Recording sessions were held intermittently over a period of a year, mainly at Abbey Road Studios in London and aboard a luxury yacht in the Virgin Islands.

[5] As Linda's pregnancy progressed, the band halted the sessions for the album, except for the recording of a new track called "Mull of Kintyre" that August and the completion of the already begun "Girls' School".

For the first time since 1973's Band on the Run,[4]: 112  Wings were down to the core three of Paul, Linda and Denny Laine, as reflected on the picture sleeve of the single.

[4] In November, two months after the birth of the McCartneys' son James, and shortly after sessions for London Town resumed, the Scottish tribute "Mull of Kintyre" was released to enormous commercial success.

The records are nice when McCartney strums his guitar and sings songs to his kids but when Wings takes on heavy sounds it just doesn't work".

[19] The New York Times wrote that "the music is prime McCartney ... his ear for tunes and for classically simple yet clever arrangements remains acute, and the result here is often delightful".

Paul McCartney was reportedly displeased with Capitol Records in the US, where "Mull of Kintyre" was ignored by radio programmers; its B-side, "Girls School", reached only number 33 on the US charts.

With his contract at an end, he signed up with Columbia Records for North America (remaining with EMI elsewhere in the world) and would stay there until 1984, before returning to Capitol in the US.