POLL: How do you rate Paul McCartney/Wings "London Town" album?

I had this album on loan a while back but didn't like it enough to buy it for myself afterwards. The title track and With a Little Luck were OK but I don't recall liking anything else on the album. So I voted "lower tier McCartney."

 

It's always been one of my favorites and always loved the mellow / folksy sound to it. Like most I agree that Girls School and even Mull would have made it a better album. I remember when the album came out that someone reviewing it (sorry, don't remember who or the magazine) went on and on about how great Girlfriend was. I've never understood the praise and it's never been one of my favorite songs from the album. The song London Town gets a lot of praise too, but it's never really clicked for me. I don't actively dislike it, but for being a title song that opens the album it just doesn't seem to go anywhere. After all of this time I'm still not sure if I like Morse Moose or not - sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.

The rest I really like though. With A Little Luck is great and I especially love the rough vocal on the last verse (we can send it rocketing skywards). Backwards Traveler rocks more than I've Had Enough, imho, and I just like it better. I love Café, Deliver Your Children, Don't Let It Bring You Down, I'm Carrying, and Famous Groupies.

I voted " a pretty solid effort".

 

You listen to it for cuff link?

 

I listen to it for Girls' School, Mull of Kintyre, Name And Address, and yes -- Cuff Link.

I love those instrumental Wings tracks that are thrown in along the way within their catalog--Cuff Link, Zoo Gang, etc. I wish there were a lot more of those over things like With A Little Luck, Girlfriend, etc.

 

Really nice 70s album. I didn't buy it until 2001 unfortunately. I wish I'd have bought it in 1978 so I could have grown up with it. But no, I bought Boney M's Night Flight To Venus and the Grease soundtrack instead!

Don't tell anyone!

Looking forward to the Archive reissue of this. Hopefully coming soon, and before I snuff it!

 

Was Boney M more of a UK thing or was I just out of the loop back then? Until this thread I'd never heard of him/them.

 

They were a UK thing, I think. They were huge here in 1977/8.

 

I love a lot of tracks on this record. "London Town", "I'm Carrying", "Name and Address", "I've Had Enough" and "Deliver Your Children" all stand out for me. I like "Girlfriend", as well, but it's a bit out of place here. I was about 8 years old when "With a Little Luck" came out and I loved the soft synth sounds and that someone was saying "damn" on the radio, so I'm a bit sentimental for that much-derided track.

I love the guitar on "Cafe on the Left Bank," but otherwise, that track often wears on me quickly, as does "Backwards Traveler" (and especially all 2 minutes of "Cuff Link." I find myself going or the "skip" button as soon Denny starts singing "A little tiny waterfall..." in "Children Children." My least favorite track is "Morse Moose and the Grey Goose." I could just picture Lennon rolling his eyes and saying, "Oh, Christ! Here he goes again" if he were to bring that ridiculousness to the Beatles (as he so often did).

Of Macca's solo/Wings work, I reach for this one every once in a while. For my money, I can take the best (IMHO) tracks from London Town and the best ones from Back to the Egg, and make one really enjoyable album. (I often say the same thing of Van Halen's Diver Down and 1984).

 

Is one of my favourites Wing's albums.

By the way, a few years ago, i read somewhere in a magazine or a newspaper (i don't remember...) about a situation that occurred during a press conference related to this album.
Paul was in the conference room, surrounded by reporters, and played some tracks of "London Town"...
After that, one of the journalists asked: Can you put the finished versions?
Paul replied: () "HEYYYY YOUUUUUU!... F**K YOUUUUUU!!!"
Some years later, Paul met with the same journalist (to another conference or something like that..) he called him quietly and told:
"You know, about the "London Town's sound? You were right... It's sh**t." ( )

Well, fellows... Some of you know or can confirm this story?

 

One of his that deserves a Multi Channel mix.
Also, seeing its his birthday today will he be spending it in London Town ?

 

It's a hard album to put on because despite some good stuff, half of it is just OK in my opinion.

Fav tracks:
I'm Carrying
Backwards Traveler/Cuff Link
I've Had Enough
With a Little Luck
Deliver Your Children
Don't Let it Bring You Down
Morse Moose and the Grey Goose

Decent tracks:
London Town
Cafe on the Left Bank
Famous Groupies
Name and Address
Children Children

Meh:
Girlfriend (Not awful, but I hate Paul's falsetto voice here. I prefer MJ's version)

 

I've been listening to this lately and like it quite a bit more than the two Wings studio albums that preceded them. It is interesting that while punk was breaking in the UK, Paul chose a softer sound, more acoustic guitars etc..
I also think the album fits a mood---a cloudy, overcast, misty British day always comes to mind when I'm listening to it.

 

Wouldn't mind a expanded London Town.

 

Voted "pretty solid", but I find it needs some serious editing. It's too long; it probably would have sounded better too with a shorter duration.

 

My CD copy has the Mull oF Kintyre/Girlschool single, but I'm sure there are some great demos & outtakes.

 

Best Wings album for me and top five McCartney favorites.

 

Amazing how people can think Flowers in the Dirt or New are better than Wild Life

 

I like the record a lot but I acknowledge it's probably not everybody's cup of tea.

Not many catchy songs in it but it definitely grows on you on repeated listens.

 

Lower-tier McCartney - only a couple songs worth revisiting

Morse Moose is jackass.

 

Well, at least you are consistent.
This is pretty much the same thing you said on the first page of this thread.

But make up your mind about "Morse Moose", will ya?

 

Wild Life is in a class all its' own; it can't be compared to any post-Beatle McCartney album let alone FITD and NEW.

 

'Throwaway tune' and 'filler' are terms that need to be re-assessed. I'd argue that an album needs some laid back, less attention-grabbing tracks to vary the mood: classic examples I can think of are Bummer In The Summer on Forever Changes and Meet Me In The Morning on Blood On The Tracks.

The Beatles were also very skilled at this sort of thing: the lesser tracks on their albums all do their bit!

 

Boo! Morse Moose rocks!!

 

Maybe "jackass" is meant in a complimentary way, like "man, that Michael Jordan is so phony!"

 

Meh, though I like a couple tracks like the title track, Cafe, and With a Little Luck.