Wings’ London Town archive found as fans want anniversary release of Paul McCartney album

Fans of the legendary band Wings are hoping for an anniversary release of London Town.

It comes as archival tapes belonging to sound engineer Geoff Emerick were uploaded to YouTube, following a sale at auction. Wings frontman Paul McCartney has often glossed over latter-day Wings release, with London Town and Back to the Egg not yet receiving anniversary re-releases. There are hopes, however, of material being remastered and re-released after it was confirmed McCartney would publish a book on his history with Wings. A post to the r/PaulMcCartney subreddit saw fans still hopeful of a London Town remaster and re-release.

Venus and Mars received a fiftieth-anniversary re-release earlier this year, with the Wings album printed at half-speed. A fan taking to the r/PaulMcCartney subreddit shared one of the published Emerick London Town tapes. They added: “The version of London Town featured on the auctioned Geoff Emerick tapes has been uploaded!”

Users of the subreddit remain hopeful of a London Town anniversary release, with one writing: “Thanks for the link! Oh man, I’d love an archive edition of London Town…” Another wrote: “An archive collection within the next hundred years would be nice…”

A third added: “Oh man, I love London Town! These mixes sound great. I hope it gets a release” Whether the release is forthcoming is yet to be seen, though some fans say London Town and Back to the Egg require a remaster.

One user wrote: “When you listen to the rough mixes of both London Town and Back to the Egg, it shows why an Archive edition is so needed: these were moments of great music that need to be re-examined.”

The original poster has since explained the origins of the London Town tape. They wrote: “This is a rough mix for a master reel made by Geoff Emerick (presumably) just before Wings resumed recording in March 1977.

“More recently, Geoff’s own master tapes of some of these songs (Band On The Run, Speed of Sound and London Town tracks included) were put up for auction just last year.”

Another user suggested the mix was an improvement on the final version. One user wrote: “These are a fun listen. I’ve always felt like Paul and the mix engineers went overboard mixing and sweetening London Town, making it eventually sound muffled and limp instead of a rock and roll band playing together on a boat! These rough mixes improve the songs, in my opinion.”

A separate comment reads: “Wow! Well, we knew there had to be some high-end on those drums (and everything else). This mix (albeit, sans overdubs) sounds so crisp and clean. Really hope these see the light of day.”