Steve Holley tells a story about a gig on Wings’ final (britain only) tour. Holley felt it had gone well and when he saw Macca backstage afterwards, he commented on what a ‘great gig’ it had been. ‘No, it was ****e’, said Macca. The inference is that by this time the boss was bored, either of Wings or of touring, or of both, and he wanted to try something new. The ‘bust’ may have provided him with the opportunity to do that, although I believe Wings were still making attempts at working together at the time of Lennon’s murder and their formal dissolution didn’t come until 1982, around the time of Tug Of War (though I stand to be corrected on that point).
I read here somewhere that it was around Tug Of War, and it was supposed to be a Wings album, but things happened.... I can't remember what though. I understand McCartney wanting to do something else. It always seemed Paul and Denny got on well, and it also seemed like Wings was pretty much just Paul,Linda and Denny for the longest time.... but I have no expertise in any of that. Merely what I saw as a music listener.
I talked to Steve Holly at a Beatles convention he had some good stories about "Rockestra" sessions back to the egg.
Seiwell was a session guy (one of the New York players on Ram). If I recall right he said some guitarists he knew from that scene turned down Wings, and then when Seiwell mentioned keyboardists he knew, he was surprised when Paul wanted to have Linda in the band instead. Come to think of it I'm not sure if anyone from Wings was unknown before joining (maybe Joe English).
There were six in all - most with sloppy vocals and cheesy production. Good Day Sunshine and The Long and Winding Road are especially bad. Eleanor's Dream is interesting, imo. None of the Wings tracks improves on the original. Ballroom Dancing is a little better. Not Such a Bad Boy isn't bad. No More Lonely Nights was good. I liked it all back then. It hasn't aged well. Most of his 70s stuff (that was not viewed favorably in the 80s) has aged well.
Denny Seiwell stands out to me as the best musician in Wings, followed by Laurence Juber. They were great players who surely could have held their own with most of the pros Paul worked with in the eighties, maybe aside from Steve Gadd. And its hard to imagine faulting Denny Laine. He was the perfect all-around utility guy, if not a great musician. He could play any instrument and he seemed to take direction well, which Paul probably preferred.
Joe English was ok, nothing special. JM was a competent guitar player, and did add some good guitar solos to McCartney’s songs, but on the whole, he’s a mediocre guitar plater. As for LJ, he may be technically a decent guitar player, but did nothing whatsoever for McCartney’s music — no personality, nothing that stands out. Much like Denny Lane who is merely competent.
A "mediocre" guitar player doesn't play on a number one single at age 16 and get praised for his guitar abilities at that time by Pete Townshend. A "mediocre" guitar player doesn't get to play lead guitar for John Mayall, following in the footsteps of Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor. A "mediocre" guitar player doesn't get complimented by Rod Stewart and how knocked out Rod was when Jimmy jammed with Ronnie Wood and the rest of the Faces backstage at a gig in 1973. A "mediocre" guitar player doesn't get to be lead guitarist in an ex-Beatle's band at the age of 20.
I must agree 100 %. I caught Wings Over Boston in 76. Jimmy was unbelievably great. I don’t think his studio work with Wings is a fair sample, but WOA provides a good idea of Jimmy’s greatness. As The Man himself once said, “You shoulda been there.”
I used to think that, but I haven't listened to any of the albums in a long time now. Maybe I'll have a different opinion these days. I do remember that some of the earlier solo albums were quite quirky and fun.
Every guitar player that played with McCartney after the Beatles was mediocre. I find theses fanboy replies to be childish . . . in the absence of any actual argument based on JM’s compositions or guitar playing, you produce a series of anecdotes that mean nothing. Pete Townsend produced Thunderclap Newman, but there is no great guitar playing on any of the TN recordings. That Something In The Air was is a hit, is totally irrelevant. Using your logic, the musicians who played on Milli Vanilli’s Girl You Know It’s True must be great musicians. JM was a competent guitar player, and he occasionally produced some refreshing flash, but the praise he got was predicated more on his age, than his actual guitar playing.
Go back and read through the thread; then maybe add something to the discussion, other than a quip you’d hear among 7 year olds at recess.
Ballroom Dancing is like a million times better .I never listen to the original (or most of Tug of War for that matter). Yesterday is great with the WoA arrangement, he should have changed them all more drastically. Silly Love Songs works great being both more funky and more rocky. All his criticism of Spector became rather silly after putting out this yacht rock version. So Bad is just as bad as the virtually similar original version, why put it on there if you don't antything with it. All that being said, I really enjoy listening to the album all the way through. Goodnight Princess is one of my favorite Paul songs.
You need to define what you mean by mediocre. Unless you’re one of those people who hold that ‘all’ rock musicians are mediocre by definition. But your blanket dismissal falls at the first hurdle because Laurence Juber, who works across several genres of music, doesn’t fit d run the most eccentric definition of ‘mediocre’ - apart from yours, perhaps.
I’m sure that if it was Paul’s only big success and the Beatles had never happened he would be happy with how things had turned out and would be willing to go more in depth about things. But with the constant lineup changes and the fact that a lot of the music was essentially just throw-away material (probably due to all the pot that he smoked) he would probably just as well forget about it. And anytime he does talk about the band it is always in regards to Linda or it is the same rehearsed lines over and over. I really wish that he would do a real good autobiography and go into depth on all stages of his career. No sense holding thing back or holding grudges when you are at his age. At least tell the story warts and all while there are people that still actually care about such things are still around to read it.
I wish that too. On Paul Mccartney Many Miles From Now, he "spend" an entire chapter talking about Yesterday. And One Chapter about his almost 10 years about Wings, no sence for me.
I don't consider that a fact. Additionally, I've said it before: I might enjoy Paul & Denny harmonizing more than Paul & John.
In terms of how well loved and respected Yesterday is in comparison to Wings, that allocation was probably about right
