Of course he does! McCartney's incredible. Staggeringly gifted and unique. Who is like him really? I say lots of snotty things about him but I can gush over him as much as anyone.
Tbf it must have hurt to have Denny Laine make those claims about them after almost 10 years on a band together. Denny even lived in one of their houses close to their family home in Scotland for a while and would spend a lot of time with their family (if Philip Normans book is to be believed). I wouldn’t have too many kind words to say if I were Linda at that moment in time. I believe that things have mellowed though and I remember Paul saying he wrote Mull of Kintyre “with my friend Denny Laine” whilst doing press for Pure McCartney a few years ago.
It’s analogous to when Buck Owens let members of the Buckaroos sing an occasional lead vocal on his albums.
I finding it never to assume on these forums it gets me into trouble usually. Ha ha I got the Mardi gras reference.
The tour was never billed as "Wings", so I'm not sure why you expected so much from that era. As for the huge amount of Beatle songs, that tour was the first time that many of them were ever performed live. Most people were ecstatic.
As I recall, the tour in support of "Flowers in the Dirt" received a lot of promotion as being the first time that McCartney relied heavily on the Beatles' catalogue for the setlist. The "My Brave Face" video even featured references to the Hofner bass and the Sgt. Pepper's costumes IIRC.
because until then a Paul show covering a lot of Beatles was still taboo so bought into it and was happy with material like the '76 and '79 shows. I'm in the minority.
Never had the right opportunity to see him but that's not what I want to say here now. What I do want to say though is this: The funniest thing I ever read on this forum was a post from someone who said he knew somebody who refused to go see McCartney just in case the Paul-is-dead rumour was true and he'd be paying to see an impostor.
I sense a lot of revisionism in those Linda McCartney comments. In 1971, he could’ve worked with anyone he chose; but forming a supergroup would not have been his style (he wasn’t planning a divergence into Progressive Rock) and the idea was to begin the solo career quietly and in as low-key a way as possible. Hence, the recruitment of good but relatively unknown and untried musicians, for whom this was a big opportunity. Being Macca, he probably also had an eye on how the band would be financed (he wasn’t as cash-rich as many believed at this point, with so much Beatle money being tied up with Klein). Even had he wanted to work with highly-skilled sessioneers, it’s always been a tough call to prise those people away from their well-paid, sedentary lifestyles. I’d say the final version of Wings was the best - Steve Holley was/is a great drummer and Laurence Juber is the still the finest musician McCartney has ever been in a band with.
Money was indeed an issue in the first few years - as the original members like Henry McCullough and Denny Siewell were employed on handshakes, not contracts, and the salary was meager. By the time Holley and Juber joined, money was not an issue, and I recall Juber saying he was paid a bit better than as a standard studio session musician, but not a lot of money. Speaking of LJ, I had an opportunity to meet him after a solo show he performed 2 - 3 years ago. While getting ready for a selfie / autograph, I asked him if Paul would ever play live again with the living former members of Wings and he said, "Never. Paul is now very proprietary about the Wings name." There was a certainty in his tone and look that told me that maybe the topic had been broached at one time and rebuffed. At least Juber, Laine, Holley and Siewell have played together in the last decade or so. That's as good as it will probably get.
I'm not going to get into he said, she said, but the way Wings came to an end was sort of weird and abrupt. It wouldn't be surprising to find out that some folks were annoyed, or upset. They're all just people,and people are weird quirky creatures
Wings were not a real band, and the musicians that comprised all versions of Wings were mediocre at best. I realize there are McCartney fans who break into tears when hearing this, but Wings as a band, were a joke. And I say this as a McCartney fan.
Okay, I'll take the bait. I wouldn't say Joe English was "mediocre at best". Jimmy McCulloch was a damn fine guitarist, and Laurence Juber is maybe the most all-around talented guitarist that McCartney ever played with.
The Playboy interview is from 1984. That was the year that Paul was sort of on a down. His movie was not very successful and was panned pretty hard. The years prior to that there was a lot of bad blood between Paul and Denny. The pot bust really screwed up a major pay day for Denny and the rest of Wings. And pretty much everything unraveled from there up to Denny being dismissed from the George Martin sessions and the band quietly ending. Apparently Denny (or perhaps his wife) had loose lips with the press to sell some dirt and it was pretty ugly. So there was certainly some defensiveness on the part of the McCartney's at this time. One also has to wonder if there was maybe some sort of subconscious (or even intentional) reason for casting the character Harry... the person who by his own unthinking blundering... lost the tapes... was a Denny surrogate as the actor looks a bit like him. Nevertheless... prior to the end of Wings, Paul and Linda spoke highly of the group. Paul saying he only wanted to be in a band. And certainly the work that Paul did with not only Wings, but also with Linda solo, Denny solo and even his own brother with Wings as a backing group spoke to what he thought of it. During 1978 interviews Paul had even talked about doing an acoustic show with just him and Denny. And certainly since the Wingspan project... which was maybe a little less about the group Wings as it was the young marrieds... he has spoken pretty highly of the group or at least not disparagingly.
quoting macca....the price of wings are rising faster than inflation!!....why is there a shortage of wings?
Just to put it in context. That constant revolving door of Wings members had just recently closed by 84. Two Wings Members left Macca high and dry before Band on the Run in 73. The new drummer quit after Nashville in 74. The two replacement members quit during Water Wings/London Town recording sessions in 77/78. Then the drug bust in 1980 Then the other founding member of Wings publicly turned on Macca. Sure, that’s not on the level of the Beatles breakup, but it must have been a real pain in the neck for Macca, as he was dealing with Wings upheaval at the same time he was dealing with Beatles breakup legal issues. I can understand Linda’s frustration at the time of the interview quoted upthread. BTW, I quite like Wings output, the good and the bad. A good little band, as Macca might say.
