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A Safe Space for Those of Us Who Like the Post-1978 Rolling Stones

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As the reviews for Hackney Diamonds come in, it does look as though this time, The Rolling Stones really have made their best album since Some Girls. Moreover, like a Peter Gabriel fan watching the Sledgehammer video for the first time in 1986, I can sense that something is about to change. Perhaps we’re about to accept that, actually, most of their albums are pretty good. And as such, in best Rock Fan tradition, I feel that I need to stand up in front of the Afterword and make a declaration:

I liked the Post-1978 Rolling Stones Before You Did.

It hasn’t been easy. There have been times on this place when admitting that you liked Emotional Rescue or Steel Wheels was seen as unforgivable, as bad as liking Dumpy’s Rusty Nuts*, Kiss or even Queen. It’s sometimes seemed as though it was just Dai and myself, making eye contact across the continents and going “Well I really like Out of Tears, I don’t care what anyone else says”.

So I’d like this thread to be a safe space for those of us who have secretly liked these records, but perhaps haven’t always had the chance or courage to say so. Think Steel Wheels is a very good album? Come inside. Have a soft spot for Too Much Blood? Pull up a chair. Fan of Saint of Me? I’ve made muffins. It’s ok, I’m on your side. I will be your knight in shining armour. Riding across the desert on a fine Arab charger.

(*I am of course, referring to the original Dumpy’s Rusty Nuts who made the Somewhere in England album. Everything they did after they became DRN is rubbish.)

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Comments

  1. I have a great deal of respect for the Stones but I find that I can only take them in small doses. So not only do I see them as a singles band, I also think that Undercover of the Night is their best song since Sympathy for the Devil.

    • The funny thing is they were a successful singles band for longer than you might think. Steel Wheels was the first album not to have a top 20 single in the UK (Mixed Emotions was a hit in the US). They were having hits well into the 80s.

    • I remember Sunday evenings, doing the last of my A-level homework to a soundtrack of Annie Nightingale’s show, and Undercover of the Night being a regular.

      I first heard Werewolves of London, The Killing of Georgie, Stay With Me, etc, on there, too. I miss radio shows like that, but I’m pleased I don’t have to do A-level homework any more.

  2. With you brother, below are my ratings, some are pretty poor, but there is something of worth on all these albums, yes, even Dirty Work

    Emotional Rescue ***
    Tattoo You ****
    Undercover **1/2
    Dirty Work **
    Steel Wheels ***1/2
    Voodoo Lounge ****
    Bridges to Babylon ***
    A Bigger Bang ***1/2
    Blue and Lonesome ****
    Hackney Diamonds ?

    • I would swap Steel Wheels and Voodoo Lounge, but I’m pretty much with you.

      The one I think is really underrated is Emotional Rescue. Not a great album, but it has a really good feel. Just a good album to spend some time with. And the title track is their most underrated single.

  3. In his ranking of the entire Stones catalogue, David Marchese of something called Vulture, writes:
    “The all-ballad second half of Tattoo You is the Stones’ greatest on-record stretch of warmth and beauty, and “Waiting on a Friend” is its shining sun.”
    I am wholeheartedly agree with this, I think. A lovely run of songs, with a special shout out for the magnificent contribution of Sonny Rollins. Outside of that, Living In A Ghost Town is my favourite. Then Blue and Lonesome (favourite track: Little Rain).

  4. Might I venture a contrarian note? Stones ballads are, like ballads, generally, kak for those SCARED TO ROCK. I find these things weedy and insincere tosh.

  5. Undercover as a single seemed impressive at the time but now it sounds pretty dated. Where acts who once set the style for others to follow end up following rather than leading.

    Out Of Control off Bridges To Babylon has become a great live number. The Ole Ole Ole documentary featuring shows in South America proves that.

    • I agree about Out Of Control. I don’t know if it’s the same version as in the Ole Ole Ole documentary (from Havana?), but there is a good live version on No Security, recorded at the River Plate Stadium, Buenos Aires in April 1998.

      No Security also contains a version of Saint Of Me recorded at the same concert.

  7. Doom and Gloom was great, so was Living In a Ghost Town, but this is completely overlooked. Was released a part of a live album after Steel Wheels.

    Charlie looks pretty immaculate in the video even by his own high standards

    • It has always been a fave here. It was tacked onto the live album Flashpoint, which was a bit odd as it was released as a single. I got the CD single as it had tracks which aren’t on Flashpoint – in particular terrific versions of 2000 Light Years from Home and I Just Want To Make Love To You.

      • Like it a lot. Missed that tour for some stupid reason. On other non album releases from that time you can also find:

        Gimme Shelter
        Harlem Shuffle
        Play With Fire
        Street Fighting Man
        Tumbling Dice and
        Undercover of the Night

        And as well as Highwire, another new studio track Sex Drive is included on Flashpoint

  8. As a live band, never saw them before the “Still Life ” tour and a total of 28 times since in theatres, arenas and stadiums. Never a bad gig, couple of mediocre ones, probably including the very first one. Saw some incredible shows in 2003 where they were playing different sized venues and mixing up the setlists quite a bit

  9. Saw them recently on the Sixty tour. Before I had thought they would not be so great, post 70s. I thought there might not be another chance so went for it. I wonder if they were better for all being sober. Then again Keith has his arthritic hands but I was satisfied with the band’s performance. It was special.

    • I was watching the LA Forum 1975 DVD recently. It’s fascinating to watch but God almighty, what a mess. Keith misses the cue for every verse on Happy.

      They’re a better live band post- Steel Wheels. More predictable I guess, because playing stadiums demands that, but at the same time more professional.

  10. Three beers in on a Friday night, what do I reach for? Brown Sugar, nope. Sympathy, No. Midnight Rambler, no.

    The answer is always Slave off Tattoo You.

  11. The problem, in a way, became Mick’s obsession with what’s hot , the latest sound, the latest producer. So often that fashion was ephemeral and their legacy was a dated rekease.

    • Yes, but. I think some of those trend-chasing instincts have attained a timelessness of their own in the ensuing years. Some Girls is derided by some as a response to punk but, given their excellence as a unit, that LP now has a sound and an enduring appeal that has outlasted Mick’s original intention to compete. Similarly, Emotional Rescue (the song) transcends any claims of genre-hopping by sheer exuberance and inherent feel of the Stones’ playing (especially Bill Wyman’s playing, often unfairly maligned). What remains is a record that, irrespective of the ‘source’, just sounds like the Stones.

      Admittedly it seems unlikely, but perhaps some of the slicker CD-bloat 90s and 2000 cuts produced by Dust Brothers or whoever will reveal their charms more clearly once the contemporary associations have dropped away.

  13. I could do with a handy Spotify playlist of the best bits of those albums. Anyone?

    I checked out with the arrival of Ronnie TBH. Apart from being Keith’s mate, what is the point of him? Mick Taylor was such a loss.

  14. A shout out for some of the live albums – Flashpoint is very good, although not in the spirit of this thread, they started to play more stuff from the 60s around this time. Stripped is also great fun and carries on the theme of revisiting some dusty corners of the catalogue.

    I recently pocked up the Grrr live set and that is an absolute belter too, but avoid Live in Leeds – sloppy and not in a good way.

    • No Security has it’s moments (I was at 2 of the concerts that feature here), likewise Live Licks (particularly disc 2 which is more obscure stuff relatively). I don’t need to hear them do Satisfaction on a live album ever again

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