Venus and Mars

Paul McCartney had already pulled off the impossible with Band on the Run but in 1975, he set out to prove Wings were more than a fluke. Venus and Mars was the arena-sized sequel: recorded in New Orleans and LA, packed with comic book villains, New Orleans horns, and a No. 1 single that still floats on the radio today.

This week, the brothers drop the needle on Venus and Mars, a record that tried to balance McCartney’s playful pastiches and stadium-rock ambitions. From the handbells and harp of Love in Song to Jimmy McCulloch’s anti-drug anthem Medicine Jar, we go track by track through an album that’s equal parts weird, whimsical, and Wings at full flight.

Along the way: Allen Toussaint’s fingerprints on the sessions, the sax player who links Listen to What the Man Said with Billie Jean. Plus, our full Category Round - best groove, most Beatley moment, least likely to be covered and Kate’s Rate on how it holds up fifty years later.