Paul McCartney and Wings - "Ship to Shore"

Having recorded two successful studio albums and a triple live album, Paul McCartney's latest lineup of Wings seemed poised to continue that success in 1977-78. However, while recording a new album, it was discovered that Linda McCartney was pregnant. That put the kibosh on a tour any time in the near future. After recording several songs aboard a yacht in the Virgin Islands, lead guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Joe English quit the band. That left the trio of Paul, Linda and Denny Laine to continue, record more songs and eventually release the album London Town.

I wanted to re-imagine what the album might have been if only the tracks that included McCulloch and English had been used. That led me to a new version of the album I've titled Ship to Shore.


SIDE A

1. Mull of Kintyre

2. London Town

3. Cafe on the Left Bank

4. Don't Let It Bring You Down

5. Name and Address

6. Children Children
7. I've Had Enough

SIDE B

1. With a Little Luck

2. Famous Groupies

3. Deliver Your Children

4. Girls’ School

5. Morse Moose and the Grey Goose

First of all, London Town seems strangely out of balance, with side two being more than five minutes longer than side one. I don't know what kind of decision-making goes on when a person, band or producer determines which songs go on which side, but I don't see any particular reason for the discrepancy in this case.

The four additional songs recorded after McCulloch and English left were all on London Town's first side, which leaves a gaping hole if we want to keep the running order similar. We do have two songs recorded before McCulloch and English left that were issued as singles: "Mull of Kintyre" and "Girls' School." But that isn't enough to fill the four missing slots (especially since the first side was already short), so some rearranging was needed.

Looking at the three previous Wings studio albums, they all start with rather slow songs. But even by that criteria, I think "London Town" is just not a good opener. So I put "Mull of Kintyre" at A1. It was a major hit in the U.K., and gives the album a slow-building opening. I moved "Don't Let It Bring You Down" and "Name and Address" to Side A and kept the rocking "I've Had Enough" to close it out.

Side B begins with the same three tracks as London Town, but I included "Girls' School" before concluding the album with "Morse Moose and the Grey Goose," just like London Town.

I can't say that the result is a better album than London Town, but I do think that "Mull of Kintyre" is a better opener, and "Girls' School" gives the collection a bit of extra oomph that I think was otherwise lacking. Also, both sides are about the same length now -- the first side is less than a minute longer than the second.

Attempts by others to recreate this album are often titled Water Wings, as apparently that was a working title at some point. I chose the title Ship to Shore because most of the album was recorded on a boat although some tracks were also recorded in Britain. For the cover, I wanted to use a band photo to emphasize the group overall. When I found a cover for a Water Wings bootleg, I reused the photo from it for my cover and thought the title worked well. Although it might be confused for a "yacht rock" album. 😋