Paul McCartney Archive Collection - 'Forthcoming Releases' [TBC]

Here's a new interview published today with Denny Laine:

Denny Laine Saves the World

Does Wings deserve to be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?

DennyLaine: No, because Wings was never a band. I’m sorry, it wasn’t. It was a Paul McCartney project. You have to know that. We were known as Paul McCartney & Wings, but we weren’t actually a band. We weren’t like the Moody Blues, all equal members. It was Paul’s band. That’s the end of it. Although I stuck around for all those years, it wasn’t a group. In the public eye it was, but in business, we weren’t. It was the Paul McCartney project. That’s why he got inducted as an individual artist. Wings is part of his induction, separately to the Beatles, actually.

...

I find it extraordinary that just the two of you made Band on the Run, because it’s such a rich album, and one that’s certainly stood the test of time.

DennyLaine: I know. You have to give some credit to Linda, even though she doesn’t get enough. She gets a lot of negative stuff, but she was part of that Wings vocal sound. Even Michael Jackson said that to Paul: “Hey, I love the harmonies. Who’s doing the harmonies?” And Paul goes, “Me, Denny, and Linda.” That sound we had was because of her voice. She wasn’t experienced, but we got her into it and it did give a sort of sound to the stuff. You can’t mock that.

Interesting read.

 

He did write a strong positive review for Run Devil Run. But otherwise, he was anti-Paul (solo-wise) for the most part.

 

So Wild Life is coming next month?

 

I wish! From your post to Paul's ears ...

 

This doesnt make any sense. Paul's project was to have a band that could materialize his musical vision. A band is an assemble of musicians playing, creating and rehearsing together. It doesnt necessarily equate to democracy.
Denny is being kinda passive-aggresive here. Disqualifying Wings because he basically worked for McCartney is almost the same as saying Jethro Tull was never a band, but an Ian Anderson project. He could have worded his thoughts a bit better, I guess.

 

I read humility in his words. If anything, he seems to be minimizing his own contributions.

 

The other thing I thought was interesting is Denny says he didn't write any part of "The Note You Never Wrote." I always thought that was mostly a Denny song and that Paul just contributed a few lines. The song credit says "Denny Laine." But in this interview, Denny says: "'Time to Hide' is my song, but 'The Note You Never Wrote' is not my song. It’s Paul’s. I just sang it."

Huh.

 

Denny is entitled to his opinion, but I'll go with McCartney because it was his vision, his goal, his idea. So if McCartney says Wings was a band, that's who I'm going to believe. It doesn't have to be a band business wise, James Brown and the Famous Flames/JB's weren't bands business wise, but who in their right mind would say that the Famous Flames or the JBs weren't bands!

 

Well, the problem is he's not minimizing, he's answering to a question that asked if Wings should be in the R'nR Hall of Fame. Maybe he doesnt want the accolade, but putting down a decade of work is strange.

 

When was the songwriting credit for "The Note You Never Wrote" ever attributed to Denny Laime? I thing you may be conflating some things.

 

Those #TBT posts are meaningless in the way of hints to future releases.

 

The songwriting credit on the original LP from 1976 says "McCartney". No "Laine".

The Archive CD though credits "Paul and Linda McCartney".

 

The upcoming Wings Over America reissue - Part 2

 

Linda got writing credits for business reasons

 

Yes...it was a loophole to circumvent the royalties being paid out to Sir Lew Grade.

 

"McCartney" was used to mean Paul AND Linda I believe.

 

Thanks Fivebyfive for the article on Denny Laine shared in Thread!

Interesting take on Denny's work.

 

Fantastic interview. Thanks for the link.

 

His answer was that Wings was already in the Hall of Fame under the Paul McCartney umbrella. There's no need for a separate entry.

 

Probably. I may have just assumed that Denny wrote it because he was the lead vocal.

 

And he would be correct. There are 3450 more worthy Hall of Famers than Wings as a band

 

AC: Must have been a surreal bubble when you, Paul, and Linda ended up in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1973 to record Band on the Run.

DL: That was just because the other two guys didn’t want to go. I know why they didn’t want to go. I was never told. Nobody said anything to me. They just didn’t turn up, so we went anyway because we already got the studio booked. Ginger Baker lived out there. We only worked with him on one track. We worked at the nearby studios and he knew all the people out there. It was kind of nice to have somebody living there that we knew. He introduced us to everyone. It was because of music that we went out there, to get different influences, like African drumming. We went there for that reason and we were influenced by it."

Just a note: I'm pretty sure it should have read "I don't know why they didn't want to go."

 

That number may be a little high, but I agree that there's not a great argument for Wings as Rock Hall inductees.

Whatever the other members contributed, it really was Macca's band, and his solo induction tacitly included the Wings material.

To argue Wings deserves induction would be to argue that Macca's solo career outside of Wings deserved induction in its own right, which is tough to claim. Sure, you've got a few great albums - especially "Ram" - but too much of the McCartney solo legacy is also tied up in Wings...

 

I would like to know what was behind the lyrics. Has to be a story there. Love Denny's vocal...but Jimmy's solo steals the show.