Surprisingly, the production is considerably slicker than the McCartney-Lynne collaboration Flaming Pie. The production touches and use of orchestration are imaginative and always tasteful. If anything Tug of War is reminiscent of Abbey Road in terms of its "sound". The title track, Take it Away, Somebody Who Cares, Here Today, Ballroom Dancing, The Pound is Sinking and Wanderlust are the strongest songs on the album. What's That You're Doing is a pretty good funk jam written and performed with Stevie Wonder and is far superior to the McCartney penned Ebony & Ivory.

The album does have its weak spots--Get It (recorded with the late Carl Perkins) is fun but fairly insubstanial. Dress Me Up As A Robber, despite an intricate and interesting melody, is a bit over the top. Be What You See is little more than a song fragment simliar to Ram On from the album Ram. Overall, though, the songwriting is outstanding and, if the album fails to rock, it does manage to capture your interest with the imaginative melodies and well thought out lyrics.

Tug of War doesn't suffer from the mawkish lyrics found on Pipes of Peace the immediate follow up. McCartney focuses on songcraft and was in the process of trying to restore his long bashed critical reputation with this fine album. Although not as interesting as Flowers in the Dirt (or Flaming Pie), Tug of War is a bit more consistent than other McCartney albums from the same time frame. Wanderlust and The Pound is Sinking (along with the title track) prove that McCartney's abilities as a songwriter hadn't left him; his lyrical and musical muse was just on vacation while he tried to rack up sales with Wings. Tug of War is a stronger album than Band on the Run but, again, lacks the rock 'n' roll moments that highlight that album.

Thelimited edition Japanese version is only different from the European copy only in its packaging; the Japanese edition is an exact duplicate of the original album packaging. This European import has most of the artwork refashioned for its CD bootlet.

This version of TOW sounds warmer and has greater detail than the domestic version. Are there any other differences? Frankly not really although the booklet is a bit more detailed. There aren't any bonus tracks here and, really, this album doesn't need any. Unlike, say Press to Play, this album stands up well on its own.


McCartney Masterpiece   June 26, 2005
Thomas Magnum (NJ, USA)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful

Tug Of War was the best album that Paul McCartney released in the 80's and one of the best he's ever released. This was his first release after the death of John Lennon and by the album's sound, you can tell he was thinking of the old times. He re-teamed with Beatles producer George Martin and Ringo Starr plays drums on a couple of tracks. The album has the spirit of teamwork as he duets with Stevie Wonder and one of his idols, Carl Perkins. The two tracks with Stevie Wonder are exceptional, "What's That Your Doing" and the number one smash hit "Ebony & Ivory". The former song is basically a Stevie Wonder song with him singing lead and it is easily the funkiest song ever to appear on a McCartney album, while the latter is an unabashed call for racial understanding that contains some marvelous vocal interplay. The album's opening song is the title track and it is a beautiful song with a soaring string section that has George Martin written all over it. That song merges right into one of McCartney's all time best efforts, "Take It Away, which features Ringo on drums. Mr. McCartney must of be feeling the spirit of John Lennon as with "Ebony & Ivory", "The Pound Is Sinking" is another socio-political commentary song and is quite good. "Get It" is his duet with Mr. Perkins and it is a rockabilly number. "Here Today" is his tribute to John Lennon and although the song is not one of his best, the love and feeling he puts into it outweighs any of its deficiencies. The album doesn't always hit as with the silly "Ballroom Dancing" and the typically sappy "Wanderlust", but the overall sound and production is crisp and vibrant and it shows why Paul McCartney is one of the most versatile and great artists in music history.



His best solo effort   September 2, 1998
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

With great songs like "Tug of War" and "Ballroom Dancing", this is propably McCartney's best album on his own. It is not exactly overflowing with new musical ideas, but it is good, solid stuff. What is most surprising is that it is one of his lesser known albums. If you're a fan of the only great Beatle left, buy this CD. It's expensive, but worth it.


Among McCartney's Best   October 6, 2008
Kip Deeds
This is McCartney's best album of the 80's. All of the songs are considered. Sometimes it feels like McCartney churns out songs and some should be edited out. Here there is balance. There are great slower songs "Here to Today", "Somebody Who Cares", "Wanderlust", and "Tug of War". There are also classic up tempo songs like "Take It Away" and the song "What's that Your Doing" with Stevie Wonder. The only weak point is "Ebony and Ivory"; the message and song are good but it is too sugary. I guess he had a good tune and had to do it but it doesn't help the album. I wished he would have left it as a single. On the whole if you like McCartney this one is fantastic.


one of Macca's best   March 5, 2007
D. Moses (London, London United Kingdom)
This is an exceptional album. The first track is a beautiful orchestrated ballad that has hit single written all over it. Why this song 'tug of war' did not make the charts to number 1 is a mystery, it is a beautiful song and a gorgeous melody. 'Take it away' is another winner, with a good melody and a nice brass section. There are three other amazing ballads. 'Someone who cares' has some incredible spanish guitar and panpipes. I wish Macca would do more like this. 'Here today' is a fitting tribute to John, and just as beautiful as 'Yesterday'. Musically, it is nothing like the classic masterpiece, but does feature the same instrumentation. 'Wanderlust' is a piano ballad, also with a horn section, and contains one of the best Macca vocals, with Macca reaching really high notes, particularly at the end of the song, which just resolves beautifully. I also adore 'ebony and ivory' it has excellent synth parts and the duet really works.
There are few upbeat tracks on the album. 'The pound is sinking' is a cross between an acoustic rhythm guitar track and something a bit more experimental, and it works. 'Dress me up as a robber' has some spanish guitar parts and electric and a memorable melody. 'Ballroom dancing' is a fun rock song, with pounding piano.
'Get it' is a very mimimalistic composition, but I think it works, particularly, as everything here is multi layered.
The only track which is a huge let down, is the awful funk rock dirge with Wonder, 'What you're doing' it just meanders and tunelessly goes on, completely out of place on the album.
The excellent b-side 'I'll give you a ring' would have fit perfectly in place of 'what you're doing'. It is another bouncy fun number with recorders. Also 'Rainclouds' is a nice b-side from around the era, not released on this album. There is also the solo version of 'ebony and ivory', featuring just Paul, which could have easily been a bonus track. The last rarity, is 'ode to a loa;a bear' a nice pop song, which was the b-side to 'say say say', on the 'pipes of peace' album, but also remains unreleased on CD, as of yet.