Editing Back to the Egg (section)

==Production==
The band first rehearsed material for ''Back to the Egg'' in London, at the offices of McCartney's company [[MPL Communications]] in [[Soho Square]], before carrying out further rehearsals in Scotland, in June 1978.<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 240" /> As on his other Wings recordings over 1978–79, Thomas worked with [[Phil McDonald]] as his recording engineer, at McCartney's insistence, rather than [[Bill Price (record producer)|Bill Price]], who was the producer's preferred engineer.<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 238">Madinger and Easter, p. 238</ref>{{refn|Among their pre-''Back to the Egg'' recordings together, Wings worked in London on two McCartney songs intended for the 1978 Hollywood films ''[[Heaven Can Wait (1978 film)|Heaven Can Wait]]'' and ''[[Same Time, Next Year (film)|Same Time Next Year]]'',<ref name="Rodriguez p 219" /> neither of which was used at the time.<ref>Madinger and Easter, pp. 237, 238</ref>|group="nb"}}

===Recording and overdubbing===

====June–July 1978: Spirit of Ranachan Studios====
The recording sessions for ''Back to the Egg'' began on 29 June 1978 at Spirit of Ranachan Studios<ref name="Badman p 223">Badman, p. 223</ref> – another, larger recording facility on the McCartneys' Campbeltown farm – using equipment loaned from Mickie Most's [[RAK Studios|RAK Studio]] in London.<ref>Madinger and Easter, pp. 223, 240</ref> The basic tracks were recorded with a spontaneity that had been absent in Wings' past work,<ref name="Madinger & Easter pp 240, 242" /> employing an approach that Juber has described as a "back-to-basics, garage band kind of feel".<ref name=W&M88>Benitez, p. 88</ref>

Sessions at Spirit of Ranachan lasted until 27 July, during which the band taped and added [[Overdubbing|overdubs]] to "Arrow Through Me", "Again and Again and Again", "To You", "Winter Rose", "Old Siam, Sir" and "Spin It On".<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 240" /> Basic tracks were also completed for "Cage", a song that remained in the proposed running order for the album until early in 1979, "Crawl of the Wild", "Weep for Love", "Ballroom Dancing" and "Maisie".<ref name="Badman p 223" /> These last three compositions would all appear on solo albums by members of Wings between 1980 and 1982.<ref name=Band226 />{{refn|Laine's "Weep for Love" appeared on his album ''[[Japanese Tears]]'' (1980),<ref name=Band226>McGee, p. 226</ref> McCartney re-recorded "Ballroom Dancing" for ''[[Tug of War (Paul McCartney album)|Tug of War]]'' (1982), and the Juber-composed<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 246">Madinger and Easter, p. 246</ref> "Maisie" was included on the guitarist's solo debut, ''[[Standard Time (album)|Standard Time]]'' (1982).<ref>Badman, pp. 223, 264–65</ref>|group="nb"}}

In addition, the band filmed a promotional video for the ''London Town'' single "[[I've Had Enough (Wings song)|I've Had Enough]]" while in Scotland<ref name="Rodriguez p 219" /><ref>Madinger and Easter, pp. 232–33</ref> and, in early July, recorded demos of twelve pieces intended for the Rupert the Bear film soundtrack.<ref name=Band122>McGee, p. 122</ref> In the case of the latter activity, none of these compositions were revisited for what became ''[[Rupert and the Frog Song]]'' (1984).<ref>Madinger and Easter, pp. 239, 262</ref>{{refn|Of the twelve tracks that Wings recorded, some dated from fragments of songs played by McCartney during, variously, the Beatles' [[Let It Be (album)#Twickenham rehearsals|''Get Back'' rehearsals]] in January 1969, the initial recording for his and Linda's album ''[[Ram (album)|Ram]]'' in 1970, and demo sessions such as that for the 1974 piano tape.<ref>Madinger and Easter, pp. 239–40</ref>|group="nb"}}

[[File:LympneCastle.jpg|thumbnail|200px|left|[[Lympne Castle]] in Kent, where Wings recorded part of ''Back to the Egg'' and filmed the video for their single "[[Old Siam, Sir]]"]]

====September 1978: Lympne Castle====
After a break to allow for school summer holidays,<ref>Badman, pp. 223–24</ref> recording recommenced on 11 September at [[Lympne Castle]] in Kent, using the RAK mobile recording equipment, as before.<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 240" /> The choice of location was partly due to the castle's proximity to the McCartneys' property "Waterfall", in [[Peasmarsh]], East Sussex.<ref>Sounes, pp. 306–07, 346</ref><ref>Doyle, pp. 173–74</ref> During sessions lasting through to 29 September,<ref>Badman, p. 225</ref> the band recorded "We're Open Tonight", "Love Awake", "After the Ball", "Million Miles", "Reception" and "The Broadcast".<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 240" />

Recording took place mainly in the castle's [[great hall]], with Holly's drum kit positioned in the fireplace.<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 240" /> McCartney and Juber taped their acoustic guitar parts for "We're Open Tonight" in a stairwell.<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 242" /> Excerpted from books found in the library, the readings for "Reception" and "The Broadcast" were overdubbed in the kitchen and performed by the owners of Lympne Castle,<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 245" /> Harold and Dierdre Margary.<ref>Benitez, pp. 89, 94</ref>

====October–December 1978: Abbey Road Studios====
[[File:Abbey Rd Studios.jpg|thumbnail|right|195px|London's [[Abbey Road Studios]] – another location for the album's recording]]
Sessions moved to [[Abbey Road Studios]] in London on 3 October.<ref name="Badman p 226">Badman, p. 226</ref> That day, Wings joined with a [[Supergroup (music)|supergroup]] of guest musicians, collectively known as "Rockestra",<ref name=W&M91 /> to record the tracks "Rockestra Theme" and "So Glad to See You Here".<ref name="Badman p 226" /> A camera crew led by Barry Chattington filmed the proceedings,<ref name=Band123>McGee, p. 123</ref> and a 40-minute documentary, titled ''Rockestra'', was later compiled from the footage.<ref name="Badman p 226" /> Equipment used for this session included 60 microphones, a pair of mixing consoles and a [[Multitrack recording|16-track recording]] desk.<ref name=Band123/> [[James Honeyman-Scott]] of the Pretenders, [[Hank Marvin]] of [[the Shadows]], [[the Who]]'s [[Pete Townshend]], [[Pink Floyd]]'s [[David Gilmour]], [[Led Zeppelin]]'s [[John Paul Jones (musician)|John Paul Jones]] and [[John Bonham]], and [[the Attractions]]' [[Bruce Thomas (musician)|Bruce Thomas]] all took part.<ref name="Badman p 226" /> Also among the line-up was the horn section from Wings' 1975–76 world tour, consisting of [[Howie Casey]], Tony Dorsey, Thaddeus Richard and Steve Howard.<ref name=Band123/> [[Keith Moon]] was meant to participate, but he had died shortly before the session; [[Jeff Beck]] and [[Eric Clapton]] were also scheduled to appear.<ref name=Clayson191>Clayson, p. 191</ref>

On 10 October, Wings taped "Getting Closer" at Abbey Road, along with a demo<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 245" /> of "Baby's Request".<ref name="Badman p 226" /> McCartney had intended this recording of "Baby's Request" for the Mills Brothers to use as a guide, but after they asked to be paid for recording the song,<ref>Perasi, pp. 184–86</ref> he instead included the demo on ''Back to the Egg''.<ref name=Clayson191-192>Clayson, pp. 191–92</ref> The band then continued with overdubs on these and other songs intermittently through October and November, finishing at Abbey Road on 1 December.<ref name="Madinger & Easter pp 240-41">Madinger and Easter, pp. 240–41</ref>

====December 1978–February 1979: Replica Studio====
Towards the end of the year, Wings also carried out overdubs at the newly built Replica Studio, located at MPL's Soho Square offices.<ref name="Madinger & Easter pp 240-41" /> Frustrated at the impending unavailability of Abbey Road's Studio Two<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 241" /> – which studio owner and record company [[EMI]] needed for its other acts, besides Wings<ref name="Sounes p 348">Sounes, p. 348</ref> – McCartney had constructed an exact replica of Studio Two in the basement at MPL.<ref name="Badman p 227">Badman, p. 227</ref>{{refn|According to Madinger and Easter, McCartney had to make way for block-booked sessions for [[Cliff Richard]]'s new album, ''[[Rock 'n' Roll Juvenile]]'' (1979).<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 241" /> Doyle writes that the competing project was in fact an album by "EMI's new darling", [[Kate Bush]].<ref>Doyle, pp. 176–77</ref>|group="nb"}} Among the work done on ''Back to the Egg'' at Replica, the band replaced the final twenty seconds of "So Glad to See You Here" with what Madinger and Easter describe as "a [[reggae]]-styled [[Coda (music)|coda]]", containing the "We're Open Tonight" [[reprise]].<ref>Madinger and Easter, pp. 241, 245</ref>

Sessions continued there in January and February 1979.<ref>Badman, p. 229</ref> During that time, the band recorded a non-album single – the [[disco]]-styled "[[Goodnight Tonight]]", backed with "[[Daytime Nighttime Suffering]]" – as a release to coincide with the airing of the long-delayed<ref name="McGee p 127">McGee, p. 127</ref> ''Wings Over the World'' special.<ref>Madinger and Easter, pp. 246, 247</ref> While noting that McCartney and Laine's relationship was beginning to unravel at this point, Sounes compares the freshness of these new recordings with the drawn-out sessions for ''Back to the Egg'' and writes that the album "was now so overworked it might more aptly have been titled ''Over-Egged''".<ref>Sounes, pp. 347–48</ref> Impatient at the amount of time being spent in the recording studio, Laine publicly admitted that he was "desperate" to go out on tour.<ref>Doyle, p. 177</ref>

===Final overdubbing and mixing===
In March, Wings moved back to Abbey Road Studios to complete the album.<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 241" /> Vocal overdubs were then added to "Winter Rose/Love Awake"<ref name="Badman p 230">Badman, p. 230</ref> and an orchestral-sounding mellotron part to the end of "Getting Closer".<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 242" /> Having worked with [[Black Dyke Band|the Black Dyke Mills Band]] in the 1960s, when he produced their 1968 single "Thingumybob" for [[Apple Records]],<ref>Spizer, p. 342</ref> McCartney invited the band down from Yorkshire to overdub brass accompaniment on "Winter Rose/Love Awake".<ref>Sounes, pp. 216, 348</ref>

While mixing the album during March, Wings finally discarded the song "Cage", which had been sequenced as the second track, following "Reception".<ref>Madinger and Easter, pp. 241, 247</ref> The same alternative running order paired the Rockestra recordings at the end of side two, so that the album closed with the "We're Open Tonight" coda.<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 241" /> Holly later recalled that whereas beforehand the band had been confident that ''Back to the Egg'' would be a strong album, during the final mixing process "[it] dawned on us there might be problems".<ref name="McGee p 128">McGee, p. 128</ref> At the last minute, "Baby's Request" replaced "Cage" and the running order was revised, with the result that the working-band concept became less pronounced.<ref>Madinger and Easter, pp. 240, 241</ref>