Denny Laine: C/D?

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I'm trying to win the award for "least essential thread," you see...

Jokes aside, however, what does everyone who knows Wings think about the group's "second wheel?" Does having more talent than Linda make him anything remotely influential on the Macca megalith? Is he the George Harrison of Wings? Could the band have existed with just the McCartneys alone? Has anyone heard his solo stuff?

(I say classic, because Denny's voice, with similar-timbred Linda's, was an essential part of the Wings Minor Harmonies (tm), and his distinctive "brooding arena-rockish" style of songwriting has a defined place within the sonic spectrum of Wings' output. Also for putting up with the McCartneys for eight consecutive years.)

― matthew m., Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Er... possibly dud. There's a couple of his songs that I like (Time To Hide for example, but I'm a sucker for horn parts) but the folky stuff on London Town is pretty tedious. His voice is fine but not particularly distinctive. I don't know any of his other stuff, though, except Go Now.

I'm not sure the question is as inessential as you think. There's a Laine quote somewhere where he says 'I wish I could say I'd worked with the McCartneys, rather than for them'. McCartney's need to present himself as just another member of this fun-loving gang when he was clearly pulling all the strings and stomping on everyone else is one of the most interesting things about Wings, for me. It's similar to his need in the Beatles to say 'Look at this incredible stuff we're doing' while claiming they were just ordinary guys from Liverpool.

I'd be fascinated to know how what Laine thought about Wings in a bit more detail; whether he actually liked what they were doing or whether he just knew a good thing when he saw one.

― John Davey, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Don't forget Denny Laine was the original singer in The Moody Blues- if you want to hear his voice solo, look for the Moodies no. 1 single from 1965, "Go Now"!!

Old Fart!!!!!!!!

― Old Fart!!!!, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Er... there are plenty of opportunities to hear Denny sing solo in Wings, such as on all the tracks which he wrote (and then some). As far as his Moodies output goes, I don't think he had really come into his own as a songwriter at that time, although said work could also be used in sync with his Wings output to indicate a possible chameleon/ungrounded character--brooding late-British Invasion mutates into brooding arena rock when the decade changes?

Anyway, this is what I meant about this thread being inessential on ILM. C'mon, somebody else out there has gotta care about Wings. Anybody? Anybody? Bueller?

― matthew m., Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

His solo album from about 1972, "Ahhh...Laine!" (can anyone explain that title, BTW?) is pretty cool. If you like that kind of early '70s getting-it-together-in-the-country type singer-songwriter rock.
Also, wasn't he in a band called BALLS?

― duane, Thursday, 6 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

OK, even if he wasn't I'm gonna claim that he was.

― duane, Thursday, 6 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

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