It’s been half a century since Paul McCartney and Wings released their second album.
Initially planned as a double record, Macca decided to include some unreleased songs from the 1971 Ram sessions such as Get on the Right Thing and Little Lamb Dragonfly, eventually making it onto a single disc album.
The Red Rose Speedway sessions also included the recording of the non-album singles Little Lamb, Hi, Hi, Hi and the popular James Bond theme Live and Let Die, also released in 1973.
The record would peak at No. 5 in the UK Albums Chart and hit No. 1 on the Billboard Top LPS and Strip Across the Pond charts.
After a mixed response from critics to its soft tracks kept at the expense of rock music, Linda McCartney later told Sounds magazine in 1976: “Red Rose Speedway was such an unsure record. There were some beautiful songs… There was a ballad “My Love” But something was missing. We needed a heavier sound. It was a terribly uncertain period.”
Read more: ‘Paul McCartney cried for a year’ after wife Linda’s tragic death
Linda took the Red Rose Speedway cover photo, which was a solo McCartney in front of a motorcycle engine with a red rose in his mouth.
The bike was flown in from the US specifically for the shoot, which took place in the Sunday Times Building photo studio in London.
Today, Maca himself celebrated the album’s 50th anniversary by sharing snippets of Linda’s photography.
McCartney wrote on Instagram: “Happy 50th birthday ‘Red Rose Speedway’
“On this day in 1973, Wings’ iconic second album #RedRoseSpeedway was released in the UK! Swipe to see an excerpt from the album cover shoot in London.”
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