"Back to the Egg" received unfavourable reviews from the majority of critics, with "Rolling Stone" magazine deriding it as "the sorriest grab bag of dreck in recent memory". With the new line-up – Wings' sixth since its formation in 1971 – McCartney intended to record a raw rock and roll album and return to touring, for the band's first concerts since their successful Wings Over the World tour of 1975–76. In addition, McCartney hoped to realise his longstanding plan of making a film adaptation of the Rupert the Bear cartoon series, for which he owned the commercial rights, and commissioned English playwright Willy Russell to write a feature film starring Wings.