Couple of good eggs on the album, but not one his better albums. Dont Let It Bring You Down & Morse Moose And The Grey Goose are surprisingly good. London Town & With a little Luck are classics, of course.
Same here. Bought the album on the strength of With a Little Luck. Only other song I really liked was Name and Address.
The weakest Macca, for me, would be "Pipes Of Peace", followed by "McCartney II" & "Press To Play". "London Town" is amongst the next weakest- with "Wild Life" & "Wings At The Speed Of Sound". All 6 of those albums have great moments on them. But they are what they are. I love the follow up, "Back To The Egg", in ways that set his better/best works apart from albums like "London Town". There are 3 great songs from the sessions that would have improved things enormously ~"Waterspout" ~"Mull Of Kintyre" ~"Girls School" Add those 3 to these 7 (or 8) & the album rises above being in the "next weakest" group. ~"With A Little Luck" ~"Name & Address" ~"I'm Carrying" ~"Backward Traveller"/"Cuff Link" ~"Don't Let It Bring You Down" ~"I've Had Enough" ~"London Town"
I’ve tried as hard as I could to like this album. It never really clicked and at this stage of the game, it probably never will. London Town does have its highs, the problem is there aren’t very many of them. For the most part, I find London Town to be a little dull and uninspired. While I’m at it, bland and lifeless too. You’d think I dislike the album, I don’t. It’s an album I don’t reach for when I want to hear some post Beatles Paul. Still, to me it’s at the end of middle tier McCartney. I’m actually going to play today to see if it will connect this time. Stranger things have happened.
As mentioned in another thread, London Town recently appeared on a local oldies radio station a few weeks ago on my way to dinner. Totally threw me because this song barely made it to Top 40 radio upon its release here in the US. Still liked the song though, enough to bring a fresh vinyl copy to my piano teacher (I was living in Chicago) who was classically trained. She then went on to compose pop rock music for an original stage play, so, London Town may have been an influence. Whatever the case, Melissa if you’re out there, thank you so much.
When I first heard it several decades ago I couldn't get over how bland it sounded. Unfortunately decades later I still feel the same way. The pillow soft production nearly kills it. One of his weakest albums.
They may have been shot on location but definitely not altogether, as evidenced by the solo photo of Paul. (Unless that one is the edited photo but I don't think so.) There's also things in the original cover that don't add up, like the lighting on their faces. The positioning confuses me the most, it seems impossible for them to be standing where they are. Although I'm not familiar with the actual area they're in, so maybe it is possible. Come to think of it, has anyone tracked down the exact spot the cover photo was taken?
This is what I find most intriguing about the album. At times Paul has definitely tried to remain "hip" as it were, in popular culture, but with this album he sure didn't give a rip! Maybe this was about the time he decided the critics weren't so smart after all.
I had a similar experience with OTG a few years ago. I bought a used cd copy and it was better than the reviews of the day indicated. As for LT. An overall decent listen and I look forward to the reissue/box set..... someday.
Maybe if he included the single,this isn’t the peak of his career,he doesn’t have enough good material to not include singles,and no it’s not better than Venus and Mars
I dunno about that. Wings' prior studio album, Speed of Sound had a smash hit with Silly Love Songs that was Paul doing a nice job of mining the disco playbook - a very current take on what was happening. Soft rock was also happening and With A Little Luck he tapped into that trend, again, with his own touch. The rest of the album is such a hodgepodge of styles that he pretty much covers all the bases. To me, Back to the Egg was the more rocking version of London Town, but still a stylistic mess. I like em both. But the best tracks from the late Wings era are Mull of Kintyre, Girls School, Goodnight Tonight and Daytime Nighttime Suffering and its sad that the singles don't get the same attention as the albums.
The individual photos of Paul, Linda, and Denny used on the cover of the album may have been moved around (physical cut-and-paste). BUT the original location looks like the photos were taken from the front of a boat in the middle of the Thames River (note the railing and ropes of the boat):
They were huge deal by 1977 already ...at least in the major US Cities...Frankie Valli "Swearin' To God" in 1975 was the 1st commercial release, but they were widelyavailable , even earlier , in stores that carried a solid selection of Reggae/Soca music
Brings back some good memories. Believe it or not, the last time I heard this album was in the 80's. I especially liked the first track.
I quit following McCartney after that album . Ten years is usually my limit . I stayed with Dylan a little longer. After infidels I kinda quit. I like certain songs like the things have changed song. (A great song) I liked murder most foul but that's just a musical history lesson from An old man croaking. I liked it .
FWIW, I just happen to be reading an old issue of Creem that has Robert Christgau's review of LT: "You have to admit that Paul has steadfastly resisted the International Pop Music Community. No Richard Perry super sessions for him - he's been loyal to his group, which has now recorded longer than the Beatles, and for me their light, unmistakable, rather capricious lyricism has finally jelled. That is, these songs aren't merely quirky, their silliness isn't aimless. Not that they're free of inanity or icky-poo. But even on the one about the fairy who'll invite us to tea, Linda adds a few harmonies that are as charming as they are supposed to be, and more than half the cuts are not only attractive musically but functional verbally, ranging from "Penny Lane"-style slice-of-life to an affectionate goof on "Famous Groupies" and a reassuring "Girlfriend".
Oh my god it's a boat... that makes so much more sense now. I always thought it was some land next to the river
