On McCartney II<\/i>, Paul’s photo on the cover made him look like a scheming juvenile delinquent. As for the shot on the follow-up, 1982\u2019s Tug Of War<\/i>, it appears that Paul has been reduced to a quivering, scared little boy hiding in a dark closet.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Just what has he done wrong to make him so afraid that he might get in trouble and be punished?\u00a0 The answer, of course, is that he was eventually found guilty of recording what is undoubtedly his best album since Band On The Run<\/i>. <\/p>\n
The No. 1 hit single \u201cEbony And Ivory\u201d only tells a very small part of the story.\u00a0 With the help of his old friend, producer George Martin, McCartney crafted an album that is sure to please practically everyone. Teaming up with music industry legends Stevie Wonder and Carl Perkins was the key ingredient that was needed to give the overall album a big boost.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
They say good things happen in threes, and that is indeed the case on this album. The first good impression is made by the second single, \u201cTake It Away,\u201d which I have always felt deserved a better fate when it came to chart success. The next high point comes with Wonder\u2019s other contribution, the oh-so-funky \u201cWhat\u2019s That You\u2019re Doing.\u201d Martin must have really been out of his element when recording that one, though perhaps he channeled Quincy Jones in order to get it just right. The third most noteworthy track is the Carl Perkins rockabilly duet entitled \u201cGet It,\u201d which is injects some refreshing fun and humor into the mix, always a plus. <\/p>\n
Where Tug Of War <\/i>falters is whenever Paul resorts to British high camp and slight acoustic ballads. The pretentiousness can be found on bloated tracks like \u201cWanderlust\u201d and \u201cThe Pound Is Sinking,\u201d which sounds at times like a second-rate \u201cUncle Albert\/Admiral Halsey.\u201d Two tracks that seem to missing that extra something special are the sludgy title track, as well as the drippy \u201cSomebody Who Cares.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n
However, I did happen to find \u201cDress Me Up As A Robber\u201d interesting for the mere fact that it shows Paul isn\u2019t afraid to change it up by singing in a different key.\u00a0 Another standout comes in the unexpected form of \u201cBallroom Dancing,\u201d which is a mash-up of multiple genres and contains a ballsy and impressive vocal performance. <\/p>\n
Later in his career, McCartney\u2019s albums would slowly but surely be stripped down to a bare-bones sound, free of artifice and unnecessary bells and whistles. This, unfortunately is a double-edged sword. On one hand, you can appreciate Paul\u2019s decision to approach music in a simpler, more straightforward way, but on the other, much of his creative spark and dynamic style has been lost in the trade-off. <\/p>\n
But this one is a highlight from when he was still near the top of his solo game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":28879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5744],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-40379","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-paul-mccartney","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40379"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}