ALLAN KOZINN AND ADRIAN SINCLAIR – THE MCCARTNEY LEGACY: VOLUME 2: 1974 – 80
DEY STREET BOOKS
BOOK REVIEW BY AARON BADGLEY
Allan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair’s first volume of The McCartney Legacy was not just well received, it has become an essential text. There are a few books about The Beatles that are required reading: The McCartney Legacy: Vol.1 is one, and The McCartney Legacy: Volume 2: 1974 – 80: A Comprehensive Look at Paul McCartney’s Life and Work Post-Beatles is another. The first volume ended with McCartney’s (and the Wings’) classic Band On The Run, which brought the reader to the end of 1973. This volume picks up in 1974 and takes the reader to the end of 1980. McCartney did a lot during these six years, and Kozinn and Sinclair documented it all.
They also include what was going on in McCartney’s personal and business life to add the necessary context. Diving into an unimaginable amount of archives, interviews, reviews, news stories, as well as conducting new interviews, all go into making this an extremely well-researched and informative book. It is also extremely readable. Kozinn was a music critic and culture reporter for The New York Times from 1977 to 2014, and Sinclair is a freelance filmmaker who has worked for almost every major broadcaster in the world, including the BBC, ITV, Sky, Channel 4, National Geographic, Discovery, and MTV. These guys know how to write and tell a story, because in the end this is a story about a portion of McCartney’s extensive career.
The details in the book and the amount of work the two put into this volume needs to be congratulated. It is really quite flawless. And, for these writers, the fact that they do not offer reviews of the albums, singles, or any of the work makes it much more enjoyable. They let the fans come to their own conclusions about each of McCartney’s works, but they do offer contemporaneous reviews of the records to inform the reader as to how the albums and singles were received at the time of release.
It is hard to imagine today, but in the 1970s, McCartney and Wings were one of the largest bands in the world. Their record sales and concert attendance rivaled Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Elton John, and Queen. McCartney was able to establish himself distinctly from The Beatles and created a whole new career. It was not part two of The Beatles, but rather a brand-new artist developing over time. The authors, through their research and writing, explore this and it makes for fascinating reading.
The McCartney Legacy: Volume 2: 1974 – 80: A Comprehensive Look at Paul McCartney’s Life and Work Post-Beatles is an excellent book, and one of the best rock diaries in existence. Both volumes are examples of brilliant writing and thorough research. They tell the story of an artist who is driven to create, and the lives McCartney (and his family) have during this time period goes a long way in explaining his success at this time. But it is equally interesting reading about McCartney’s own self-doubts and the impact critics have on him. It is all here in this brilliant book.
ISBN-10: 006300075X
ISBN-13: 978-0063000759
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