London Town - the most underrated Macca album
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JoeySmith wrote:
This album still doesnt get the credit it deserves. Very innovative & diverse. Some of Paul's best ballads on this album (I'm Carrying, Dont let it Bring you Down). Great pop songs (With a Little Luck, London Town, Cafe). If you include the singles Paul recorded in these sessions (Mull of Kintyre - still the biggest British single (non-charity) of all-time & Girl's School), its even better. Not flawless - I've Had Enough is a bit generic. its got a very European/folk feel to it, which adds to the charm.
Totally agree
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JoeySmith wrote:
This album still doesnt get the credit it deserves. Very innovative & diverse. Some of Paul's best ballads on this album (I'm Carrying, Dont let it Bring you Down). Great pop songs (With a Little Luck, London Town, Cafe). If you include the singles Paul recorded in these sessions (Mull of Kintyre - still the biggest British single (non-charity) of all-time & Girl's School), its even better. Not flawless - I've Had Enough is a bit generic. its got a very European/folk feel to it, which adds to the charm.
Very mediocre album to me and think the critical analysis of it at the time was fair. "With A Little Luck" has not aged well IMO. "Famous Groupies" is just plain awful. "Name and Address"is basically McCartney doing his Elvis impersonation. "Girlfriend" just makes me cringe. The title song is one of the few I actually enjoy.
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
JoeySmith wrote:
This album still doesnt get the credit it deserves. Very innovative & diverse. Some of Paul's best ballads on this album (I'm Carrying, Dont let it Bring you Down). Great pop songs (With a Little Luck, London Town, Cafe). If you include the singles Paul recorded in these sessions (Mull of Kintyre - still the biggest British single (non-charity) of all-time & Girl's School), its even better. Not flawless - I've Had Enough is a bit generic. its got a very European/folk feel to it, which adds to the charm.
Very mediocre album to me and think the critical analysis of it at the time was fair. "With A Little Luck" has not aged well IMO. "Famous Groupies" is just plain awful. "Name and Address"is basically McCartney doing his Elvis impersonation. "Girlfriend" just makes me cringe. The title song is one of the few I actually enjoy.
This is the great thing about Paul's music. His fans can completely disagree on absolutely everything. I don't think you get that as much with other artists. Do any Michael Jackson fans hate Thriller?
For me, "With a Little Luck" is a great song. "Famous Groupies" is fun. "Girlfriend"would be better without the falsetto. I agree with you on "Name and Address".
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BOYCIE wrote:
JoeySmith:
This album still doesn't get the credit it deserves. Very innovative & diverse. Some of Paul's best ballads on this album (I'm Carrying, Don't let it Bring you Down). Great pop songs (With a Little Luck, London Town, Cafe). If you include the singles Paul recorded in these sessions (Mull of Kintyre - still the biggest British single (non-charity) of all-time & Girl's School), its even better. Not flawless - I've Had Enough is a bit generic. its got a very European/folk feel to it, which adds to the charm.
I think if the album had been trimmed a little it would be seen as a great album, but i think the inclusion of the poor Children Children, Girlfriend and Backwards Traveller rob it of classic status. I agree the European/folksy and relaxed feel adds a new dimension to the songs which make it different to the other Wings albums. Listening to it nearly 35 years on it still seems very fresh,beautifully melodic and exceedingly joyful, whereas the classic Band On The Run just feels overexposed and a little overrated to my ears now.
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Beatles4Ever&Ever wrote:
BOYCIE wrote:
JoeySmith:
This album still doesn't get the credit it deserves. Very innovative & diverse. Some of Paul's best ballads on this album (I'm Carrying, Don't let it Bring you Down). Great pop songs (With a Little Luck, London Town, Cafe). If you include the singles Paul recorded in these sessions (Mull of Kintyre - still the biggest British single (non-charity) of all-time & Girl's School), its even better. Not flawless - I've Had Enough is a bit generic. its got a very European/folk feel to it, which adds to the charm.
I think if the album had been trimmed a little it would be seen as a great album, but i think the inclusion of the poor Children Children, Girlfriend and Backwards Traveller rob it of classic status. I agree the European/folksy and relaxed feel adds a new dimension to the songs which make it different to the other Wings albums. Listening to it nearly 35 years on it still seems very fresh,beautifully melodic and exceedingly joyful, whereas the classic Band On The Run just feels overexposed and a little overrated to my ears now.
I quite like "Girlfriend" and don't think of it as a weak link. For me that distinction goes to ...what is it...Grey Goose/Morse Moose or something like that. Hate that. It ruined the album for me. The album should have ended with the song preceding that ...."Don't Let It Bring You Down," one of Paul's very best ballads. "I've Had Enough" has a toss away vibe that just didn't work either. It was like he thought, I need a rocker in here, let's see what can I quickly come up with? "Girl's School" was vastly superior.
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JoeySmith wrote:
This album still doesnt get the credit it deserves. Very innovative & diverse. Some of Paul's best ballads on this album (I'm Carrying, Dont let it Bring you Down). Great pop songs (With a Little Luck, London Town, Cafe). If you include the singles Paul recorded in these sessions (Mull of Kintyre - still the biggest British single (non-charity) of all-time & Girl's School), its even better. Not flawless - I've Had Enough is a bit generic. its got a very European/folk feel to it, which adds to the charm.
I agree that London Town is underrated but then again, I think that many of Paul's Post Beatles' albums are underrated (especially after the mid-80's).
Even Paul himself neglects Londontown. He has never played any of the songs "live" from the proper album including the big hit single... With a LIttle Luck. On his recent compilation Pure McCartney, you only have 2 songs from the proper album...Girlfriend and With a Little Luck. Sadly, Paul and team includes the edited version of the latter song rather than the better, classic album version.
Like with so many of Paul's albums, London Town could have been significantly improved with better song selection. By 1977 so many consumers had become "album" buyers rather than buying singles. Not including Mull of Kintyre and Girls' School on the American version of the proper album was a huge mistake in my opinion. Both songs were significantly better than a few of the weaker London Town tracks. Paul also kept Waterspout, one of his all time best unreleased gems, totally off the album. Replacing some of the weaker tracks like Backwards Traveller/Cuff Link, Famous Groupies, Name and Address, And Morse Moose with Mull of Kintyre, Girls School and Waterspout...London Town would have had a tighter, more concise and top tier Macca album in my opinion.
Btw, I think Backwards Traveller had serlous potential as a song but Paul unfortunately never fully developed it. I also don't like Famous Groupies very much. It certainly has some fun moments but Paul unfortunately turns it into a "show tune" which is where I dislike it...just my opinion.
On the other hand, can you imagine the album's potential closing tracks being "Don't Let It Bring You Down" and "Mull of Kintyre". And then you could of had Girls' School following With a Little Luck. As I said, those changes alone would make it "top tier" McCartney for me.
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Beatles4Ever&Ever wrote:
BOYCIE wrote:
JoeySmith:
This album still doesn't get the credit it deserves. Very innovative & diverse. Some of Paul's best ballads on this album (I'm Carrying, Don't let it Bring you Down). Great pop songs (With a Little Luck, London Town, Cafe). If you include the singles Paul recorded in these sessions (Mull of Kintyre - still the biggest British single (non-charity) of all-time & Girl's School), its even better. Not flawless - I've Had Enough is a bit generic. its got a very European/folk feel to it, which adds to the charm.
I think if the album had been trimmed a little it would be seen as a great album, but i think the inclusion of the poor Children Children, Girlfriend and Backwards Traveller rob it of classic status. I agree the European/folksy and relaxed feel adds a new dimension to the songs which make it different to the other Wings albums. Listening to it nearly 35 years on it still seems very fresh,beautifully melodic and exceedingly joyful, whereas the classic Band On The Run just feels overexposed and a little overrated to my ears now.
For my money, the songs you slam are better than half of the album at least.
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Huge fan of London Town, but a couple of comments. If I was Paul's manager in 1978 I would have made a few suggestions. First, release "London Town" as the follow up single to "With A Little Luck". Would have easily climbed the charts and been a Top Ten release. Secondly, of course, would have added "Mull of Kintrye" and "Girl's School" and subtracted "Children Children" and "Name and Address". Lastly, would have released "Girl's School" separately as the third single; another Top Ten. So the lp would have had TWO #1's and TWO Top Tens. "London Town" would have spent months and months in the Top Ten!
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The thing I always thought wasn't right with London Town was the mixing. I always found that on alot of the tracks the drums and some lead/electric guitar are mixed far too low especcially on the rockier tracks. Was this just bad mixing and also recording on portable equipment in makeshift studio (on a boat ) or maybe to subdue the rock stuff to make it a more folky sounding album. I hope Paul decides to remix the allbum, fixing the above problems, for the archive release. I thnk other than the mix the album is very good and has grown alot on me over the years (like a few of Pauls /Wings albums) and is underrated.