1.
Single (music)
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In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record, an album or an EP record. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats, in most cases, a single is a song that is released separately from an album, although it usually also appears on an album. Typically, these are the songs from albums that are released separately for promotional uses such as digital download or commercial radio airplay and are expected to be the most popular, in other cases a recording released as a single may not appear on an album. As digital downloading and audio streaming have become prevalent, it is often possible for every track on an album to also be available separately. Nevertheless, the concept of a single for an album has been retained as an identification of a heavily promoted or more popular song within an album collection. Despite being referred to as a single, singles can include up to as many as three tracks on them. The biggest digital music distributor, iTunes, accepts as many as three tracks less than ten minutes each as a single, as well as popular music player Spotify also following in this trend. Any more than three tracks on a release or longer than thirty minutes in total running time is either an Extended Play or if over six tracks long. The basic specifications of the single were made in the late 19th century. Gramophone discs were manufactured with a range of speeds and in several sizes. By about 1910, however, the 10-inch,78 rpm shellac disc had become the most commonly used format, the inherent technical limitations of the gramophone disc defined the standard format for commercial recordings in the early 20th century.26 rpm. With these factors applied to the 10-inch format, songwriters and performers increasingly tailored their output to fit the new medium, the breakthrough came with Bob Dylans Like a Rolling Stone. Singles have been issued in various formats, including 7-inch, 10-inch, other, less common, formats include singles on digital compact cassette, DVD, and LD, as well as many non-standard sizes of vinyl disc. Some artist release singles on records, a more common in musical subcultures. The most common form of the single is the 45 or 7-inch. The names are derived from its speed,45 rpm. The 7-inch 45 rpm record was released 31 March 1949 by RCA Victor as a smaller, more durable, the first 45 rpm records were monaural, with recordings on both sides of the disc. As stereo recordings became popular in the 1960s, almost all 45 rpm records were produced in stereo by the early 1970s
2.
Paul McCartney and Wings
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Wings were noted for frequent personnel changes as well as commercial success, going through three lead guitarists and four drummers. Created following the McCartneys 1971 album Ram, the bands first two albums, Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway, were viewed as artistic disappointments beside Paul McCartneys work with the Beatles. After the release of the track of the James Bond movie Live and Let Die, McCullough. The McCartneys and Laine then released 1973s Band on the Run, following that album, the band recruited guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Geoff Britton, only for Britton to quit shortly afterwards and be replaced by Joe English. With the new line-up, Wings released Venus and Mars, which included the US number one single Listen to What the Man Said, and undertook a highly successful world tour over 1975–76. Intended as more of an effort, Wings at the Speed of Sound was issued midway through the tour and featured the hit singles Silly Love Songs. In 1977, the band earned their only UK number one single, with Mull of Kintyre, Wings experienced another line-up shuffle, however, with both McCulloch and English departing before the release of the groups 1978 album London Town. The McCartneys and Laine again added new members, recruiting guitarist Laurence Juber and drummer Steve Holley, the resulting album, Back to the Egg, was a relative flop, with its singles under-performing and the critical reception negative. During the supporting tour, Paul McCartney was arrested in Japan for cannabis possession, despite a final US number one, the live version of McCartneys solo single Coming Up, Wings broke up permanently in 1981. After the Beatles break-up in 1970, McCartney recorded two albums, McCartney, credited to himself, and Ram, with wife Linda, Ram was recorded in New York City, where McCartney auditioned a number of drummers and guitarists, selecting Seiwell and guitarist David Spinozza. When Spinozza became unavailable due to other commitments, Hugh McCracken was enlisted to take his place. After the release of Ram, McCartney decided to form a new group and asked Seiwell, Seiwell accepted, but McCracken declined, so McCartney invited Denny Laine, whom he had known since the early 1960s, to join. He said, Nothing, so I said, Right, Laine then dropped plans for his album there and then. In August 1971, Seiwell and Laine joined Paul and Linda McCartney to record Pauls third post-Beatles album for Apple Records, the result was Wild Life, released 7 December. It was the first project to credit Wings as the artist, the band name is said to have come to McCartney as he was praying in the hospital while Linda was giving birth to their second child together, Stella, on 13 September 1971. Paul McCartney recalled in the film Wingspan that the birth of Stella was a bit of a drama, there were complications at the birth and he was praying fervently and the image of wings came to his mind. He decided to name his new band Wings, in an attempt to capture the spontaneity of live performances, five of Wild Lifes eight songs were first takes by the band. The album included a cover of Mickey & Sylvias Love Is Strange, like Ram, Wild Life left music critics cold, a response that typified the anti-McCartney sentiments that prevailed among the music press following the Beatles break-up
3.
Band on the Run
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Band on the Run is the third studio album by Paul McCartney and Wings, released in December 1973. It marked the album by Paul McCartney since his departure from the Beatles in April 1970. It remains McCartneys most successful album and the most celebrated of his post-Beatles works, the majority of Band on the Run was recorded at EMIs studio in Lagos, Nigeria, as McCartney wanted to make an album in an exotic locale. After the bands return to England, final overdubs and further recording were carried out at AIR Studios in London, in 2000, Q magazine placed it at number 75 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2012, Band on the Run was voted 418th on Rolling Stones revised list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and it was Paul McCartneys last album issued on the Apple label. Keen to record outside the United Kingdom, McCartney asked EMI to send him a list of all their recording studios. He selected Lagos in Nigeria and was taken with the idea of recording in Africa, during one rehearsal session, McCullough and McCartney argued, and McCullough quit. Seiwell left a week later, the night before the band out to Nigeria. This left just the core of the band – Paul, Linda and Denny Laine – to record in Lagos, the band and their entourage arrived in Lagos on 9 August 1973. EMIs studio, located on Wharf Road in the suburb of Apapa, was ramshackle, the control desk was faulty and there was only one tape machine, a Studer 8-track. The band rented houses near the airport in Ikeja, an away from the studio. Paul, Linda and their three children stayed in one, while Laine, his wife JoJo, Emerick, and Wings two roadies stayed in another, the group established a routine of recording during the week and playing tourist on the weekends. Paul temporarily joined a country club, where he would spend most mornings. The band would be driven to the studio in the afternoon where recording would last into the late evening. To make up for the band members, Paul would play drums and lead guitar parts with Denny playing rhythm guitar. The first track recorded at Apapa was Mamunia, the title for which McCartney appropriated from the name of a hotel in Marrakesh where Wings had stayed in April 1973. Several of the songs on Band on the Run reflect themes of escape and freedom, peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road. Aside from the challenges presented by the studio, various incidents plagued Wings Lagos stay
4.
A-side and B-side
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The terms A-side and B-side refer to the two sides of 78,45, and 33 1/3 rpm phonograph records, whether singles, extended plays, or long-playing records. Creedence Clearwater Revival had hits with both A-side and B-side releases, others took the opposite approach, producer Phil Spector was in the habit of filling B-sides with on-the-spot instrumentals that no one would confuse with the A-side. With this practice, Spector was assured that airplay was focused on the side he wanted to be the hit side, the earliest 10-inch,78 rpm, shellac records were single sided. Double-sided recordings, with one song on side, were introduced in Europe by Columbia Records. There were no record charts until the 1930s, and radio stations did not play recorded music until the 1950s, in this time, A-sides and B-sides existed, but neither side was considered more important, the side did not convey anything about the content of the record. The term single came into use with the advent of vinyl records in the early 1950s. At first, most record labels would randomly assign which song would be an A-side, under this random system, many artists had so-called double-sided hits, where both songs on a record made one of the national sales charts, or would be featured on jukeboxes in public places. As time wore on, however, the convention for assigning songs to sides of the record changed. By the early sixties, the song on the A-side was the song that the company wanted radio stations to play. It was not until 1968, for instance, that the production of albums on a unit basis finally surpassed that of singles in the United Kingdom. In the late 1960s stereo versions of pop and rock songs began to appear on 45s. The majority of the 45s were played on AM radio stations, by the early 1970s, double-sided hits had become rare. Album sales had increased, and B-sides had become the side of the record where non-album, non-radio-friendly, with the advent of cassette and compact disc singles in the late 1980s, the A-side/B-side differentiation became much less meaningful. With the decline of cassette singles in the 1990s, the A-side/B-side dichotomy became virtually extinct, as the dominant medium. However, the term B-side is still used to refer to the tracks or coupling tracks on a CD single. With the advent of downloading music via the Internet, sales of CD singles and other media have declined. B-side songs may be released on the record as a single to provide extra value for money. There are several types of material released in this way, including a different version, or, in a concept record
5.
Jet (song)
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Jet is a song by Paul McCartney and Wings from their album Band on the Run. Supposedly written about a jet black Labrador that McCartney owned, the song was the first British, the song peaked at number 7 in both the British and American charts on 30 March 1974, also charting in multiple countries in Europe. It has been released on compilation albums, and has since become one of the bands most well-known tracks. Reviewers have reported that the subject of the song is McCartneys Labrador Retriever dog named Jet, McCartney has also substantiated this claim. Weve got a Labrador puppy who is a runt, the runt of a litter and we bought her along a roadside in a little pet shop, out in the country one day. She was a bit of a dog, a wild girl who wouldnt stay in. We have a big wall around our house in London, and she wouldnt stay in, shed go out on the town for the evening, like Lady And The Tramp. She must have met up with big black Labrador or something. She came back one day pregnant and she proceeded to walk into the garage and have this litter. Seven little black puppies, perfect little black Labradors, and shes not black, so we worked out it must have been a black Labrador. So Jet was one of the puppies, weve had some great names, there was one puppy called Golden Molasses. Then there was one called Brown Megs, named after a Capitol executive, the people change the names if they dont like them. The songs use of the suffragette was described by McCartney as crazy and silly. It means something to me when I do it, and it something to the record buyer. Suffragette was crazy enough to work and it sounded silly, so I liked it. Whereas most of the Band on the Run album was recorded in Lagos, Nigeria, instrumentation used in the song includes electric guitars, bass, Moog, drums, piano, horns and strings. A closer listening reveals the Moog is used for the line during the verse and is simply Linda holding the root note. Jet was released as the single from Band on the Run in January 1974
6.
Lagos
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Lagos /ˈleɪɡɒs/ is a city in the Nigerian state of Lagos. The city, with its conurbation, is the largest in Nigeria. It is one of the fastest growing in the world, Lagos is a major financial centre in Africa, the megacity has the highest GDP, and also houses one of the largest and busiest ports on the continent. Due to rapid urbanization, the city expanded to the west of the lagoon to include areas in the present day Lagos Mainland, Ajeromi-Ifelodun and Surulere. This led to the classification of Lagos into two main areas - the Island, which was the city of Lagos, before it expanded into the area known as the Mainland. Lagos, the capital of Nigeria since its amalgamation in 1914, however, the state capital was later moved to Ikeja in 1976, while the federal capital also moved to Abuja in 1991. This conurbation makes up 37% of Lagos States total land area, the exact population of Metropolitan Lagos is disputed, In the 2006 federal census data, the conurbation had a population of about 8 million people. However, the figure was disputed by the Lagos State Government, Lagos was originally inhabited by the Awori subgroup of the Yoruba people in the 15th century, who called it Oko. Under the leadership of the Oloye Olofin, the Awori moved to an island now called Iddo and then to the larger Lagos Island. In the 16th century, the Awori settlement was conquered by the Benin Empire and the became a Benin war-camp called Eko under Oba Orhogba. Eko is still the name for Lagos. Lagos, which means lakes, was a given to the settlement by the Portuguese. The present-day Lagos state has a percentage of Awori, who migrated to the area from Isheri along the Ogun river. Throughout history, it was home to a number of warring ethnic groups who had settled in the area. Following its early settlement by the Awori nobility, and its conquest by the Bini warlords of Benin, Portuguese explorer Rui de Sequeira visited the area in 1472, naming the area around the city Lago de Curamo. Another explanation is that Lagos was named for Lagos, Portugal—a maritime town which, in 1849, Britain appointed John Beecroft Consul of the Bights of Benin and Biafra, a position he held until his death in 1854. John Duncan was appointed Vice Consul and was located at Wydah, at the time of Beecrofts appointment, the Kingdom of Lagos was in the western part of the Consulate of the Bights of Benin and Biafra and was a key slave trading port. Oba Akitoye then signed the Treaty between Great Britain and Lagos abolishing slavery, the signing of the 1852 treaty ushered in the Consular Period in Lagos history wherein Britain provided military protection to Lagos
