Nov 042009
Who is it?
Before you make the jump, please consider the following question:
Who is this man, a musician who in the proper context is highly conspicuous by his presumed lack of influence within his best-known group?
Of course!
Of course, it’s longtime Wings’ member and original Moody Blues member Denny Laine!
I’m curious to know if anyone was able to identify Laine before taking the jump to this page. I’m even more curious to know your favorite Denny Laine moment during his tenure in Wings.
Has there ever been a band member who more conspicuously likely had so little influence within his or her band?
I knew that was Laine!
Favorite Laine moment in Wings: “No Answer” which he co-wrote and, I think, sings co-lead on.
Sorry, that song is actually called “No Words.”
Wow, you ARE the man, Oats! Either that, or I’m displaying a serious gap in my rock nerd credentials.
Yep, figured it was Lane as well.
I knew also. His face looks exactly the same, it’s not like he went through some Keith Richards-esque transformation.
I did. Haven’t you seen the clip of The Moody’s doing “Go Now” from the ’65 NME Poll Winners Concert?
You can’t fool me — that 1960s pic is of a young Eric Idle!
Sure, I knew it was Denny…his face was remarkably unchanged by time…
Maybe “Again and Again and Again,” off Back the Egg, as a favortite Wings moment…
Probably the biggest influence he had on Wings is that when he decided to quit, the “band” broke up.
Was Noel Redding “conspicuous”?
What about band leaders who were eventually pushed out of their own bands, or bands reformed and renamed without them? John Lombardo of 10,000 Maniacs comes to mind, or the gawdawful “Beatnik Beatch,” in which two sidemen went on to form RTH’s favorite band, Jellyfish.
J. Geils?
Chuckflack may have nailed it with J. Geils.
By the way, will one Townsperson beside me please step forward and admit that you couldn’t pick Denny Laine from a police line-up unless he was placed alongside Paul and Linda? And am I the only guy in the Halls of Rock who owns a half dozen McCartney/Wings albums yet can’t name an album cut on anything but Band on the Run other than “Old Siam Sir” and “Cook of the House” if you held a gun to my head?
I thought it was Eric Idle.
I’ll be honest, on a bad day I might not be able to pick Denny in a picture with just him, Paul, and Linda. I thought the picture was a very young (and skinny) David Crosby. Do I get my privileges revoked for a week or something?
PS: Condolences on the Series, Mr. Mod.
I had no idea who that was in the first photo. To be perfectly honest, apart from Paul & Linda, I couldn’t identify or name ANYONE else in WINGS, and only remember Denny Laine because his name rhymes with ‘Penny Lane’. If he wasn’t standing next to Paul & Linda in the photo, I might have mistaken him for 70’s era Kenney Jones, at first glance. I don’t remember any of the band’s songs that don’t appear on their greatest hits album, either.
Would Michael Clarke of The Byrds fall into this category. He’s recognizable for his look, but he really didn’t DO anything in the band, did he?