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DandelionPowderman
<formulatic songs bereft of any orginality>

Really? Feel On Baby, the title track, Tie You Up, Wanna Hold You, Pretty Beat Up.

They all sounded like new, fresh stones tunes to me. They still do, in fact

ok, well would you believe dirty work is bereft then? i know they got bereft somewhere during the 80's....

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StonesTod

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The Greek
last great album while there creative juices were still flowing,and while they still worked as a complete five piece as far as being creative as a group and taking contributions from each other.

true, but even so, it was the first album that demonstrated that the glimmers' muse had departed....instead we get formulatic songs bereft of any orginality....

formulaic I don't agree with...I may not be that well versed in other styles, but I cannot for example, think of another song by anyone, that is even similar to Undercover of the Night.

I'd love to know where they came up with that.

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jamesjagger
By far their worst album for me!

listen to Dirty Work again

80's production killed that album.
It is the final album of the "nice RW era": 1978-1983
Maybe the real RS should have stopped then

Tie You Up is, for me, the best song on the album and one of their best songs overall.

I agree with how Pretty Beat Up is a bit odd but at the same time I like the overall sneer in the song - Mick's vocals are snottish, the groove is in jeopardy of falling completely apart and the guitars have a tug and pull to them - it's almost a lost Emotional Rescue track in a way.

She Was Hot is excellent as is All The Way Down and Too Tough. Charlie is spot on on this album, which is certainly their last inventive and most original album. The guitar sounds are crisp although the mix is a bit odd in places. Overall, with exception to Undercover Of The Night, great sounds. As much as I don't really care for Too Much Blood the horns sound great and work well.

Love the overall feel of Feel On Baby, with the night time percussion and plethora of backing vocals. It's quite a production actually.

Actually dig It Must Be Hell. It's no more of a rip off of Soul Survivor than how Sleep Tonight is a rip off of the bridge in Coming Down Again, in which case is EXACTLY the same where as Hell is a tad bit different than Survivor, as is the song in general.

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skipstone
Tie You Up is, for me, the best song on the album and one of their best songs overall.

i agree, but even at that it's a rip-off of an old lowell fulson riff - even mick himself admitted that back at the time....

Which one? Any idea?

Tramp?

[www.iorr.org]

I love Undercover. It reminds me of a really turbulent time ..for me anyway..I just really like all the songs. especially Too Tough, Feel On Baby, She Was Hot, Pain Of Love...Wanna Hold You...

love em all. Undercover is a powerful Stones album.

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skipstone
Which one? Any idea?

i think there was but one

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duke richardson
[www.iorr.org]

I love Undercover. It reminds me of a really turbulent time ..for me anyway..I just really like all the songs. especially Too Tough, Feel On Baby, She Was Hot, Pain Of Love...Wanna Hold You...

love em all. Undercover is a powerful Stones album.

so it's turbulence that turns you on...i hear it's gonna be very stormy over parts of the midwest....perfect day for flying.....

Great album!!....an unsung hero,and sometimes over looked.Personally I have always ranked this album to be one of my top 5 fave stones albums.

turbulence has a broad meaning...it was a bad time for me, '83-'84...somehow Undercover was a comfort. some of their best work and some great grooves.

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duke richardson
turbulence has a broad meaning...it was a bad time for me, '83-'84...somehow Undercover was a comfort. some of their best work and some great grooves.

here's wishing you more bad times and stones comfort in that case....

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StonesTod

true, but even so, it was the first album that demonstrated that the glimmers' muse had departed....instead we get formulatic songs bereft of any orginality....

I thought that happened on IORR.

shucks, thanks for your good wishes.

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cc

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StonesTod

true, but even so, it was the first album that demonstrated that the glimmers' muse had departed....instead we get formulatic songs bereft of any orginality....

I thought that happened on IORR.

see? well then they were merely recycling old bereftness!

The original cassette release also had an extra verse sung by Keith on Wanna Hold You that wasn't on the vinyl album. I don't know how I remember that, but I do. I rediscovered Undercover recently and I like it lot.. all over again, except for Must Be Hell. I never cared for that song. I bought a 1983 cd just a few weeks ago, which I thought was the Virgin remaster, it was misrepresented on ebay.

This 1983 Undercover cd sounds surprisingly good, mix and guitar sounds and all, but I'm curious how the 1994 Virgin and 2009 remasters sound. I'm very impressed by the newer Black&Blue remaster, as apposed to the Virgin remasters of Goat's Head and Some Girls that I have. These two Virgin cd's seem to be lacking in the bass department, they're predominantly mid-rangy. So anyway.... I wonder what the definitive Undercover cd is... and wondering now how many times I'll buy it again...

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ghostryder13
i've noticed that the original lp version of wanna hold you is almost a minute shorter than later cd releases

Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 2010-06-10 18:29 by JJFlash2010.

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JJFlash2010
The original cassette release also had an extra verse sung by Keith on Wanna Hold You that wasn't on the vinyl album.

didn't know that was on the cassette, but yes, the US vinyl version was missing a verse ... the complete version is on the import versions.

Yeah, LeonidP, I wasn't sure when listening to the 83 cd again if it had that extra verse from the old cassette(the original tape was U.S. issue btw), wasn't aware of the import thing either.... is it the import cd that has the extra verse, or vinyl, or both?

I was listening to this album last night...
over-all a solid album. Tattoo You is a buch better classic Stones LP, and Dirty WOrk is their worst ablum imo. This is a weird one lost in the shuffle... some good, some a biut boring, but All The Way Down, imo, is THE most underrated Stones track of all time!!!

[thepowergoats.com]

the slam of the guitars on the title track and the percussion along with Ronnie's fills chasing the vocals ...thats good stuff. then when 'Feel On Baby' starts..imagine the fun in playing/recording/mixing that one, with Sly and Robbie, its a great achievement to interpret that style of music and recording so effectively, imo.

"It Must Be Hell" opens with a nice couple of minutes of just mick, keith, and charlie, the spare sound recalling "Honky Tonk Women." The rest of the song is not at that level, to say the least.

It must be hell has a nice charming feel and solo

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KeithNacho
It must be hell has a nice charming feel and solo

charming?

This album was a disappointment to me. Just like SG was followed by 2 mediocre releases (ER and Still Life), TY was followed by this and DW. And then they stopped their tour-US-every-3-years cycle ('66-'81). It was devastating to realize that these 5 releases followed SG and that the best of the lot, TY, had old songs on it. Although the biggest live years would start soon in '89-onward, the end of their glorious original studio albums was over.

One negative I will say about UNDERCOVER, it was the first appearance of the click track on their albums.

I love Undercover; in some ways it's their best album after Some Girls
Undercover is one of the few RS albums of which the last couple of tracks doesn't reach the greatness of the first 70% of the record, IMO - even though I like them 3 last songs



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-06-10 20:56 by Erik_Snow.

To my point of view, it is not under any options considered a Stones album. Just erase it from their career, no damage. I can only listen to She was hot. It's like Dirty Work. No Rolling Stones mood. The years of the great depression.
Only musician wating their time. Nothing between Tatoo You and Steel Wheels. They sure lost a lot of fan base during that damned period of doubt.

Satanic majesties is thier worst album. UC is a very good album. I would love to hear it remixed.

Go Dawgs!