| Pipes of Peace | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 31 October 1983 (1983-10-31) | |||
| Recorded | October–December 1980, February–March 1981, May 1981, August–December 1981, 14–16 April 1982, September–October 1982, February and July 1983 | |||
| Studio | Abbey Road andAIR, London;AIR,Montserrat;Cherokee andWestlake, Los Angeles; Rude,Campbeltown; The Mill,Rye | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 38:58 | |||
| Label | Parlophone (UK) Columbia (US) | |||
| Producer | George Martin | |||
| Paul McCartney chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Pipes of Peace | ||||
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Pipes of Peace is the fourth solo studio album by the English singer-songwriterPaul McCartney. It was released on 31 October 1983. As the follow-up to the popularTug of War, the album came close to matching the commercial success of its predecessor in Britain but peaked only at number 15 on America'sBillboard Top LPs & Tape chart. WhilePipes of Peace was the source of international hit singles such as "Say Say Say" (recorded withMichael Jackson) and thetitle track, the critical response to the album was less favourable than that afforded toTug of War.
Many of the songs released onPipes of Peace were recorded during the 1981 sessions forTug 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 byGeorge Martin; it featured two collaborations with the same artist (this time withMichael Jackson – theTug of War collaborations are withStevie Wonder); and it continued McCartney's alliance in the studio withRingo Starr and with10cc guitaristEric Stewart. It also contains his last session work withWings guitaristDenny Laine. By November, McCartney would start shooting his self-written motion pictureGive My Regards to Broad Street – co-starring his wifeLinda, Starr andTracey 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 andTug of War), the release ofPipes of Peace was delayed until October.
UnlikeTug of War, the album features anelectro-tinged sound.[1] On the track "Tug of Peace", McCartney blended the title song toTug of War with that of the new album. In a retrospective review,Stephen Thomas Erlewine ofAllMusic described the mix as "an almost-electro collage that twists the songs intoMcCartney II territory".[2]
McCartney spent much of his energies finishing and preparingGive My Regards to Broad Street for release in the autumn of 1984.
In 1983,Pipes of Peace made its debut on CD onColumbia Records. In 1993, the album was remastered and reissued on CD as part ofThe Paul McCartney Collection. Three bonus tracks were included on the latter release: the previously unreleased "Twice in a Lifetime" (the title song of the1985 film of the same name); his 1984 hit from theRupert Bear project, "We All Stand Together"; and "Simple as That", released in 1986 on the charity albumThe Anti-Heroin Project – It's a Live-In World.[3]
The album was reissued in remastered form in 2015 as part of the ongoingPaul 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 theRecord Store Day exclusive single "Say Say Say (2015 Remix)".[4]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [5] |
| Robert Christgau | B−[6] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [7] |
| The Essential Rock Discography | 4/10[8] |
| MusicHound | [9] |
| Pitchfork Media | 6.1/10[1] |
| PopMatters | [10] |
| Q | [11] |
| Record Mirror | [14] |
| Rolling Stone | [12] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [13] |
"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, theflipside "So Bad" hit number 23.[15]
Critical reaction was less positive than that which greetedTug of War, many feeling thatPipes of Peace was a weaker execution of its predecessor's formula. In addition, according to McCartney biographerHoward Sounes, the album's commercial reception was "slightly disappointing, considering the quality of the work".[16]
Reviewing the album for theNME, Penny Reel describedPipes 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."[17]
Sounes viewsPipes 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".[16] Reviewing the 2015 reissue ofPipes of Peace, forPitchfork, 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 amash-up that brought together the title cuts of these underappreciated albums. The blend is clunky, but it foreshadows his electronic music work asthe Fireman and onLiverpool Sound Collage."[1]
By contrast, Jeff Strowe ofPopMatters 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".[10]
All songs written byPaul McCartney, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Pipes of Peace" | 3:56 | |
| 2. | "Say Say Say" (with Michael Jackson) |
| 3:55 |
| 3. | "The Other Me" | 3:58 | |
| 4. | "Keep Under Cover" | 3:05 | |
| 5. | "So Bad" | 3:20 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6. | "The Man" |
| 3:55 |
| 7. | "Sweetest Little Show" | 2:54 | |
| 8. | "Average Person" | 4:33 | |
| 9. | "Hey Hey" |
| 2:54 |
| 10. | "Tug of Peace" | 2:54 | |
| 11. | "Through Our Love" | 3:28 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 12. | "Twice in a Lifetime" | 3:02 |
| 13. | "We All Stand Together" | 4:25 |
| 14. | "Simple as That" | 4:15 |
In 2015 the album was re-issued byHear Music/Concord Music Group as part of the sixth set of releases, alongsideTug of War, in thePaul McCartney Archive Collection. It was released in multiple formats:[18]
Disc 1 – remastered album
All songs written byPaul McCartney, except "Say Say Say" and "The Man" co-written byMichael Jackson, and "Hey Hey" co-written byStanley Clarke.The original 11-track album.
Disc 2 – bonus audio
Tracks 1–6 and 9 are previously unreleased.
Additional download tracks available via paulmccartney.com[19]
Disc 3 – DVD
String section
Weekly charts[edit] |
|
| Chart (1983) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart[20] | 89 |
| French Albums Chart[37] | 43 |
| UK Albums Chart[38] | 33 |
| Chart (1984) | Position |
| Australian Albums Chart[20] | 94 |
| Canadian Albums Chart[39] | 87 |
| Japanese Albums Chart (Oricon)[40] | 45 |
| Spanish Albums Chart[28] | 9 |
| UK Albums Chart[41] | 67 |
| USBillboard Pop Albums[42] | 98 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Canada (Music Canada)[43] | Platinum | 100,000^ |
| Japan (Oricon Charts) | — | 201,000[25][40] |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[44] | Platinum | 300,000^ |
| United States (RIAA)[45] | Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
