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.