Paul McCartney Archive Collection - Tug Of War & Pipes Of Peace coming! (Part Two)

Looks like they took the weekend off. I guess that's one problem with Friday releases

 

I think you are confusing songs. He wrote "Freedom" at 2 years of age...

 

I hear Denny as well, especially the end vocals.

 

That just goes to show what a timeless and classic song 'Bip Bop' is. I certainly regard it as the greatest song that he ever wrote, with the exception of his Driving Rain compositions.

 

I haven't noticed any problems with the videos at all. Hopefully that's just a few isolated incidents...

 

That's the same way my parcel is taking. According to UPS it will arrive tomorrow als well, in Germany...

 

What we should consider speaking of McCartney composition process and timing is that the man writes constantly. So he does not think in terms of albums. We all must speak of sessions. Songs are often composed of fragments stichted together. He's a master at this process or arranging.
That's why I ended up writing a book with Paul's songs in the recording order and not album by album.

 

Well, it's just departed Philly, so there's still hope yet!

 

Paul's ability to stitch songs together is definitely one of his strong points. He doesn't seem to look at each little thing that he writes as it's own entity. Stringing songs together seems to come as naturally to him as stringing words together to make lyrics.

 

That is a very good point. I wonder if he tries to release older songs before newly composed songs?

If I personally wrote Wanderlust, I would want to release it as soon as possible, but I suppose that we also have to consider that Paul is not the best judge of his own work.

You definitely made the correct choice with your book when you decided to go with recording order, not album by album.

 

Man, Pipes of Peace is hard to get through. Yikes.

 

Besides the B&N exclusive 7" of Ebony and Ivory, are there any other rereleased vinyl singles for songs from the albums?

 

I've never heard it.

 

it'll grow on you.

 

I hated it for years, then about six years ago or so, I started to warm up to it. Now, it's one of the ones I listen to most frequently.

 

It isn't remastered. It is a -0.2dB level shift of this... http://www.discogs.com/Paul-McCartney-Tug-Of-War/release/1867326

So, track down the Parlophone Japan black face on eBay or something and you have it.

 

32 years and counting. When does it start?

 

Mine just arrived in Cologne, Germany. I'm quite confident.

 

There may be no hope Come on, at least concede Keep Under Cover is a great song....

 

I've got a soft spot for Pipes Of Peace, so I don't mind listening to it all the way through -- once in a while, anyway. That said, the first thing I did when I got the new sets was combine my favorites from Tug Of War (which I find a tad overrated) and Pipes (which I find slightly UNDERrated) to make one incredible album. The funny thing about context is that the strong PoP tracks seem even better nestled between great ToW tracks, and the decent PoP tracks seem better than they probably are. Here's my "Tug Of Peace" tracklist -- if this was a real album, it would definitely be one of my favorite Paul solo albums:

01. Tug Of War
02. Take It Away
03. Keep Undercover
04. Somebody Who Cares
05. The Other Me
06. Here Today
07. Pipes Of Peace
08. Ballroom Dancing
09. Sweetest Little Show (faded at end)
10. The Pound Is Sinking
11. Wanderlust
12. So Bad
13. Get It
14. Be What You See
15. Dress Me Up As A Robber
16. Through Our Love

I know that cutting all the Wonder & Jackson collabs might raise some eyebrows, but I wanted this to be as all-Paul as possible. (Carl Perkins gets a pass.) If I had to shorten it to actual LP length, I guess I'd have to lose "Be What You See" and "Dress Me Up As A Robber" -- but right now, I'm enjoying "Robber" for pretty much the first time in my life, so for now it stays. "Through Our Love" really benefits in this playlist -- instead of desperately trying to rescue an album driven off course by "Hey Hey" and "Tug Of Peace" it's a sweeping final statement after the rockin' "Robber."

As always with reissues, it's been great to listen to these albums with fresh ears; even though I pretty much have them memorized, they feel fresh and new again. Listening to Tug Of War intact for the first time in ages (as opposed to the favorites in a playlist), I'm struck at how classically "Paul" this album is -- there's something for everyone, highlighting his eclecticism and love of dabbling in genres. The best of Pipes Of Peace are easily as good as the ToW tracks, imo, and they only sound better when they are interspersed as I have done above. I like all the demos too, and they make a great playlist of their own. "It's Not On" is wonderfully bizarre, and "Simple As That" is a very different sound for Paul -- not much of a song, really, but the fake applause and mocking "thank you"s to the "crowd" make it fun and memorable. As for the b-sides, it's of course great to have "I'll Give You A Ring" properly on CD, and I've never really thought much of "Rainclouds" before, but I like it a lot now. "Koala Bear" ... well, I'm probably never going to be a fan of that koala-type song. But I'm glad it's on there.

Stuff I discovered thanks to the Archive Collection:
-- The tug of war sound effects for the title track were recorded on ... December 7, 1980. Wow, the timing.
-- The song Paul tried to work on the day John was killed was "Rainclouds." Probably helps me like the song more.
-- No mention in the big ToW book of going to Friar Park to get George to do a guitar solo on "Wanderlust." I guess we'll never really know the whole story on that one.
-- I really like the remix of Tug Of War. I don't hear the brightness or shrillness that others have mentioned; maybe this is one of those times I should be grateful for not having golden ears. But to me the remix sounds full and punchy -- it gives the whole album a bit more "oomph." "Here Today" sounds even more classical, and "Ballroom Dancing" almost sounds like a rock song now.
-- I've always reflexively dismissed "Dress Me Up As A Robber" -- wasn't "Beatley" enough for me when I was 14, I guess. Too "dancey," too much like other music I didn't like. But now I'm digging it, and it provides some much needed energy at the end of side 2.
-- The remaster of Pipes Of Peace sounds very good to me. A kindly soul on the forum shared with me a copy of the original 1984 CD of this album, so I could compare it with my only CD version, the 1993. The 1984 mastering blew away the 1993 (not a surprise, I guess, given the reputation of the 1993s), and this new remaster matches the 1984, to my ears. Mixing the tracks with the ToW remixed tracks, though, makes PoP seem a little closed and boxed in, and makes me wish they had remixed both albums. Doesn't ruin the album for me or anything, but they could have squeezed a little more magic out of those tracks, I think.
-- You know, "Hey Hey" isn't an awful track, for an instrumental -- if it were a b-side it would probably have more defenders. But placed in front of "Tug Of Peace" on side 2 of PoP, it just torpedoes the album.

 

Tomorrow?

 

Don't bring Wild Life into this.

 

I am pleased to read you give such a positive review, and it has made me even more desperate to hear the remixes/remasters.

I completely agree with you regarding 'Hey Hey'; there is nothing wrong with it and it would have made a nice B-Side; I think that it mainly suffers due to it's proximity to 'Tug Of Peace' on the POP album.

I am also pleased to hear that 'Dress Me Up As A Robber' and 'Rainclouds' have grown on you; I have always liked both songs, and feel that Rainclouds would have strengthened the POP album had Paul not released it as a B-Side.

Although I love the 'Tug Of War' album for the reason you state, which is that it is so 'Paul' and eclectic, and although I like most of POP, I agree that if you combine both albums, you are left with an extremely strong album.

 

I have spun my new Tug Of War vinyl twice this weekend and am absolutely made up over how great it is. Add another to the tally for those who are in favour of the 2015 Remix.

Songs that have had the most dramatic changes to these ears: 'Tug Of War', 'Take It Away', 'Here Today', 'Wanderlust' and 'Ebony and Ivory.'

The "brightness" is fab. Can't wait to get my hands on the box sets. Come on Bull Moose!

Haven't gotten around to playing Pipes Of Peace vinyl yet perhaps later today.

 

I like Hey Hey too, it's a cathy little track, I've always liked POP and I feel it had really good tracks except for Tug Of Peace which is probably Paul's worst track.
Rainclouds is a great track as mentioned before. I think that I'll get my POP deluxe and TOW super deluxe soon so I can't wait.