Denny Laine it All Down the Line (1973)

 

Denny Laine It All Down the Line

By Peter Erskine

Disc

August 4, 1973

    Denny Laine sat back in his 15th-story hotel suite, resplendent in blue and white pajamas, striped suit braces, and a pink Wings t-shirt. The room service waiter tried not to stare too hard at this unconventional guest, who was clearly enjoying himself, talking about his new single, his forthcoming album, Wings, bass players, jazz, festivals, and anything else under the sun.

     A photographer was crouched on the floor, pointing his machine at Denny's face while he talked. I thought it might put him off. "No, it don't worry me. I'm a pro, you see", he joked, flexing his shoulders and pouring himself another Southern Comfort. Everything seems to be going well right now for Mr. Laine.

    Rock scene veteran of many years standing and currently one of McCartney's Wings. As well as working with the group, Denny is pursuing a bit of a solo career on the side, mainly as a songwriter. "I love to write songs as a hobby," he said. "I can't put them all on Wings albums, though. Apart from Wings, I want to put out two albums a year myself as a songwriter, displaying my stuff for other people really. Colin Bluntstone is doing one of my songs. And Brinsley Schwartz, who played with Wings on the last tour, won a song too."

     Denny's solo album probably titled Ahh... Laine! is due out in September, and in the meantime, a single from the LP is out on Wizard.  The A side, "Find a Way Somehow" is a slow number, perhaps a surprising choice for a single. "It's a moody sort of song, and I think it's got potential," said Denny. "I think it's the same kind of feel as "Rocket Man" or "Whiter Shade of Pale," that kind of thing.

     "'Find a Way Somehow' Is one of the two slow ones on the album, which is all about two years old. Apart from the B side of the single 'Move Me to Another Place'', which is just me and Dave Mason, who I met in LA. The rest was made with Colin Allen on drums and Steve Thompson on bass.

    " And while I was doing it, I worked on the McCartney album and then joined the group. So my album got left. I've remixed and overdubbed a lot of it now." But this doesn't mean that Denny is parting from Wings. "The fact that I'm able to get stuff together on my own is a very good reason not to leave, actually," said Denny. "If I was just in Wings, I'd be bored stiff. You're just in one set of five people going from place to place, and you need a sideline. Everyone in the group is doing that, and that's no threat to the band. Paul's been too successful too long to be desperate. There's a lot of freedom in the band. Some people have called it lethargic. I can see what they mean. But the other side is that there's nobody uptight and nobody broke. That's the trouble with most groups. They're all broke. No one's particularly rich either, not even Paul. He has to wait and wait for his money. It's a good setup, and I don't care what anyone says. I'm in it. I know."

     Did he assure that having Wings is good for Paul McCartney as well as the rest of the band? "He tends to go away and write material by himself, but we change it and improve it. I think he is someone who has to have a group, and he writes with the band in mind. He writes about immediate things that are going on. It's the same with all songwriters. They can easily get too involved in their own ego, and if Paul didn't have the group going, his ideas wouldn't be so good. Because what makes him a songwriter is his personality. 

    "It's good for him to be on stage again. It makes him where the band wants him to be. We're all fed up with slow songs. And we turn around to him and say, 'We want some rockers'. And he goes away and does it with that." In mind, Wings already have enough material on tape for another album, but they're only going to use some of it. They are recording more material in September in Lagos, where EMI has got an eight track studio. Ginger Baker also has a studio there, but Wings won't be using that one.

     "I know a lot of African musicians with Ginger from sessions with Air Force. I was going to go out with him after Air Force. It's all fresh and energetic out there. It's like it was in New York years ago." 

    Before settling off to Africa. Wings are going to Scotland to rehearse and write material for the album, although they might make a surprise festival appearance over the summer. "There's no plans at all. But whatever comes up, that's right, we will be available, "says Denny, exclusively. W"e could be working all the time, if we want. We could be in Japan, the US, Italy, or Canada right now, but we're not; who knows?