CINEMA REVIEW - simply superb: Paul McCartney and Wings: One Hand Clapping

The release of Peter Jackson’s edit of the Beatles’ Let It Be sessions was a landmark moment three years ago, taking us right into the heart of The Beatles in the studio right at the very end. Its significance was that it showed us that the joy and the friendship were most definitely still there at a time when the perception was probably that The Beatles were bound together simply by misery.

Who knew that there was a natural sequel lurking out there? Paul McCartney and Wings: One Hand Clapping takes us similarly behind the scenes with Wings, just five years later – surely one of the most under-rated bands of all time. The result is right up there with the fabulous pleasures that the 468 minutes of The Beatles: Get Back had to offer.

With his usual self-deprecation, present-day Paul McCartney introduces the film with the promise that the band made a “pretty good noise.” He’s hilariously underselling it. They were brilliant – as becomes immediately apparently when we slip back to 1974 to catch Wings - Denny Laine and Jimmy McCulloch on guitars, Geoff Britton on drums, Linda McCartney on vocals and keyboards and Paul McCartney himself – jamming in the historic Abbey Road studios.

There is huge poignancy to the fact that Laine, McCulloch and Linda are no longer with us, Jimmy dead just five years later at the age of 26, Laine just last year and Linda at the horribly young age of 56. You realise how rare it is to hear them speak.

But obviously it’s the music that counts the most here, and what music it is, straight into the rockier Jet and Soily before diving deep into the astonishing ballads Maybe I’m Amazed and My Love, McCulloch superb on both.

And the lovely thing is that the film feeds all of us who are convinced that McCartney is at his absolute best when he is at the piano, again across the full range from the outstanding ballads to the rockier 1985.

It’s clearly McCartney who’s in charge of it all, a relaxed genius leading the band with endless good humour and enthusiasm. The whole thing gives off the best possible vibe, not least with the flashes of humour, drummer Britton, for instance, practising a few karate moves for no particular reason. Fabulous too is Live And Let Die with full orchestra; an extended Paul-on-piano section with rarities including Suicide; plus the title track from the band’s most recent album at the time Band On The Run.

The cake is rich and tasty – and then we get the unexpected icing, McCartney alone with acoustic guitar sitting outside in the backyard, playing whatever comes into his head. There is huge poignancy again as he launches into Twenty Flight Rock, a song so crucial at the start of his friendship with John Lennon back in Liverpool all those years ago. Lovely versions too

I'm Gonna Love You Too and Peggy Sue. This is McCartney doffing his cap to Eddie Cochran and to Buddy Holly, clearly great influences both. And a great way to round off this delightful celebration of McCartney’s own remarkable place in our musical history.