For the past few
days, I’ve been enjoying listening to one of Paul McCartney’s least
well-regarded albums, Pipes of Peace.
To give you an idea of how little it’s liked, even the majority of fans on his official forum - who you'd think would have a more red-rose-speedway-tinted view toward his work - find it hard to say a good thing about it. When it was announced that it would be remastered and re-released as the next instalment of his current reissue series (alongside the critically acclaimed Tug of War), the news was met with derision on the Macca Message Board (though you should never listen to people on the Internet. Especially bloggers; they’re the worst). Even I, a full-time ‘McCadvocate’, pulled a face when I heard about it - and questioned why he’d choose it over everything else.
Not that I haven’t given the album a fair chance in the past. Every so often, I return to the oft-neglected or derided parts of his back catalogue (in a loose sense, I'm referring to the 1980s) to see if there’s anything I’ve missed, or misunderstood. I’ll occasionally see a song or two in a new light, but in the case of Pipes and Peace and the gated-snare-tastic '86 album Press to Play, I’d usually find myself turning the light off, removing the bulb (using a tea towel to absorb the heat) and chucking it in the bin.
(A clunky metaphor but my point still stands.)
I’m not sure what’s caused my slight change of heart. Either I've become more open-minded and mellow with age or I've completely lost my judgement. These days, I tend listen to music when I’m in the bath, and for some reason, Pipes of Peace has been on my ablutive playlist for the past week. Don’t get me wrong: I still think it peters out towards the end and has its fair share of cringe-worthy lyrics, but somehow McCartney’s relentless enthusiasm for music and melody still shines through the dross; even when he’s not at his best, he’s still got more to offer than most.
McCartney fans tend to fall into two categories: those who like him when he’s considered and serious (à la Tug of War and Chaos and Creation in the Backyard) and those who like it when he’s off-the-wall and wacky (McCartney II and Pipes of Peace). I fall somewhere between the two, slightly favouring the former. I just wish he’d pay more regard to his solo work when he’s gigging, rather than falling so heavily on The Beatles. I also wish he’s stop attempting to hit the high notes in Maybe I’m Amazed and turn his attention to something recent.
One person I never expected to sing Pipes of Peace's praises was Manic Street Preachers front man James Dean Bradfield. His passion for it almost makes me forgive the atrocious If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next; almost, but not quite.
To give you an idea of how little it’s liked, even the majority of fans on his official forum - who you'd think would have a more red-rose-speedway-tinted view toward his work - find it hard to say a good thing about it. When it was announced that it would be remastered and re-released as the next instalment of his current reissue series (alongside the critically acclaimed Tug of War), the news was met with derision on the Macca Message Board (though you should never listen to people on the Internet. Especially bloggers; they’re the worst). Even I, a full-time ‘McCadvocate’, pulled a face when I heard about it - and questioned why he’d choose it over everything else.
Not that I haven’t given the album a fair chance in the past. Every so often, I return to the oft-neglected or derided parts of his back catalogue (in a loose sense, I'm referring to the 1980s) to see if there’s anything I’ve missed, or misunderstood. I’ll occasionally see a song or two in a new light, but in the case of Pipes and Peace and the gated-snare-tastic '86 album Press to Play, I’d usually find myself turning the light off, removing the bulb (using a tea towel to absorb the heat) and chucking it in the bin.
(A clunky metaphor but my point still stands.)
I’m not sure what’s caused my slight change of heart. Either I've become more open-minded and mellow with age or I've completely lost my judgement. These days, I tend listen to music when I’m in the bath, and for some reason, Pipes of Peace has been on my ablutive playlist for the past week. Don’t get me wrong: I still think it peters out towards the end and has its fair share of cringe-worthy lyrics, but somehow McCartney’s relentless enthusiasm for music and melody still shines through the dross; even when he’s not at his best, he’s still got more to offer than most.
McCartney fans tend to fall into two categories: those who like him when he’s considered and serious (à la Tug of War and Chaos and Creation in the Backyard) and those who like it when he’s off-the-wall and wacky (McCartney II and Pipes of Peace). I fall somewhere between the two, slightly favouring the former. I just wish he’d pay more regard to his solo work when he’s gigging, rather than falling so heavily on The Beatles. I also wish he’s stop attempting to hit the high notes in Maybe I’m Amazed and turn his attention to something recent.
One person I never expected to sing Pipes of Peace's praises was Manic Street Preachers front man James Dean Bradfield. His passion for it almost makes me forgive the atrocious If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next; almost, but not quite.