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Post by John S. Damm on May 9, 2015 23:38:56 GMT -5
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nine
Very Clean
Posts: 840
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Post by nine on May 10, 2015 0:30:23 GMT -5
Well, Ram was bagged back in the day. There have always been bad reviews for practically every McCartney album. I am pleased to see McCartney II being re-assesed and appreciated. Perhaps Egg will be too one day.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2015 0:48:23 GMT -5
Whilst Back to The Egg wasn't a great album for me, McCartney 2 is a stinker, fights with Driving Rain as Macca's worst album.
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nine
Very Clean
Posts: 840
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Post by nine on May 10, 2015 1:56:58 GMT -5
Whilst Back to The Egg wasn't a great album for me, McCartney 2 is a stinker, fights with Driving Rain as Macca's worst album. Driving Rain is possibly my least favourite album. I apologise for going off topic. This, after all, is a thread about Tug Of War.
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Post by sallyg on May 10, 2015 4:40:01 GMT -5
I liked Tug Of War upon release and still appreciate it today. I personally rank it as one of Paul’s best, though it’s not quite in my top tier. That consists of Ram, Band On The Run, Flaming Pie, Chaos And Creation and New. It nearly makes it though. When the re-issue comes I will automatically snap it up. For me, the album generally has a stylish, classy feel that Pipes Of Peace lacks. Therefore, since I already consider it a solid set, I don’t agree that combing some of it with the best from Pipes Of Peace would have been a good move. IMO it is Pipes Of Peace that falls short (in my bottom tier). Better to have fused that with the choicer tracks from Broadstreet, to make one strong album in the place of two weak ones, for a 1984 release. From the moment I first saw it in the record racks back in 1982, I have always loved the cover Of Tug Of War. Again, I think it is one of Paul’s best, along with McCartney, Venus And Mars, Flowers In The Dirt, Chaos And Creation and perhaps New ( Pipes Of Peace, again, is one of the worst). Track by track Tug Of WarTo me this sounds majestic. A brilliant album opener. Take It AwayA good pop/rock number. Somebody Who Cares
Beautiful ballad. What’s That You’re Doing (with Stevie Wonder) Don’t particularly like it. It does have a certain amount of energy. If I recall correctly, an early edition of the Rolling Stone Record Guide cited this as a highlight from the album. I couldn’t understand that view, despite liking much of Stevie Wonder’s work. Here TodayAnother beautiful ballad. Genuinely heartfelt. Ballroom Dancing
A quality pop song. The Pound Is SinkingA lesser quality pop song. He does sing it well though. Wanderlust
Probably one of the finest songs in Paul’s post-Beatles’ career. Get It (with Carl Perkins) Charming rockabilly number. Doesn’t really match the feel of the rest of the album though. Be What You See
An insignificant trifle. It sounds good though. Dress Me Up As A RobberOK. Ebony And Ivory (with Stevie Wonder) I don’t have anything against it. I especially like the guitar. I’m not sure it was a good choice of song to close the album though. Not sure what should have been used in its place. I liked this album when it was released and still do. My favorites from this are Tug of War, Take It Away (cool intro), Somebody Who Cares, Here Today, Wanderlust, What's That You're Doing (Better than Ebony and Ivory), Dress Me Up As A Robber.
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Post by sallyg on May 10, 2015 4:47:48 GMT -5
What is the good song? The only one I rate lowly is Love Awake. And, the Open Tonight bit drags a tad... but apart from that this is a great album in my opinion. I'm with you. I used to start side two after Love Awake and let it eject back to the start and play up to Love Awake. Same with We're eOpen Tonight on side one. I do like where it's brought back for So Glad though. The album was rated number ten by all of us here at Abbeyrd. Highlights for me are: Getting Closer (Reminds me of Get Back) Old Siam Sir (Zeppelinesque at it's best) Arrow Through Me (A nice R&B, smooth jazz song) To You (Paul's run at punk) So Glad to See You Here (A great hard rockin' tour song) Baby's Request (A classic in any era) Those songs are my favorites from Back To The Egg. I especially like Arrow Through Me and Baby's Request.
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nine
Very Clean
Posts: 840
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Post by nine on May 10, 2015 6:53:33 GMT -5
I liked Tug Of War upon release and still appreciate it today. I personally rank it as one of Paul’s best, though it’s not quite in my top tier. That consists of Ram, Band On The Run, Flaming Pie, Chaos And Creation and New. It nearly makes it though. When the re-issue comes I will automatically snap it up. For me, the album generally has a stylish, classy feel that Pipes Of Peace lacks. Therefore, since I already consider it a solid set, I don’t agree that combing some of it with the best from Pipes Of Peace would have been a good move. IMO it is Pipes Of Peace that falls short (in my bottom tier). Better to have fused that with the choicer tracks from Broadstreet, to make one strong album in the place of two weak ones, for a 1984 release. From the moment I first saw it in the record racks back in 1982, I have always loved the cover Of Tug Of War. Again, I think it is one of Paul’s best, along with McCartney, Venus And Mars, Flowers In The Dirt, Chaos And Creation and perhaps New ( Pipes Of Peace, again, is one of the worst). Track by track Tug Of WarTo me this sounds majestic. A brilliant album opener. Take It AwayA good pop/rock number. Somebody Who Cares
Beautiful ballad. What’s That You’re Doing (with Stevie Wonder) Don’t particularly like it. It does have a certain amount of energy. If I recall correctly, an early edition of the Rolling Stone Record Guide cited this as a highlight from the album. I couldn’t understand that view, despite liking much of Stevie Wonder’s work. Here TodayAnother beautiful ballad. Genuinely heartfelt. Ballroom Dancing
A quality pop song. The Pound Is SinkingA lesser quality pop song. He does sing it well though. Wanderlust
Probably one of the finest songs in Paul’s post-Beatles’ career. Get It (with Carl Perkins) Charming rockabilly number. Doesn’t really match the feel of the rest of the album though. Be What You See
An insignificant trifle. It sounds good though. Dress Me Up As A RobberOK. Ebony And Ivory (with Stevie Wonder) I don’t have anything against it. I especially like the guitar. I’m not sure it was a good choice of song to close the album though. Not sure what should have been used in its place. I liked this album when it was released and still do. My favorites from this are Tug of War, Take It Away (cool intro), Somebody Who Cares, Here Today, Wanderlust, What's That You're Doing (Better than Ebony and Ivory), Dress Me Up As A Robber. I've said this many times. The vinyl era only had ten to twelve tracks on an album (fourteen if the songs were brief like Please Please Me). Imagine if Chaos or New or Memory or Rain or Ground could be whittled down to ten or twelve. They might be regarded more highly. Band on the Run only had ten (nine in the UK). And Johnny... Wild Life had hardly any tracks on it. I don't think an album should run longer than what the vinyl did. The introduction of CD took away from the two side experience and added in many cases inferior songs. If I was a rock star, I'd only put ten to twelve tracks on an album. Two CDs. Side 1 and Side 2.
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Post by stavros on May 10, 2015 17:11:04 GMT -5
Yep it was considered dross in 1979 because that old tired has been Paul McCartney tried to recreate the sound of 1979 in one album. The writer praises "Band on the Run" that contains lyrics like: Maybe history will be a bit kinder when it gets a proper repackage. It's a fine album.
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kc
Beatle Freak
Posts: 1,085
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Post by kc on May 10, 2015 18:31:57 GMT -5
I liked this album when it was released and still do. My favorites from this are Tug of War, Take It Away (cool intro), Somebody Who Cares, Here Today, Wanderlust, What's That You're Doing (Better than Ebony and Ivory), Dress Me Up As A Robber. I've said this many times. The vinyl era only had ten to twelve tracks on an album (fourteen if the songs were brief like Please Please Me). I don't think an album should run longer than what the vinyl did. I don't have any problem with CDs that only run to, say, 40 to 45 minutes, like many of the vinyl albums of old (plenty of them were even shorter). Some people do; they see it as not delivering value for money. Like you suggest though, I think quality should come ahead of quantity. I can think of a number of albums which for me could be made better by the deletion of a track, or two. I count Memory Almost Full as a strong work, but I wouldn't miss Gratitude. I think Driving Rain is OK, but for me it would be better without Spinning On An Axis and probably Tiny Bubble as well.
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Post by debjorgo on May 10, 2015 20:39:34 GMT -5
I think that's why none of the Beatle's albums have bonus tracks. That said, I'd like see new releases loaded with bonus tracks, even if it's just the tracks on Past Masters. More so than that, why not a complete Archive series like the McCartney releases. Some say the Beatles were more popular even than Paul.
If it were my call, I'd release everything year by year. BEATLES 62 - 3 to 4 discs, proper released stuff, released rarity's and enough bootleg stuff and unheard vault stuff to make all of us here buy it. A DVD of the best videos and live performances.
6 months later, BEATLES 63.
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kc
Beatle Freak
Posts: 1,085
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Post by kc on May 10, 2015 22:46:31 GMT -5
I think that's why none of the Beatle's albums have bonus tracks. That said, I'd like see new releases loaded with bonus tracks, even if it's just the tracks on Past Masters. More so than that, why not a complete Archive series like the McCartney releases. Some say the Beatles were more popular even than Paul. If it were my call, I'd release everything year by year. BEATLES 62 - 3 to 4 discs, proper released stuff, released rarity's and enough bootleg stuff and unheard vault stuff to make all of us here buy it. A DVD of the best videos and live performances. 6 months later, BEATLES 63. Oh, I am not against bonus tracks. I like the way that they have been included on these Paul McCartney Archive Series releases. That is, putting them on a separate disc, including associated singles and live versions of album songs, as well as the more usual out-takes and alternate versions. I like your idea for expanded Beatles' albums with bonus tracks added. I'm not sure about the year by year format though. A deluxe edition of Beatles For Sale, for example, might include: The I Feel Fine/She's A Woman single songs The out-take Leave My Kitten AloneThe half a dozen alternate versions on the Beatles' Anthology The live version of She's A Woman from the Hollywood Bowl The live version of Baby's In Black from Shea Several of the BBC live recordings of BFS songs I wonder what bonus audio material might surface on the TOW/POP sets when they do appear? The solo version of Ebony and Ivory springs to mind.
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Post by vectisfabber on May 11, 2015 4:14:18 GMT -5
I think that's why none of the Beatle's albums have bonus tracks. That said, I'd like see new releases loaded with bonus tracks, even if it's just the tracks on Past Masters. More so than that, why not a complete Archive series like the McCartney releases. Some say the Beatles were more popular even than Paul. If it were my call, I'd release everything year by year. BEATLES 62 - 3 to 4 discs, proper released stuff, released rarity's and enough bootleg stuff and unheard vault stuff to make all of us here buy it. A DVD of the best videos and live performances. 6 months later, BEATLES 63. This. Do you hear me, EMI/Apple? THIS!!!!!
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