Consumer Guide Album

Wings: Venus and Mars [Capitol, 1975]
Superficially, which counts for a lot with McCartney, his New Orleans venture is his most appealing post-Beatles album--straight rock and roll with a few pop detours and one excursion into "When I'm 64" nostalgia. So clear in its melodies, mix, and basic pulse that his whimsical juxtapositions--robots on Main Street, Rudy Vallee cheek by jowl with Allen Toussaint--sound like they might make some sense. Don't get me wrong--they probably don't, because McCartney's a convinced fool. But when the music is coherent it doesn't matter so much. B+