How do you follow being a Beatle? John Lennon decamped to New York, Ringo Starr embarked upon a slender solo career and George Harrison tended to his spiritual needs. Paul McCartney’s answer was Wings.

Had there been no Beatles baggage, Wings would have been regarded as one of the most successful British musical exports: five consecutive American chart-topping albums in five heady years; over 50 million album sales; “Mull of Kintyre” outselling any Beatles single in Britain. Irrespective of McCartney’s past life, Wings were very big news indeed.

Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run , a gripping 500,000-word oral history, is their vindication, a kicking against the pricks of under-appreciation and often wilful misunderstanding.

Including assorted timelines, a discography and a gi

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