Recording: Lunch Box/Odd Sox by Wings

Sea-Saint Recording Studio, New Orleans
Producer: Paul McCartney
Engineers: Alan O’Duffy, Ken Laxton, Roberta Grace

Wings’ first recording session in New Orleans took place on 20 January 1975.

They mostly recorded the Venus And Mars album at Allen Toussaint’s Sea-Saint Recording Studio at 3809 Clematis Street, New Orleans. The in-house engineers Ken Laxton and Roberta Grace were joined by Alan O’Duffy, who travelled with Wings from London.

On this first day they worked on ‘Lunch Box/Odd Sox’. It was taped as a pair of instrumentals, which were later edited together.

Paul McCartney led the band on piano, while Linda McCartney played a Minimoog synthesizer, Denny Laine was on electric guitar, Tony Dorsey played bass guitar, and Geoff Britton was on drums. Wings’ guitarist Jimmy McCulloch did not play on the track, as he was yet to arrive in New Orleans.

‘Lunch Box/Odd Sox’ remained unreleased until it became the b-side of Paul McCartney’s 1980 solo single ‘Coming Up’.

What I’m finding about all that stuff, all my own contemporary b-sides and strange tracks, is that it takes time. People are only just discovering the b-sides of Beatles singles. They’re only just discovering things like ‘You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)’ – probably my favourite Beatles track!