Denny's influence on London Town

[Wordno]

I listened to the demo and it in fact....sounds like a demo lol. I thought it was pretty cool though to hear it being developed. Paul at the end doesn't use that screaming/straining voice that he uses in the album version. He sings more with a deeper voice that you can hardly recognize.

[JimmyMcCullochFan]

I found this interesting. I wonder what songs Wings would have done on the '77 tour?

After the commercial zenith of 1976 with Wings at the Speed of Sound and its euphorically-received Wings Over the World tour, leader Paul McCartney planned on making 1977 a similar year. Unfortunately, things did not quite work out as planned...

In February 1977, sessions began at Abbey Road Studios and continued until the end of March. McCartney's initial plan of touring the US again was thwarted by wife Linda's discovery that she was pregnant with the couple's third child

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Town_%28album%29

[JimmyMcCullochFan]

I listened to the demo and it in fact....sounds like a demo lol. I thought it was pretty cool though to hear it being developed. Paul at the end doesn't use that screaming/straining voice that he uses in the album version. He sings more with a deeper voice that you can hardly recognize.

yeah it is really cool.

[Wordno]

Makes me wonder too what they would have played. I'm guessing they would have taken some songs out of the Wings over America setlist and added some songs from "London Town'' lp. I think they would have used from 'London town' Definately the song 'London Town', 'Cafe on teh left bank', 'Name and Address', 'Deliver your children' and 'With a little luck'. I think the would have saved a section of the concert to promote the 'London Town' lp(Like they did with At The Speed Of Sound in Rockshow). A 1977 tour with Jimmy McCulloch and Joe English would have been way better than the 1979 tour with Laurence Juber and Steve Holly. I've seen a show from 1979 and its very very weak compared to 1976.

[JimmyMcCullochFan]

yeah the tour in 1979 was very weak compared to the 1976 tour...part of that is the setlist that was chosen for the '79 tour. I think Paul was getting fed up with the yet another new lineup and by the time the 79 tour came around, he just didn't care anymore.


1976 setlist

   1. "Venus And Mars"/"Rock Show"
   2. "Jet"
   3. "Let Me Roll It"
   4. "Spirits of Ancient Egypt"
   5. "Medicine Jar"
   6. "Maybe I'm Amazed"
   7. "Call Me Back Again"
   8. "Lady Madonna"
   9. "The Long and Winding Road"
  10. "Live and Let Die"
  11. "Picasso's Last Words"
  12. "Richard Cory"
  13. "Bluebird"
  14. "I've Just Seen a Face"
  15. "Blackbird"
  16. "Yesterday"
  17. "You Gave Me the Answer"
  18. "Magneto and Titanium Man"
  19. "Go Now"
  20. "My Love"
  21. "Listen to What the Man Said"
  22. "Let 'em In"
  23. "Time to Hide"
  24. "Silly Love Songs"
  25. "Letting Go"
  26. "Band on the Run"
  27. "Hi, Hi, Hi"
  28. "Soily"


1979 setlist

   1. "Got to Get You into My Life"
   2. "Getting Closer"
   3. "Every Night"
   4. "Again and Again and Again"
   5. "I've Had Enough"
   6. "No Words"
   7. "Cook of the House"
   8. "Old Siam, Sir"
   9. "Maybe I'm Amazed"
  10. "The Fool on the Hill"
  11. "Let It Be"
  12. "Hot As Sun"
  13. "Spin It On"
  14. "Twenty Flight Rock"
  15. "Go Now"
  16. "Arrow Through Me"
  17. "Wonderful Christmastime"
  18. "Coming Up"
  19. "Goodnight Tonight"
  20. "Yesterday"
  21. "Mull of Kintyre"
  22. "Band on the Run"




Here's a sad but ironic quote from Jimmy about the future of Wings in late 1976.


"Wings are settled for years," Jimmy McCulloch proclaimed in late 1976. "It would be a shame if anything happened. I can't see anything cracking Wings in the foreseeable future."

[Wordno]

yeah the tour in 1979 was very weak compared to the 1976 tour...part of that is the setlist that was chosen for the '79 tour. I think Paul was getting fed up with the yet another new lineup and by the time the 79 tour came around, he just didn't care anymore.




1979 setlist

   1. "Got to Get You into My Life"
   2. "Getting Closer"
   3. "Every Night"
   4. "Again and Again and Again"
   5. "I've Had Enough"
   6. "No Words"
   7. "Cook of the House"
   8. "Old Siam, Sir"
   9. "Maybe I'm Amazed"
  10. "The Fool on the Hill"
  11. "Let It Be"
  12. "Hot As Sun"
  13. "Spin It On"
  14. "Twenty Flight Rock"
  15. "Go Now"
  16. "Arrow Through Me"
  17. "Wonderful Christmastime"
  18. "Coming Up"
  19. "Goodnight Tonight"
  20. "Yesterday"
  21. "Mull of Kintyre"
  22. "Band on the Run"




Here's a sad but ironic quote from Jimmy about the future of Wings in late 1976.


"Wings are settled for years," Jimmy McCulloch proclaimed in late 1976. "It would be a shame if anything happened. I can't see anything cracking Wings in the foreseeable future."

Oh yuck, that is a very weak setlist. Wings were pretty much done rocking after Jimmy and Joe left. I guess all of the Wings members were putting on a smile for the cameras but behind the scenes it must have been tense. I heard that The London Town sessions on the yacht didn't go so well between Paul and Jimmy. I guess the direction musically where Paul was going just wasn't what Jimmy wanted to play. I suppose when Steve Marriot proposed to start a new band with Jimmy it sounded like what he wanted to do.

[JimmyMcCullochFan]

who knows...Jimmy only stayed with the reformed Small Faces for a month. Paul knew it wasn't going to last and what do you know? He was right. I also think another reason Jimmy left Wings is because of Linda's pregnancy. The thing that Jimmy liked best was to be out on the road, touring, giving back to the fans and when Linda became pregnant well...there went the '77 tour. I wouldn't be surprised if Jimmy was a little ticked off about that. Also about the way he was treated like a sideman by Paul. The following is from the book "Band on the Run: A history of Paul McCartney and Wings"


Shortly after, McCulloch left Wings to join the reformed Small Faces. He publicly said that he was disappointed Wings hadn't evolved into a total band. "I'm sure (Paul) knows, and everyone knows that it can never be. As a touring band, it'll never be like other bands where you see the other members when you're not working. With Wings, it's get the work done and get home."

"I left amicably," McCulloch later said. "I don't think anybody was too upset about the parting. We had some very good times together. Though Linda doesn't know much about music, she's really a nice chick. And I certainly learned a lot over the past two years."

When Paul was asked about Jimmy McCulloch's exit, he replied, "It was just one of those things. When you think about it, it's really difficult to set up someting like a stable gruop, because in my position you get all sort of weird little problems that you can't do much about. Say I decided to do it one way and a guitar player wants to do it another way. It becomes very difficult then, unless he comes up to me and tells me, "Look , I wanna do it this way."

"What was happening was that tension was just building up a bit and we didn't really feel like we (were) quite fitting. It was just getting to the point where we were either gonna do another album that was going to be hard to do and keep on arguing, or else we were just gonna decide that we don't need all that stuff and get on with the music. That's exactly what happened. Jimmy decided to leave...luckily he'd done all the required stuff on the album that we wanted him to do, so it worked out quite well for us."



here's what Paul said about Jimmy's exit in the Wingspan book.

Jimmy stayed (with Wings) for awhile but then I was rung up one morning by Steve Marriot, who used to be in the Small Faces and Humble Pie. A good singer, and he'd been a friend of mine. And he just said, "Oh hi, mate. Er, me and Jimmy have been up all night and he's decided he wants to leave your group and join mine. I was a little bit put out but, well - what can you say to that? So I just said, "Hey good luck to you guys, I hope it works out," knowing in my mind that it wouldn't that they'd been all night and had a great time but that this was not going to be a lasting thing.

Jim came on the phone and I said, "Look, thanks a lot. See you around." It didn't last...and, actually, Jimmy didn't last much longer himself. He died soon afterwards, of an overdose I think. He was always a little dangerous. As an older guy I did try and warn him a few times, like "What's going to happen when you're thirty? You've got your whole life ahead of you." But he liked partying too much and was getting into too many things. In the end, he was just too dangerous for his own good.

[JimmyMcCullochFan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB-SQHal7kM

^^ Paul talks about London Town and his version of why Jimmy left Wings. Some nice rare footage of the band playing on the boats.

[Wordno]

[/i]


here's what Paul said about Jimmy's exit in the Wingspan book.

Jimmy stayed (with Wings) for awhile but then I was rung up one morning by Steve Marriot, who used to be in the Small Faces and Humble Pie. A good singer, and he'd been a friend of mine. And he just said, "Oh hi, mate. Er, me and Jimmy have been up all night and he's decided he wants to leave your group and join mine. I was a little bit put out but, well - what can you say to that? So I just said, "Hey good luck to you guys, I hope it works out," knowing in my mind that it wouldn't that they'd been all night and had a great time but that this was not going to be a lasting thing.

Jim came on the phone and I said, "Look, thanks a lot. See you around." It didn't last...and, actually, Jimmy didn't last much longer himself. He died soon afterwards, of an overdose I think. He was always a little dangerous. As an older guy I did try and warn him a few times, like "What's going to happen when you're thirty? You've got your whole life ahead of you." But he liked partying too much and was getting into too many things. In the end, he was just too dangerous for his own good.

I wonder if thats really how it happened or if Paul was just putting a sugarcoat for an ugly ending. I heard from a few places that Paul told Steve Marriot when Jimmy left "You can have him". It couldn't have been a pretty picture because at the time their was a lot of tension between Paul and Jimmy.

[tkitna]

yeah the tour in 1979 was very weak compared to the 1976 tour...part of that is the setlist that was chosen for the '79 tour. I think Paul was getting fed up with the yet another new lineup and by the time the 79 tour came around, he just didn't care anymore.


1976 setlist

   1. "Venus And Mars"/"Rock Show"
   2. "Jet"
   3. "Let Me Roll It"
   4. "Spirits of Ancient Egypt"
   5. "Medicine Jar"
   6. "Maybe I'm Amazed"
   7. "Call Me Back Again"
   8. "Lady Madonna"
   9. "The Long and Winding Road"
  10. "Live and Let Die"
  11. "Picasso's Last Words"
  12. "Richard Cory"
  13. "Bluebird"
  14. "I've Just Seen a Face"
  15. "Blackbird"
  16. "Yesterday"
  17. "You Gave Me the Answer"
  18. "Magneto and Titanium Man"
  19. "Go Now"
  20. "My Love"
  21. "Listen to What the Man Said"
  22. "Let 'em In"
  23. "Time to Hide"
  24. "Silly Love Songs"
  25. "Letting Go"
  26. "Band on the Run"
  27. "Hi, Hi, Hi"
  28. "Soily"


1979 setlist

   1. "Got to Get You into My Life"
   2. "Getting Closer"
   3. "Every Night"
   4. "Again and Again and Again"
   5. "I've Had Enough"
   6. "No Words"
   7. "Cook of the House"
   8. "Old Siam, Sir"
   9. "Maybe I'm Amazed"
  10. "The Fool on the Hill"
  11. "Let It Be"
  12. "Hot As Sun"
  13. "Spin It On"
  14. "Twenty Flight Rock"
  15. "Go Now"
  16. "Arrow Through Me"
  17. "Wonderful Christmastime"
  18. "Coming Up"
  19. "Goodnight Tonight"
  20. "Yesterday"
  21. "Mull of Kintyre"
  22. "Band on the Run"




Here's a sad but ironic quote from Jimmy about the future of Wings in late 1976.


"Wings are settled for years," Jimmy McCulloch proclaimed in late 1976. "It would be a shame if anything happened. I can't see anything cracking Wings in the foreseeable future."

I'd actually rather hear the 79' setlist.

[Andy Smith]

It couldn't have been a pretty picture because at the time their was a lot of tension between Paul and Jimmy.

Wll, as paul said in Wingspan, 'he just liked partying too much' & it seemed macca
coundn't get him to get some proper recording done.

[JimmyMcCullochFan]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=aaapN3xkZ08

^^very rare and interesting video from Feb 1977..Paul and Linda talking about the recording of the London Town album

[Wordno]

Hehe I found that a few hours ago and was going to post it, beat me to the punch lol. It was a cool interview.

[JimmyMcCullochFan]

using this shirt idea





I designed a shirt that I'm going to make =] (I added pictures on the back too) let me know what you guys think!

http://img463.imageshack.us/img463/2590/frontmn6.jpg

there's the front...nevermind that zazzle stuff


here's the back

http://img463.imageshack.us/img463/7467/backse5.jpg

[The End]

I have been listening to London Town a lot the last couple of days (thanks mostly to this thread!) especially Don't Let It Bring You Down which I had totally fogotten about and absolutely love! I remember cycling into town in the rain to buy this LP when it was released I think I must have been about 12!

Anyway - getting to the point - someone posted some out-takes shots of the front and back sleeves on another thread a few weeks ago, any idea where they are?