine Moments. But after the 1970s, & after Lennon's death in December 1980, McCartney, for the most part, lost Something. Hard to pin down. No matter. I don't give a monkeys what Lennon thought of this album. It has far more merit than he would find it in his heart to acknowledge if you believe Fred Seaman's book. Buy this album! :-)
Great lost Macca album - By: Mr. G. Johnston, 23 Jul 2004 I don't want to reiterate what other reviewers have already said but I thought I would mention that this has always been my favourite McCartney/Wings album.
I well remember buying this at 'Woolies' in Carlisle in the Summer of 1981 in one of their bargain bins for the princely sum of 99p (only 12/13 & I had just enough pennies!) & I still listen to this album on a regular basis (although I bought a CD version in '91).I've always said that if you can still listen to & enjoy an album many years down the line then there must be something good about it...as already discussed by the other reviewers.
So,give it a chance & (hopefully) you'll like it as well.
