Welcome to another installment of The Beatles Rarity Of The Week.
In late 1973, after the recording of the Band On the Run album, Wings began scouting for some additional musicians to work with for the their next project – an album to be credited to Suzi And The Red Stripes, a pseudonym for Wings doing primarily Linda McCartney compositions and lead vocals. One of the tracks, called Seaside Woman, had already been recorded the previous year, but the idea now was to record a complete LP. Wings was presently only 3 members strong with Denny Laine, Paul and Linda. The first musician brought in to help out was a young Scottish guitarist named Jimmy McCulloch, formerly with Thunderclap Newman, Tundra and a dozen, or so other bands. Jimmy would go on to joining Wings as a full-fledged member the following April, with his debut release with the band being Junior’s Farm. The Suzi And The Red Stripes LP never saw a release, however Seaside Woman was released as a single a few years later, in May 1977. A re-mix reissue was released in 1986 along with an extended 12 inch single mix. A few of the songs intended for the album eventually were released on the posthumously released Linda McCartney CD Wide Prairie in October 1998. Jimmy McCulloch contributed guitar to both the song Wide Prairie and I Got Up, both featured now on the Wide Prairie CD, but originally intended for the Red Stripes album, and recorded in November 1973.
Luxi, from the those same sessions, is a nod to Radio Luxembourg, a main player in breaking the broadcasting monopoly the BBC had in place in the U.K. While Denny Laine sings “I heard it on Luxi” in the verses, Paul and Linda take on the roll of listeners requesting that the DJ play Jet (Paul) and Band On The Run (Linda). As the Band On The Run album would not be released until the following month, it’s possible that this track was intended to be used as a BOTR promo, similar to the radio spots recorded earlier for the Ram LP. Throughout the entire track Jimmy McCulloch is playing a mean guitar right out in the front of the mix. It’s no surprise that the band got him to stick around and do a few more albums with them before his tragic departure from us in September 1979. Paul plays drums on Luxi, but by the time Wing’s recorded their follow-up single, Junior’s Farm, drummer Geoff Britton had been added to the Wings line-up.
In light of Paul McCartney’s upcoming 69th birthday, next Saturday, I’m featuring a lot of Macca-related music on the site this month and I hope it’s hitting the spot.
Additionally, I would like to thank Beatle Ed, from Fab 4 Radio, for making me aware of this obscure little tune. Thanks for stopping by…
Wings - Luxi
Wings (L-R): Denny Laine, Linda McCartney, Jimmy McCulloch and Paul McCartney
Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? If so, I will do my best to deliver, so let me hear from you. To browse for ideas, check out this search-able listing of thousands of Beatle-related recordings to choose from. Then let me hear from you here.
Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:
1) Wide Prairie
2) Band On The Run [Special Edition - 2CD+1DVD Combo]
3) Wingspan (Hits & History)
4) Ram
5) More Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles
Related posts:
- Junior’s Farm – Live on ‘Wings Over Australia’ tour 1975 This clip comes from the 1975 Wings Over Australia leg of Paul McCartney & Wing’s 1975-76 World Tour. The date...
- Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Waterspout (out-take) The BROW series continues this week with a studio out-take from the Wings London Town sessions. Despite the album title,...
- Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Suicide (‘One Hand Clapping’ version) Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week. About three weeks ago, I made a post giving some details on...
- London Town – Paul McCartney & Wings promo video, 1978 After the highly successful Wings Over America tour in 1976, Paul McCartney planned a follow up tour of the United...
I'm Happy Nat and I'm glad you dropped in! Feel free to listen to the latest BROW (Beatles Rarity Of The Week), watch the latest VOW (Beatles Video of the Week), and join the discussion by leaving comments or 
From what I've read, Ringo things everything the Beatles ever put to tape should be released for sale! lol Paul on the other hand thinks most of it should be released. George had issues with issuing too much from the cutting room floor as did John.
When it comes to bonus tracks, I think Paul has been generous enough although never ENOUGH for me. lol But I do think he could do better at listening to what fans want to buy. If he really wanted to shake things up he should put out a CD just of songs made for movies or other requests. If he has to fill it with released tracks to sell it, go ahead, like Live and Let Die; Vanilla Sky; Spies Like Us; and stuff like that, I'll accept it. I think overall he has enough material like the rejected song from Heaven Can Wait, "Did We Meet Somewhere Before", (where he worked in a clarinet like in the movie) and several others that could make for a fun listen.
I also won't care if he just adds them to the different albums in which each song was recorded near either, as long as they get released.
And Nat, these releases will NOT put your website out of business! lol He will only put one or two finished versions on his CD, you offer backing tracks, alternate takes, live tracks etc. There are very few people who will buy a CD which just has one song on it in every recorded variation AND pay a hefty price for such a set of songs. Heck, I'd even opt for more songs rather than variations of songs when buying his Archive Collections. lol
The video clips are good though. Surprisingly to me his source material looks about as good as those VHS tapes I used to scoff at and avoid paying for at shows. You remember record conventions, don't you? They were before eBay! lol I so prefer a good record convention to eBay.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
Like