FEATURE:
Paul McCartney at Eighty
Twenty-Three: Tug of War at Forty
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PART of a run of Paul McCartney features…
ahead of his eightieth birthday in June, I am concentrating on some of his solo albums and big anniversaries. I have looked at Flaming Pie and its upcoming twenty-fifth anniversary. I wanted to also look to his third studio album, Tug of War, turning forty. His third studio album, it was his first album released after the dissolution of Wings the previous year. It was also McCartney's first album after the murder (in 1980) of John Lennon. The album was produced by former Beatles producer George Martin. There is a lot to unpick about an album that carries quite a lot of weight. Because of the fact it was released not long after Lennon’s death, one can detect him in most of the songs – McCartney writing about his former close friend. I think Tug of War is an underrated album that definitely requires some reinspection. I think Tug of War contains some of McCartney’s best work. Take It Away, Tug of War and Ebony and Ivory are fantastic tracks. Maybe there are a couple of weaker tracks towards the end of the album, though the album as a whole is very strong! One of his best and most important solo works, I think Here Today is the standout. Written very much with John Lennon in mind, it is one of the most emotional songs McCartney ever composed. Listening to it now, it still affects you; a man talking about someone who he was extremely close to and had a complex relationship with.
I am going to come to a positive review for Tug of War soon enough. Before that, Ultimate Classic Rock discussed how Tug of War followed the break-up of Wings and the reality of John Lennon’s death:
“It was a somewhat trying time for him: Wings, the hit-making band he put together a few years after the Beatles broke up, just called it quits themselves. More significantly, the album's sessions started in October 1980 but were put on hold after the murder of his former bandmate John Lennon two months later.
So McCartney's will to carry on following these two life-shaking events could have resulted in another tossed-off experimental oddity like his previous solo work, 1980's McCartney II, or a worn rehash of what he accomplished with Wings for most of the '70s. Instead, Tug of War turned out to be his best album since 1973's Band on the Run, the one undisputed masterpiece of his post-Beatles career.
It helped that he was working with producer George Martin for the first time since the Beatles' swan song, Abbey Road. Martin knew McCartney better than he knew himself in the studio. McCartney produced (or co-produced, in a couple rare cases) all of his previous solo records and Wings albums, and the finished material often steered all over the place in search of a direction.
Martin was a pro who knew what made McCartney sound good. That included ace musicians to back the star, including jazz bassist Stanley Clarke, Stevie Wonder (who sang Tug of War's No. 1 hit, "Ebony and Ivory," with McCartney, and played various instruments), former Wings bandmate Denny Laine and, for two songs, old Beatles pal Ringo Starr.
McCartney's last album with a band, Wings' 1979 finale Back to the Egg, was messy and unfocused. When he emerged a year later with his second solo record, he was entirely on his own, producing and playing every instrument himself. Tug of War was supposed to be – and, indeed, turned out to be – a rebirth of sorts for McCartney, who lost his way creatively over the previous few years.
Even though Lennon's death was a turbulent blow, when he and Martin regrouped in February 1981 to resume sessions, the mood was light, professional and prolific. For the next several months they hopped continents and studios (mostly recording in the Caribbean and London), picking up guest musicians, along the way.
Two songs were recorded with Wonder, "Ebony and Ivory" and the way funkier "What's That You're Doing"; Starr played drums on another pair, "Take It Away," the album's second single, and "Wanderlust"; and old friends like Laine, Beatles inspiration Carl Perkins and wife Linda showed up throughout.
From the opening title track (a mournful meditation that could be interpreted as commentary on McCartney's splintered relationship with Lennon) to "Ebony and Ivory" (his eighth No. 1 as a solo artist), Tug of War played like an equal balance of his career: good songs, sappy songs, commercially targeted songs and some adventurous songs.
It all paid off with another No. 1 album, his first since 1976's Wings at the Speed of Sound and last until 2018's Egypt Station hurtled McCartney back to the top. The sessions were so productive that several of its leftover songs (which didn't become B-sides) ended up on his next record, the following year's Pipes of Peace.
Tug of War marked the moment where McCartney was at his most Beatlesque since the group's breakup more than a decade earlier – from Martin's shimmering production and Starr's participation to the mix of pop, rock and R&B and the reflective nature of some of the songs. ("Here Today" is a moving eulogy for Lennon.)”.
Even though some in 1982 did mark down Tug of War and felt that it was not up to McCartney’s very best work, I feel a lot were just piling onto him or could not accept anything from him post-Beatles. He did get a lot of stick and negativity after the end of The Beatles in 1970. Retrospective reviews have been kinder and more considered – people concentrating on the quality and breadth of music, rather than writing the album off before they heard it. This is what AllMusic had to say in their review for Tug of War:
“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”.
One of Paul McCartney’s essential albums, Tug of War turns forty on 26th April. I think that it has been viewed differently through the years. Maybe it got some flack in 1982 because of some people’s impressions of McCartney. Maybe some were reacting to John Lennon’s 1980 murder and thinking negatively about Paul McCartney. In terms of the material, Tug of War is incredibly strong. Considering the emotions McCartney would have been processing, he released one of his most consistent and enduring albums. I listen to it today, and so many songs pop out. From the Stevie Wonder duet, Ebony and Ivory, through to the devastating Here Today and the underrated The Pound Is Sinking, I wanted to celebrate Tug of War. It sounds amazing and so incredibly strong…
FORTY years later.