Sunday, June 1, 2014

Underrated Classic: Wings - 'London Town'

It is known that after The Beatles ended, Paul McCartney took-off even further into his musical popularity thanks to his band Wings. While Wings will always get a few eye rolls and chuckles and will never be as important as The Beatles were, for what they were worth, they did release some great albums and singles. In 1978, they released one of their best, London Town. The record, which took longer than expected to arrive due to the departure of two band members, the birth of Linda and Paul's son, James. The record saw Wings as a trio for the first time in five years and after all of the delays and hiccups that went into making London Town, it became a slight success but over time, it has faded in popularity and pushed under the rug. Sessions for the album began in the Virgin Islands, ironic considering the album's title, and eventually finished in England. The record had a few pop hits like "Girlfriend," and "With A Little Luck," but also a darker and moody album for a band that started crafting it in a tropical climate. Thanks to songs like "I've Had Enough," "I'm Carrying," and "Don't Let It Bring You Down," the record felt like a cathartic expression for Paul and Linda. London Town was the record that saw the end massive commercial success of Wings for quite a while and thanks to the arrival of punk, the record only pushed a million copies, which in those days was sub-par, even for a former Beatle. After the release of the record, the band split from Capitol Records, which was Paul's home since his start with The Beatles and was eventually reissued in 1993 but nothing has been done since. While Wings, again, will always be looked on as Macca's other band, London Town is still worth a listen.