This album actually got quite good reviews upon its release, but a lot of people seem to have decided afterwards that it just isn't great.
So time to check it out again then. Because it is truly great stuff all over. Several of McCartney's best songs in there, and the only McCartney album containing absolutely no filler (sure, "Ebony & Ivory" is far from my fave track on the album, but it still is a quite nice song, and not even remotely as bad as some people claim).
"Tug Of War" was kind of a departure in one particular way. Earlier on McCartney had a very "do it yourself" approach to sonic quality and production, which made most of his albums sound like they were recorded in his kitchen while cooking (which was more or less the case with the 1980 album "McCartney II" anyway). Instead "Tug Of War" has the kind of crystal clear, picture perfect, sound that Beatles followers such as 10cc, Supertramp, ELO and Alan Parsons had been doing for most of the 70s. Abandoning the low-fi effort may have pissed off some of the most typical rock fans, but this isn't a rock album, it is a pop one. And a bloody good one at that.
"Here Today", "Somebody Who Cares", "Wanderlust" and the title track are all up there with his best songs ever (and I am even included his Beatles efforts here). And as for the rest, they are all great too.
Sure, followup "Pipes Of Peace" was a disaster, with great sound quality but hardly any good songs, and it took 7 years until 1989's "Flowers In The Dirt" to come up with an album that was almost as good. But only almost. "Tug Of War" remains his best solo work. And not only so:
"Tug Of War" is the best ever solo effort by an ex-member of The Beatles. Ever. Period.
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 4 March 2004 01:23 (twenty years ago) link
― pete s, Thursday, 4 March 2004 01:31 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 4 March 2004 01:32 (twenty years ago) link
― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Thursday, 4 March 2004 01:37 (twenty years ago) link
― Jim Reckling (Jim Reckling), Thursday, 4 March 2004 01:39 (twenty years ago) link
― pete s, Thursday, 4 March 2004 01:42 (twenty years ago) link
― (Jon L), Thursday, 4 March 2004 01:44 (twenty years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 4 March 2004 01:45 (twenty years ago) link
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 4 March 2004 01:49 (twenty years ago) link
― robin carmody (robin carmody), Thursday, 4 March 2004 01:50 (twenty years ago) link
― robin carmody (robin carmody), Thursday, 4 March 2004 01:51 (twenty years ago) link
― pete s, Thursday, 4 March 2004 01:53 (twenty years ago) link
I like this album.
― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 4 March 2004 01:54 (twenty years ago) link
a travesty that's based on an utterly false conceit. as has been pointed out before, ebony and ivory do not in fact stand side by side on my piano keyboard in perfect harmony. quite the opposite. adjacent black and white notes on the keyboard make a most dissonant sound.
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 4 March 2004 01:56 (twenty years ago) link
― Broheems (diamond), Thursday, 4 March 2004 01:59 (twenty years ago) link
― bahtology, Thursday, 4 March 2004 03:21 (twenty years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 4 March 2004 03:23 (twenty years ago) link
― jim wentworth (wench), Thursday, 4 March 2004 03:29 (twenty years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 4 March 2004 03:31 (twenty years ago) link
― robin carmody (robin carmody), Thursday, 4 March 2004 03:33 (twenty years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 4 March 2004 03:35 (twenty years ago) link
― robin carmody (robin carmody), Thursday, 4 March 2004 03:37 (twenty years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 4 March 2004 03:40 (twenty years ago) link
― robin carmody (robin carmody), Thursday, 4 March 2004 03:41 (twenty years ago) link
One of the reasons I don't listen to oldies stations is they never play songs like this.
― jim wentworth (wench), Thursday, 4 March 2004 04:00 (twenty years ago) link
― MerkinMuffley (MerkinMuffley), Thursday, 4 March 2004 04:07 (twenty years ago) link
― dleone (dleone), Thursday, 4 March 2004 04:21 (twenty years ago) link
i kinda like the debut (and yeah, "every night") but ram is one of the worst albums i've ever heard: it's like fucking "maxwell's silver hammer" stretched out to 40 minutes!
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:52 (twenty years ago) link
― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Thursday, 4 March 2004 07:34 (twenty years ago) link
E&I is one of those songs so detestable on first hearing that it needs to buried away like nucear waste and is not eligible for reappraisal until 202004.
― Bob Six (bobbysix), Thursday, 4 March 2004 08:01 (twenty years ago) link
I love Ram and it would probably be my favourite of his. It's a big old mess of a record with some silly songs, some great songs and though it was recorded in studios in the US still maintains that home made feel that saves 'McCartney' from being a terrible record. It only works because it has the charm of being recorded at home though Maybe I'm Amazed, Junk, Every Night and possibly That Would Be Something are all great.
― mms (mms), Thursday, 4 March 2004 09:46 (twenty years ago) link
I can think of one other ILX regular who might well agree with this. I expect him to appear within the next ten posts.
― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Thursday, 4 March 2004 09:50 (twenty years ago) link
"Pipes of Peace" btw, is too often wrote off... there's little of the greatness perhaps, of the main 4 above that I note, but there are few outright failures. All at least is enjoyable in a lightweight way. And the title track is *great*. And "We All Stand Together" is a bonus track on the re-issued CD! Need I add more to that...?
― Tom May (Tom May), Thursday, 4 March 2004 14:10 (twenty years ago) link
The LP I like. Others, including May and J.D., have already noted some of its highlights. As a wee lad I loved 'Ballroom Dancing', 'Wanderlust' and perhaps more. Probably 'The Pound Is Sinking' scared me. And 'Here Today' stunned me with its poignancy, 3 summers ago.
I do not know that the LP is the best post-Beatles solo record. I think Macca's best solo record is probably Wings' Venus & Mars - does that count as solo? If so, it's my bid: better even than All Things Must Pass, better even than... Tug of War.
― the pinefox, Thursday, 4 March 2004 14:24 (twenty years ago) link
As for other McCartney albums, again, "Flowers In The Dirt" is absolutely excellent. I find it a bit more inconsistent than "Tug Of War", but the highlights are just as strong, with "My Brave Face", "How Many People", "Figure Of Eight", "This One", "You Want Her Too" and "Distractions" all among his best solo work ever.
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 4 March 2004 14:38 (twenty years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 4 March 2004 14:45 (twenty years ago) link
The fact that he usually follows up the most sweet beautiful Idea Songs with a SCREAMING GLAM BONANZA that careers headlong into a music-hall FANCY about taking tea with the queen is only TESTAMENT to his mighty genius at the time. Macca only got rubbish around about "Pipes Of Peace" when he stopped doing EXACTLY what he felt like doing and started trying to get back into the charts again. When he was writing songs like "Single Pigeon" or "Dragonfly" or indeed "Magneto & Titanium Man" he was untouchable.
― MJ Hibbett, Thursday, 4 March 2004 16:11 (twenty years ago) link
― mike a, Thursday, 4 March 2004 16:12 (twenty years ago) link
― mike a, Thursday, 4 March 2004 16:14 (twenty years ago) link
i have an entirely irrational love of this song.
move along, nothing to see here...
― stevie (stevie), Thursday, 4 March 2004 16:19 (twenty years ago) link
The thing that makes "Get It" particularly great is the vocoder dealy that comes right after. Go cat, go!
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 4 March 2004 16:23 (twenty years ago) link
mike a otm about Macca moments and forgettable filler. He is ill-served by not having a good editor.
― Bob Six (bobbysix), Thursday, 4 March 2004 17:48 (twenty years ago) link
I mentioned this bit upthread I think. I had it going rou and round my head during a French A-Level exam. CReepy.
― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 4 March 2004 17:58 (twenty years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 4 March 2004 18:02 (twenty years ago) link
― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Thursday, 4 March 2004 18:13 (twenty years ago) link
True, but Press To Play is easily his most underrated record. Much more experimental (and consistent, even) than TOW, it's also got tunes like "However Absurd," "Stranglehold," and "Footprints," which have to rank among his career highlights.
And as enthused as I was to hear his work with Horn/Lipson, I've always felt Flowers In the Dirt was a bit of a letdown by comparison — just a lot more hit n' miss and tossed off (and not in a good way).
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 4 March 2004 18:31 (twenty years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 4 March 2004 19:50 (twenty years ago) link
I recently acquired most of George's 70s solo albums via my fiancee's mom dumping off four crates of records on us. They're pretty spotty in general, but there are definitely some diamonds in the rough. The Ravi Shankar and Friends album in particular is a pretty fascinating document. "Living in the Material World" is probably the best of the lot - it's my favorite because it contains this absolutely *gorgeous* bit of Spector-pop "Don't Let Me Wait Too Long". "The Lord Loves the One Who Loves the Lord" is also a pretty track. The next one "Dark Horse" made a bit less of an impression on me. And then by 1979 and his self-titled, LA strings infested s/t album things are pretty uninteresting. Apart from realizing how many songs George wrote about the Beatles and their legal troubles - it's odd that George comes across as the most bitter about it all, and makes very obvious lyrical statements to that effect. I could forgive it if the tunes themselves were strong, but "Sue You Sue Me Blues" et al get tired pretty quick. All that being said, George is still my favorite Beatle. Also search: "Cheer Down" from some 80s sdtk, now that was a great single.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 4 March 2004 20:10 (twenty years ago) link
No way is it worse than Pipes of Peace, Geir, sorry. No way. "However Absurd" is rubbish? The production is totally space-age and the bridge is unquestionably glorious!
That and, as of now, Press To Play is the last time he seemingly had a bug up his ass to experiment in the studio.
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:10 (twenty years ago) link
on a proper solo album, yes. but there are two albums by The Fireman and there's Liverpool Sound Collage.
only heard the first Fireman album, which I didn't like but am also strangely sorry I sold. Has anyone here heard the second one, or Collage?
or Thrillington, even?
or hey, how's that McGear album?
― (Jon L), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:46 (twenty years ago) link
holy fucking shit. the swingle singers are on the thrillington album. that's a big deal for me.
― (Jon L), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:53 (twenty years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:56 (twenty years ago) link
'Super Furry Animals' - the only group ever to be commissioned to remix the BEATLES.
― (Jon L), Thursday, 4 March 2004 22:04 (twenty years ago) link
Sadly, the past 15 years haven't been quite as good. "Flaming Pie" had its moment, but unlike George Harrison, I feel like Jeff Lynne's production just didn't fit with McCartney's style. The more bombastic production approach that Lynne used to have until the mid 80s may have fitted better with McCartney, but the stripped down sound of later Lynne was more suited with Harrison's style than McCartney's.
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 5 March 2004 02:15 (twenty years ago) link
Whatever. Without Macca experimenting in the studio, there's no McCartney, no "Back Seat of My Car," or "Little Lamb Dragonfly." There's no vocal tag to "Venus and Mars (Reprise)," or aping of Eno in "Summer Day's Song." There's no progged-out coda to "Getting Closer" or steely horn riff on "Arrow Through Me."
I only wish there was no "Flaming Poo."
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 5 March 2004 03:21 (twenty years ago) link
― mike a, Friday, 5 March 2004 15:02 (twenty years ago) link
― Makrugaik (makrugaik), Saturday, 27 May 2006 18:43 (seventeen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 27 May 2006 19:38 (seventeen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 27 May 2006 19:39 (seventeen years ago) link
That said, there is some really good material on this record and "The Pound Is Sinking" is stunning.
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 27 May 2006 20:17 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 27 May 2006 20:31 (seventeen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 27 May 2006 20:40 (seventeen years ago) link
I certainly agree that a pop album doesn't have to be that way, however. But this album still feels a lot like dinosaur music to me, whereas maybe something like Bowie's Let's Dance feels fresher.
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 27 May 2006 20:50 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 27 May 2006 21:13 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Saturday, 27 May 2006 21:15 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Saturday, 27 May 2006 21:16 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Saturday, 27 May 2006 21:17 (seventeen years ago) link
― musically (musically), Saturday, 27 May 2006 21:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 27 May 2006 21:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 27 May 2006 21:52 (seventeen years ago) link
Look, I'll defend Cloud Nine and a handful of his solo singles, but that's as far as I'll go.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Saturday, 27 May 2006 21:58 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Saturday, 27 May 2006 21:59 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 27 May 2006 22:01 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 27 May 2006 22:56 (seventeen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 27 May 2006 23:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 27 May 2006 23:31 (seventeen years ago) link
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Sunday, 28 May 2006 05:36 (seventeen years ago) link
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Sunday, 28 May 2006 05:42 (seventeen years ago) link
And really, when you have "Tug of War," "Take It Away," "The Pound Is Sinking," "Wanderlust," "Ballroom Dancing," and "Dress Me Up As A Robber," surely you can accept the far less adventurous exercises like "Somebody Who Cares" and "Get It." (The main problem I have with Pipes of Peace is that it's composed so overwhelmingly of the latter.) With Paul, you veryrarely get clear "I have a vision, and I am going to make an album!" gestures, and many of them verge on being high-concept blunders. His most rewarding albums are the ones where the "guess it's time to make a record again" impulse coincides, happily, with a period of particularly lucrative whimsy and noodling. This is what seems to separate "Tug of War" from "Pipes of Peace"; "Red Rose Speedway" from "Wild Life"...
Paul will never bowl you over with his experimental daring (even when he's trying specifically to do so) but he can delight you with the little touches during fertile periods. Tug of War is a great example - if he were really just an aimless dinosaur knocking out pretty tunes by the numbers and trying desperately to stay hip, Tug of War would play a lot more like the LPs that immediately follow it. (I'll wait for a dedicated Press To Play thread to give it a more charitable treatment..let it suffice for now to say that "Pretty Little Head" is almost, but not quite enough, to justify owning this otherwise obnoxious and irritating album.)
― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), Sunday, 28 May 2006 06:26 (seventeen years ago) link
I'm pretty sure there IS a thread; and I may have started it (or Matthew, or Tim)
let it suffice for now to say that "Pretty Little Head" is almost, but not quite enough, to justify owning this otherwise obnoxious and irritating album.)
"Stranglehold" and "Press" have that effect on me.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Sunday, 28 May 2006 13:09 (seventeen years ago) link
― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), Sunday, 28 May 2006 15:50 (seventeen years ago) link
http://home.att.net/~rarebird9/ghst.jpg
Material is great all the way through and "Blow Away" and "Faster" are both ... uh ... stunningly gorgeous - you bet. It was interesting seeing the "Blow Away" video on youtube and seeing him with a Les Paul. I've wondered for a LONG TIME how he got that guitar sound during those years. Must have been the Les Paul, after all! One of the few players to use a Les Paul for a "light," "chiming," "spindly" sound. Listen to his slide playing on that record or the rhythm guitar on "Your Love Is Forever," for examples. Gorgeous guitar sound.
Speaking of George on youtube, there's an intersting clip of him and band playing "Dark Horse" in '74. Not very good quality, but surely this was the best song on that record. Band includes Willie Weeks and two flautists. Who knows where it's from - they're playing live, but it's not footage from the 1974 tour. Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VEWfVHqK5U&search=george%20harrison%20dark%20horse
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 28 May 2006 19:41 (seventeen years ago) link
I like that Harrson LP a lot too - it was part of my childhood.
Hongro wasn't that way off about Tug of War, in my view. In the Macca stakes I think it's ahead of highlights McCartney II, Flaming Pie and Flowers In The Dirt, but maybe still in the #2 slot behind Venus & Mars - probably my favourite post-Beatles Macca.
How to compare any of them with All Things Must Pass (which I like, though it goes on a bit) I'm not sure.
― the pinefox, Friday, 17 July 2009 11:35 (fourteen years ago) link
HarrIson LP. George deserves to be spelled properly!
― the pinefox, Friday, 17 July 2009 11:38 (fourteen years ago) link
I now see that I posted to this thread 5 years ago, and I haven't really changed my view, except that I know more solo McCartney now than I did then, or a fortnight ago.
― the pinefox, Friday, 17 July 2009 11:39 (fourteen years ago) link
How do you rate "Chaos & Creation In The Backyard"? For me it is up there with his very, very, best work. Although I like "Ram", "Band On The Run" and "Venus And Mars" a lot, I find myself getting more excited by his work from the 80s onwards, when that "do it yourself" approach was less evident.
Compared to what I wrote 5 years ago, "Press To Play" has grown on me, somewhat. Still not considering it among his best, but some of those "weird" tracks are OK too. "Pretty Little Head" is not though.
― Geir Hongro, Friday, 17 July 2009 23:04 (fourteen years ago) link
http://mlaudio.ornith.cornell.edu/audio/122552/122552.mp3
― Milton Parker, Friday, 17 July 2009 23:14 (fourteen years ago) link
Macca only got rubbish around about "Pipes Of Peace" when he stopped doing EXACTLY what he felt like doing
But wasn't "We All Stand Together" a perfect example of this?
― Geir Hongro, Friday, 17 July 2009 23:36 (fourteen years ago) link
I don't think I really like Band On The Run, though I don't own it.
I've just been discovering Ram - it does have some OK material including 'Back Seat Of My Car' which N loves so much.
Chaos & Creation I think must be the best since Flowers In The Dirt. It seems strong to me, for late McCartney. But then I think Memory Almost Full may be underrated! That song 'at the end of the end' is quite moving!
― the pinefox, Friday, 17 July 2009 23:56 (fourteen years ago) link
"Memory Almost Full" is not a bad album, but it suffers from way too much compression. Typical 00s problem.
― Geir Hongro, Friday, 17 July 2009 23:56 (fourteen years ago) link
How is everybody ignoring the shocking, beautiful, intense, and unique "Plastic Ono Band" album if you're going to talk about the best post-Beatles' solo album? For that matter, how can you call "Tug of War" better than "Venus and Mars," "Band On The Run," or "Ram?" Or yes, as others have noted, "All Things Must Pass?" I agree completely with the compression problem on "Memory Almost Full," it wrecks the enjoyment that one could derive from the album which must be played at very low volume to be tolerated. This is the wrong thread, but it appears that there is actually a remastered version of "A Bigger Bang" out now! I wonder if its even more compressed that the original release from 2000tenminutesago.
― The Heart 'Bad Animals Tour' Goes On Forever In My Mind (Dr. Joseph A. Ofalt), Saturday, 18 July 2009 02:52 (fourteen years ago) link
The world's waited for it.
― My name is Kenny! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 18 July 2009 03:03 (fourteen years ago) link
God, this is a well-produced record. I called it "shockingly listenable" upthread and I think it takes me by surprise every time I put it on just how lovely the sounds coming out of the speaker are. Very strong songwriting, too; the lyrics are iffy in places but the melodies are some of his best ever. "Wanderlust"!
This was probably among the very first few CDs I ever bought. Still holds up really well. And can I say that I love the cover? The saturation, the red and the blue, on a mint condition sleeve it just glows.
― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 23 September 2010 02:19 (thirteen years ago) link
OK, "Get It" is maybe a little hokey but that's sort of inevitable yeah? Carl Perkins has a nice voice though and I like the line "A life of Cadillac and ultra for sure."
― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 23 September 2010 02:21 (thirteen years ago) link
helter skelter is the most hilariously unrocking while trying to be rocking song i've ever heard
― mittens reduxeo, Thursday, 23 September 2010 02:32 (thirteen years ago) link
Love "Take It Away."
― raging hetero lifechill (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 23 September 2010 02:36 (thirteen years ago) link