It's 20 years since Steel Wheels was released. (I think it was August 1989 that it was released). I always consider this album to be the first of the 'new albums' and it seems scary that it was 20 years ago now.
At the time the Stones where considered to be ageing rockers and who would have thought that they would still be around in 2009?
For me Steel Wheels is a very important album in the Stones' career; it was the first album after the Mick and Keith 'split' and it was a strong album after the band apeared to be fading as the 80's drew to a close.
On the back of this album was also the Steel Wheels / Urban Jungle tour which I think also was the start of the new breed of tours that we see now, not just for the Stones but every other band that followed.
The album itself also still stands up strong. There are a few weak tracks on there but I still think it is a strong record. There have been a couple of better albums since but I think that overall Steel Wheels is good and has had a lasting influence on the albums that followed.

I consider Steel Wheels to be one of the most important albums in the history of The Rolling Stones, what do you think?

I think I've bust a button on my trousers....

SW is a good album, but has not been produced very well. It features fantastic songs and mediocre songs. I agree that the album is important, because it started the great Stones part two period from 89-99. The Stones rocked this decade without beeing a vegas- or a nostalgia act.

It wasn't a bad album and lifted the spirits after their longest ever break, and after the poor Dirty Work. Too many stadium fillers for my liking like Rock And A Hard Place and Sad Sad Sad. But Slipping Away was one of Keith's best for years.

[www.iorr.org]

important? yes good? not so much....

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Silver Dagger
It wasn't a bad album and lifted the spirits after their longest ever break, and after the poor Dirty Work. Too many stadium fillers for my liking like Rock And A Hard Place and Sad Sad Sad. But Slipping Away was one of Keith's best for years.

Their longest ever break?

Only three years since Dirty Work.

I consider 1997 to 2005 to be their longest ever break - with a Greatest Hits tour and four meritless compositions in between.

I know they didn't play live from '82 and '89 - but they still felt like an active band - except in '87 and '88.

For me SW tour and album was the climax to the end of an era - their last good band album and the last tour of the old period - with Bill.

An interesting & coincidental post. Just this morning I grabbed this CD on the way out the door to work & played it in my car, after not having heard it for quite a few months. What a great drive to work it was.

I again found Steel Wheels to be upbeat & refreshing in its sound. I thoroughly enjoyed it & have found my new album of choice, that I will be listening to quite a lot over the next few weeks.

Personally, I like to hit play from track 1 & listen to the end without skipping songs, regardless of my preferences to particular tracks over others, and this is an album that I can recall never really thinking too much about looking forward to hearing the "next" song over the one that would be currently playing.

I really like the album as a whole and felt no different this morning once again, 20 years on down the line. To me, Steel Wheels is sounding great today & it is totally rocking!

Important?, never really thought about it like that before, but I guess it definately is in hindsight.

It was the return [publicly] of the biggest & greatest musical band in history and man did they rip this planet apart with that show & tour. The Steel Wheels album was a important part of this monumental & unmatched success.

I am happy to be enjoying this great album 20 years on, and to be able to look back at another wonderful moment in Stones History.

Steel Wheels is a big winner for me.

"Almost Hear You Sigh" and "Slipping Away" are worth the price of admission all on their own.

I like SW. Sad, Sad, Sad, Mixed Emotions, Terrifying, Hearts For Sale, Can't Be Seen, Almost Hear You Sigh, Continental Drift, Break The Spell and Slipping Away are all great songs, imo. Too bad the production isn't as up to par as the songwriting is.

1989 was a good year for albums, again. 1982 - 1988 is hardly 10 OK albums released, but as said -1989 it all began again.
Pixies debut-Dylans Oh Mercy,Steel Wheels, you name it

2 1 2 0

Didn't Lou Reed's New York also come out that year?

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DandelionPowderman
Didn't Lou Reed's New York also come out that year?

it did. and i believe there may have been some other albums that also came out that very same year.

<it did. and i believe there may have been some other albums that also came out that very same year.>

Good year indeed! The Cult: Sonic Temple, for instance.

I agree. New York is a very good CD. My question is this: Didn't The Cult have a movie around the same time? I think the Talking Heads did (I love that CD) Life During Wartime cannot be denied.

1989. Stone Roses album.

They have a twentieth anniversary 'special' out.

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T&A
important? yes good? not so much....

Was going to be my exact answer.

<My question is this: Didn't The Cult have a movie around the same time?>

Is this the movie??

[www.imdb.com]

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DandelionPowderman
<My question is this: Didn't The Cult have a movie around the same time?>

Is this the movie??

[www.imdb.com]

Thanks.

A technical note.

Steel Wheels was the first new Stones release I bought in CD, and at the time these things were sold as something that would last for a life time. Well, the disk has no scratches whatsoever, actually it is in mint conditions, but it is starting not to work well. Basically it won't read the last songs. Same for Exile and IORR CBS editions.

Am I the only one with these problems?


C

Continental Drift...hauntingly good at 3 in the morning on a summer night.

the shoot 'em dead, brainbell jangler!

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Four Stone Walls

For me SW tour and album was the climax to the end of an era - their last good band album and the last tour of the old period - with Bill.

Interesting, because I think of Steel Wheels to be the start of a new era, but yes it was Bill's last studio album. I wonder if he thought of it as being the end of an era too?

I think I've bust a button on my trousers....

You should read the first page(?) of the first chapter of his first book.

Essentially saying - what a fantastic return to form and celebrtaion of all they'd done - why not finish on a high note. I agrre with him really.

That was the last album/tour with the band as a band - the boys - all five of them.
Yes a gamut of extras - but that didn't detract from the fact that it was a fab five show,with Keith at the musical helm and the Bill Charlie combo in the engine room, (Mick and Ronnie as Competent Crew!)

And SW supplied some good live numbers including, especially, Rock and a HP - which was made for that sound system/light show. a centrepiece just as Out of Control was 8 years later.

Steel Wheels may be my favourite Ron Wood area record - there is something revamping

Steel Wheels is much more than an album.

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phd
Steel Wheels is much more than an album.

i'm listening...go on

it's a lifestyle?

it's a pizza? a frisbee? a paper-weight? a coaster?????

It's good for serving pancakes.

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ryanpow
It's good for serving pancakes.

i don't quite have a handle on that

>i don't quite have a handle on that


it can be used to carry pancakes from the stove to the breakfast table. Also, it can be used to carry uneaten pancakes from the table to the garbage. Finally, it can be used as a kind of strainer, where you force pancakes through the hole in the center to see if a piece of gold got in a pancake somehow



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-09-25 00:59 by ryanpow.