Pipes of Peace. Your thoughts.
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I just listened to "Pipes of Peace" again. As before, the two songs I like and seem special are "So Bad" and "Through Our Love". That's about it...still. The rest is kind of "slapdashed together". Paul just seems disinterested in the whole thing. If he doesn't/didn't care, why should we? That's the impression I got. Michael Jackson "owns" the two songs he's on. Without him, there's no energy in "Say, Say, Say" or, and especially, "The Man". Paul being on either song, seems totally incidental. He just sort of sings along here and there in a pop voice...without any fire or urgency that's needed...and which Jackson provides. The title cut with the children being taught to not sing "burn baby burn" just seems embarrassing. And if that topic is going to be addressed in a song, then it needs some fire to the vocal, some anger, not some bland pop-vocal piece. Without Paul's vocals several of the songs have rather nice melodies. Maybe he just should not have sung on them at all. The "Tug of Piece" bit is just dreadful in every way. IMO...very poor album. And it didn't help that Jackson released "Thriller" about that time. It all seems like he was the one doing Paul a huge favor by appearing on Paul's album...not the other way around as much as we may have wished that were the case. Sort of like Elton John doing Lennon a favor by appearing on "Whatever Gets You Through The Night". He was the big star then with his "Yellow Brick Road", not John. IMO.....all of the above.
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MJ's estate doesn't own "Say Say Say." You might be thinking of "The Girl Is Mine" ... which MJ plagiarized -- but that's another discussion.
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audi:
MJ's estate doesn't own "Say Say Say." You might be thinking of "The Girl Is Mine" ... which MJ plagiarized -- but that's another discussion.
I meant he "owned" it in the sense that he makes it his song by the way he sings, and that Paul seemed incidental...not that he literally owned the rights to it. I hadn't heard of the "The Girl Is Mine," which Paul appeared on in Thriller," being plagiarized. What other song is involved? Was there a lawsuit ala "Might Sweet Lord"??
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Gotcha'. And, yes, MJ was sued for both "The Girl Is Mine" AND "Dangerous" -- the latter being a much more blatant, obvious case (I've heard the songwriter's original 1986 demo). MJ showed up in court at the last minute, dazzling the tone-deaf jury. And he won.
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To me they seem to be having fun on the album. I like the tracks with MJ, but I agree they are not the best. So Bad, Through Our Love, and Pipes of Peace are my favourites. I also like Hey Hey quite a lot, but I wish it were longer. The Other Me , Keep Under Cover , Tug of Peace and Sweetest Little Show are fine but don't blow me away, and Average Person is barking mad but I find myself humming it quite a lot - it's really catchy.
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In some weird way for whatever reason, "Average Person" reminds me of "Famous Groupies" from London Town. Both were/are a bit too abstract.
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It's the opposite of most of his albums, in the respect that the rest of his albums may have one or two "clunkers", but are overall great. POP has two or three good songs and the rest is pretty weak. It's one of two McCartney's albums I don't have, though I bought it when it came out. The other is Wings Wildlife.
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You ain't missin' much.
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always had a soft spot for through our love
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Would like to praise "The Other Me"--very underrated, methinks. Always loved the title song POP. Love most of the album, actually.
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beatlesfanrandy:
It's one of two McCartney's albums I don't have, though I bought it when it came out. The other is Wings Wildlife.
I would say Wild Life is vastly better than Pipes of Peace. I think it's a great album.
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Loved the album when I first got it about 19 years ago when I was 12 but I think my taste has changed and I appreciate the rawrer macca stuff more now. Through Our Love is very underated and So Bad is beautiful. On the topic of bonus tracks, I have to say that for me Twice In A Lifetime is one of Macca's most un-memorable songs. That song has never gelled with me.
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Quote - Rupert Bear On the topic of bonus tracks, I have to say that for me Twice In A Lifetime is one of Macca's most un-memorable songs. That song has never gelled with me. I think it's quite nice, but Simple As That is much better. Great song. I can't believe he didn't include it on the album.
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Bruce M.:
The title tune is pretty good, a couple other tracks are okay, and about 2/3 of the album is unlistenable dreck. Very possibly the all-time low point of Paul's career, and a complete embarrassment after the brilliant Tug of War. Every 2 or 3 years I pull it out and try very hard to like it and just can't.
Rubbish.
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I always felt it was Tug Of War's little brother. It has the same "recipe", but compositions are not so well. Anyway, I like So Bad a lot, my preferred song of the disc, and it has so great non-included songs. I mean, Twice In a Life Time and Simple As That... they should be in the original tracklist!!
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Wyrdskein:
I've had this on my player for a while now, and it's grown on me a lot. I must admit it would be near the bottom of my list if I had to rank his solo efforts, but I still think it's a strong album. I actually prefer it to Tug of War and Driving Rain, and possibly Chaos and Creation. The weakest tracks are probably those with Michael Jackson, and I know a lot of people don't like Average Person, but I thought it was a good sing-a-long tune (even if the lyrics are a bit sloppy); I like the meh meh meh meh bit. I've done all his solo albums now and 3 by Wings (WL, V&M, BOTR: loved them all), so just 4 to go, Red Rose Speedway being the next if I can get a copy for a reasonable price.
Incredible let down to me after the wonderful TOW.
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WingsOfMacca:
I always felt it was Tug Of War's little brother. It has the same "recipe", but compositions are not so well. Anyway, I like So Bad a lot, my preferred song of the disc, and it has so great non-included songs. I mean, Twice In a Life Time and Simple As That... they should be in the original tracklist!!
Wish Macca had taken his time & took the best cuts from the George Martin sessions to come up with 1 killer album between Tug of Way & Pipes of Peace songs. In the early 80s, it seemed like Paul was trying too hard, rushing to put out "commercial" stuff, collaborating with other artists just for a hit single, etc.
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JoeySmith:
WingsOfMacca:
I always felt it was Tug Of War's little brother. It has the same "recipe", but compositions are not so well. Anyway, I like So Bad a lot, my preferred song of the disc, and it has so great non-included songs. I mean, Twice In a Life Time and Simple As That... they should be in the original tracklist!!
Wish Macca had taken his time & took the best cuts from the George Martin sessions to come up with 1 killer album between Tug of Way & Pipes of Peace songs. In the early 80s, it seemed like Paul was trying too hard, rushing to put out "commercial" stuff, collaborating with other artists just for a hit single, etc.
Besides, PoP came barely a year later... it seems a little rushed to me. Maybe he was trying to use the Tug of war's impulse.
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Well let me say this album has always been my least favorite Macca album. I can stand "Keep Under Cover", "Say Say Say", "The Man" & "Average Person" however I don't think their anything special. I love "Through Our Love" & "So Bad" (though I like the Broadstreet version better). I guess Id say I like "Simple As That" about equally as "Average Person". SAT is pretty catchy honest. AP would be great if it wasn't for the lion in the zoo part.. I sort of like "Twice in a Lifetime".. It's like "The Man".. Nothing special for me I wish "Ode to a Koala Bear" had been on the record aswell. As these songs are cheesy (besides TOL) so it's hard to give them too much hate.. It's '80's Paul.. My least favorite Macca records are between Pipes and "Press to Play". Though Press is a bit more listenable all the way through.. Well.. Haha. Still they both have those I like and those I do not like so much..
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I like the album title song , So Bad and Through Our Love , the rest is Pants