Paul McCartney's Wings debut "Wild Life," panned at the time, shimmers at 50 with a powerful reissue

Originally released in December 1971, Paul McCartney and Wings' "Wild Life" is a hidden gem of an album. RELATED: How Paul McCartney proved Wings haters wrong with "Band on the Run" And "Wild Life" — not to mention Wings themselves — is well-deserving of this level of attention. As the album's penultimate track, "Dear Friend" is a veritable showstopper, a heartbreaking olive branch directed at John Lennon, McCartney's estranged songwriting partner. With an orchestral arrangement from Richard Hewson, "Dear Friend" takes on a sense of dramatic power that exists well outside of "Wild Life"'s other, at times less potent contents.