Paul McCartney to issue Wings' rare One Hand Clapping album

26 April 2024, 14:53

Paul McCartney in the back garden of Abbey Road studios, as seen in the One Hand Clapping film. Picture: David Litchfield/MPL/Press

The soundtrack to the long lost documentary/live album will get an official release for the first time.

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Paul McCartney has announced the release of One Hand Clapping, a much-bootlegged live album of session tracks and performances featuring his post-Beatles band Wings.

The material on One Hand Clapping was recorded in the summer of 1974, after the release of the hugely successful Band On The Run.

McCartney took Wings - then comprising of his wife Linda, Denny Laine and new recruits Jimmy McCulloch and Geoff Britton - into Abbey Road to record tracks for a proposed documentary and "live" album, to be titled One Hand Clapping.

Read more: 10 things you didn't know about Paul McCartney's Band On The Run album

Paul McCartney & Wings - One Hand Clapping artwork. Picture: Press

Filmed over four days by director David Litchfield, the finished documentary was never released, and the accompanying album was left in the vaults.

This didn't stop tracks finding their way onto a number of bootlegs, and a few tracks have also appeared on official McCartney releases over the years.

On 14th June, there will be the first ever official vinyl and CD release of One Hand Clapping, collecting all the tracks in one place, alongside several additional songs recorded off camera.

Alongside an instrumental which became known as One Hand Clapping, the tracklist includes Wings hits like Live And Let Die, Band On The Run, Jet, My Love, Hi, Hi, Hi and the then-brand new single Junior’s Farm, plus some McCartney solo tracks (Maybe I’m Amazed) and reworked extracts of Beatles classics Let It Be, The Long and Winding Road and Lady Madonna.

You can also hear Wings perform The Moody Blues' Go Now, with Denny Laine reprising his original vocal from the 1965 hit.

Paul McCartney in the One Hand Clapping film, August 1974. Picture: Linda McCartney/MPL/Press

One Hand Clapping will be released in multiple formats including an online exclusive 2LP + 7” package featuring an exclusive vinyl single of previously unreleased solo performances recorded on the final day of the sessions in the backyard of Abbey Road studios.

This includes the unreleased track Blackpool, The Beatles’ iconic Blackbird, Wings B-side Country Dreamer, and cover versions of Eddie Cochran’s Twenty Flight Rock and Buddy Holly’s Peggy Sue and I’m Gonna Love You Too.

The new editions will include the original artwork designed for the project and a TV sales brochure for the unreleased film.