B J Conlee:
jimmix:
Anybody seen this??
_______________________________________________ When I look back at Paul's Post Beatles' career, the 1979 era is probably the most puzzling to me as a huge fan. His decisions for disbanding Wings just seemed so odd. Here is what I mean: *The 1979 tour (with the additions of Laurence and Steve) seemed to be coming along well from seeing videos of the various shows. Paul's voice was in tip top shape and they had plenty of good new rocking songs to play. *While Back to the Egg had not done great commercially, a full tour in the US would have given "Egg" a 2nd life. Wings were playing quite a few songs from the album. Beyond that, a new live album (with Paul adding a few new Beatle songs that had never been done live) would have sold very well similar to Wings Over America. Despite single handedly destroying the Japanese leg of the Tour (getting busted at the Tokyo Airport and ending up in jail for 9 days or so), I never understood why Paul/Wings didn't just carrying on and tour heavy in the US Post Japan. While London Town and Egg had lackluster results, Paul would have still "sold out" in every city. It would have been hugely successful and he would have given some of the songs (e.g. Goodnight Tonight, Mull of Kintyre, Old Siam Sir, Arrow Through Me, Coming Up etc. ) new life. I was very fortunate to meet Steve Holly (Paul's new drummer on "Egg") at the AROTR Festival in the Louisville KY area over this past Memorial Day Weekend. I was staying at the same hotel as Steve. He was very friendly and personable so I was comfortable asking him this same question about Paul's reason for disbanding Wings. Steve's answer was quite emphatic saying that Paul desperately wanted to work with George Martin again. Steve seemed to be quite assured that this was the "reason" that Wings' disbanded. Besides being a convenient answer, I can also see that there was probably a lot of truth to Paul's answer to Steve, Denny and Laurence. Paul always loved working with Mr. Martin and he most likely wanted a new direction. As we know, Paul is always working on new songs and he probably felt they were highly suited for George's type of production. In retrospect, Paul's gut decision was successful in the short term as Tug of War was a big success. I just think there was more to it than just that one answer. Being in jail might have changed Paul's ideas about his (and his family's) lifestyle. I believe that Linda stated that being in jail really shook Paul up. Maybe he might have felt that he needed to decrease his drug intake. Maybe with their children getting older, he might have felt that he and Linda needed to cut down on their touring. While Paul loves the audience and touring, something no doubt happened in Paul's mind to change his direction so drastically. In retrospect it was a huge decision. You have to think that his jail time (albeit a short one) had a pretty significant effect on Paul.
I dont think Paul has said anything positive about the BTTE album, from 1979 to today. He seemed to have put a lot of effort into the album - a new band, TV special, videos, touring - but the album got lousy reviews and didnt sell well (for Macca). While it did have a "harder" sound he strived for, it just didnt work, imo. Sub-standard melodies, some songs go on far too long, too repetitive, etc. No wonder Paul hasnt played any song from the album on any tour since 1979.