Venus And Mars

Wings
 
Venus And Mars - Front cover Venus And Mars - Rear Cover
Venus And Mars - Front Cover Venus And Mars - Rear Cover
Venus And Mars - Gatefold Inner
Venus And Mars - Gatefold Inner
Venus And Mars - Inner Sleeve Venus And Mars - Vinyl Label
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 :
Entry Date :21st June 1975
Highest Position :1 ... for two weeks, 28th June and 19th July 1975
Weeks in Chart :29
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 ...
it only then took another week to get to the upper echelon, where it stayed for one week and
was then displaced by The Carpenters "Horizon" L.P. for two weeks, and then returned for one further week at the top.
It sold over 2 million copies worldwide.

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
After Band On The Run, Paul had two major recording sessions with the two different Wings line-ups listed above.
With Wings (mark IV) he recorded in Nashville in June/July 1974, and in London in November.
Then after Geoff Britton left and was replaced by Joe English, Wings (mark V) recorded from
January to April 1975 in New Orleans at the "Sea Saint" studios and in L.A. at the "Wally Heider" studios (The Pit !).
The June/July 1974 sessions produced :
"Juniors Farm" - released as a single,
"Sally G" - the B-side of the above,
"Walking In The Park With Eloise" - released as a single,
"Send Me The Heart" - released on Denny's "Japanese Tears" album 6 years later,
"Proud Mum" - unreleased,
"Bridge Over The River Suite" - unreleased,
"Hey Diddle" - a demo eventually appearing on "Wingspan",
The January-April 1975 sessions produced :
All the finished album tracks, plus,
"Lunch Box/Odd Sox" - instrumental, released FIVE years later(!) as the B-side of "Coming Up",
"My Carnival" - released TEN years later(!) as the B-side to "Spies Like Us",
"New Orleans" - A song of Linda's eventually appearing on "Wide Prairie",
"Crawl Of The Wild" - unreleased recording made with Dave Mason,
"Karate Chaos" - unreleased,
"Sea Dance" - unreleased instrumental, appears on bootlegs as "Symphony", and finally,
"Tomorrow (Inst)" - an instrumental remake of the "Wild Life" track.

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".
It is a gatefold sleeve designed by Hipgnosis and George Hardie.
The front cover picture of two snooker balls was taken by Linda, and the centre spread picture was taken by Aubrey Powell in the desert in North California.
The rear of the cover features the lyrics.
Also free within are two posters and a "Venus and Mars" planet sticker.
The inner groove on the A-side has "A Porky Prime Cut", and on the B-side has "M Room".


Side 1

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

Side 2

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


Further Issues of "Venus And Mars"

There is also a cassette version released on the initial release date, TC-PCTC 254.

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
The bonus tracks are familiar as 3 hit single B-sides.

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"



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