Pipes of Peace
	Produced by George Martin
	Released on November 1983
	UK CHART POSITION #4 . . . US CHART POSITION #15
	Find it at GEMM
QC 39149 cover

M ore like the Pipes of Plumbing, since Paul could have pulled these pieces from his posterior on short notice. Tug of War signalled a McCartney renaissance, but it proved to be an anomaly, with Pipes ushering in the Dark Ages of bored product. Things start off promising enough with “Pipes of Peace,” the delicious lyric “burn baby burn” just the sort of spark fans were looking for. And despite my distaste for Michael Jackson, there’s no way around the fact that “Say Say Say” is nearly as much fun as “Listen To What The Man Said.” (I don’t mind MJ’s music so much but he’s proven a perverse caretaker of The Beatles’ catalog.) The rest of the album is another story: limp melodies, dimestore production value, and lyrics that border on mind-numbing nonsense. The better tracks (“So Bad,” “Sweetest Little Show,” “Through Our Love”) are still worse than anything on Tug. Lest Paul shoulder all the blame, George Martin completely dropped the ball this time; even McCartney II delivered better production value. The guest musicians are interesting, including Ringo, 10cc’s Eric Stewart (who sort of fills the void left by Denny) and Stanley Clarke. The material isn’t. You’d have to look back to Wild Life to find a Paul McCartney album that sucked this bad. I mean, I’ve heard McCartney songs that sucked before, but "The Man," "Hey Hey" and "Tug of Peace" may be the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked. (Simpsons fans, unite and take over.) Yes, I’m overreacting and, no, that doesn’t mean that Pipes of Peace is off the hook. I’m not blowing smoke up your butt when I say this is probably the last Paul McCartney album you need to buy.

QC 39149 back cover	QC 39149 inner gatefold	QC 39149 lyric sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. PIPES OF PEACE    3:51
2. SAY SAY SAY    (Paul McCartney/Michael Jackson)    3:55
3. THE OTHER ME    3:55
4. KEEP UNDER COVER    3:03
5. SO BAD    3:18
6. THE MAN    (Paul McCartney/Michael Jackson)    3:52
7. SWEETEST LITTLE SHOW    2:58
8. AVERAGE PERSON    4:23
9. HEY HEY    (Paul McCartney/Stanley Clarke)    2:56
10. TUG OF PEACE    2:45
11. THROUGH OUR LOVE    3:26
    
    CD reissue bonus tracks
    
12. TWICE IN A LIFETIME
13. WE ALL STAND TOGETHER
14. SIMPLE AS THAT
    
    All songs written by Paul McCartney unless noted. Arrangements by Paul McCartney/George Martin.

CREDITS

PAUL McCARTNEY --
STANLEY CLARKE --
STEVE GADD --
MICHAEL JACKSON --
ANDY McKAY (sic) --
LINDA McCARTNEY -- cover photo
RINGO STARR --
ERIC STEWART --
James Kippen -- tabla
Kenneth Sillitoe -- orchestra leader
Chris Smith -- harmonica
Geoff Emerick -- engineer

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