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

I must disagree. There's a reason why Ebony and Ivory was a MONSTER hit and The Man was a canceled single!

 

I like Wild Life. It is supremely flawed but there are four songs on there that are essential.

The only issue I have with Memory is the production and mastering.

 

This is the first Macca reissue I didn't buy immediately - I'm gonna get the deluxe sets eventually, but I'm just not all that enthused.

Hoping for a good Black Friday deal on Amazon...

 

that's hilarious ...and true. And it never occurred to me. Love the song though

 

I like most of the TOW remix, but the vocals sound horrible, IMO. Almost like there were sample rate issues with them or something.

 

I don't like either one of them, so it's like favoring cyanide over strychnine to me. They are both toxic.

 

For me...that honor would go to dePRESSed TO PLAY, with Off the Ground right behind. Actually, with Off the Ground, I found thr b-side material material better than much of the album.

 

Nah, it's all good, but I love Driving Rain and Wildlife and the sonics of Memory AlmostFull don't annoy me like virtually everyone else here, so I'm definitely swimming against the tide around this place.

 

I "grew up" listening to bootlegs and I'm perfectly at home with even the most dreadful audience tapes if there is content underneath all the noise. But "Gratitude" just blows my mind every time I hear it. You can turn the volume up, down and sideways and that track will still sound like distorted ****e. Reminds me of that cute caveat that George Harrison offers before the rough mix of "Ding Dong, Ding Dong" - to not have anyone confuse it with a finished mix because "they'll think we're all amateurs". "Gratitude" makes me think that everyone involved with it was an amateur. I don't skip it when I listen to the album (I am a serial non-skipper), but geez, what were they thinking?

 

No insults here. I'm unfamiliar with yaks, aside from the ... ahem ... intimate photos that you insist on sending me of some of the yaks that you're - shall we say - "familiar with", Glenn...

Have you been receiving parcels from Glenn, too, @Nerktwin? I lived in the Chicago area many years ago and only attended one Beatlefest, but I've had to keep moving ever since, to keep from receiving the disturbing packages from the "Foremost Beatles expert" on Glenn's block. Sadly, it hasn't worked and I frequently receive "I love ewe" messages from him. HINT: if you get a small post-office box, it's easier to refuse his yak "playthings"...

 

You're bound to be stoned by the stoners who like 'Mild Life'. ;-)

 

Paul did it to get back at you Ray.He knew it would annoy you. He's still mad at you for exposing the Fabs private moments in the Get Back book you co-authored. Paul is willing to wait awhile to take his revenge.

 

Surely if he were mad at me he wouldn't have given me "The End of the End", which I played "to death".

 

That reminds me jinks, the anatomically correct Denny Laine blow up doll you ordered is on its way and your "What's That Your Doing?" hand cream is shipping also.Unlike Kingsroad jinks, I ship all your pathetic orders in a timely fashion!

 

Well, I managed to get through the new Pipes Of Peace for the first time in a week. I fell asleep every other time while listening to it.
I have an insatiable urge for some ham now to go along with all the cheese I just listened to.

 

I think it was a mistake to put "Hey Hey" and "Tug of Peace" consecutively. Right or wrong, it lends the impression that this area (side 2, before the last track) is a dumping ground on the record for the "filler".

 

Yes, this is was a discussion a few thousand posts back. We're not really sure why unless he recorded his vocals in a different studio (or something) than the backing tracks were done.

 

I couldn't agree more. Perhaps he should have went from 'Hey Hey" to "Through Our Love" and then crossfade that into a portion of tug of peace...ala Band on the Run.

 

What's more disturbing, that mrjinks ordered an anatomically-correct Denny Laine blow up doll -- or that YOU are manufacturing and selling them??

 

I think that single sequencing decision did more damage to the reputation of Pipes of Peace than almost anything else -- including the quality of the other songs themselves. Side two is a wasteland because of those two songs, and by the time we get to "Through Our Love" the listener is angry -- or worse, bored.

 

I gave a good listen to Pipes Of Peace. The album benefited from the remastering. My opinion of it didn't change at all. It's a decent album with some highs and some lows, but not his best work by any means. You can definitely hear him start to scrape the bottom of the barrel. And the Michael Jackson duets are pretty overrated to me. Say Say Say isn't half bad. It sounds more like a Jackson song, but it doesn't quite compare to his other singles of the time. For all it's cheesiness and goofy absurdity, I'd say The Girl Is Mine is the best of their three collaborations.

The second disc was a treat. I've heard the three demos before, well, once. And I can see why I haven't heard them more. They don't have the same charm as the demos on the Tug Of War disc. For Average Person and Keep Under Cover, I think a Wings run-through would have been more entertaining. It's Not On is a great little track! The sound alone is far more interesting than most of Pipes Of Peace, and the lyrics are more inspired. Very much a precursor to Press To Play. Simple As That was compared in some review to more recent Bob Dylan. Well, I would have never thought of that, but certainly the guitar tone is similar... It's an interesting little demo. Probably best left at that stage though. The Say Say Say remix is a very neat alternative. I LOVE the idea of remixing songs showcasing unused elements. Getting Ode To A Koala Bear in a clear sound is wonderful. Twice In A Lifetime is a song where the title more or less describes how often I will listen to it. And the closer, Christian Bop, will likely remain the most played track from this set. Before I got this, it already had a 17 play count in iTunes, which I "transferred" to the version here. It's nice to hear it in better quality. The percussion sounds better, and maybe there is even more. There was also some editing towards the beginning which fixes a weird "stop-start" effect, where it felt like the song was building, and then took a step back.

Now, bring on Flowers In The Dirt!

 

I don't know. I used to think that way, but my sensibility about Paul changed. I stopped wanting him to meet my expectations of what I thought he should be doing, instead, I became both fascinated and appreciative of these odd little left musical turns he would take, and those two songs represent that for me. I love the stylistic shifts of side 2, so by the time I get to 'Through Our Love', I just feel that it was all this cool little journey with the pot of gold at the end. I think it's because I'm a prog head, and I think of a song like Supper's Ready, all these cool little movements. Side 2 of Pipes Of Peace is like a suite to me - no it doesn't have a lyrical theme that pulls it together, but it does have a certain amount of adventure. And on that level, it's very satisfying. Plus he sings his **** off on 'Tug Of Peace'.

 

TOW super deluxe edition No. 668 finely arrived from Amazon Italy yesterday.

 

I completely agree, I'm just not a fan (yet!) of Ode to a Koala Bear!!!! I am a huge fan however of We All Stand Together, which is chock-full of wondeful melodies. I'll defend that tune to the death, as (a) it is full of wonderful melodies and (b) it was aimed at kids (who I imagine really liked it) and not rock-loving adults. It's sad that many folk choose to ignore these two facts and use this tune to "bash" Macca. Further, it being a big hit in the UK at the same time as Broad Street appeared, and so soon after Wonderful Christmas, Ebony and Ivory and Say, Say, Say really seemed to dent his credibility and reinforce the popular perception of him being a purveyor of middle-of-the-road "mush". In this respect, I think he often "shoots himself in the foot" with his choice of singles, eg Mary Had a Little Lamb, Dance Tonight, Young Boy, With a Little Luck, Silly Love Songs (which in my world is truly awesome!). By the time he was a little more adventurous with Pretty Little Head, however, the general public were largely no longer interested enough to notice or care.

Together with his gift for melody, Paul's diversity is indeed one of his great strengths. It means that unlike some other artists, he hasn't been churning out the "same old songs" throughout his lengthy career.

 

I'll give you Wildlife, but not Driving Rain! I'll never understand the "hate" for that album, which for me does not include Freedom.