Tug Of War & Pipes Of Peace Sessions (Misterclaudel mccd-44/45)
Disc 1: Ballroom Dancing, Take It Away, Keep Under Cover, Average Person, Dress Me Up As A Robber #1, Dress Me Up As A Robber #2, Dress Me Up As A Robber #3, The Pound Is Sinking, Sweetest Little Show, Ebony And Ivory, Hear Me Lover, Wanderlust, Stop You Don’t Know Where She Came From, Unbelievable Experience, We All Stand Together, Boil Crisis, Give Us A Chord Boy, Seems Like Old Times
Disc 2: Seems Like Old Times (demo), Seems Like Old Times (demo), On The Wings Of The Nightingale (demo), Ebony And Ivory (rehearsals), Ballroom Dancing (rehearsals), We All Stand Together (Humming Version), Ebony And Ivory (solo version), I’ll Give You A Ring, Rain clouds, The Girl Is Mine, The Girl Is Mine (edit version), Say Say Say (12″ remix), Say Say Say (instrumental), Ode To A Koala Bear, Ode To A Koala Bear (alternate mix)
Tug Of War & Pipes Of Peace Sessions is the definitive collection of Paul McCartney’s most successful period following the breakup of Wings. The first disc received the widest circulation on released bootlegs beginning with the vinyl release War And Peace (Instant Analysis BBR015). This was copied and released on compact disc as Rude Studio Demos (CD 080 1989) on Columbus Records in 1989, Rude Studio Demos (1980) (FHH CDP001) on the European cdr label The Fool On Hog Hill, the Japanese clone Rude Studio Demos 1980 on UnderCover (UC-003) released in 1999 and Tug Of War Demos on Red Square (RS 03) released in 2004, whose set list is identical to the first disc plus the rehearsal for “Ballroom Dancing”.
The sound quality varies but is generally very good to excellent, thin sounding and slightly hissy. “Ebony And Ivory” on disc one is a rehearsal take of Paul singing the first verse and chorus alone to an electric piano and double tracked vocals. “Stop You Don’t Know Where She Came From” is another track from Oobu Joobu. “We All Stand Together”, which Paul had officially recorded in late 1980 and eventually issued worldwide (except the U.S.) in December 1984 for the release of Rupert and the Frog Song coinciding with McCartney’s own Give My Regards To Broadstreet. This 1981 recording is a live studio version which virtually duplicates the finished product, and the “Humming Version” is the rare b-side to the single release. “Boil Crisis” is a catchy unreleased song dating from 1977 and deals with popping zits and “Give Us A Chord Boy” is an unfinished demo utilizing heavy metal power chords.
“Seems Like Old Times” is an unreleased song written but unused for the 1980 movie of the same name starring Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn and Charles Grodin and written by Neil Simon. (McCartney could issue an entire album of songs written for movies but not used, which would also include “Did We Meet Somewhere Before?” written for Heaven Can Wait but used for Rock And Roll High School, and “Same Time Next Year” written for the Alan Alda film.) The version on disc one is the finished version with full instruments while the two versions on disc two are bare run-throughs. The second rehearsal on disc two has Paul whistling the melody over the piano. It makes one wonder just how he can come up with these catchy pop melodies off the top of his head, and to think he never even used this one again.
The second disc covers material that surfaced on the Oobu Joobu radio broadcast relevant to this era plus various remixes and rare edits. “On The Wings Of A Nightingale” was issued as a 45 (LMW-28IF) single with “Cage” (a Back To The Egg outtake) on the B-side. The demo is very bare and muddy sounding. “Ebony And Ivory (solo version)” was released as a single with the better known version with Stevie Wonder and “Rainclouds” on Parlophone on March 29th, 1982. Some of the older titles also contain the London Town era outtake “Take Her Back Jack” and Misterclaudel had space for it but they chose to omit it from this collection. It comes packaged in an unwieldy fatboy jewel case with two inserts with the full photographs on the front cover. This is a good collection and worth having.
