Wings Over America Deluxe

I have to say that I am amazed at the attention to detail that went into the Deluxe Edition. All the books, photos, and reproduction items are a true treasure and so I rate the set with five stars for the massive amount of effort that must have gone into its production. Well done indeed!Now on to Amazon's packing practices: I have to admit that at least 50% of the books and other items such as these very heavy box sets that I order from Amazon arrive damaged due to improper packing. I know some people don't care if a book is dinged, but I do and everyone should! This set was no exception with a badly dented slipcase and several damaged books inside it. It's such a shame that so many items are damaged for no good reason by certain lazy warehouse personnel and I think Amazon should hold these employees accountable for their laziness and deduct damaged items from their pay! I have spent countless hours on the phone with Amazon exchanging items and complaining about improperly packed books. Sometimes books are simply thrown in a box with no protection at all--free to move around, other times a few air cushions are added though the items are still loose to be banged around during shipping. The only method that really works is when they plastic shrink wrap items to a corrugated cardboard substrate the same size as the bottom of the box. I don't understand why this is not standard practice in their warehouses. I am told not all warehouses have this equipment. Why not Amazon? Is Bezos aware of this I wonder?My Wings Over America (Deluxe Edition) arrived packed in a thin layer of bubble wrap (not enough to protect such a heavy item) and with another item in the box--both items were free to move around in the box and the beautiful Deluxe Edition was needlessly destroyed in transit. Packing peanuts added to the box would probably have saved the item from destruction and the plastic shrink wrapping of the bubble wrapped item to a cardboard substrate would certainly have worked. I refuse to even repack these items and bring them to the post office--I just put them in a box and have Amazon issue a call tag to pick them up at my house.So what is the solution? You can't request that an item be packed a certain way when you order it. Amazon must be losing millions upon millions of dollars a year due to some of their lazy warehouse employees that just don't seem to care about the condition of the items we order. If Amazon holds these employees more accountable for the damages with the risk of losing their jobs, you'll see how fast they care about how items are packed.I would love to solicit some comments from others on all of this!UPDATE: Yesterday I received my replacement Wings Over America Deluxe Edition box set and thankfully it was packed correctly--shipped by itself in a shallow box a bit taller than the width of the slipcase of the box set and a bit larger than the footprint of the set lying face-down. The set was shrink wrapped to a piece of corrugated cardboard which was approximately the same footprint of the box preventing any movement during shipping. Although the thin shrinkwrap on the box set itself had broken a bit along the book spine facing edge, the set arrived in seemingly fine condition. It would have been better if the set had been first wrapped in thin bubble wrap (like the original damaged set) and THEN shrink wrapped to the cardboard substrate--environmentally friendly packing peanuts added to the box would essentially ensure an undamaged product. Anyway, simple solution to a simple problem--take heed Amazon in order to save many millions of dollars a year!So after hours on the phone with an Amazon rep who was very helpful I explained all of the issues I am having with damaged books, CD, and music box sets (my RAM Deluxe Edition was also damaged in transit by improper packing), I am having Amazon issue a call tag for two expensive McCartney deluxe edition box sets, a remastered version of George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, and about five or six hardcover books this time around--all needlessly damaged by improper packing by warehouse personnel. Hopefully the replacements items will arrive in perfect condition, but I wouldn't bet on it.It would be nice if someone senior at Amazon were to respond to this review.

First let me admit that live albums aren 't my thing. I don't get the point, really. A "live" album is never really live. And while I'm a fan of McCartney's early and late career solo work, I'm not a huge Wings fan. Still, I invested in this set when Amazon offered it (briefly) for $95. And whatever you think of live music, this deluxe set is stunning. It's not for the casual fan. It's for people who went to one of the 76 shows and want to relive the experience, or it's for devoted McCartney/Beatles fans. The remastered sound puts Paul's incredible voice and bass playing front and center, as it should be. The mix of songs is so eclectic. I especially enjoyed the acoustic section, which reveals what a remarkably diverse performer Paul is (for any doubters who weren't paying attention). Mostly the show just radiates joy and energy and fun.The books in the deluxe set are fantastic. The tour book alone is beautifully designed to feel as if you've assembled it yourself, and carefully saved all of your ticket stubs and backstage passes -- except everything in it is pristine and new. The level of detail that went into planning all of the bits and pieces in the tour book is impressive. A tremendous amount of love and care went into putting this together. The second book is a glossy history of the tour, printed on high quality paper, and excellent photographs. The third book is called "LOOK," which apparently was the name of a photo album that Linda McCartney kept on the plane with all of her photographs and Polaroid's of the tour. That's another example of the wonderful detail that went into this set: You're seeing what she saw. And yes, the Look book is rough -- after all, Polaroid pictures are not know for their pristine clarity. But that's part of the LOOK book's charm. It feels like an old photo album. Finally, the fourth and quirkiest book is a collection of sketches and watercolors done by the noted British artist Humphrey Ocean when he was a young man, invited along on the tour by Paul and Linda (who both loved art). His only job? To sketch the tour. The result is this art book. Again, it's beautifully designed and is something I've never seen in a deluxe set before. It's one of the elements that transforms the deluxe set into something truly unique. I've seen some reviewers disdain the Humphrey Ocean book but I think they just don't appreciate good art. If you're not into all of these bells & whistles, buy the standard edition.I can see why the boxset was so pricey, compared with the others in Paul's Archive Collection. But at the same time, this set was clearly expensive to produce. The tour book has dozens of separate elements (tickets, photos, lyrics sheets, etc., etc). That book alone would retail for $30 at least. The glossy tour history I'd price at $20. The LOOK book at $10. And the Humphrey Ocean book at $25. So that's $100 for the books alone, not including the 3 CDs ($10 a piece) and the DVD (another $10). So that's about $140. The $95 price I paid was a good deal. If you can get the set for that price, I would. Or if you have patience, wait a year and it may come down in the $75 range.What I loved most about this set is the way it provides a look back at the late 70s -- the fashions (bell bottom jeans on men!), the hair (big, curly, weird). It all looks so different from today that the set ends up being an extraordinary historical document of middle America in 1976. The wonder of it all, baby! The Ram Deluxe set was equally fabulous (and I prefer that one purely because Ram is Paul's masterpiece) but this WOA deluxe set gives Ram a run for its money.

absolutely brilliant. incredible document of a fantastic live concert. even better than the original release. the sound and content is fantastic

Great box! So nice to listen to this fantastic live album, one of the best of all ever done, with this good sound. And you get a lot of books and extras with it!

I'm really pleased with the Wings over America, the whole box set is just fantastic.

may be the best live album ever ! Great re-issue with all the extra features !!

After seeing the reviews below I feel nothing more seems to be said about the recordings themselves, I want to concentrate on the box set. The weight of it firstly, I couldn't believe it when handed this by the post man it's extremely heavy for a CD box edition.Inside, this set has been lovingly created, containing tickets, set lists and sets of glossy photo's showing the group during the American tour. The whole set in my eyes is a perfect celebration on Wings when they were at their best, this is not about comparing them to The Beatles, that's impossible, but as a group they came together and made the best of the seventies. Linda's pictures show what a great photographer she really was, she also became a real part of the group after starting from nowhere and becoming quite a good keyboardist and an important part of the writing partnership. It's nice to see some input from Denny Laine, his twin guitars was a memorable part of sets, boy could he play some serious stuff on them huge instruments. As with most groups from this time drugs played their part especially for Jimmy McCulloch, a real talent with the guitar and dying three years later he would have been so proud of this had he lived.I feel McCartney has spent a lot of time bringing this box set together, I think he is very proud of this achievement, making a group work in the aftermath of the Beatles legacy was no easy task, but it worked. You won't find a better celebration of a live tour than this, it's magnificent, well worth the money no matter how much you pay I think you will love it.