Tug on this link till you reach the main McCartney page... Plug of Gwar Overall Album Score: 8.5 out of 10 So, maybe Paul McCartney was wrong about locking himself in that water closet and coming out with McCartney II. Everything's forgiven after you hear this flawed gem! Right from the start, you hear the beautiful "Tug of War" that amazingly seems to even feature a full-scale orchestra without getting pompous. Hard to imagine Paul pulling off something like that, but after you learn that the song's producer is none other than George Martin (AKA the producer of most of the Beatles albums and often dubbed as "the fifth Beatle"), it's not too surprising it's there! He follows that up with a more imaginable McCartney tune with a catchy melody and highly varied development "Take it Away." That one has such a snappy tune that you can hardly forget it. Even more interesting is "The Pound is Sinking," which is a pretty strange song if you sit down and try to analyze it. I had a hard time coming up with a genre to pigeonhole it in, but it's ever resistant. For three minutes, that song seems to try everything. "Wanderlust" is just a beautiful song that takes a few hints from British Classical music. The melody is as gorgeous as the instrumentation, which almost even tops "Tug of War." Also, "Here Today" is another pretty song though far more subdued. It's a tribute to his fallen friend John, and possibly the most sincere song McCartney ever tried. "Ballroom Dancing" is a particular McCartney favorite of mine ... it's an extremely fun novelty song about *ahem* ballroom dancing. Despite all those gems I mentioned, this album is undoubtedly more famous for containing his hokey collaboration with Stevie Wonder in "Ebony and Ivory." I'm not a big fan of the song myself, but I do cringe whenever I see it toward the top of any "Worst Songs" list. Whatever that song's status, it's far better than McCartney's second collaboration with Wonder in "What's That You're Doing." That's a pointless, robotic funk song that goes on for six minutes and is annoying. There are also a number of weaker tracks from Tug of War, which do their best to ensure that this album can't be placed among McCartney's finest. "Get it," a duet with Carl Perkins does nothing for me and neither does the bland ballad "Somebody Who Cares." At that same time, not everything in life is perfect .... that's why there's Walgreens......... (My mom was right --- TV did rot my brain...) Overall Album Score: 8.5 out of 10 (This is probably the only album Paul did in the '80s that's genuinely worth owning.) Average Song Score: 8.5 (Some songs are great! Other's are NOT.) Album Tilt: 8.5 (It's hard for me not to lower this rating for the inconsistency, but I honestly think pretty high of this album despite the flaws.) Artist Rating: 8.5 (There's some creativity here, and McCartney thankfully doesn't feel the need to make half-witted experiments.) Track Reviews Tug of War 10/10 Do you know what's so awesome about this first song. It's probably Paul McCartney's most brilliantly orchestrated song of his career to this point. This is undoubtedly the doings of George Martin who reunited with McCartney for production duties. The melody is pretty and the orchestration (consisting of violins, a pizzicato bass, trumpets, timpani drums, etc.) are quite lavish but somehow being subdued enough for us to still clearly hear Paul's voice and strumming acoustic guitar. This is such a nice song! Take it Away 9/10 Back to the good old pop music Paul. This is briefly a reggae-inspired tune (probably done to honor The Police) with a very simple though catchy melody. It goes through several stages of development (and never again sounds much like reggae) in a very McCartnian turn of events. This one isn't too spectacular, but it's impossible for me to snub in even small amounts... Somebody Who Cares 7.5/10 It is getting blander and more insignificant. (That, incidentally, is what many people have been saying about Paul McCartney all along!!! ... But they're dead wrong about that, of course.) The melody doesn't do much for me, but there's certainly some value to its laid back feel. Eh, who am I kidding? I'm yawning to death. What's That You're Doing? 6.5/10 Huh, I was just about to ask Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder the same thing about this song. OK, let's put it in perspective. I've been much more wronged by former employers than this robotic funk song, but ... well, it's still pretty wrong. The groove is annoying and bland --- and the real damning factor is that they felt the need to extend this well past six minutes. This isn't a complete waste, because I like listening to some of the song's instrumental developments... whenever I'm able to get past that annoying groove, that is. Here Today 9.5/10 This is Paul's tribute to his fallen, fellow ex-Beatle. It's much better than George Harrison's strangely insincere-sounding tribute! It's hard to criticize this song for any reason because of its context (and it's funny that I can feel pretty sad about the death of John Lennon even though he died almost two full years before I was even born). The melody is nice and the production is subtly lovely. Probably a few steps away from sheer perfection, but who really cares? Ballroom Dancing 9/10 This has been a funny favorite of mine ever since I started listening to rock music. (I'm certain it was within the first month I began exploring with Napster when we got a cable modem connection.) It possibly had something to do with Strictly Ballroom being in my Top 10 favorite movies at the time, but it's probably also because it's so fun and irrelevant. It has a novelty aura to it, and I was also quite a fan of Dr. Demento. Well, my appreciation for this song has wavered slightly, but I still find this to be quite a hoot. The Pound is Sinking 9.5/10 This is a funny song that's difficult to categorize. There are tons of different melodic and musical ideas packed into less than three minutes of time --- it makes me wonder why they even bothered with the whole six minutes worth of "What's That You're Doing?" This is a fun song that you should probably hear at least once in your lifetime. It sort of proves that McCartney is creative, after all. Wanderlust 9.5/10 What a nice melody! This is a fantastic cross between an old British classical music song (a few steps down from Handel -- or maybe not really that far away) with McCartney's pop-rock sensibilities. It's a classy and gracious song with beautiful instrumentation. He even layers on two completely different melodic lines on top of each other --- even classier than his similar work in "Silly Love Songs." Get it 7/10 A duet with Carl Perkins ... and also one of the more boring songs from the album. It could possibly be because I generally find R&B music boring ... especially when it's being treated so lightly. I don't care enough about Mr. Perkins to find a whole lot of personal value in this. Nonetheless, this is a fairly tasteful song... so there's value there... Be What You See 8/10 Enya? Funny that this is thirty seconds of music that sounds exactly like Enya. The vocal effects are exactly the same except it's Paul's voice. That's pretty neat... I wonder why he didn't bother making this any longer... Maybe he wasn't that bored!! Dress Me Up Like a Robber 9/10 No matter how much you might want to write this off for sounding too much like a post-disco era song, it's way too complex and original for such treatment. The funk guitar is admittedly catchy, the melody is wonderful and McCartney's falsetto singing is pretty fun. It's very polished, but there's no crime in that, is there?? Ebony and Ivory 7.5/10 This is a funny and pretentious song that's also one of the most maligned songs in rock history (including one of the few memorable SNL skits to feature Joe Piscopo). But this song wouldn't be so fun to make fun of if the melody wasn't catchy. Though I share the opinion that the subject matter is silly, optimistic and pretentious (more fodder for cynical comedians), this is a decent if imperfect song. My main concern is the instrumentation, which gets pretty corny in a bad way. Though I do like that synth banjo --- that's a cool sound. Take a trip to the mail room here!

All reviews are copyrighted by the author, Michael Lawrence. Popsicles are delicious.