Four more classic Rolling Stones albums have been reissued as part of the Universal Music Group’s acquisition of the Rolling Stones catalog from Sticky Fingers (1971 forward. This installment consists of four more albums: Some Girls (1978), Emotional Rescue (1980), Tattoo You (1981) and Undercover (1983). Like the first four CD’s released as 2009 remasters by Universal, the packaging is the same as the previous jewel case releases from the 1994 EMI/Virgin release of the material.
All four albums benefit from being remastered. The instruments are much more clearly defined, the overall equalization is improved, and the overall sound is louder. Perhaps because the original studio tapes might have been better specimens to work with, the second round of remasters might actually be a bigger improvement than those of Sticky Fingers, Goats Head Soup, It’s Only Rock & Roll, and Black and Blue released a month ago.
Some Girls stands out as the best album of the Ronnie Wood era. While it acknowledges contemporary sounds of 1978, punk and disco influences, it also leaps back to the real hard, in your face, hard rock of Exile on Main Street on most of its cuts. The album’s opener, also its first single, “Miss You,” might meet the requirements of disco, four on the floor rhythm, the song has a strong bluesy Stones sound featuring instrumental work led by Mel Collins on saxophone, Sugar Blue on harmonica, and aided by Ronnie Wood’s guitar solo.
“When the Whip Comes Down” as the second cut, sets the tone for the rest of the album. It’s a sleazy hard rocker with some ominous sadomasochistic lyrics. Its raw power could either be recognition of punk influences or just returning to the Exile on Main Street hard hitting rock.
Covering Motown proved fertile territory for the Stones once again covering a Temptations’ number one hit with “Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me).” The Stones picked up the tempo and roughed the song up from the Temptations’ original version.
The title track, “Some Girls,” ticked off many critics with its misogynistic lyrics and one line in particular, “Black girls just want to f_____ all night…..” Sonically, the tune is rough cut blues Stones’ style, menacing but rocking.
What would be the last cut on the original LP ends on a hard rocking three guitar driven smasher, “Lies.” Again misogyny pervades the lyrics.
The Stones always showed favor for country music though seldom play it without a somewhat mocking humorous attitude. “Far Away Eyes” is no exception featuring Ronnie Wood for the first time on pedal steel guitar. The lyrics are absolutely hilarious.
“Respectable” could easy be ripped off from Exile on Main Street with its Chuck Berry rocker on speed tempo like other rockers on the album pumped up with additional interlaced guitar parts with Mick, Ronnie, and Keith all trading licks. The instrumental breaks are among the Stones’ rockin’ best with Keith leading the first break and Ronnie on the second.
“Before They Make Me Run” is Keith’s vocal performance on the album, one of his best performances ever, dedicated largely to his struggles with addiction and subsequent legal problems. “I will walk before they make me run.” Ronnie’s slide guitar is absolute dynamite.
“Beast of Burden” lightens things up setting a tropical, almost reggae like groove, a lively up tempo number that floats along with Charley Watts laying down the back beat around which the guitars flow.
Thinking back to 1978, New York City was a mess. This was the era of Son of Sam, Studio 54, and “The Bronx is Burning.” If Exile on Main Street attempted to capture Americana at large, at times Some Girls attempts to capture 1978 New York, and no song better bites the big apple than the final song, “Shattered,” a song that chronicles various aspects of New York decadence against a highly electrified guitar driven instrumental score. It serves as a great thematic conclusion to this fine album.
The Universal remaster is a major improvement over previous releases. Given how much simultaneous guitar playing is featured through out the album, previous releases tend to mush it all into a wall of sound, but finally on this release the individual instruments can be much more clearly indentified. Charlie’s drums are sharper and far more live sounding. The vocals are isolated and moved right out front not falling back in the slush as heard on earlier releases. Despite these audio improvements, the album never sounds doctored. It remains faithful to the original sound; however, the refreshed sound gives the album a freshness that invites the listener to become reacquainted with unquestionably one of the Rolling Stones finest albums.
Emotional Rescue is one of the Rolling Stones’ most curious albums. The album has plenty of good material but a couple of numbers are truly off the wall. If “Miss You” was the Stones attempt to dignify disco in Stones trappings, then the opening track, “Dance, Part One” serves to darken it and make that naughty Beelzebub of “Sympathy for the Devil,” “Midnight Rambler,” and “Dancing with Mr. D.” blowout the dance floor. With its tropical rhythms and mischievously crafted guitar interplay, pumped up with horns, additional percussion, and some wild backing vocals by reggae artist, Max Romeo, the Stones attempt to recapture their darker tendencies that had been kept largely under wraps since Goats Head Soup.
“Summer Romance” at first sounds like more of the hard rock style of Some Girls but it possesses of roughness and in-your-face edge making it perhaps the closest to an all out punk performance the Stones ever recorded, raw and rough from start to finish.
“Send it to Me” the album’s third cut is an up beat Stones rocker grafted atop an infectious reggae beat. Musically, it’s all Stones with a heavy dose of Bob Marley and a dash of Pink Floyd just to mix things up.
“Let Me Go” is one of the Stones’ best “kiss off – get lost (or something worse)” songs ever. Like “Brown Sugar,” it cruises along the road like a trusty old pickup truck guided by Keith’s rhythm guitar and Ian Stewart’s boogie-woogie piano. The engine might not be finally tuned but it chugs right along opening up with signature Keith Richards’ rough cut Telecaster riffs, dirty old Mick tells his lover to get lost in a dozen different ways even suggesting he might “become a playboy, hang around in gay bars, and move to the west side of town…” As if the body of the song isn’t great enough, the instrumental fade slinks along into oblivion with a lazy old Bobby Keys sax performance supported by scratching rhythm guitars.
Side one from the album days concludes with a curious political song, “Indian Girl,” lamenting the native Central Americans’ plight against the political unrest in Latin America of the time. It’s a curious song with some interesting arrangements. It’s also one of two songs featuring Nicky Hopkins final performances with the Rolling Stones.
Act two opens with a directionless hard rocker, “Where the Boys Go,” essentially a cut and paste formulaic Stones rocker starting off with Keith hard riffs and Mick’s poser vocals all over the place. It rocks, but it’s not a song that would stick to the listener like their better efforts would.
“Down in the Hole” is one of the Rolling Stones most obvious attempts since Exile on Main Street and their early days to play real honest all out blues. Hot and tense, the guitar duels set the mood for Jagger’s vocals that border on overdramatic at times.
“Emotional Rescue” must be the most off-the-wall single the Stones ever recorded. Hastened by Keith Richards not waking up while members of the band assembled to record, this song is pure fun as the Stones almost satirize the Bee Gees starting off with a thumping mock-disco beat and Jagger’s crazy falsetto vocals. The song goes through a series of interesting transitions each segment having its own unique little style. The song is so off-the-wall, the listener might feel a little guilty insane for listening to it, but the rhythms are so infectious, it’s a tune absolutely impossible to resist.
“She’s So Cold” is one of the album’s most popular songs. Based on building from the lyrics “I’m so hot for her, but she’s so cold” the tune is anchored with good old Keith scratchings on rhythm guitar that pace the song with the rest of the guitar interplay building from there including some fine pedal steel and slide guitar work, some of Ronnie Wood’s most memorable riffs with the band. By the end of the song, the listener might find it hard not to be singing along.
Emotional Rescue concludes with a Keith Richards’ ballad which is another kiss off song in its own right but cast in a unique and strange marriage of sounds that unites an Al Green type rhythm with elements as far apart as reggae and country (no not Jimmy Buffett) style featuring a horn section and some fine saxophone from Bobby Keys. In one song, it captures much of the off beat mixture of influences that make Emotional Rescue such a readily recognizable Stones album.
Several songs benefit substantially from the new master. “Dance Part 1,” “Summer Romance” and “Send It To Me” open up so much with all the instruments being clearly heard for the first time, while more familiar songs like “Let Me Go” and “She’s So Cold” have a lot more punch as familiar guitar passages and other instruments enjoy a freshness that makes hearing these songs from twenty nine years ago sound red hot again.
Only the Rolling Stones could take songs discarded from other albums, pull them together, and put together one of their finest albums outside of the big four from 1968-1972. Tattoo You pulls together material going back as far as the Goats Head Soup sessions featuring Mick Taylor, picking up with songs not making the cut for Black and Blue, then more action from the Some Girls and Emotional Rescue sessions. As such, the album is a most eclectic offering, but what makes it even more interesting is that what was originally side one of the LP were all rockers and the second side features ballads and mellower numbers giving the listener two completely different worlds separating part one from part two.
The album opens with the Stones’ last real anthem, a song that has become almost a cliché at sporting events even introducing kickoffs at NFL games and also one of those select songs that makes the set list for every Stones concert, “Start Me Up.” There’s not much new to say about a song that listeners know so well other than the new recording gives the listener a chance to hear the driving guitars much more clearly now.
“Hang Fire” is a refugee from the Some Girls sessions and was perhaps a little too old school Stones for the edgy feel of that album, but it works perfectly in the number two spot on this album. It’s a short and naughty little rocker with bright harmonies, sharp guitar, and classic Ian Stewart piano as the vessel to deliver a brief commentary on the economic mess Great Britain had become by the 1980’s.
“Slave” is the Stones’ first major effort with extended instrumental performances since “Time Waits for No One” but is more aligned with “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” but instead of showing a somewhat Latin, Santana like influence, “Slave,” supposedly from the Black and Blue sessions goes more toward bluesy jazz. Driven through out with Keith Richards’ rhythm guitar locked in with Charlie’s steady drum beat, once the main vocal part of the song concludes the listener is treated with a series of excellent solos starting off with the raw saxophone power jazz legend, Sonny Rollins, followed by sizzling soulful keyboards from Billy Preston, which then transitions into the outstanding guitar solo of (most likely) Wayne Perkins. From there the three main instrumentalists, most notably Rollins trade shorter leads in a lively jam through the end of the track. This is the extended version first discovered for the 1994 EMI-Virgin release. It’s red hot, especially when the world’s greatest rock & roll band plays host to one of the greatest jazz saxophonists ever.
Keith takes over with the next number reverting to standard rockin’ Stones territory, loaded up guitar riffs and raunchy, naughty lyrics mixing together to provide a ton of attitude in “Little T & A. It’s one of those rockers that almost demands a second listen at an even louder volume setting. The new recording makes the layers of guitars more recognizable.
“Black Limousine” is good old style Chicago style blues pumped up with Stones’ character. It could easily be pulled from Out of Our Heads or earlier work apart from the more modern technology propelling the instruments and recording. Just because this is the kind of music the Rolling Stones can play in their sleep doesn’t make it a hoot to listen to.
“Neighbors” concludes the rockin’ part of the album. It’s a pretty generic Stones rocker, surely the least interesting song from this segment of the album. Nevertheless, it has enough energy and some fine guitar playing that will surely keep the listener tuned in and not reaching for the skip button.
“Worried About You” opens the second part of the album, an adventure unlike anything else the Stones ever recorded, five songs exploring different sounds without a single rocker. This opening track is pure 60’s style R&B reduced to guitars, keyboard, bass, and drums with Jagger slipping into his falsetto for much of the song which includes brilliant guitar solos from outstanding stand-in from the Black and Blue sessions, Wayne Perkins, who shines on every track he recorded when afforded a standout part. His hot-blooded Stratocaster lifts the song into a hotter level of intensity with the extended solo. Like “Let it Loose” and other Stones powerful soul ballads, it’s a song that builds volume and power as the song paces along.
“Tops” is another 60’s style soul number but with a more southern blues character driven by a gospel style piano which is hard to distinguish between Nicky Hopkins but more likely Billy Preston. Since the original tracks date back to Goats Head Soup sessions, another treat is a cameo guitar solo from wunderkind, Mick Taylor.
“Heaven” might be the Stones most experimental song since Their Satanic Majesties Request though it surely would not be described as psychedelic in the same sense. It’s more or less an atmospheric all Jagger piece with no Keith Richards presence at all.
“Ain’t No Use in Crying” once again ventures into Southern soul territory with some noticeable country overtones as well. Driven by Steve Cropper-like rhythm guitar passages and a church-like piano, once again Mick and the boys sound like they could have owned Stax records as from their early albums with songs like “That’s How Strong My Love Is,” they’ve shown their expertise at mastering that wonderful sound.
Tattoo You wraps up with one of the most appealing ballads the Stones have ever recorded. Starting with basic tracks recorded for Goats Head Soup sessions and made more contemporary with the final overdubs, it’s a song of love, loss, and friendship that takes a little maturity a band full of kids couldn’t perform. The arrangement is driven by one last final appearance on a Rolling Stones album by Nicky Hopkins supplemented by a somewhat Caribbean touch to the rhythm instruments, finished with some absolutely breathtaking saxophone styling from Sonny Rollins, the bad boys of rock actually end an album on a rather sweet note having taken their listeners on one of the broadest journeys featuring a wide variety of styles full of roots influences but sounding decidedly contemporary without selling out to the stylish gimmicks of the time that would render such albums most dated sounding years later. Tattoo You is an album that has lots of hidden pleasures that continue to emerge after repeated listens. Given a higher definition recording revealing more elements and nuances, for little more than the cost of a couple six packs of beer, so what if this is the third go round for this classic album?
Though being released only two years after Tattoo You, Undercover is often categorized as a later Stones recording. It would never be associated with their classic era with all its material being newly recorded no reworking tapes from past sessions as has so often been a trick for Stones albums through the years. It’s definitely an album of the 80’s which when those elements demand too much attention can make aspects of the album feel dated many years later with added emphasis on electronic keyboards and drum machines, the rootsy formula of intertwined guitars, bass, drums, and usually piano becomes a more high tech, by 1983 standards, affair right from the beginning with the title track.
“Undercover” is a notably political song dealing with a favorite Mick Jagger topic, Latin American unrest. Opening with synthesized sounds and drum machines, “Undercover” is a highly rhythmic track wedding Stones rock & roll with dance club embellishments, but despite being dated in those regards, it’s still a mighty powerful track that the lads have continued to play in concert on recent tours. As long as Keith Richards has a pulse, the Stones can always build an infectious riff and that’s the real secret to this tune.
If “Undercover” pushed the listener into new territory, the second cut returns in equal measure to familiar Stones territory with lots of Exile on Main Street energy modernized only by featuring a clearer better defined sound. “She Was Hot” starts off with yet another signature Keith riff immediately followed by Charlie’s familiar drum action, and within a few chords, another Stones classic is cruising right along as if the title doesn’t suggest the singer has plenty of room to have some fun with the lyrics. Listeners wouldn’t have known it at the time, but this would be one of the last vintage Stones’ rockers that cruise right along with some good old comfy piano thanks to their loyal sidekick, Ian Stewart, who died of a heart attack while their next album was in process. Some aspects of “She Was Hot” almost sound like an update to “Rocks Off’ though it’s a little more conventional rock & roll by comparison.
“Tie You Up (The Pain of Love)” is one of the songs that contribute to an overall mean and nasty atmosphere for Undercover. Yep, it’s a song dedicated to some S&M nonsense, nothing too direct but plenty of suggestion. It chugs along with a nice British lads try to cop a James Brown groove for most of the tune. The electronic percussion dates the song toward the end.
“I Wanna Hold You” is Keith’s tune much in the same form as “Happy” but not as good. Still, it is more than adequate delivering the mandatory Keith dose for the album. As is characteristic of Keith’s rockers from “Happy” through “Before They Make Me Run” to “Little T&A” is the fine layering of guitars first working with Mick Taylor then transitioning to Ron Wood without missing a note. While they are all Keith’s songs built around signature Keith riffs, all of them give the other guitar guy lots of space to shine brilliantly as Woody demonstrates sliding away on this one.
“Feel on Baby” is a more authentic attempt to play honest to goodness reggae, never a particularly noteworthy tune, however, this song benefits tremendously from the new master which brings out so much detail that was buried in the mush before. It’s a much more complex arrangement with much more intricate guitar playing and percussion arrangements than one might have noticed on even a decent recording like the EMI-Virgin CD or a Japanese copy of the album on LP.
“Too Much Blood” would be the opener to side two back in LP days and proved to be the album’s most controversial tune with a gory video to accompany it as well as a 12” single providing an extended dance mix of this tune that among other things salutes the Texas chainsaw massacre. Yeah, too much blood indeed!
“Pretty Beat Up” builds around the band locking in a groove and not letting up where Keith and Ronnie intertwine their guitar playing together creating almost a hypnotic rhythm. Word has it that this number, one which became a concert staple for his solo outings, is largely Ronnie’s composition. The lyrics are of little consequence other than what the listener can decipher continues to promote the rough sex, dirty love theme of the album. “Too Tough” follows as another formula song building from classic Keith guitar riffs but never really taking off or offering anything unique. It would need more than better lyrics and a better vocal performance.
“All the Way Down” still stays pretty close to being yet another formula piece. The lyrics and vocal performance are more or less Mick on auto-pilot. Instrumentally, the song rocks featuring some rather unique breaks that could make the song far more interesting if the overall material were better.
The Stones surely didn’t save the best for last with the last song, “It Must Be Hell.” Once again, it’s little more than musical paint by numbers and viola, a Rolling Stones song. From the first guitar chords, there’s no denying it’s a Stones tune, hand Keith his trusty old Telecaster and press play.
Clearly, Undercover is the weakest album of this four CD collection, and is likewise one of the Stones’ weakest albums of all time. When released fans surely did not know of the growing rift between Keith and Mick. It was just a new Stones album and in the context of 1983, it made connections with being a product of the time with tracks like “Undercover,” “Tie You Up,” and “Too Much Blood” but also featured a few songs that were just good old Stones numbers with “She Was Hot” being a great song that would fit nicely in any compilation of great Stones’ rockers and “Wanna Hold You” working quite nicely for Keith’s disciplines. This is an album for hardcore Stones fans and obsessive completists. Undercover is best avoided by casual fans. With on-line downloading an option, “She Was Hot” is a great song while a couple others might be of interest too, but the album as a whole doesn’t add up.
Some Girls and Tattoo You are absolutely fantastic albums one tier down from the level of their big four, but any serious rock fan should probably have 10-12 original Stones albums along with a decent compilation or two of their 60’s material and Get Yer Ya-Yas Out as their one real live standout.
Emotional Rescue is an album serious Stones fans would gladly own, but given its inconsistencies, it might be a little more of a stretch for the casual fan, but with classics like “Let Me Go,” “She’s So Cold,” “Dance Part One” and the title track all thoroughly enjoyable songs with many of the songs having their own particular charm, it’ surely not an album to be written off. It’s more a matter of how much shelf space and twelve bucks does the listener want to invest in yet another Stones albums.
As with the first group of Universal remasters, upgrading to these discs is not a must for those who have the 1994 EMI-Virgin CD releases; however, it’s hard not to at least recommend a refresh for Some Girls since the newest release really opens the album up and provides the listener the chance to hear all kinds of details and nuances buried in all previous releases. Any one having the original CBS/Sony CD releases who enjoys any of the four of these discs, replacing them is a must particularly for Tattoo You given it provides an edited recording of “Slave” which robs from some of the best instrumental work the Stones have ever recorded.
The next release scheduled for early July will fill out the remainder of the Rolling Stones’ post 1971 studio albums spare Exile on Main Street. How much remastering the more recent recordings could improve upon the originals is much more problematic especially since these releases are not adding any frills like outtakes or bonus tracks.
The real test will be how the Rolling Stones’ new dance partner handles the rerelease of Exile on Main Street. EMI/Virgin did a remarkable job creating something better than anything American listeners would ever have heard by a long shot. The improvement over European vinyl is also noteworthy though not as dramatic. How much more does this classic album have to offer before reengineering starts to tinker with the real personality of the album is the challenge to be greeted when the new release comes to market later this year.
All four albums benefit from being remastered. The instruments are much more clearly defined, the overall equalization is improved, and the overall sound is louder. Perhaps because the original studio tapes might have been better specimens to work with, the second round of remasters might actually be a bigger improvement than those of Sticky Fingers, Goats Head Soup, It’s Only Rock & Roll, and Black and Blue released a month ago.
Some Girls stands out as the best album of the Ronnie Wood era. While it acknowledges contemporary sounds of 1978, punk and disco influences, it also leaps back to the real hard, in your face, hard rock of Exile on Main Street on most of its cuts. The album’s opener, also its first single, “Miss You,” might meet the requirements of disco, four on the floor rhythm, the song has a strong bluesy Stones sound featuring instrumental work led by Mel Collins on saxophone, Sugar Blue on harmonica, and aided by Ronnie Wood’s guitar solo.
“When the Whip Comes Down” as the second cut, sets the tone for the rest of the album. It’s a sleazy hard rocker with some ominous sadomasochistic lyrics. Its raw power could either be recognition of punk influences or just returning to the Exile on Main Street hard hitting rock.
Covering Motown proved fertile territory for the Stones once again covering a Temptations’ number one hit with “Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me).” The Stones picked up the tempo and roughed the song up from the Temptations’ original version.
The title track, “Some Girls,” ticked off many critics with its misogynistic lyrics and one line in particular, “Black girls just want to f_____ all night…..” Sonically, the tune is rough cut blues Stones’ style, menacing but rocking.
What would be the last cut on the original LP ends on a hard rocking three guitar driven smasher, “Lies.” Again misogyny pervades the lyrics.
The Stones always showed favor for country music though seldom play it without a somewhat mocking humorous attitude. “Far Away Eyes” is no exception featuring Ronnie Wood for the first time on pedal steel guitar. The lyrics are absolutely hilarious.
“Respectable” could easy be ripped off from Exile on Main Street with its Chuck Berry rocker on speed tempo like other rockers on the album pumped up with additional interlaced guitar parts with Mick, Ronnie, and Keith all trading licks. The instrumental breaks are among the Stones’ rockin’ best with Keith leading the first break and Ronnie on the second.
“Before They Make Me Run” is Keith’s vocal performance on the album, one of his best performances ever, dedicated largely to his struggles with addiction and subsequent legal problems. “I will walk before they make me run.” Ronnie’s slide guitar is absolute dynamite.
“Beast of Burden” lightens things up setting a tropical, almost reggae like groove, a lively up tempo number that floats along with Charley Watts laying down the back beat around which the guitars flow.
Thinking back to 1978, New York City was a mess. This was the era of Son of Sam, Studio 54, and “The Bronx is Burning.” If Exile on Main Street attempted to capture Americana at large, at times Some Girls attempts to capture 1978 New York, and no song better bites the big apple than the final song, “Shattered,” a song that chronicles various aspects of New York decadence against a highly electrified guitar driven instrumental score. It serves as a great thematic conclusion to this fine album.
The Universal remaster is a major improvement over previous releases. Given how much simultaneous guitar playing is featured through out the album, previous releases tend to mush it all into a wall of sound, but finally on this release the individual instruments can be much more clearly indentified. Charlie’s drums are sharper and far more live sounding. The vocals are isolated and moved right out front not falling back in the slush as heard on earlier releases. Despite these audio improvements, the album never sounds doctored. It remains faithful to the original sound; however, the refreshed sound gives the album a freshness that invites the listener to become reacquainted with unquestionably one of the Rolling Stones finest albums.
Emotional Rescue is one of the Rolling Stones’ most curious albums. The album has plenty of good material but a couple of numbers are truly off the wall. If “Miss You” was the Stones attempt to dignify disco in Stones trappings, then the opening track, “Dance, Part One” serves to darken it and make that naughty Beelzebub of “Sympathy for the Devil,” “Midnight Rambler,” and “Dancing with Mr. D.” blowout the dance floor. With its tropical rhythms and mischievously crafted guitar interplay, pumped up with horns, additional percussion, and some wild backing vocals by reggae artist, Max Romeo, the Stones attempt to recapture their darker tendencies that had been kept largely under wraps since Goats Head Soup.
“Summer Romance” at first sounds like more of the hard rock style of Some Girls but it possesses of roughness and in-your-face edge making it perhaps the closest to an all out punk performance the Stones ever recorded, raw and rough from start to finish.
“Send it to Me” the album’s third cut is an up beat Stones rocker grafted atop an infectious reggae beat. Musically, it’s all Stones with a heavy dose of Bob Marley and a dash of Pink Floyd just to mix things up.
“Let Me Go” is one of the Stones’ best “kiss off – get lost (or something worse)” songs ever. Like “Brown Sugar,” it cruises along the road like a trusty old pickup truck guided by Keith’s rhythm guitar and Ian Stewart’s boogie-woogie piano. The engine might not be finally tuned but it chugs right along opening up with signature Keith Richards’ rough cut Telecaster riffs, dirty old Mick tells his lover to get lost in a dozen different ways even suggesting he might “become a playboy, hang around in gay bars, and move to the west side of town…” As if the body of the song isn’t great enough, the instrumental fade slinks along into oblivion with a lazy old Bobby Keys sax performance supported by scratching rhythm guitars.
Side one from the album days concludes with a curious political song, “Indian Girl,” lamenting the native Central Americans’ plight against the political unrest in Latin America of the time. It’s a curious song with some interesting arrangements. It’s also one of two songs featuring Nicky Hopkins final performances with the Rolling Stones.
Act two opens with a directionless hard rocker, “Where the Boys Go,” essentially a cut and paste formulaic Stones rocker starting off with Keith hard riffs and Mick’s poser vocals all over the place. It rocks, but it’s not a song that would stick to the listener like their better efforts would.
“Down in the Hole” is one of the Rolling Stones most obvious attempts since Exile on Main Street and their early days to play real honest all out blues. Hot and tense, the guitar duels set the mood for Jagger’s vocals that border on overdramatic at times.
“Emotional Rescue” must be the most off-the-wall single the Stones ever recorded. Hastened by Keith Richards not waking up while members of the band assembled to record, this song is pure fun as the Stones almost satirize the Bee Gees starting off with a thumping mock-disco beat and Jagger’s crazy falsetto vocals. The song goes through a series of interesting transitions each segment having its own unique little style. The song is so off-the-wall, the listener might feel a little guilty insane for listening to it, but the rhythms are so infectious, it’s a tune absolutely impossible to resist.
“She’s So Cold” is one of the album’s most popular songs. Based on building from the lyrics “I’m so hot for her, but she’s so cold” the tune is anchored with good old Keith scratchings on rhythm guitar that pace the song with the rest of the guitar interplay building from there including some fine pedal steel and slide guitar work, some of Ronnie Wood’s most memorable riffs with the band. By the end of the song, the listener might find it hard not to be singing along.
Emotional Rescue concludes with a Keith Richards’ ballad which is another kiss off song in its own right but cast in a unique and strange marriage of sounds that unites an Al Green type rhythm with elements as far apart as reggae and country (no not Jimmy Buffett) style featuring a horn section and some fine saxophone from Bobby Keys. In one song, it captures much of the off beat mixture of influences that make Emotional Rescue such a readily recognizable Stones album.
Several songs benefit substantially from the new master. “Dance Part 1,” “Summer Romance” and “Send It To Me” open up so much with all the instruments being clearly heard for the first time, while more familiar songs like “Let Me Go” and “She’s So Cold” have a lot more punch as familiar guitar passages and other instruments enjoy a freshness that makes hearing these songs from twenty nine years ago sound red hot again.
Only the Rolling Stones could take songs discarded from other albums, pull them together, and put together one of their finest albums outside of the big four from 1968-1972. Tattoo You pulls together material going back as far as the Goats Head Soup sessions featuring Mick Taylor, picking up with songs not making the cut for Black and Blue, then more action from the Some Girls and Emotional Rescue sessions. As such, the album is a most eclectic offering, but what makes it even more interesting is that what was originally side one of the LP were all rockers and the second side features ballads and mellower numbers giving the listener two completely different worlds separating part one from part two.
The album opens with the Stones’ last real anthem, a song that has become almost a cliché at sporting events even introducing kickoffs at NFL games and also one of those select songs that makes the set list for every Stones concert, “Start Me Up.” There’s not much new to say about a song that listeners know so well other than the new recording gives the listener a chance to hear the driving guitars much more clearly now.
“Hang Fire” is a refugee from the Some Girls sessions and was perhaps a little too old school Stones for the edgy feel of that album, but it works perfectly in the number two spot on this album. It’s a short and naughty little rocker with bright harmonies, sharp guitar, and classic Ian Stewart piano as the vessel to deliver a brief commentary on the economic mess Great Britain had become by the 1980’s.
“Slave” is the Stones’ first major effort with extended instrumental performances since “Time Waits for No One” but is more aligned with “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” but instead of showing a somewhat Latin, Santana like influence, “Slave,” supposedly from the Black and Blue sessions goes more toward bluesy jazz. Driven through out with Keith Richards’ rhythm guitar locked in with Charlie’s steady drum beat, once the main vocal part of the song concludes the listener is treated with a series of excellent solos starting off with the raw saxophone power jazz legend, Sonny Rollins, followed by sizzling soulful keyboards from Billy Preston, which then transitions into the outstanding guitar solo of (most likely) Wayne Perkins. From there the three main instrumentalists, most notably Rollins trade shorter leads in a lively jam through the end of the track. This is the extended version first discovered for the 1994 EMI-Virgin release. It’s red hot, especially when the world’s greatest rock & roll band plays host to one of the greatest jazz saxophonists ever.
Keith takes over with the next number reverting to standard rockin’ Stones territory, loaded up guitar riffs and raunchy, naughty lyrics mixing together to provide a ton of attitude in “Little T & A. It’s one of those rockers that almost demands a second listen at an even louder volume setting. The new recording makes the layers of guitars more recognizable.
“Black Limousine” is good old style Chicago style blues pumped up with Stones’ character. It could easily be pulled from Out of Our Heads or earlier work apart from the more modern technology propelling the instruments and recording. Just because this is the kind of music the Rolling Stones can play in their sleep doesn’t make it a hoot to listen to.
“Neighbors” concludes the rockin’ part of the album. It’s a pretty generic Stones rocker, surely the least interesting song from this segment of the album. Nevertheless, it has enough energy and some fine guitar playing that will surely keep the listener tuned in and not reaching for the skip button.
“Worried About You” opens the second part of the album, an adventure unlike anything else the Stones ever recorded, five songs exploring different sounds without a single rocker. This opening track is pure 60’s style R&B reduced to guitars, keyboard, bass, and drums with Jagger slipping into his falsetto for much of the song which includes brilliant guitar solos from outstanding stand-in from the Black and Blue sessions, Wayne Perkins, who shines on every track he recorded when afforded a standout part. His hot-blooded Stratocaster lifts the song into a hotter level of intensity with the extended solo. Like “Let it Loose” and other Stones powerful soul ballads, it’s a song that builds volume and power as the song paces along.
“Tops” is another 60’s style soul number but with a more southern blues character driven by a gospel style piano which is hard to distinguish between Nicky Hopkins but more likely Billy Preston. Since the original tracks date back to Goats Head Soup sessions, another treat is a cameo guitar solo from wunderkind, Mick Taylor.
“Heaven” might be the Stones most experimental song since Their Satanic Majesties Request though it surely would not be described as psychedelic in the same sense. It’s more or less an atmospheric all Jagger piece with no Keith Richards presence at all.
“Ain’t No Use in Crying” once again ventures into Southern soul territory with some noticeable country overtones as well. Driven by Steve Cropper-like rhythm guitar passages and a church-like piano, once again Mick and the boys sound like they could have owned Stax records as from their early albums with songs like “That’s How Strong My Love Is,” they’ve shown their expertise at mastering that wonderful sound.
Tattoo You wraps up with one of the most appealing ballads the Stones have ever recorded. Starting with basic tracks recorded for Goats Head Soup sessions and made more contemporary with the final overdubs, it’s a song of love, loss, and friendship that takes a little maturity a band full of kids couldn’t perform. The arrangement is driven by one last final appearance on a Rolling Stones album by Nicky Hopkins supplemented by a somewhat Caribbean touch to the rhythm instruments, finished with some absolutely breathtaking saxophone styling from Sonny Rollins, the bad boys of rock actually end an album on a rather sweet note having taken their listeners on one of the broadest journeys featuring a wide variety of styles full of roots influences but sounding decidedly contemporary without selling out to the stylish gimmicks of the time that would render such albums most dated sounding years later. Tattoo You is an album that has lots of hidden pleasures that continue to emerge after repeated listens. Given a higher definition recording revealing more elements and nuances, for little more than the cost of a couple six packs of beer, so what if this is the third go round for this classic album?
Though being released only two years after Tattoo You, Undercover is often categorized as a later Stones recording. It would never be associated with their classic era with all its material being newly recorded no reworking tapes from past sessions as has so often been a trick for Stones albums through the years. It’s definitely an album of the 80’s which when those elements demand too much attention can make aspects of the album feel dated many years later with added emphasis on electronic keyboards and drum machines, the rootsy formula of intertwined guitars, bass, drums, and usually piano becomes a more high tech, by 1983 standards, affair right from the beginning with the title track.
“Undercover” is a notably political song dealing with a favorite Mick Jagger topic, Latin American unrest. Opening with synthesized sounds and drum machines, “Undercover” is a highly rhythmic track wedding Stones rock & roll with dance club embellishments, but despite being dated in those regards, it’s still a mighty powerful track that the lads have continued to play in concert on recent tours. As long as Keith Richards has a pulse, the Stones can always build an infectious riff and that’s the real secret to this tune.
If “Undercover” pushed the listener into new territory, the second cut returns in equal measure to familiar Stones territory with lots of Exile on Main Street energy modernized only by featuring a clearer better defined sound. “She Was Hot” starts off with yet another signature Keith riff immediately followed by Charlie’s familiar drum action, and within a few chords, another Stones classic is cruising right along as if the title doesn’t suggest the singer has plenty of room to have some fun with the lyrics. Listeners wouldn’t have known it at the time, but this would be one of the last vintage Stones’ rockers that cruise right along with some good old comfy piano thanks to their loyal sidekick, Ian Stewart, who died of a heart attack while their next album was in process. Some aspects of “She Was Hot” almost sound like an update to “Rocks Off’ though it’s a little more conventional rock & roll by comparison.
“Tie You Up (The Pain of Love)” is one of the songs that contribute to an overall mean and nasty atmosphere for Undercover. Yep, it’s a song dedicated to some S&M nonsense, nothing too direct but plenty of suggestion. It chugs along with a nice British lads try to cop a James Brown groove for most of the tune. The electronic percussion dates the song toward the end.
“I Wanna Hold You” is Keith’s tune much in the same form as “Happy” but not as good. Still, it is more than adequate delivering the mandatory Keith dose for the album. As is characteristic of Keith’s rockers from “Happy” through “Before They Make Me Run” to “Little T&A” is the fine layering of guitars first working with Mick Taylor then transitioning to Ron Wood without missing a note. While they are all Keith’s songs built around signature Keith riffs, all of them give the other guitar guy lots of space to shine brilliantly as Woody demonstrates sliding away on this one.
“Feel on Baby” is a more authentic attempt to play honest to goodness reggae, never a particularly noteworthy tune, however, this song benefits tremendously from the new master which brings out so much detail that was buried in the mush before. It’s a much more complex arrangement with much more intricate guitar playing and percussion arrangements than one might have noticed on even a decent recording like the EMI-Virgin CD or a Japanese copy of the album on LP.
“Too Much Blood” would be the opener to side two back in LP days and proved to be the album’s most controversial tune with a gory video to accompany it as well as a 12” single providing an extended dance mix of this tune that among other things salutes the Texas chainsaw massacre. Yeah, too much blood indeed!
“Pretty Beat Up” builds around the band locking in a groove and not letting up where Keith and Ronnie intertwine their guitar playing together creating almost a hypnotic rhythm. Word has it that this number, one which became a concert staple for his solo outings, is largely Ronnie’s composition. The lyrics are of little consequence other than what the listener can decipher continues to promote the rough sex, dirty love theme of the album. “Too Tough” follows as another formula song building from classic Keith guitar riffs but never really taking off or offering anything unique. It would need more than better lyrics and a better vocal performance.
“All the Way Down” still stays pretty close to being yet another formula piece. The lyrics and vocal performance are more or less Mick on auto-pilot. Instrumentally, the song rocks featuring some rather unique breaks that could make the song far more interesting if the overall material were better.
The Stones surely didn’t save the best for last with the last song, “It Must Be Hell.” Once again, it’s little more than musical paint by numbers and viola, a Rolling Stones song. From the first guitar chords, there’s no denying it’s a Stones tune, hand Keith his trusty old Telecaster and press play.
Clearly, Undercover is the weakest album of this four CD collection, and is likewise one of the Stones’ weakest albums of all time. When released fans surely did not know of the growing rift between Keith and Mick. It was just a new Stones album and in the context of 1983, it made connections with being a product of the time with tracks like “Undercover,” “Tie You Up,” and “Too Much Blood” but also featured a few songs that were just good old Stones numbers with “She Was Hot” being a great song that would fit nicely in any compilation of great Stones’ rockers and “Wanna Hold You” working quite nicely for Keith’s disciplines. This is an album for hardcore Stones fans and obsessive completists. Undercover is best avoided by casual fans. With on-line downloading an option, “She Was Hot” is a great song while a couple others might be of interest too, but the album as a whole doesn’t add up.
Some Girls and Tattoo You are absolutely fantastic albums one tier down from the level of their big four, but any serious rock fan should probably have 10-12 original Stones albums along with a decent compilation or two of their 60’s material and Get Yer Ya-Yas Out as their one real live standout.
Emotional Rescue is an album serious Stones fans would gladly own, but given its inconsistencies, it might be a little more of a stretch for the casual fan, but with classics like “Let Me Go,” “She’s So Cold,” “Dance Part One” and the title track all thoroughly enjoyable songs with many of the songs having their own particular charm, it’ surely not an album to be written off. It’s more a matter of how much shelf space and twelve bucks does the listener want to invest in yet another Stones albums.
As with the first group of Universal remasters, upgrading to these discs is not a must for those who have the 1994 EMI-Virgin CD releases; however, it’s hard not to at least recommend a refresh for Some Girls since the newest release really opens the album up and provides the listener the chance to hear all kinds of details and nuances buried in all previous releases. Any one having the original CBS/Sony CD releases who enjoys any of the four of these discs, replacing them is a must particularly for Tattoo You given it provides an edited recording of “Slave” which robs from some of the best instrumental work the Stones have ever recorded.
The next release scheduled for early July will fill out the remainder of the Rolling Stones’ post 1971 studio albums spare Exile on Main Street. How much remastering the more recent recordings could improve upon the originals is much more problematic especially since these releases are not adding any frills like outtakes or bonus tracks.
The real test will be how the Rolling Stones’ new dance partner handles the rerelease of Exile on Main Street. EMI/Virgin did a remarkable job creating something better than anything American listeners would ever have heard by a long shot. The improvement over European vinyl is also noteworthy though not as dramatic. How much more does this classic album have to offer before reengineering starts to tinker with the real personality of the album is the challenge to be greeted when the new release comes to market later this year.
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