Band on the Run turned 50 at the end of last year, and a new expanded edition-its fourth-celebrates the anniversary. As the proliferation of reissues over the years suggests, it's Paul McCartney's most consequential post-Beatles record, if not necessarily his best: the album that revived his critical fortunes and established him as a powerhouse outside his former band.
McCartney's career was hardly languishing when Band on the Run appeared at the end of 1973. Earlier that year, Red Rose Speedway became his second album to reach No. 1 in the U.S., with the dreamy ballad "My Love" topping the Billboard charts and his James Bond theme "Live and Let Die" coming close. Yet his critical reputation was at a nadir, lacking the countercultural cachet of either John Lennon or George Harrison, ex-bandmates whose early-'70s successes hit the sweet spot where the underground and mainstream met. Cast as the primary culprit in the Beatles' demise, McCartney was portrayed as a careerist control freak who specialized in featherweight pop.
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