Celtic Green’s Playhouse 1973 (Misterclaudel MCCD-90)
Green’s Playhouse, Glasgow, Scotland – May 24th, 1973
Soily, Big Barn Bed, When The Night, Wild Life, Seaside Woman, Your Wee Tobacco Box, Little Woman Love / C Moon, Live And Let Die, Maybe I’m Amazed, My Love, Go Now, The Mess, Hi Hi Hi, Long Tall Sally
With the release of the second Wings LP Red Rose Speedway, Paul McCartney decided to actually book a tour of the UK instead of barnstorming British Universities as he did the previous year. Glasgow was the fourteenth show and third and final in Scotland. Misterclaudel is the silver debut of this show and they use the common tape in circulation. The circulating tape ran too fast, but the label corrected the speed so it runs at the correct pitch. It is a fair to good audience recording sounding very much like the Led Zeppelin tape from the same venue six months before. There is a cut before “Maybe I’m Amazed” which cuts off the very beginning of the song but otherwise it is complete.
The show begins with “Soily” to get Glasgow into a good mood and is followed by the opening track to the latest album “Big Barn Bed.” Two slower numbers follow in the set, “When The Night” and “Wild Life.” Linda is introduced for her excellent master piece “Seaside Woman,” one of the greatest songs to come out of the Wings era. Denny Laine announces he needs a drink of Guinness before singing “Your Wee Tobacco Box.” This is a minute long a capella Celtic folk tune that made its first known appearance in a Wings show on February 11th, 1972 in Hull. The only other recordings comes from the four Hammersmith Odeon shows in London several days after this one.
“C Moon” is played as a bridge in “Little Woman Love” which begins and ends the set piece. “Live And Let Die” is introduced by Paul as “one we wrote for the new James Bond film.” The single would be released on June 1st and the film several weeks afterwards, but pre-publicity and its association with the popular British super spy insured it to be a hit. In later performances it would be augmented by explosions, a horn section and the mellotron, but this is a band only version which sounds a bit…naked. But like everything else this night, it receives a rapturous response in Glasgow. Henry McCullough duplicates his classic guitar solo in “My Love,” Wings’ biggest hit up to that point.
Before “Hi Hi Hi” Paul says, “This is one that got banned. So if anyone in the audience got sensitive ears, you better leave quick.” The final song of the show is “Long Tall Sally” and after a minute of very loud clapping Paul comes back out on stage and says, “Listen. We haven’t got anymore songs for you tonight. You’ve been a great audience. No listen. We’ll see you next time we come back.” Celtic Green’s Playhouse 1973 is packaged in a standard jewel case with thick inserts and an obi strip on the outside. It is to Misterclaudel’s credit to make available an overlooked but excellent concert from early in Wings’ career. The sound quality isn’t for everyone, but once the ears adjust to the low fidelity it is very listenable and a fun show to have. It is certainly better than the London shows which are very poor sounding.
