Back To The Egg

Wings


Back To The Egg Came in a special carrier bag !

Back To The Egg - Front Cover	Back To The Egg - Rear Cover

Back To The Egg - Inner Sleeve Front	Back To The Egg - Inner Sleeve Rear, Cut-out Showing Record Label

Label

Parlophone

Catalogue No.

PCTC 257

Release date

8th June 1979

Total time

42:05

U.K. Album Chart Detail :

Entry Date :	23rd June 1979
Highest Position :	6
Weeks in Chart :	15

Detail :

Paul's eleventh "solo" release, credited to "Wings".
Wings VI - Paul, Linda, Denny, Laurence Juber (guitars) and Steve Holly (drums).
The only album from "Wings Mark 6", and the last "Wings" album.

"Back To The Egg", was one of Paul's expressions for starting over again, as in "Back To Square One".

Entering the U.K. album chart in summer 1979, it had to compete with the new wave of young sound, such as Gary Numan and the Boomtown Rats, coupled with the disco boom. It did well, but halted at number 6, and only remained in the chart for a little over three months.

The recording sessions all took place in England or Scotland, albeit at four separate locations :
29th June - 27th July 1978 at Spirit of Ranachan Studios (a.k.a. "Rude Studios") at Paul's farm in Scotland,
Recorded in Scotland are, "To You", "Old Siam Sir", "Spin It On", "Arrow Through Me", "Winter Rose" and Denny's "Again And Again And Again".
Also recorded at these sessions are an unissued version of "Love Awake", tracks for the "Rupert" soundtrack and the unreleased songs,
"Cage" (dropped from the album in favour of "Baby's Request"),
"Crawl Of The Wild" (featuring Dave Mason),
"Maisie (later appears on Juber's solo album),
"Weep For Love" (later appears on Denny's solo album "Japanese Tears").

11th - 29th September 1978 at Lympne Castle, near Hythe, Kent,
Here the tracks, "The Broadcast", "We're Open Tonight", Reception", "Love Awake", "After The Ball" and "Million Miles" are recorded.

3rd October 1978 at Abbey Road (between 10:30 and 18:30),
"Rockestra Theme" and "So Glad To See You Here" are recorded which are also filmed and edited into a 40 minute programme. 10th October also at Abbey Road,
"Getting Closer" and "Baby's Request" get their first recordings.

November - December 1978 at Replica Studios, an exact replica of Abbey Road #2 Studio built in MPL Headquarters, London.
Here, overdubs for the album tracks are added, along with new endings for "Spin It On" and "So Glad To See You Here".

Finally, some further overdubs occur in early 1979, ending with the Black Dyke Mills Band adding their final piece on April 1st in Abbey Road.

The album arrived in the shops enclosed in it's own plastic carrier bag (pictured above) ... no bag ? ... then you don't have a first day issue !
The album sleeve, once again originating from Hipgnosis, features a still from the album's promotional trailer, which was inspired by "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy". The inner sleeve is thick card with a hole for the label to be seen on one side.
The run-out groove has "NICK W" on the A-side, which is shortened to just "NICK" on the B-side.
No poster, no stickers with this release.

Side 1

Track	Composer	Recording Information	Time
Reception	McCartney	Features a Norwegian commuter named, Ourind Anderson	1:04
Getting Closer	McCartney	Recorded at Abbey Road	3:21
We're Open Tonight	McCartney	Recorded at Lympne Castle	1:27
Spin It On	McCartney	With it's fun, risque lyrics, almost punk in it's exuberance.	2:12
Again And Again And Again	Laine	Originally two songs, the second of which was called "Little Woman", it was Paul that decided to link them together.	3:38
Old Siam Sir	McCartney	Steve on piano, Linda drums, Denny bass, and Paul on guitar.	4:09
Arrow Through Me	McCartney	Recorded without guitars, the backing is Moog and brass	3:34

Side 2

Track	Composer	Recording Information	Time
Rockestra Theme	McCartney	Recorded 3rd October 1978 at Abbey Road, with : Guitars - Denny Laine, Laurence Juber, Dave Gilmour, Hank Marvin, Pete Townshend. Drums - Steve Holly, John Bonham, Kenney Jones. Bass - Paul, John Paul Jones, Ronnie Lane, Bruce Thomas. Pianos - Paul, Gary Brooker, John Paul Jones. Keyboards - Linda, Tony Ashton. Percussion - Speedy Acquaye, Tony Carr, Ray Cooper, Morris Pert. Horns - Howie Casey, Tony Dorsey, Steve Howard, Thaddeus Richard.	2:34
To You	McCartney	Recorded in Scotland	3:12
After The Ball	McCartney	Recorded at Lympne Castle	2:31
Million Miles	McCartney	Paul plays concertina.	1:27
Winter Rose	McCartney	Includes the Black Dyke Mills Band	2:03
Love Awake	McCartney	Includes the Black Dyke Mills Band	2:53
The Broadcast	McCartney	Features two poems recited by Mr. Harold Margery (owner of Lympne castle) : "The Sport Of Kings" by Ian Hay, and "The Little Man" by John Galsworthy	1:29
So Glad To See You Here	McCartney	See "Rockestra" above for same line-up.	3:18
Baby's Request	McCartney	A 40's style song with jazz guitar.	2:48

Further Issues of "Back To The Egg"

There is also a cassette version released on the initial release date, TCPCTC 257.
At the time of release there are two interesting promo's, one of which is the rarest U.K. McCartney album !
Firstly on the original catalogue number there was a boxed version containing an egg-shaped badge, booklet, sticker, postcard, five "cigarette cards" and a T-shirt. This version is worth about Ł250 WITH the shirt, and about Ł50 less without ... and then the rarest McCartney album ...
On catalogue number PCTCP 257 an MPL produced picture disc which was limited to just 100 copies and can now change hands for a staggering Ł1,000 !! (beware of the many counterfeits)
24th July 1989, the first C.D. release, it's on Parlophone catalogue number CDPCTC 257 (and listed as CZ 218)
(the International number is CDP 7 48200 2)
This has a running time of 51:03 as it adds the bonus tracks of :

Track Composer Time

Daytime Nightime Suffering McCartney 3:18

Wonderful Christmastime McCartney 3:44

Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reggae McCartney 1:44

The bonus tracks are ;
The B-side of the smash single Goodnight Tonight,
and both sides of Wonderful Christmastime

June 1993, a "Re-master" re-issue C.D. has catalogue number CDPMCOL 10 (+ TCPMCOL 10),
(international number CDP 7 89136 2),
This has a the same running time and bonus tracks as the release above.