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4.39pm
3 February 2017
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In May and October/November 1980, the group reunited in Pugin’s Hall to rehearse a whole batch of new songs. Most of them ended up on either Tug Of War or Pipes Of Peace , and alongside a lot of oldies and jamming, made up the majority of songs played. Does anyone know if that was meant to be the rehearsals for the followup to Back To The Egg ?
Personally, I think that’s the most likely possibility, as most of the songs played are either them warming up to fifties tunes or learning Paul’s new songs, excluding the possibility of it being a tour rehearsal. Also, if you take the list of tunes they played, you’ve got yourself a pretty solid record:
- Coming Up (already played live by them in 1979)
- Take it Away
- Keep Under Cover
- Cage (brought back from the Back To The Egg sessions)
- No Values
- Ballroom Dancing
- Denny’s Song (later re-written as “Be Together”)
- Rainclouds
- Average Person
- Ebony And Ivory (solo version, obviously)
Add that to Linda’s “Love’s Full Glory”, tracked in April, and Denny’s “Weep for Love”, tracked soon after the Egg sessions ended, and ta-da you have a 1980 Wings record. And I must say, a pretty solid one at that, sort of a poppier cousin to BttE, with its share of Paul classics. Had those tunes been arranged properly, and in some cases in a “heavier” way, that’d sound like a band effort too. Thoughts?
4.54pm
Reviewers
17 December 2012
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They were definitely prep work for the next album, @GlassOnion.
Remember, Paul spent the day after John’s murder in the studio with George Martin working on his next album. John’s murder knocked Paul onto his back feet, and he retreated from recording for a while. Paul and Denny were working on Rainclouds when the session was abandoned on 9 December.
By the time Paul felt able to re-enter the studio in February 1981, Wings were no more.
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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
10.09pm
25 August 2012
Offline I always feel as though Paul sort of left the group on the side of the road, so to speak. George Martin during this period convinced him to permanently go solo and he didn’t need a group to front anymore, and then he basically dropped Denny, Laurence, and Steve off to go get ice cream and never returned to pick them up. 
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SgtPeppersBulldog8.25am
Reviewers
17 December 2012
Offline I think Paul’s withdrawal from touring in the aftermath of John’s murder made Wings surplus to requirements. There were already cracks in the band before John’s loss since Paul had decided that, with the exception of Denny, he wasn’t going to use them on the album he started recording in December 1980 with George Martin. There was some effort to keep things going with Denny during the early part of ’81, but that relationship was growing strained over Denny’s feelings that he was not receiving his fair share of credit for his contribution to Wings.
Paul and Linda also had the kids to consider, who were needing more stability as they were entering important years for their education.
The fact is that you don’t need the hassle and strains of keeping a band together when you’re not using them in the studio and have no plans to tour.
Denny quitting in April ’81 because of the lack of plans to tour was really the end for Wings, though Paul wouldn’t admit they were over for another year
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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
10.32am
3 February 2017
Offline Ron Nasty said
I think Paul’s withdrawal from touring in the aftermath of John’s murder made Wings surplus to requirements. There were already cracks in the band before John’s loss since Paul had decided that, with the exception of Denny, he wasn’t going to use them on the album he started recording in December 1980 with George Martin. There was some effort to keep things going with Denny during the early part of ’81, but that relationship was growing strained over Denny’s feelings that he was not receiving his fair share of credit for his contribution to Wings.Paul and Linda also had the kids to consider, who were needing more stability as they were entering important years for their education.
The fact is that you don’t need the hassle and strains of keeping a band together when you’re not using them in the studio and have no plans to tour.
Denny quitting in April ’81 because of the lack of plans to tour was really the end for Wings, though Paul wouldn’t admit they were over for another year
Absolutely. I still believe that the early 1981 sessions, from February to March, were still more or less Wings sessions. The presence of Denny, them recording Rainclouds (co-written by him) and Denny’s Song there, no Eric Stewart or Stanley Clarke to be seen, et cetera. It was sort of a semi-Wings environment, much like the RAM sessions. If Denny stayed and they kept that same format, I’d see no problem with them releasing it as a Wings record.
Before Denny quitting, it was going to be something like Band On The Run , with the three core members, but instead of Paul recording all the drums and keyboards and so forth (something he still did for a couple of tunes), they had Martin and Dave Mattacks as session musicians. If you take off some of the “Eric Stewart style” harmonies from the tunes, which were overdubbed later, you’ll hear a pretty different, and “Wingsier”, record.
The straining of their relationship is really a shame, I loved their collaborations, and Laine could harmonize and play second fiddle to Paul in a great fashion. I also didn’t consider the kids’ angle, you’re right. The youngest, James, would’ve been 5 by then, so all of them in a pretty important part of their lives.
Paul really didn’t need to end Wings with Denny quitting. He could have used the (completely wrong) public notion that the band was a bunch of replaceable hacks and Paul, and put Eric Stewart in his place. It wouldn’t have been very kind from him, to say the least, but I could totally see something like that working, and being pretty good.
If you took the songs they rehearsed, and all the songs recorded before Laine quit, there’s a great Wings record waiting in the vaults for us, Tug Of War :
- Tug Of War
- Take it Away
- Somebody Who Cares
- Keep Under Cover
- Denny’s Song (finished, of course)
- No Values (original 1982 sessions version)
- Ballroom Dancing
- The Pound is Sinking
- Wanderlust
- Rainclouds
- Average Person
- Ebony And Ivory (solo vocals version)
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Beatlebug6.57am
25 August 2012
Offline GlassOnion said
If you took the songs they rehearsed, and all the songs recorded before Laine quit, there’s a great Wings record waiting in the vaults for us, Tug Of War :
- Tug Of War
- Take it Away
- Somebody Who Cares
- Keep Under Cover
- Denny’s Song (finished, of course)
- No Values (original 1982 sessions version)
- Ballroom Dancing
- The Pound is Sinking
- Wanderlust
- Rainclouds
- Average Person
- Ebony And Ivory (solo vocals version)
I’d prefer “Dress Me Up as a Robber” over “Average Person” (probably my least favorite song between both Tug Of War and Pipes Of Peace — perhaps because Paul couldn’t be bothered to write words for its main hook rather than going ‘derp-derp-deeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrp-derp-derp-derp-derrrrrrp’ 
).
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SgtPeppersBulldog4.48pm
3 February 2017
Offline Duke_of_Kirkcaldy said
GlassOnion said
If you took the songs they rehearsed, and all the songs recorded before Laine quit, there’s a great Wings record waiting in the vaults for us, Tug Of War :
- Take it Away
- Somebody Who Cares
- Keep Under Cover
- Denny’s Song (finished, of course)
- No Values (original 1982 sessions version)
- Ballroom Dancing
- The Pound is Sinking
- Wanderlust
- Rainclouds
- Average Person
- Ebony And Ivory (solo vocals version)
I’d prefer “Dress Me Up as a Robber” over “Average Person” (probably my least favorite song between both Tug Of War and Pipes Of Peace — perhaps because Paul couldn’t be bothered to write words for its main hook rather than going ‘derp-derp-deeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrp-derp-derp-derp-derrrrrrp’
).
Unfortunately, I included it because they rehearsed it in ’80. And hey, I like the derps! 
11.25pm
11 June 2015
Offline Lately I’ve been listening to the “specialty reissue” albums on the Internet Archive site as opposed to YouTube. It’s a little tidier and makes it easy to quickly review and compare the different versions of a song. Also the album covers, inserts, and LP/CD reproductions are available in the JPEG section under Download Options.
[Mod note: link led to pages where some officially released material can be downloaded and has therefore been removed.]
You and I have memories
Longer than the road that stretches out ahead
