Paul McCartney - Tug Of War (1982) [1989, Japan]

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Paul McCartney - Tug Of War (1982) [1989, Japan]

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Paul McCartney - Tug Of War (1982) [1989, Japan]

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"Tug of War" is the 3rd solo studio album by Paul McCartney, discounting the seven studio albums with Wings, released in April 1982. It was McCartney's first album released after the dissolution of Wings in April 1981. The album was produced by former Beatles producer George Martin and was a number #1 in numerous countries. Following the release of the solo album McCartney II, Wings regrouped in July and October 1980 to rehearse several songs which later appeared on Tug of War and Pipes of Peace. Feeling the need for direction, McCartney called upon his old producer, George Martin, to begin recording a song written for the animated Rupert Bear character (to which McCartney owned the rights), entitled "We All Stand Together", among others. The productive sessions continued until 9 December, the morning McCartney woke up to discover his old songwriting partner and fellow ex-Beatle, John Lennon, had been shot and killed the night before in New York City. Abandoning that day's session part-way through (where he and Denny Laine were recording future B-Side "Rainclouds"), both Martin and McCartney felt it was best to leave the project for the time being and start anew once they were ready. In February 1981, two months after Lennon's death, Paul McCartney resumed his sessions, recording that month with Stevie Wonder, Stanley Clarke, Carl Perkins and Ringo Starr and laying down several songs in the process. The recordings were held at AIR Studios in Montserrat, in the Caribbean and lasted from 3 February to 2 March, ending with Ebony and Ivory and What's That You're Doing, two songs featuring Stevie Wonder. 10cc guitarist Eric Stewart also became a frequent collaborator of McCartney's during this era. Further sessions that summer were also undertaken at George Martin's AIR studios at Oxford Street, London – with the producer manning the controls and giving McCartney's music the benefit of 1980s technology. The sessions were so productive that several of its tracks would be held over for the next album, Pipes of Peace, which followed in 1983. The rest of 1981 would be spent in a quiet fashion, with McCartney and Martin touching up the album and perfecting it.

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Paul McCartney - Tug Of War (1982) [1989, Japan]

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Like 1970's McCartney, 1980's McCartney II functioned as a way for Paul McCartney to clear the decks: to experiment and recalibrate in the aftermath of his band falling apart. This means 1982's Tug of War is, in many ways, the very first Paul McCartney solo album, a record recorded not at home but in a studio, a record made without Wings and not co-credited to Linda, who nevertheless is present as a backing vocalist. McCartney recognized this album as something of a major opportunity, so he revived his relationship with Beatles producer George Martin and brought in several heavy-hitters as guests, including his hero Carl Perkins, his Motown counterpart Stevie Wonder, fusion star Stanley Clarke, prog rock refugees Eric Stewart and Andy Mackay, and his old bandmate Ringo Starr, whose presence was overshadowed by "Here Today," an elegy written for the murdered John Lennon. Tucked away at the end of the first side, "Here Today" is bittersweet and small when compared to all the show pieces elbowing each other for attention throughout Tug of War: the grave march of the title track, the vaudevillian "Ballroom Dancing," the stately drama of "Wanderlust," and sincere schmaltz of "Ebony and Ivory," the Wonder duet that helped turn this album into the blockbuster it was intended to be. As good as some of these numbers are and they are, bearing an ambition and execution that outstrips latter-day Wings much of the charm of Tug of War lies in the excess around the edges, whether it's the rockabilly lark of the Perkins duet "Get It," the later-period Beatles whimsy of '"The Pound Is Sinking," the electro-throwaway "Dress Me Up as a Robber," or the long, electro-funk workout of "What's That You're Doing?," a track that's a fuller collaboration between Paul and Stevie than "Ebony and Ivory." Such crowd-pleasing genre-hopping finds its apotheosis on "Take It Away," a salute to eager performers and the crowds who love them, which means it summarizes not only the appeal of Tug of War in general it is, by design, a record that gives the people old Beatle Paul but McCartney in general.

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Paul McCartney - Tug Of War (1982) [1989, Japan]

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Paul McCartney - Tug Of War (1982) [1989, Japan]

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