Is Denny Laine really on Wings Wild Life album ?

"Bip Bop" got quite some airplay on the radio in some European countries at the time, and for several years, it was the only "Wild Life" song that I had ever heard.

 

You can't be serious????
Great???
Dumb "lyrics", boring and repetitive music, and terrible vocals (why did Paul choose to "sing" in such an annoying manner.
Now I can actually accept someone saying they like "Bip Bop" (though I think that is strange), but to use the word "great" for such a trifling piece of fluff is something I cannot let pass.

 

I agree; even if you don't include the songs that he had available but went on to use elsewhere on other Wings albums, he was still left with unused songs like A Love For You, When The Wind Is Blowing, Sunshine Sometime, 4th Of July, Rode All Night and Hey Diddle. I also feel that 'I Lie Around' and 'Little Woman Love' were too strong to be B-sides and that they would also have fitted on the album.

Had those songs been recorded with the same quality production as the Wild Life songs, they would have made the album even greater IMO, almost a Ram-part two, and the instrumentals would have added a 'McCartney album' feel to WL.

Something like this:

Mumbo
Hey Diddle
Bip Bop
A Love For You
Sunshine Sometime
4th Of July
Wild Life

Tomorrow
Some People Never Know
Little Woman Love
I Lie Around
Rode All Night
Dear Friend
When The Wind Is Blowing

 

Both Denny Seiwell and Hugh McCracken were invited to join Wings. I wasn't aware of McCracken's offer to join until fairly recently, myself. What's funny is that McCracken rehearsed with the band in Scotland before declining the offer due to his being an American and not wanting to miss being with family in the U.S., which was one of the very same reasons Seiwell ultimately left the band two short years later.

 

It *is* a great track but I wouldn't "shame" anyone for not getting into it ... I mean, c'mon now.

 

Wow, what's this thread coming to?

 

Any idea on how / when they (McCartney & Laine) knew each other prior to this? I've always been curious how their partnership came about.

 

Got my hands on the 1972 European tour program.

Here is what is said:
Some three days before Denny (SEIWELL), Paul and Linda were due to go into EMI's Abbey Road Studios with the new songs [which were rehearsed previously at Paul's Scotland farm without Laine], Paul rang old friend Denny Laine...

So if the tour program is accurate, Denny only joined the band a handful of days before the start of the Wild Life sessions.

 

Paul knew Denny from his days with The Moody Blues ("Go Now," etc.). Apparently they were friendly and McCartney remembered liking him when he was thinking of forming a group in 1971.

 

Interesting - we have various photos taken in Scotland of the embryonic McCartney/McCartney/Laine/Seiwell Wings lineup, which I'd always presumed were shot June/July 1971; i.e. BEFORE the album sessions.

If McCracken was at the farm in June/July and NOT Laine, then this begs a couple of questions,

1) Are there no known photos of Hugh with the band, before he left?
2) Just when were those shots of the Laine lineup taken, if not before 24th July 1971?

 

Wasn't Paul also impressed with Laine's support show on the same night that he saw Hendrix cover Sgt.Pepper just after it was released?

 

Or possibly...Laine missed the first session (24 July), but joined before the bulk of recording?

Does anyone have the recording dates after 24th July? Was there a brief gap after the first session(s)?

 

I don't have any exact dates for any of the Wild Life sessions. Only vague ones.

 

Dumb "lyrics", boring and repetitive music, and terrible vocals .....a trifling piece of fluff.......
Before long he was releasing entire albums which would fit those descriptions (IMO).

 

Although he didn't go into detail, when I spoke with Denny about a month ago he mentioned several times his first meeting with John and Paul, which was the night they saw Hendrix play Sgt. Pepper. To this day he seems really proud of that meeting. Here's a (rather bad) iPhone shot from the evening we sat down and chatted.

http://s65.photobucket.com/user/ricardocosinaro/media/IMG_1100_1.jpg.html

 

Quick Question. A while back i stumbled upon a preview of a new Denny Laine album...and it sounded like the best music he had recorded since Wings heyday and it did not seem to be a DIY project...... Did Denny mention the new album to you by chance?

 

Neither have I (yet). But the Wikipedia entry *implies* that most of the album was taped on August 2nd.

 

Paul might have been telling a little bit of a fib when he said that Wild Life was recorded in 1 week, in an attempt to be like Dylan. Paul made it sound like they started on a Monday and then recorded for the next 6 days and that was it. I'm not sure it all happened that way. Of course, it might have, but there is little evidence to support either way. Only hearsay for the most part. The 1-week scenario also fails to account for "Dear Friend" from the Ram sessions. I'd love to get a full accounting of the Wild Life sessions. Maybe when the ARCHIVE set comes out (please be 2016), we'll finally be privy to the exact dates and recordings done then.

 

I just found a quote from Paul (in the Wingspan book, which came out when the Wingspan CD came out) in which he says Wild Life was recorded "in TWO weeks". So maybe Wings did indeed do 14-days worth of sessions over the course of say a month or so. That seems to be more likely (at least in my opinion).

 

No, there was no indication he's working on new material and he didn't sing anything 'new'.

 

Sorry, wasn't trying to start something. Just remembered the out of tune playing of HM during Hi Hi Hi on the Paul McCartney Special and his solo on MIA from either the 72 or 73 tour. Can't remember which at the moment. Though, there was one little lick on some other song (cannot remember which at the moment) on the same that sounded nice. Let's face it, he was a bit of a drinker and it didn't exactly contribute to wonderful playing.

 

Bip Bop is the single worst thing McCartney ever released. All You Horse Riders is like Pet Sounds in comparison.

 

Could be, though I'm more inclined to think that a handful of sessions happened over a two week period (possibly July 24th to early August?)

However...I find it somewhat odd that for such a 'spontaneous' album, mixes were apparently still being prepared as late as late-October! So even if the basic takes were recorded quickly, possibly overdubs were applied in the interim.

 

Wow, it must have been great getting to meet him. Did you interview him or was it more casual?

 

Maybe ... I didn't know about that, however. Do tell more.