Red Rose Speedway: Single or Double album?

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ChrisChopping
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Red Rose Speedway: Single or Double album?

Postby ChrisChopping » 29 Dec 2021, 12:52

I got the double album on vinyl for Christmas but I’ve been listening that way as a Spotify playlist exclusively rather than the single for ages. I much prefer it.

I can see how the single LP might have been the sensible commercial choice but I think the double would have been better received. Possibly not at the time but it would have been re-evaluated like RAM. I’m not saying it’s as good as RAM but I do love it.

Linda has described RRS as a “non-confident record”. I have my own theory about it but of course it’s entirely speculative. Still, for what it’s worth: Wildlife was an attempt to do something deliberately low key, written and recorded quickly. The studio equivalent of their university tour in a way.

when it was poorly received it was time for Paul and his new band to make an artistic statement but McCartney had no specific idea of what that should be…so he settled on throwing everything at the wall. Creating a sprawling double album, showcasing his new band’s range.

The double RRS is a better showcase and proof of concept for Wings as a real band than Wings At The Speed of Sound. I would only Smile might be Denny Lane’s best contribution to Wings as a songwriter. Seaside Woman is charming. The Mess rocks. Songs like The Mess, I Lie Around, Best Friend bring to mind Steve Marriot/Ronnie Lane/Faces style seventies rock in a way unlike Paul ever did before or after.

There might not be many stand out McCartney classics but the whole is well sequenced and produced album that you can relax and luxuriate in. Cutting it down to a single album not only disrupts the flow and loses some of the best songs but also defeats the object of the entire album.

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robertff
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Re: Red Rose Speedway: Single or Double album?

Postby robertff » 29 Dec 2021, 13:39

I bought the double 'as it was intended to be', quite some time ago and really enjoyed it, also bought the extended double as well both on vinyl - I'm a sucker for these things. It's an album I've always had a fondness for but then I really like Wildlife as well an album, which after many years, appears to be going through a more positive reassessment/reappraisal.

Others will say it's better as a single but given the opportunity I would always choose a double album over a reduced single any day, no matter what the double is.

.

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Matt Wilson
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Re: Red Rose Speedway: Single or Double album?

Postby Matt Wilson » 30 Dec 2021, 17:20

Difficult to say. A lot of decent songs, some good, but rather few which are great. That descriptor could apply to both the single AND double LP. He wouldn't write any stellar material until a few months later with Band on the Run.

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Jumper K
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Re: Red Rose Speedway: Single or Double album?

Postby Jumper K » 31 Dec 2021, 17:42

Just a single. By that I mean a one-sided 7”

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Quaco
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Re: Red Rose Speedway: Single or Double album?

Postby Quaco » 15 Jun 2022, 19:54

I spent a couple days working on the double-album concept and finally came to the decision that they pretty much got it right. "I Lie Around" was the main one I think could have been good on the album, possibly substituting for "When the Night". Certainly there is merit to a lot of the extra tracks from the period, but to try to get it to hold together as an album, like BOTR, I think the final RRS sequence was about right.
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Rayge
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Re: Red Rose Speedway: Single or Double album?

Postby Rayge » 16 Jun 2022, 09:00

Probably best as a single-sided cover-mounted flexi disc that you damage irrevocably trying to detach it and throw in the bin.
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Walk In My Shadow
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Re: Red Rose Speedway: Single or Double album?

Postby Walk In My Shadow » 16 Jun 2022, 17:00

No album at all.

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