I SHOULD WORK FOR THE POST OFFICE...Why???
...as far as this blog's concerned, I've been 'mailing it in' lately...
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Blogger's note: An album review of Wings' "London Town" album is contained in this post. Keep reading; you're bound to get to it sooner or later...
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BLOGGER.COM gave me a big scare just a few minutes ago. When I tried to enter this blogsite, I couldn't find it. Through some sort of devilish trick, I was waylaid into signing in for a Google Account, which uses my e-mail inbox. I hooked this blog up with Google quite some time ago. Now, there are those who can enter 'blogger.com' without using a Google account, but I was under the impression it was 'sign up with Google or else we'll pull your blog', only to find out that I would've still had this blog without a Google address. But as the Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose sang back in 1971, "It's too late to turn back now..." So how is it that I'm "mailing it in"? I haven't blogged a lot lately. Some of my more recent posts have been just Plain-Old Uninspired. But I knock 'em off and throw 'em up here, all in the name of Keeping This Blog Alive. Barely alive?
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Waaay down here on the O-coast, gas climbed up and over the Three-Dollar Barrier about a week and a half ago, but it's down now to $2.96. And in the week between my last post and this one, the Cops haven't pulled me over for anything, so I 'spose that's cause for celebrating. Let's see, what else...while shopping at the thrift store, I found a still-sealed VHS of Elvis' "Change Of Habit", the last 'fiction'-type movie he ever did. His co-star is Mary Tyler Moore, and she plays a Nun ("Will her desire for 'E' stamp out her desire to be righteous?") I do know that Elvis doesn't sing a whole lot; I've read that the only song in the film is "Change Of Habit", but no hip shakin' goin' on anywhere near the nunnery. I guess he plays some sort of social worker in the film. Elvis' biggest-ever 'fiction' movie, is "Blue Hawaii", which is just an awful film. How can a movie establish any continuity when the plot is interrupted by "14 BIG SONGS", one of which is the ridiculous "Ito Eats" which is a song about a Hawaiian guy in the movie who, well, eats.....fizzzzzzzzz. Not exactly Oscar material there. It ain't easy to rock out with a ukelele, I guess.
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Things are really scattered all over this area, which means I spend more time in the car, per trip, than I used to. And especially since, after the first of this year, I'm having to be Really Conscious of my driving, 'cos cops are just everywhere (which I just don't understand; there's no more happening down here this year than last), so that means really stickin' to the ol' P's and Q's, in terms of "Keep Yer Seatbelt Fastened", and "The Sign Says 35mph, so it's possible to, say, get a ticket if yer goin' 36". So, whatever cassette's in the tape deck usually flies right by and before ya know it, an entire album has played. ("Cassette deck?", the young folks must be asking. "What's a Cassette?" they must be thinking). So, I got myself reacquainted with Paul McCartney & Wings' 1978 album, "London Town", and it's been playing in the deck this week. ("What's a deck?", the youngsters must be wondering.) I'd made one of those Illicit Tape Duplications of an album so I could hear it on the road...
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Paul McCartney's "Wings" group went through a whole bunch of changes during its' existence, the only constants being Paul (of course), Linda (again, of course) and Denny Laine, who was faithful in spite of the fact that Paul was very demanding and didn't pay Denny all that much. If you've ever heard the Moody Blues' song, "Go Now", that's Denny on the lead vocals. So he'd had some big-time experience. In the Beatles, Paul had to respect John Lennon, but in Wings, Paul could be very difficult to work with, mainly because he didn't have to respect any of his band members. Wings was HIS group, after all. But we're not here to gossip. Not now, anyway. "London Town" came out in 1978, and one of its tracks, "With A Little Luck" was a big, smash, groovy number one hit. Later on, "London Town", the title song, also hit the charts, so I was familiar with those tunes, but for some reason I never bought the album when it first came out. I didn't get around to hearing it until the mid-1990's. I'd found a copy in a Thrift Store for cheap,and right away, the entire album impressed me. It's tuneful and very imaginative; it's one of the best albums that I have ever heard; it's that good.
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Elsewhere on the "London Town" album, "I'm Carrying" is a sweet only-McCartney-could-have-done-it acoustic ballad; "Cafe On The Left Bank" provides a sort of international bistro flavor as the lyric alludes to hearing "Charles DeGaulle (giving) a speech"; "Name And Address" shows Paul doing a '50's style number in his best Imitation Elvis Presley voice; "Deliver Your Children" is a very, very good minor-key folk-type song, and Paul actually lets Denny Laine sing on that one. Well, Denny did co-author the song. "Morse Moose and the Grey Goose" is about a ship lost at sea..."this is the Morse Moose calling, this is the Morse Moose calling", and the song has all kinds of sound effects, radio static and Morse Code messages embedded in the song. And Paul wrote a tune that is just uproarious, "Famous Groupies" and how musicians met an ugly fate when the "Famous Groupies" got hold of them; one such encounter "left the music business positively horrified", the song says. Finally, for those who think Paul hasn't written a decent song since the Beatles broke up, he almost couldn't miss on this album. It is one of the most entertaining, and purely musical, albums I've ever heard, plus the lyrics throughout are Really Good. What more couldya want?
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So, I'm alive, well, and still blogging. I'm almost down to one a week, now. And I feel guilty about that. It's difficult to write when uninspired, and the thot came to me that "Hey, this Wings' album is really good; write about that! So I did.