Back in the day, there was a rumor that Beatle legend Paul McCartney was dead, with hints displayed throughout album covers and songs. Although John Legend satirized his “death” in song, the fact is that Sir Paul has always been alive and well, and these four sets of concerts capture him at various states of his post Fab Four Days, and they’ve held up 
surprisingly well.
1976’s Wings Over America was essentially the first time Beatle fans saw McCartney with his own band, Wings, and they were at their apotheosis since releasing the acclaimed Band On The Run. At this stage, Wings included Joe English/dr, Linda McCartney/key-voc, Jimmy McCulloch/g-b-v and the indefatigable Denny Lane/b-g-p-voc along with a hip four piece horn section. The band shows its strengths with a hot medley climaxing in “Jet” and recent pieces like “Let Me Roll It” and “Band On The Run” as strong as anything McCartney has ever done. Lane throws in an old Mood Blues tune on “Go Now,” and McCartney sounds impressive on the take of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Richard Corey” and his own Beatles tunes like “Lady Madonna” “I’ve Just Seen A Face” and “Yesterday.” This album at the time convinced the listening world that Paul could make it on his own, and hold up against comparisons to his other ex-bandmates.
The ringer of the set is the Back In The USSR 1987 collection of McCartney with Nick Garvey/b, Mick Gallagher/key, Mick Green/g and Chris Whitten or Henry Spinetti on drums. Originally released only in Russia, this album has Paul at his most “Early Beatles”-ish, as he’s rocking harder than he’d done for decades. He sounds a bit like Elvis on some rockabilly pieces like “Crackin’ Up,” “That’s All Right (Mama)” and “Twenty Eight Rock” while digging into his inner Lloyd Price on a sweaty R&Ber of “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” and Duke Ellington’s “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.” McCartney returns to the Cavern Club?!? This one is a GAS!!!
From 1993, Paul Is Live is a collection of songs from his world tour, including gigs in Kansas City, Boulder, New York and Sydney, Australia. The team of Linda/key, Hamish Sturart/g-voc, Robbie McIntosh/g-v, Wix Wickens/key and Blair Cunningham/dr is not quite as tight as Wings, but the selling point here are the inclusions of rarities such as “Biker Like An Icon” “C’mon People” and a fun read of “Penny Lane.” A couple soundchecks of a fun “I Wanna Be Your Man” and “A Fine Day” make the release a worthwhile journal of the band at this point, although the over amplification of the worshipful audience gets a bit distracting.
Possibly most charming of all is a totally casual concert at famed Amoeba Records back in 2007 with Sir Paul at 65 and sounding as fresh as his first days with Pete Best. McCartney’s band at the time was Abe Laboriel/dr, Rusty Anderson/g, Brian Ray/b and Dave Arch/key, and they are having a swinging time as they play at Hollywood’s famous Amoeba Records Store before an enthusiastic crowd. McCartney’s voice is oak rich, and he sounds delightful on upbeat rockers such as “Drive My car” and “Lady Madonna” while giving a smoking western swing to “Matchbox.” There’s even the landing of the plane intro to a smoking “Back In The USSR” and the team gives a vintage Mercy Beat to “I Saw Her Standing There.” The acoustic tunes such as “Blackbird” and “The Long And Winding Road” are well served, as are the more obscure gems like “I’ve Got A Feeling” and the classics such as “Hey Jude.” McCartney gets back to where he once belonged!