Paul McCartney, Wings - London Town

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Music reviews of London Town

Music Review: Backwards travellers
Rating: 4 Stars

Looking it at that way, "London Town", being a good album itself, produced by Paul McCartney, and following his natural good sense of experimenation and musical taste, is not an essential Wings record at all. There are so many good albums made by Paul that this one can only be labeled as a "weak" effort despite the respectable number of good songs inside it.

The external circumstances that accompanied the recording of "London Town" were more favorable than the ones that surrounded the making of other Wings albums, since this LP was recorded merely aboard a yatch or with the comfort of the Abbey Road studio. But the results weren't always better: the group was again reduced to its main trio (Paul on every instrument he could afford, wife Linda on keyboards and background vocals, sounding great as always; and the competent work of Denny Laine on guitars), and the songs used to fill up the LP, although listenable and pleasant at times, were overall weak.

The combination of acoustic, natural sounds and the new technology of synthesisers, followed up by the always welcomed McCartney catchy soft pop melodies was what made "With A Little Luck" a huge, world-wide hit and was transformed into the trademark of the LP. Synths fill, along with acoustic guitars and orchestral arrangements, big parts of "London Town", the title track (a high point, and a well-told story about living in a big city), "Cafe On The Left Bank"(a throwaway, with good rhythm, though) and the amazing instrumental "Cuff Link". You can also hear lovely acoustic moments, such as the luminous McCartney/Laine ballad "Children Children", the typical McCartney tune "I'm Carrying" (where he talks about love in his sweetest way), the innovative and powerful "Backwards Traveller", the Elvis tribute "Name And Address", and the innocent teenager ballad "Gilfriend". Paul rocks with "I've Had Enough" (another top-40 hit from this album) and the bonus track "Girls' School" (a great track with strong electric guitars and harmonies).

Those are the high points. But there are tracks that you can't understand too much. "Morse Moose And The Grey Goose" is supposedly an experimental, innovative song with progressive sound, but it's hard to hear and understand and ends making you feel that it lasted too long. "Deliver Your Children" and "Famous Groupies" are interesting songs in their content, but with weak melodies, and "Don't Let It Bring You Down" is simply boring.

Overall, there's always something to hear on this record: be it the vocals, the construction of the backing harmonies, the backwards sounds (the combination between perfect orchestrations, synthesiser work, soft acoustic guitars and studio effects that filled this record transformed Wings into a band of real "backwards travellers"), or the bunch of good songs mentioned above.

If you can, buy the remastered edition of this CD, which adds "Mull Of Kintyre", a great, sweet and emotional anthem by Paul to his british roots. When you buy it, try to find the good songs, listen to the stories, and then... Think that Paul has at least ten albums that sound better than this one. Go and buy them too.

Description of London Town

Classic Rock CDs

• Music > Styles
• World Music
• Pop
• Rock