McGear

History

The album was a collaboration between McGear and his older brother Paul McCartney, who produced the record. All tracks on the album are performed by McCartney's band Wings, although all lead vocals are sung by McGear (McCartney can be heard singing the ending of "What Do We Really Know?", on "Givin' Grease A Ride" and occasional yells and harmony vocals on other tracks). At the time, McGear had just left his group Grimms, and McCartney was waiting for his Apple Records contract to expire. Because of Apple contract issues, McCartney was originally not credited as a performer.

Although the original intent had just been to record a single ("Leave It"), the project mushroomed into an entire album before the single was released. The album was recorded at Strawberry Studios, except for "Leave It", which was recorded at Abbey Road Studios. "Leave It" reached #36 in the UK singles chart.

The front cover shows Mike captured like Gulliver, surrounded by little black and white people. Included in the people are pictures of the band members, as well as a childhood picture of Paul and Mike.

When Warner Brothers signed McGear and Badfinger to quite a bit of fanfare, coinciding with McCartney's Apple contract nearing expiration, there was quite a bit of rumour at the time suggesting that Warners was trying to interest McCartney in signing with them.

Re-releases

In 1991, McGear was re-released by Rykodisc in the U.S. with a previously unreleased version of the song "Dance The Do" as a bonus track (a different mix had been issued as a stand-alone single on UK Warner Bros). In 1992, McGear was re-released by See For Miles Records in the U.K. with two bonus tracks, "Dance The Do" and "Sweet Baby," which had been the B-side of "Leave It." The liner notes quote McGear as saying that "Sweet Baby" had originally been named "All My Lovin'" but "some other group had already done one with that name."

Track listing

All songs by Mike McGear & Paul McCartney, except where noted.

1. "Sea Breezes" (Bryan Ferry) – 4:52
2. "What Do We Really Know?" (McCartney) – 3:28
3. "Norton" – 2:35
4. "Leave It" (McCartney) – 3:44
5. "Have You Got Problems?" – 6:16
6. "The Casket" (McCartney, Roger McGough) – 4:19
7. "Rainbow Lady" – 3:26
8. "Simply Love You" – 2:47
9. "Givin' Grease a Ride" – 5:35
10. "The Man Who Found God on the Moon" – 6:26

CD Bonus Tracks:

11. "Dance the Do" – 3:53
12. "Sweet Baby" – 3:47
13. Only on the 1992 reissue.

Personnel