Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Wednesday Review: Wings over New Orleans

You most likely visit this blog because you enjoy seeing uncommon photos of the Beatles and reading the stories of people who met the Beatles.  Some of my favorite photos and stories of Paul McCartney have come from the time Paul, Linda, and Wings went to New Orleans, Louisiana, to record the "Venus and Mars" album.   Paul and crew just really seemed happy during that time, and they went out of their way to share kindness with their fans who waited outside of Sea-Saint Studios.

One of those fans was John Taylor, who wrote a book called Wings Over New Orleans. It was released just in time for the session's 40th anniversary. 



The book starts with the story of how John Taylor met Paul and Linda on the first day they were recording and each day thereafter.  He has some nice little antidotes in there that will just put a smile on your face as you are reminded of the true kindness Paul, Linda, Denny, Jimmy, and Joe had for their fans in 1975. But John doesn't just have his story in the book. There are other stories as well of fans who met the famous bass player.  I especially liked the story of the fan that got a ride into the studio with Paul and Linda and the press thought that she was someone important.  When really, Paul had recognized her from being outside the studio and saw her walking and asked if she wanted a ride!   Unbelievable!  There is another great little story about the McCartneys and the Mardi Gras celebration that you can't miss out on.

The stories only take up a small part of the book. I read the entire book in a half hour.  Most of Wings Over New Orleans is full of never-before-seen photographs of Paul and Linda.  These are some photos that will knock you out!   And I love that John published ALL the photos.  This is something Lizzie Bravo and I have talked about before.  Us fans want to see it all.  Even if the photo is blurry, or crooked or had a bunch of heads in the photo---we want to see it.   And John Taylor left in all of the photos, even the "bad" ones.  I love that because it shows a complete story.

Photo by John Taylor and posted with permission

Photo by John Taylor and posted with permission

Photo by John Taylor and posted with permission


This is a must-have book if you are a Wings fan, a Paul McCartney fan, or someone who likes stories and photos of the Beatles during their solo years. I have to say that I believe Wings Over New Orleans  is the best new Beatles book of 2015 so far!    Don't let this little gem pass you by.   

The link below is the affiliate link to Amazon, where you can purchase this book.  I get a small percentage of anything purchased through this link.  Money made from the Amazon Afflication is used to pay the annual fee to keep this site online.  Thank you for your support.  Sara

1 comment:

  1. Definitely looks like a nice book, Sara! And about the photos... I've been having to "retrain" my fantastic designer, who is also a fab photographer, about using 99.9% of my photos in the book... even the ones of John's back! We are only leaving behind the few where you can't recognize the face it's sooo blurred. She has learned to understand us photo addicts...

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