This was the first current Stones album I bought. Can't believe it was 20 years ago.

So, what's the consensus on this album. I don't play it much these days but when I do I really enjoy it. Mixed Emotions, Rock and A Hard Place, Continental Drift, Can't Be Seen are all great tracks and Slipping Away is one of my all time favourite Stones songs.

20 years. Man, time flies.

It's not a bad album. I like it. Sure it sounds dated and too 80's in some ways but that doesn't mean that some of its songs are not pretty good. My fav tracks are Continental Drift (and the intro to that song is the best intro they used in concert EVER), Rock and a Hard Place, Slipping Away and the totally underrated Always Hear You Sigh. Such a beautiful song and probably one of their best in the whole Stones catalog.

i thought the songs were great(i have a soft spot for blinded by love).

it's an album ruined by bad mixes and production. In my opinion chris kimsey made "some girls" but 11 years later tried to make them sound contemporary. by the time voodoo lounge comes along they replace him and even keith says "we don't have to try and sound like the stones, we are the stones

HEART FOR SALE : GREAT RADIO SONG,IT'S A PITTY THAT IN THESE DAYS,BRING IT OUT AS A SINGLE,WITH ON THE B-SIDE:YOUR PRECIOUS LOVE .

STEEL WHEELS ON OF THE LAST GOOD ALBUMS .

a hugely enjoyable album - shame the cover art, is so awful.

...and the "Monitor Mixes", incl. the gorgeous cover of "For Your Precious Love",
is a joy to behold.

hell....i'm going to give it a spin now.

Sorry. As much as I like The Stones, I still think this is their lamest effort. But hey, I reckon Shine A light is great.But reading the boards would say I am in the minority. That's taste for Ya Ya!

X



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-09-10 20:10 by UrbanSteel.

SW is a good album, not the band's best of course, most of us will agree that the mix is weak at times, but it features some impressive songs, I like the groove of Terrifying for example. I regret that the Stones underestimate their songs recorded after 1981, they recorded some great tracks since then, but most of these songs did not remain in the setlists. Saint Of Me and Out Of Control could have easily become warhorses. Break the spell from Steel Wheels was never played live, I do not know why. I would have appreciated a little bit more courage.

For years this would have easily been my least favorite album, that is until the SW premixes came out, and not Training Wheels (which btw is a new album). The spic & span production gloss ruined the vibe for me. But hearing them in an organic Stonesy fashion, changed that. Never will understand the omission of "Precious Love".

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UrbanSteel

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robertfraser
i thought the songs were great(i have a soft spot for blinded by love).

it's an album ruined by bad mixes and production. In my opinion chris kimsey made "some girls" but 11 years later tried to make them sound contemporary. by the time voodoo lounge comes along they replace him and even keith says "we don't have to try and sound like the stones, we are the stones

Don't blame Chris Kimsey , Keith Richards and Mick Jagger are responsible for the final decision to bring it out this way .

That is a good point. i suppose voodoo lounge sounded more stonsey as a reaction to the popularity of primal scream who were sounding more like the stones than they were!

I've always particularly liked 'Sad Sad Sad' (a great song to play in open 'G', as Mick did both on the record & on stage!), & 'Mixed Emotions' was a great single ... unlike 'Rock & A Hard Place' which is almost certainly my least favourite RS song!

Last Stones album to date I've truly loved. Many of the songs still stand up today - Slipping Away, Mixed Emotions, Sad Sad Sad, Terrifying, Continental Drift, Can't Be Seen, Almost Hear You Sigh - and they're great songs too.

Mixed Emotions was such a wonderful statement of intent and purpose. A full-throated roar back.

It was also the last Stones album I bought on vinyl. (Never thought the CD sounded right. Too muted.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-01-10 14:52 by Nikolai.

Sad, Sad, Sad, Mixed Emotions, Terrifying, Hearts For Sale, Blinded By Love, Almost Hear You Sigh, Break The Spell and Slipping Away are great, pretty good, pretty good, I dig it, very nice, excellent, very cool and a beautiful way to the end to record.

The rest of it SUCKS, especially RAAHP. One of their worst songs ever. Never did get Continental Drift.

I've never heard these mixes y'all are talkin' about nor For Your Precious Love. The album overall? It sounds OK. The songs are OK. It's better than the previous album, that's for sure, but it still sits pretty low on the pole of their LPs. I don't think I've listened to it in eons.

My introduction to the modern-era Rolling Stones. Prior to hearing this record in the late '90s, I had no idea what the Ronnie-era sounded like. I remeber being absoloutly blown away by Sad, Sad, Sad: I had no idea they rocked so hard. I was impressed beyond words.

I think it as an excellent album: not a 'classic' by any means, yet a very solid release all the same.

I'll admit that the production is dodgy in parts, but generally, the album has a lot going for it.

Terrifying, Almost Hear You Sigh and Slipping Away are my own personal highlights

very good album, excellent tour and the build up was amazing, i remember this like it was yesterday, 20 years!!!!!! holy shite

Last 'Stones' album. Has alot to do with generally good lyrics, inventive playing and Bill Wyman.

I'd love a special edition with original album, monitor mixes and a live DVD plus extras

Great album.

I listened to this about a year ago for the first time in ages. I was surprised at how poorly it stood up... a few good songs--I like "Sad Sad Sad," "Mixed Emotions," "Break the Spell," "Almost Hear You Sigh," "Continental Drift," and "Slipping Away"--but otherwise, it's a contender for their worst album, along with IORR. I need to hear it on vinyl to make a final decision.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-01-12 18:16 by cc.

Since the album Steel Wheels I'm a fan!

Great songs, great album!

Some great songs, continental drift, slipping away (although the stripped version is better), almost hear you sigh

20 years ago...I was living in East Anglia...I remember the BBC hyping this release and the Continenal Drift musicians they used...picked this up the day it came out (which has been my tradition since Tattoo You), at a Bedford record/CD shop.

Saw them in July 1990 at Wembley, after being very jealous that my brother had already seen them twice in the States.

All in all this record has some songs that stand the test of time, not great by any means, but solid.

the shoot 'em dead, brainbell jangler!

Twenty years... of the long waited 'come back' album. Yeah, how time flies, and it still like one of the 'recent' Stones albums...

Perhaps never been an album sounded to my ears first so nice, but then very quick has run out of any interest - and something in it still prevents me of rethinking of its value. Okay, to contribute to this thread I relistened the album and had few drinks with my lady... Nice way to spend a Saturday night!

It's so much product of its time. It's the slick production that mostly detroys the album, but that's NOT the only explanation. For example, I still find both PRIMITIVE COOL and TALK IS CHEAP much more interesting albums. There is so much 'compromise' feeling in the album - seemingly, Mick and Keith are colloborating with silky hands - after several years of 'cold war' neither of them seem to upset other by two 'radical' ideas. I never been too convinced of their 'buddy' feeling in 1989 - it sounds more and more that they made a business deal that they need to tolarate each other in order to keep the business going on - and Cohl most probably had presented them a deal with numbers they could not refuse... At the time it was reported how quickly they did the whole thing: the songs, the actual recording, and then the tour... (a bit same with ABB actually - it means also that they didn't spend the time to find the right take, the right feeling, the right inspiration, the re-try, the re-shape, etc... Most likely from STEEL WHEELS on they would be live Mick Jagger time in studio - the days of 'artistic' Keith leadership days were over.)

I think that the economical, Jaggerish push is to be heard in the actual tracks. I find for example, the way "Hold On Your Hat" rocks very forced - it hasn't that natural groove they have in their best rockers. It sounds like that they need to waste a lot of energy to sound rocking hard enough; it has the feeling "hey listen: we can still rock hard!!. Jagger shouts and screams but almost without point or direction. The opening song of "Sad Sad Sad" is a total throwaway within the Stones rocker series. "Rock and A Hard Place" is a bit too Stones by numbers kind of number, too obvious... a bluesy "Break The Spell" comes and goes almost without noticing.

Then the 'mid-series' - "Hearts of Sale" has a potentia but goes finally nowhere. "Mixed Emotions"has the typical Stones groove, and a nice, catchy chorus - a good song but perhaps a bit too calculated of that "now we are back and buddies" feeling - also something too 'obvious' in it, but surely one of the strongest cuts. Keith's "Can't Be Seen" is a bit AOR number; unusual chord changes yes, but too much 'teflon' in it.

"Terrifying" sounds slickier than anything in PRIMITIVE COOL - The Stones totally in strange waters - and that's a song I probably can never be able to listen to the end. It is as far from the rawness or dirtiness than Stones never have been or can be. Jagger sings folky "Blinded By Love" like a Saturday night karaoke number, but there is something so human or vulnerable I find it fascinating, but the charm won't last many relistenings.

The strongest cuts are probably from the melody section: "Almost Hear You Sigh" shows that the slickness can be used to work for the band, too. One cannot resist the sereine call of the acoustic guitar - the trademark of the times - and Jagger's voice that makes a grown man cry. "Slipping Away" is the first time Keith Richards ballad started to sound like a cliche or "I heard this before", but it is a good song.

Then there is total bonus: "Continental Drift" - yeah, world music was a hip thing, but taking the Stones history into account, it is a strong and justified performance. One of the strongest and most interesting pieces ever in recorded Stones history. Maybe the last time they really tried to enrichen their musical vocabulary with an obvious success. It shows that there is actually a living, sensitive and reflecting core somehere deep there in Glimmer hearts. Seemingly this was also the song in the album they put most energy - even travelled to Morocco to record the JouJouka masters.

Gotta go!

- Doxa



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2009-01-10 20:49 by Doxa.

I have just placed my CD of this album in a new case. It sparkles as new as the day I bought it in September 89.

steel wheels was mick finally realizing that his solo career was just a hobby, thank god for that

It's so hard to believe that was 20 years ago. Wow, time flies. That was the first Stones album I bought on the day it came out. The production does suck, but there are some good songs on there, especially Continental Drift, Mixed Emotions and Slipping Away. Not their best album but not their worst by any means, I'd give it a 6.5/7 out of 10.

I was always very fond of Steel Wheels. Dirty Work was such a disappointing album, and it looked like the band was finished there for awhile. It was just great to have the boys back again with this one, and the '89 tour was fantastic (saw 'em at Birmingham and Atlanta, and the Birmingham show is my all time favorite Stones concert).

I always thought that Slippin' Away has sort of an Otis Redding horns style ballad feel to it. I just remember playing the daylights out of that album all of the fall of 1989.

Really, I put Tattoo You, Bridges to Babylon, and Bigger Bang all in the same boat with Steel Wheels. No, none of those albums approach Let It Bleed, Exile, Sticky Fingers, etc., but it's the Stones as they got older, as they decided to keep together and to keep going. As a diehard fan since 1964, I'm just glad to still have them around, and I hope they can add at least one more album to the list before they hang it up for good.

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Nikolai

Mixed Emotions was such a wonderful statement of intent and purpose. A full-throated roar back.

(Never thought the CD sounded right. Too muted.)

I agree with you on those points, Nikolai. The sound on the compact disc is atrocious ... flatter and tinnier than any other Stones CD, IMO, even though it actually says "Remastered by Bob Ludwig" on the '94 Virgin (Yeah, sure).

And Skipstone is right, RAAHP is one of their worst songs ever ... it makes me want to puke. But Slipping Away is breathtaking, and I also really dig SSS, Mixed Emotions, and Terrifying. HOTYH has energy but ultimately does sound forced. A lot of the other tracks on the album just sort of ... slip away.

Just my two cents.

Drew



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2009-01-10 22:24 by drewmaster.

Can anyone comment on the new Japanese 2CD titled "Training Wheels" which is supposedly embryonic versions of the SW tracks? Anyone heard this material yet?

Hi Macman, surprisingly enough....Training Wheels seems to be a sensation; new material to circulation I'm sure a certain IORR member would comment further