It's not fair to say
Mike McGear wouldn't have had a musical career without his older brother
Paul McCartney -- he launched his first band, the Scaffold, just before Beatlemania -- but it is fair to say that his 1974 album
McGear wouldn't have existed without
Paul. The pair of brothers made
McGear in early 1974, just after
McGear's band
GRIMMS fell apart and in the wake of
Band on the Run turning into an international smash.
Paul decided his younger brother needed a bit of a boost, so they recorded a single called "Leave It," which led to a full-length album cut at
10cc's Strawberry Studios. For support, the elder
McCartney enlisted his band
Wings, including its newest member
Jimmy McCulloch, which means
McGear does indeed sound like a forgotten
Wings album -- one whose spirit and tenor has much more to do with the wild, wooly sound of
Red Rose Speedway than the focused polish of
Band on the Run, or the arena rock of
Venus and Mars, which came just a year later. Much of this vibe is due to
McGear's inherent jocularity.
The Scaffold always walked the line separating comedy and pop, and
McGear is happy to indulge in his silly side here, putting on a series of voices on the lengthy '50s rock & roll pastiche "Have You Got Problems?" and camping it up on "Norton." This lightheartedness is a good match for the glam undercurrent running throughout
McGear, a connection that's made plain by the album opening with a stately, straightened cover of
Roxy Music's "Sea Breezes." Later,
McGear partakes in a bit of steely, synthesized car worship on "Givin' Grease a Ride," a number that feels strangely prescient, pointing the way toward the new wave throb of
Gary Numan. "Givin' Grease a Ride" is an exception to the rule, though. Most of
McGear is steeped in the early '70s, filled with elaborate mini-pop suites, moments of tenderness, and candied effervescence -- all qualities that could conceivably be called "
McCartney-esque." Since
Paul is behind the boards,
McGear abounds with clever production fair and melodic invention, but having the album fronted by the amiable, pleasing
Mike McGear means the record often feels like the work of one of the many
McCartney acolytes instead of the man himself. Which may mean
McGear seems like a bit of a lesser
Wings album, but it also means that it plays like a really terrific
Gilbert O'Sullivan album, too.