Pipes of Peace. Your thoughts.
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Crap.
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To clarify...I think the album is crap.
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Squid:
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.
Hi Squid, Just wanted to clarify...do you think POP is rubbish? Or were you referring to Bruce?s opinion on POP?
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"Tug Of War"'s leftover except for the title track. this how Paul record's started to go down in the 80's followed by commercially successful "Broad Street" but actually only 3 new songs in it! then the adventure of "Press" which was a way different from any McCartney trademark. I believe 1983-1988 are the lowest years in Paul's career, starting with Pipes of Peace. He didn't get back to his standards till "Flowers in the dirt" 1989
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Ammar:
"Tug Of War"'s leftover except for the title track. this how Paul record's started to go down in the 80's followed by commercially successful "Broad Street" but actually only 3 new songs in it! then the adventure of "Press" which was a way different from any McCartney trademark. I believe 1983-1988 are the lowest years in Paul's career, starting with Pipes of Peace. He didn't get back to his standards till "Flowers in the dirt" 1989
I basically agree with you, but "Broad Street" wasn't commercially successful anywhere but Britain. It only reached #21 in the U.S., his worst post-Beatle chart performance ever to that time, and did similarly or slightly better in most other countries.
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Ammar:
"Tug Of War"'s leftover except for the title track. this how Paul record's started to go down in the 80's followed by commercially successful "Broad Street" but actually only 3 new songs in it! then the adventure of "Press" which was a way different from any McCartney trademark. I believe 1983-1988 are the lowest years in Paul's career, starting with Pipes of Peace. He didn't get back to his standards till "Flowers in the dirt" 1989
Totally agree with you man. Ideas didn't flow so easily in the 80's because he gave his best products in the 70's and a last big project in the early 80's (TOW). After POP he fell in a professional "depression"... I feel he needed a reunion with Beatles in that time (to refresh ideas) but John was dead. He was in a kind of valley... almost fifteen years with the same woman, his best friend killed by a freak, his best music was already made... it can happen. And suddenly he finds a new partner (Costello), starts a new a tour... he needed motivation and inspiration.
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my least favorite album and his weakest by a long way Through our Love and So bad are my favorites although i prefer the broad street version the tittle track is a nice song but nothing more and never been that keen on either of the Jackson Tracks the rest is just so average and throwaway i dont really bother listening to pipes of peace these days .
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The tittle track must be sung with a little more emotion... it sounds bored.
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Shawn:
Squid:
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.
Hi Squid, Just wanted to clarify...do you think POP is rubbish? Or were you referring to Bruce?s opinion on POP?
Hi Shawn. I think we've probably had this conversation before, or one like it. One of the reasons I rarely post here anymore is that old threads seem to disappear, which means discussions are lost. I like Pipes of Peace. I admit a good part of my liking is sentimental, POP being the first Paul album I bought. It brings Christmas 1983 right back to me - sitting my bedroom listening to it on my old Ferguson receiver and playing video games on my Spectrum or reading my Battle Picture Library Annual. I didn't have a happy time as a kid or a teenager, so it's a matter of some joy to me that POP can invoke one of the few happy times I did have. Having said all that, as an adult, listening to POP with a practiced ear, I don't get all the hate. I think it's a pleasant album and that there are enough eccentric touches in its production and presentation to make it interesting and worthwhile. For the most part I find the songs slight but catchy - I love the title track and The Other Me and Sweetest Little Show and Through Our Love. So Bad is a beautiful song - you just wouldn't know it from the arrangement. The weak points are the Jackson collaborations, and I do feel that a lot of the hate comes from that, and the two (near) instrumentals which fill out the latter portion of the album. But even these are interesting in their own way - listened to on a good stereo, they're full of pleasant noise. Personally I think POP is Paul's last organic LP before we get to the more corporate Press to Play and the production-driven FITD, to the ghastly Off the Ground. So I like it.
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Off the Ground would be high up my favourites list. I love it, but I agree with your POP points.
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Squid:
Shawn:
Squid:
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.
Hi Squid, Just wanted to clarify...do you think POP is rubbish? Or were you referring to Bruce?s opinion on POP?
Hi Shawn. I think we've probably had this conversation before, or one like it. One of the reasons I rarely post here anymore is that old threads seem to disappear, which means discussions are lost. I like Pipes of Peace. I admit a good part of my liking is sentimental, POP being the first Paul album I bought. It brings Christmas 1983 right back to me - sitting my bedroom listening to it on my old Ferguson receiver and playing video games on my Spectrum or reading my Battle Picture Library Annual. I didn't have a happy time as a kid or a teenager, so it's a matter of some joy to me that POP can invoke one of the few happy times I did have. Having said all that, as an adult, listening to POP with a practiced ear, I don't get all the hate. I think it's a pleasant album and that there are enough eccentric touches in its production and presentation to make it interesting and worthwhile. For the most part I find the songs slight but catchy - I love the title track and The Other Me and Sweetest Little Show and Through Our Love. So Bad is a beautiful song - you just wouldn't know it from the arrangement. The weak points are the Jackson collaborations, and I do feel that a lot of the hate comes from that, and the two (near) instrumentals which fill out the latter portion of the album. But even these are interesting in their own way - listened to on a good stereo, they're full of pleasant noise. Personally I think POP is Paul's last organic LP before we get to the more corporate Press to Play and the production-driven FITD, to the ghastly Off the Ground. So I like it.
Hi Squid, Thank you. Your reply has given me a lot to consider in regards to POP. I think you're right. We probably have fleshed this out before, haha! For some time I have considered POP a low point in McCartney's catalog, surpassed in dreadfulness only by Memory Almost Full, which I truly disliked, save for a few excellent tracks (please pardon my liberal use of hyperbole). I understand sentimental appeal. POP was the first McCartney album I ever bought. I became a fan in '83. I absolutely loved it at the time. I played it over and over. I still have the vinyl version. Over time, something changed for me, and my positive estimation of the merits of POP dissipated. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but I think some of the trite songwriting got to me. Not that I've ever let that stand in my way...I'm a big fan of We All Stand Together, Wildlife, the new song Hope, etc... And although I love side one (including Say, Say, Say, for the record), I have always felt that side two is basically a load of sub-par filler. The only exception being the magnificent Through Our Love. Recently a good friend of mine has been listening to POP a lot, and extolling its virtues. I believe it is time for me to revisit this album, and rediscover what I loved about it in 1983. Thank you, Squid, as always, for encouraging me to critically reconsider my opinions about McCartney's fascinating recorded output. As for PTP, FITD, and Off the Ground, I will leave that to another thread, and another day. Cheers.
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Squid:
Hi Shawn. I think we've probably had this conversation before, or one like it. One of the reasons I rarely post here anymore is that old threads seem to disappear, which means discussions are lost.
Hi, The message board Search feature is your friend! The past conversation in which you previously had this discussion with Shawn begins here: http://maccaboard.paulmccartney.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=2445032#2445032 I am aware that many members find the Search feature here to be a bit tricky. If you ever need assistance, please do not hesitate to ask, I will be glad to help! Anita
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Triplets Love Paul:
Squid:
Hi Shawn. I think we've probably had this conversation before, or one like it. One of the reasons I rarely post here anymore is that old threads seem to disappear, which means discussions are lost.
Hi, The message board Search feature is your friend! The past conversation in which you previously had this discussion with Shawn begins here: http://maccaboard.paulmccartney.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=2445032#2445032 I am aware that many members find the Search feature here to be a bit tricky. If you ever need assistance, please do not hesitate to ask, I will be glad to help! Anita
Thank you, Anita. That is very nice of you.
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Shawn:
Thank you, Anita. That is very nice of you.
You're welcome, my pleasure!
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Seeing the title of that topic made me want to listen to "Through Our Love" again, it had been a while...PoP really was an odd release after the big push given to ToW. I remember having to buy the cassette version because I couldn't find the LP. I must still have that cassette somewhere...the linear notes were pretty thorough. I was intrigued by the credit given to Denny Laine, somehow I associate him with "Through Our Love", but I'm not sure why as I don't think there were detailed credits by song.
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webvan:
Seeing the title of that topic made me want to listen to "Through Our Love" again, it had been a while...PoP really was an odd release after the big push given to ToW. I remember having to buy the cassette version because I couldn't find the LP. I must still have that cassette somewhere...the linear notes were pretty thorough. I was intrigued by the credit given to Denny Laine, somehow I associate him with "Through Our Love", but I'm not sure why as I don't think there were detailed credits by song.
Check this out: http://somethingelsereviews.com/2014/09/10/one-track-mind-paul-mccartney-hope-for-the-future-from-destiny-2014/
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I've been listening to it quite a bit and it has it's moments, certainly side one is strong. I would put it up there with Tug of War. I do not disagree with a lot of what has already been said, but for me the standout tracks are: the title track, Say Say Say, The Other Me, Keep Under Cover, So Bad and Through Our Love. Tracks such as The Man and Average Person don't do a lot for me.
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I actually really like Average Person. Pipes of Peace generally is a good album, but yes, not as good as Tug of War.
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Average Person is like Temporary Secretary, funny but ridiculous
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Pipes of Peace album is actually getting better with age, if that makes sense. This is pure unabashed early/mid 80s production, which normally sounds dated, going back to the early 90s. 20 years later, there are so many new bands that are channeling the 70s/80s production, that PoP sounds fresh again. Still dont like a few of the songs - Average Person, Tug of Peace, The Man - but the others sound good to my ears. I still think that Tug of War/Pipes of Peace would have made a killer single album.