Pipes of Peace is the fourth solo studio album by the English singer-songwriter Paul McCartney. It was released on 31 October 1983. As the follow-up to the popular Tug of War, the album came close to matching the commercial success of its predecessor in Britain but peaked only at number 15 on America's Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart. While Pipes of Peace was the source of international hit singles such as "Say Say Say" (recorded with Michael Jackson) and the title track, the critical response to the album was less favourable than that afforded to Tug of War.
Many of the songs released on Pipes of Peace were recorded during the 1981 sessions for Tug of War, with "Pipes of Peace", "The Other Me", "So Bad", "Tug of Peace" and "Through Our Love" being recorded afterwards, in September–October 1982. Consequently, the album has many things in common with its predecessor: it was produced by George Martin; it featured two collaborations with the same artist (this time with Michael Jackson – the Tug of War collaborations are with Stevie Wonder); and it continued McCartney's alliance in the studio with Ringo Starr and with 10cc guitarist Eric Stewart. It also contains his last session work with Wings guitarist Denny Laine. By November, McCartney would start shooting his self-written motion picture Give My Regards to Broad Street – co-starring his wife Linda, Starr and Tracey Ullman – which would take up most of his time throughout 1983. Due to the filming commitments (and to allow a reasonable lapse of time between his new album and Tug of War), the release of Pipes of Peace was delayed until October.
Unlike Tug of War, the album features an electro-tinged sound. On the track "Tug of Peace", McCartney blended the title song to Tug of War with that of the new album. In a retrospective review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described the mix as "an almost-electro collage that twists the songs into McCartney II territory".
McCartney spent much of his energies finishing and preparing Give My Regards to Broad Street for release in the autumn of 1984.
In 1983, Pipes of Peace made its debut on CD on Columbia Records. In 1993, the album was remastered and reissued on CD as part of The Paul McCartney Collection. Three bonus tracks were included on the latter release: the previously unreleased "Twice in a Lifetime" (the title song of the 1985 film of the same name); his 1984 hit from the Rupert Bear project, "We All Stand Together"; and "Simple as That", released in 1986 on the charity album The Anti-Heroin Project – It's a Live-In World.
The album was reissued in remastered form in 2015 as part of the ongoing Paul McCartney Archive Collection series of releases. The version with "enhanced packaging" contains three discs: the remastered album itself, a bonus audio disc containing mostly demo versions of the songs found on the first disc, and a disc with a film. The reissue was accompanied by the Record Store Day exclusive single "Say Say Say (2015 Remix)".
"Say Say Say" was released as the album's lead single in October 1983. A duet with Michael Jackson, it reached number 2 in the UK and number 1 in the US, where it remained for six weeks through to early in 1984. Pipes of Peace peaked at number 4 in the UK and number 15 in the US. Following "Say Say Say", the album's title track became a UK number 1, while in the US, the flipside "So Bad" hit number 23.
Critical reaction was less positive than that which greeted Tug of War, many feeling that Pipes of Peace was a weaker execution of its predecessor's formula. In addition, according to McCartney biographer Howard Sounes, the album's commercial reception was "slightly disappointing, considering the quality of the work".
Reviewing the album for the NME, Penny Reel described Pipes of Peace as "A dull, tired and empty collection of quasi-funk and gooey rock arrangements ... with McCartney cooing platitudinous sentiments on a set of lyrics seemingly made up on the spur of the moment." Reel opined that the "one decent moment" was the title track, which he found to be "a Beatlish soiree surely destined as a Christmas single", before concluding: "Even here, however, a note of insincerity in the vocal finally defeats the lyric's objective."
Sounes views Pipes of Peace and its predecessor as "abounding with well-crafted tunes" that almost match the standard of McCartney's work with the Beatles; yet, he adds, the two albums "must be marked down for a surfeit of love ballads with lamentable lyrics". Reviewing the 2015 reissue of Pipes of Peace, for Pitchfork, Ron Hart notes that, at the time of release, "Some critics derided McCartney for aging gracelessly", yet "a good listen to the album today reveals some ways it was ahead of its time." Hart writes of the song "Tug of Peace": "an early, primitive version of a mash-up that brought together the title cuts of these underappreciated albums. The blend is clunky, but it foreshadows his electronic music work as the Fireman and on Liverpool Sound Collage."
By contrast, Jeff Strowe of PopMatters considers that the album "presents McCartney at his most regrettable", and views "Pipes of Peace" and "Tug of Peace" as, respectively, a "woefully underdeveloped title track" and a "dreadful mashup". Strowe writes more favourably of "Say Say Say", however, describing it as "catchy in that pure '80s manner", and highlights "Sweetest Little Show" and "Average Person" as "a nice one-two punch of refreshing creativity that give the proceedings a much needed spark of interest and vitality".
Track listing
All songs written by Paul McCartney, except where noted.
- "Pipes of Peace" 3:56
- "Say Say Say" Paul McCartney/Michael Jackson 3:55
- "The Other Me" 3:58
- "Keep Under Cover" 3:05
- "So Bad" 3:20
- "The Man" Paul McCartney/Michael Jackson 3:55
- "Sweetest Little Show" 2:54
- "Average Person" 4:33
- "Hey Hey" Paul McCartney/Stanley Clarke 2:54
- "Tug of Peace" 2:54
- "Through Our Love" 3:28
Additional tracks on the 1993 CD reissue
- "Twice in a Lifetime" 3:02
- "We All Stand Together" 4:25
- "Simple as That" 4:15
Track 12 - Paul McCartney's theme song for the same-name Gene Hackman/Ann-Margret film of 1985.
Otherwise unreleased until now.
Track 13 - Paul McCartney's main theme song for Rupert And The Frog Song, his animated short-feature and best-selling video. Recorded in 1980, the song was kept under wraps until 1984 and then soared to number three in Britain.
Track 14 - Previously available on a 1986 various artists charity album The Anti-Heroin Project - It's A Live-In World.
Please note there will be a 10 second break between original and bonus tracks.
Recording information:
George Martin – producer
Geoff Emerick – engineer
Jon Jacobs – assistant engineer
Mike Stavrou – assistant engineer
Alex Wharton – mastering
Clive Barker – artwork (chrome sculpture)
Vincent van Gogh – artwork (chair and pipe)
YES – creative direction, design
Linda McCartney – cover photography
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