Don't think I've seen this thread yet, so here goes.

RS have named "Dirty Work" as the second worst album by a major artist with Bob Dylan's "Down in the Groove" as worst

[www.rollingstone.com]

Unfortunately it's been iorr'd allready

[www.iorr.org]

Erik_Snow Wrote:
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> Unfortunately it's been iorr'd allready
>
> [www.iorr.org]


Ahh, well, there you go....did look through the posts but must have missed that one ;-) Thanks...I'll just let this thread die silently ;-)

It is far from being the Stones best albumbut I think we might all feel differently had they toured behind it. Maybe...

yes we would indeed. we would have been reminiscing about what was their final album and tour and how unfortunate it was that it ended due to one of the band dropping dead before its conclusion!

Thank Christ they didnt tour behind it. Mick's decision to refuse to do so at the time was a cause of much gnashing of teeth, but in retrospect he was 100% right.

Fight and ''One hit'' are really good!!!

And ''Had it'' and Dirty w'' and sleep'' Harlem isa nice cover....but Undercover is so much better...some kind of last hooray

Dirty Work's F***in Ace!! Winning Ugly, Sleep Tonite and the title track are arguably among the best stuff they've ever recorded. The production's also WAY better than Steel Wheels IMHO.

I love the lasst part of'''Hold Back''..everyone hates this song i know!

"Dirty Work" the second worst album by a major artist? RS hasn't got a clue. DW has some really excellent tracks - Hold Back, DW, Fight, One Hit, Sleep Tonight.

I love it, except for the occasional intrusive production flourishes etc, etc. It's angry, honest, and captures/comments on its times effectively, and the Stones' own fractious situation. Charlie, strung out, plays great, Keith and Ron, and Mick, both come up with some great grooves, performances, and songs. Love "Hold Back" (great guitars), "Too Rude" "One Hit" "Back To Zero" & "Winning Ugly". "Harlem Shuffle" was a great single, & I'd love a raw live version right about now, and "Sleep" is wonderful, despite the backing vocals.
Great, revealing cover too.

Too Rude and Sleep Tonite are two of Keef's best. One Hit just never sounded like the Stones to me. OK song, but not my thing.

Winning Ugly and Fight are maybe two of their worst songs ever. Just lazy songwriting. This was the very first Stones record that I listened to (the day it came out) and instantly thought: 'that's not very good'.

For all the Winning Ugly and Fight fans...I didn't say they were the worst....just two OF the worst. The worst might be Indian Girl.

DW has its moments but lets not go crazy, its ok at best, one hit and fight
are very good but it stops there imho

Dirty Work has never grown on me. I listened to it many many times, but apart from Sleep Tonight that album just doesn't do it for me.

DW makes goats head soup look like sticky fingers

"Rolling Stone" readers think it's a bad album. Consider the source. Does anybody seriously think "Rolling Stone readers" are a legitimate opinion source?

In fact, you could probably take "Rolling Stone" readers 10 worst albums and put them on your must-buy list. Chances are, you'd be buying some decent music.

Dirty Work rocks. We know it. Are IORR members smarter than "Rolling Stone" readers? As Beavis might say, "He-heh-heh-heh, uh-heh heh heh heh.

Karl

Get a grip, DW isn't that good.

Dirty Work is better than:

1/ Steel Wheels
2/ Satanic Majesty
3/ Goats Head Soup
4/ A Bigger Bang
5/ Emotional Rescue

I'm not saying Dirty Work is a great record,but it was better than (or at the very least as good as) several Stones records.

The album takes a lot of crap because the mid 80's was the Stones low point and they were an easy target with all the fighting/media circus that was going on inside the band.

If you got rid of that 80's production. Lost a couple of songs like Back to Zero + Hold Back and included some of the outakes from those sessions that are actually better than a few of the songs on the record. There is a very solid record hidden in there.

Rolling Stone also forgot some major turds like Van Halen 3 and Paul McCartney's Wild Life among a long list of others.

It's just a stupid list to get people talking.

It's definitely not good for a Stones album but its shortcomings are greatly exaggerated because it was released by The Stones and people expect so much from them.

If you take it for what it is- an eightees release at a time when the band was in turmoil, then it isn't that disappointing. Most of the crap from the eightees in unlistenable these days. At least you can listen to Dirty Work without being bored to death.

And it does have some great moments- One Hit.. and Harlem Shuffle. There are tons of albums put out by major artists that are much worse than Dirty Work. Dirty Work is just the one people think of when thinking about bad albums because it is such a high profile band.

Hold Back is totally tuneless. Its the opposite of what the Stones are about Riffs/ grooves/ feel. Also Hold Onto My hat fights this same mold. When I wanna to hear stuff like that I dont listen to the Stones. Dirty Work to me is their worst effort but I like it nonetheless. Some good stuff. MEZ

I agree it's their worst effort (slightly beating Emotional Rescue in that category) but it is still listenable to me.

Kind of like if you were to go to 24 pizzerias (24 studio albums) and pick the worst pizza. It is still probably edible if that makes any sense.

I think, over time, the latter Stones albums will be treated with a lot more respect.

James Kirk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dirty Work is better than:
>
> 1/ Steel Wheels
> 2/ Satanic Majesty
> 3/ Goats Head Soup
> 4/ A Bigger Bang
> 5/ Emotional Rescue
>
> I'm not saying Dirty Work is a great record,but it
> was better than (or at the very least as good as)
> several Stones records.
>
> The album takes a lot of crap because the mid 80's
> was the Stones low point and they were an easy
> target with all the fighting/media circus that was
> going on inside the band.
>
> If you got rid of that 80's production. Lost a
> couple of songs like Back to Zero + Hold Back and
> included some of the outakes from those sessions
> that are actually better than a few of the songs
> on the record. There is a very solid record hidden
> in there.

Yeah, get rid of the production and the songs and you might find a decent album hidden in there.
To say that DW is better than Goats Head Soup is so strange that I really can´t take it seriously.

James Kirk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dirty Work is better than:
>
> 1/ Steel Wheels
> 2/ Satanic Majesty
> 3/ Goats Head Soup
> 4/ A Bigger Bang
> 5/ Emotional Rescue
>


No sir it's not. It's a terrible piece of crap. A bigger bang is second worse to Dirty Work.

"A bigger bang is second worse to Dirty Work."

eh? You mutton or sumfink?

Black and Blue is far worse!

when u start thinkin' "at the end Dirty work isn't that bad" means its time to leave this board and get a life. lol




And A bigger Bang is freaking GREAT!

Actually thought this thread would die a death - but there you are. Maybe a little summation is in place:

"Dirty Work" obivously stirs some heavy emotions - and in my opinion that's a good thing about a record.

And after reading all the posts in this thread I can conclude that every single song on the album has had an honorable mention - and about half the songs have had an unfavorable mention. Funny that ;-)

Taste is indeed "each to his own" and I for one find it remarkable that even the Stones most slagged off album has ten (out of ten) great songs?

I've seen this in threads about "ABB" as well, a lot of people slagging off either almost the entire album or a few select songs, while others will mention exactly those songs as their favorites.....and I think if somebody took the time to go through all the ABB-threads there will be a both positive and a negative reaction to each and every song on that album as well.

Personally I remember not liking "DW" too much in the beginning. However, I first bought it on vinyl and my little brother - a little more technically minded than me - had already bought one of these new-fangled things called a CD-player (Yup, children - back in the day...I can tell a tale or two....)

I digress - my little brother (brainwashed over the years) had also bought the new Stones but on CD. He put it on and I remember it was like hearing it for the first time. The production really suited this new medium and I really got into the album after that, soon after buying myself both CD-player and said CD.

Today the sound is a bit dated but I still love most of DW (especially the guitarbreak in the title song at around 02:02, which I'm listening to as I write this....it still gives me a chill down the spine)

As for ABB - took me a while to get into it (a month or so) but now I see it as a latterday Stones meisterwerk! (And I don't regard DW as a masterpiece - but an ok to great album made under great stress)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-05-18 14:02 by mofur.

LA FORUM Wrote:
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>
>
> No sir it's not. It's a terrible piece of crap. A
> bigger bang is second worse to Dirty Work.

another debate for another thread -
but it's no classic...

ah come on!! Suckin' on the jugular and some parts of Steel Wheels are far worse than DW. 'cept maybe for Back to zero..... To slag of Emotional Resue is crazy!! Nothing has beaten the lyrics or groove of Send It To Me this side of the millenium!!

James Kirk Wrote:
>
> The album takes a lot of crap because the mid 80's
> was the Stones low point and they were an easy
> target with all the fighting/media circus that was
> going on inside the band.
>


whereas the even greater inner fighting, media circus, police harassment, victimization by the establishment and general turmoil within the band in 1968-69 also prevented them from putting out something good at that time....