Paul Mccartney - Tug of War

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Music reviews of Tug of War

Music Review: Take it away!
Rating: 5 Stars

The lyrics, though, were influenced by the above mentioned events on McCartney's life. So you can see through almost all the tracks that form part of "Tug Of War" a kind of pain and distress, driven by some very sad and depressive lyrics and another very emotional ones. "Tug Of War" (the title track and the opener), for example, shows the dissatisfaction that Paul McCartney had against the turning of the world ("we were trying to outdo eachother in a tug of war"). He became a peace activist, just like John Lennon did before. This track is lovely arranged: it begins being a sweet acoustic guitar piece accompanied by some strings, and then suddenly gets harder with the coming of electric guitars and a complete orchestra. Then it fades into "Take It Away". Here the mood changes, as it's a funny song with somewhat uplifting words. It was another big hit coming from the album, helped by the strength of the melody and the harmonies, as it was a very catchy pop tune. The experimentations with the funky clavinet and synthesiser sounds are present within various tracks, for example, in a song that seems to be a recorded jam between Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney ("What's That You're Doing"), another that's a follower of some disco sounds and that counts with a strange falsetto vocal by Sir James Paul ("Dress Me Up As A Robber") and in the best-known song within the LP: another Wonder/McCartney duet: "Ebony And Ivory". This tracks are always a good choice to listen, and show that Paul, without necessarily leaving his rock'n'roll roots, manages to get into the style of the times. But he's still the one we know: a great ballad writer ("Somebody Who Cares"), a funny rocker ("Get It"), a great link composer ("Be What You See" shows that he's capable of writing an album as a complete work, like he had done previously on "Abbey Road"), and even a social critic (although he does it in a very strange way in "The Pound Is Sinking").

The three outsanding tracks of the album, though, are, in my opinion, "Ballroom Dancing" (a funny story, strongly constructed around a piano basis and an uplifting lyric), "Wanderlust" (an emotive ode to a ship, or even a love story, it depends on the way you take it) and specially "Here Today", his very personal tribute to the person of the greatest pop music genius that the human kind has ever known: John Lennon. The song gets deep into your minds, as it's maybe one of the most emotive tracks Sir Paul ever wrote. He's sincere here, he misses his best friend. And who can blame him: we all do. The way he says it is with a simple, sweet ballad that's capable of remembering some sweet aspects of John's personality ("Well, knowing you/You'd probably laugh and said/That we were worlds apart") and to transmit us the deepest feelings that Paul had about his sad death ("And I am holding back the tears no more/I love you"). It's very removing.

And if those highly-qualified songs are not enough for you, maybe the fact that Ringo Starr plays drums on "Take It Away", Carl Perkins duets with Paul on "Get It", Stevie Wonder co-writes "What's That You're Doing" and co-sings "Ebony And Ivory", Denny Laine and Linda McCartney also participate on various tracks, and Sir George Martin is the producer of the album, can impress you and make you buy the album. Although my only complaint is that both the "Ebony And Ivory" and the "Take It Away" singles had B-sides ("Rainclouds" and "I'll Give You A Ring", respectively), and they were not included in the remastered UK version of this CD, which is the standard version available here in Chile, as bonus tracks (the solo version of "Ebony And Ivory" wasn't included either). It's a shame that we (the younger fans) don't get to know ALL the McCartney work that's out there, because we simply don't have access to the old 45's.

Despite that, this album sounds great everywhere you listen to it. When you're in a bad mood, or when you're happy. That's because it's simply a great piece of music. Take it away!

Description of Tug of War

Classic Rock CDs

• Music > Styles
• Pop
• Rock