Venus And Mars - Front Cover | Venus And Mars - Rear Cover |
Venus And Mars - Gatefold Inner | |
Venus And Mars - Inner Sleeve | Venus And Mars - Vinyl Label |
Label | Capitol | ||||||
Catalogue No. | PCTC 254 | ||||||
Release date | 30th May 1975 | ||||||
Total time | 42:48 | ||||||
U.K. Album Chart Detail : |
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Detail : | Pauls sixth "solo" album release, credited to "Wings". This album actually includes tracks recorded by two different Wings incarnations, Wings IV (1974) - Paul, Linda, Denny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch (guitars) and Geoff Britton (drums) Wings V (1975) - Paul, Linda, Denny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch (guitars) and Joe English (drums)
According to my notes this release took 3 weeks to even enter the charts(?) which seems odd ... but ... This is the first solo "Beatle" L.P. NOT to feature the Apple label, and the first to feature Paul's "MPL" logo.
Venus And Mars - Recording Sessions
The L.P. comes in an award winning sleeve, being voted the "Album Cover of the Year" by the music industry trade magazine, "Music Week". |
Track | Composer | Recording Information | Time |
Venus And Mars | McCartney | Supposedly, Venus = Linda, Mars = Paul ... but they claimed it was about an imaginery friend, whose friend was an astrologer(!) |
1:18 |
Rock Show | McCartney | Written specifically as an opening number for the next Wings world tour. Guest musicians, Allen Toussaint on piano, Afro on congas. |
5:30 |
Love In Song | McCartney | Geoff Britton on drums, so a 1974 session recording. | 3:04 |
You Gave Me The Answer | McCartney | Shades of "Honey Pie" ? | 2:14 |
Magneto And Titanium Man | McCartney | Not surprisingly, inspired by Marvel comics characters. | 3:16 |
Letting Go | McCartney | Geoff Britton on drums, so a 1974 session recording. | 4:32 |
Track | Composer | Recording Information | Time |
Venus And Mars - Reprise | McCartney | Just what it says. | 2:05 |
Spirits Of Ancient Egypt | McCartney | Paul emulating a T.Rex feel. | 3:03 |
Medicine Jar | McCulloch-Allen | A rare Wings release, NOT featuring Paul or Linda on lead vocals ! Geoff Britton on drums, so a 1974 session recording. |
3:36 |
Call Me Back Again | McCartney | The least memorable song on the album. | 4:58 |
Listen To What The Man Said | McCartney | Guest musicians, Tom Scott on saxophone and Dave Mason (guitar). | 4:01 |
Treat Her Gently/ Lonely Old People |
McCartney | It was the "loneliness" of these that inspired Paul to record the next track ! | 4:20 |
Crossroads Theme | Hatch | Paul's version replaced the normal Crossroads T.V. theme for some time. "Crossroads" was an ATV production running from 1964-1988 (4,510 episodes !) ... it has been recently revived. |
0:59 |
June 1980, "Venus And Mars" is deleted.
January 1985, the next listing is on the Parlophone label, ATAK 14 (+ TCATAK 14) ... deleted 1988.
17th October 1988 - Fame re-issues, L.P. FA 3213, Cassette TCFA 3213 ... and ...
17th October 1988, the first C.D. release on the Fame label, catalogue number CDFA 3213
(International number is CDP 7 46984 2),
this has a running time of 53:10 as it adds the bonus tracks of :
Track | Composer | Time |
Zoo Gang | McCartney | 1:59 |
Lunch Box/Odd Sox | McCartney | 3:48 |
My Carnival | McCartney | 3:56 |
April 1993, a "Re-master" re-issue C.D. has catalogue number CDPMCOL 6 (+ TCPMCOL 6),
(international number CDP 7 89241 2),
This has a running time of 53:10, and although (alledgedly) remastered it has the same tracks as the C.D. release above.
3rd November 2014 - Venus And Mars - The Paul McCartney Archive Collection is released (2 CD/1 DVD + book + extras)
"Rock on lovers everywhere,
because that's basically it"
©2001 JPGR's Beatles Pages. All Rights Reserved.