UC is strangely underrated on this board, as recently evidenced on another thread. This won't change anyone's opinion but it prompted me to dig out the New York Times' review of the album (a copy of which still resides in my vinyl copy):

SINISTER BEAUTY INHABITS A NEW ALBUM BY THE STONES

By Jon Pareles

Published: November 6, 1983


The Rolling Stones have the world's hardest act to follow - their own past. Over the past two decades, they have been callow, rude, raucous, perverse, jaded, ironic, decadent, self-important and calmly professional. One thing they haven't been is humble - until now.

On ''Undercover,'' the Stones rock harder than they did on 1981's ''Tattoo You,'' tapping into the most basic Chicago blues even as they fire synthesized drums over Charlie Watts's backbeat. And the lyrics are laced with random violence as well as the usual sexual braggadocio. Yet for all the aggression of the sound, there is a new undertone of something like vulnerability. Over basic riffs that Stones fans will recognize from previous albums, Mick Jagger leers and sneers as the band stomps along. But the Stones' old world-beating attitude is gone, replaced by a realization that sheer attitude is no longer enough.

The album's title cut and first single, ''Undercover'' - the song the Stones want fans to hear and remember - is the band's first political song in many years, and it's a chiller. It starts with the machine-gun rat-a-tat of electronic drums, and its lyrics talk about torture and disappearances; the answer is not the defiance of ''Street Fighting Man'' or the chic perversity of ''Sympathy for the Devil,'' but hiding out and laying low.

While the politics don't last long, the hint of mortality hangs over the album. Sex and brutality mesh as they often have in Rolling Stones lyrics, in songs like ''Too Much Blood'' ''Tie You Up,'' ''Pretty Beat Up'' or ''Too Tough.'' The difference is that this time around, the singer is not the one in control.

''Still I play the fool and strut,'' Mr. Jagger sings in ''All the Way Down,'' but while his voice is in it, his heart clearly isn't. Neither he nor the knife- wielding, predatory women in his two-character songs can maintain the upper hand for long; as lovers, they give each other pleasure and pain in a grimly equal pas de deux.

In some ways, ''Undercover'' (complete with double-entendres) can be taken as an album of angry breakup songs, but it is something more than that. On it, the Stones present their harshest view of the world since ''Exile on Main Street.'' Trust, contact, any kind of relief is fleeting and dangerous; the only peace, as the album's opening and closing songs suggest, comes from utter withdrawal.

If any band knows the uses of irony, however, it is the Rolling Stones. On a first listen, ''Undercover'' sounds like one great party record - every beat snappy, every guitar chord and snaky lead line filling exactly the right hole. It has the clarity and alertness the Stones brought to ''Tattoo You'' and somehow left behind on last year's ''Still Life.''

Once the lyrics sink in, however, the effect of the music is all but reversed. The rock-steady beat, with an occasional electronic effect insisting on attention and making the songs sound up-to-the-minute, turns militant and nearly sinister; the guitars come across as gleaming and saw- toothed. And Mr. Jagger's voice, which has rarely sounded less comic, seems downright triumphant as he savors every nasty twist in the words.

This kind of irony is as old as the blues - making joyous music from despair, finding just the right line to describe a desperate situation. It is little short of astonishing that the rich, pampered, high-living Rolling Stones are still willing to work so hard. ''Undercover'' is something more than the Stones' latest comeback from a mediocre album - it is a next step.

Mick did some great vocals on this album, especially if you listen to Still Life etc and this record! His backing vocals on several songs, She Was Hot, Tie You Up, Feel On Baby are great.

beautiful review...this album has a real vibe to it, a feel, similar to EXILE in that it takes you to a 'place'.

Some of you may not like that place...maybe that's the issue.

Great review. UC was the first truly made in the '80s Stones music and it didn't disappoint. It hinted at a lot of directions they could've went with a follow-up but instead the album became their first studio release since Let It Bleed to not top the chart. They didn't tour behind it and UC's "relative" commercial failure fed Jagger's doubts about the bands viability, continuing the divide between the Glimmers and leading to their split a few years later. Blasphemy as it is, I've always liked it more than TTY. UC was the sound of a band really trying to make a later-career statement. They made it effectively but unfortunately not everyone wanted to hear it.

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big4
Great review. UC was the first truly made in the '80s Stones music and it didn't disappoint. It hinted at a lot of directions they could've went with a follow-up but instead the album became their first studio release since Let It Bleed to not top the chart. They didn't tour behind it and UC's "relative" commercial failure fed Jagger's doubts about the bands viability, continuing the divide between the Glimmers and leading to their split a few years later. Blasphemy as it is, I've always liked it more than TTY. UC was the sound of a band really trying to make a later-career statement. They made it effectively but unfortunately not everyone wanted to hear it.

I agree with you...it's really too bad that it wasn't more commercially successful, because I enjoyed that tougher sound and groove. The followup album kept the toughness, but lost the groove..

I heard this tale second hand—it includes an UNDERCOVER reference—and it's to be taken with a pinch of salt (I've heard similar celebrity "hang out" tales from people that I later learned were total BS). But it might be true.

An acquaintance who knows I"m a Stones fan told me a guy he knew years before told him the following tale. This American guy told my acquaintance, "I was visiting Jamaica and was at a gathering, and to my surprise, Keith Richards was there. And I actually got to talking to him and he was a really nice guy. And he invited me on his boat. And so I ended up offshore with Keith Richards and others on his boat as it cruised along the shore. And inside this boat Keith was very generous with his weed and booze, and he was talking about the album the Stones had just finished recording, but was not yet released. Keith said it had taken the Stones into new territory, and Keith was really proud of it." This is where I grilled my acquaintance about when this Keith encounter happened, and from what he told me it sounded around the time of UNDERCOVER. So it was likely UNDERCOVER Keith was talking about. Anyway, the tale ended this way, "Because Keith was so generous with his booze and drugs, I ended up passing out. And the next thing I know, I awoke on the beach alone. Keith obviously had me carried off the boat."

My acquaintance certainly believed the guy. But true or not? Maybe....

Well, sometimes even a journalist who does reviews for the NYC can have an off-day...

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keefbajaga
Well, sometimes even a journalist who does reviews for the NYC can have an off-day...

true. but this wasn't one of those days.

'All the way down' is one good song, but this album is a mess like most albums from 1982-1988...

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why is it a mess?

Feel The Fear
And Do It Anyway

Love Undercover it's a killer album ... And don't forget the must have 12" of Feelin On ....



ROCKMAN

Pain of Love - my favorite on this LP

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mandu
why is it a mess?

The lack of good songs....

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can´t agree. there are many googd songs on undercover..in my opinion, only pretty beat up isn´t exactley my cup of tea, but the rest rangs from good to excellent. outsanding is for me the title track! comtemporary sounding stones full of energy!

Thinking of it the song 'Undercover of the night' would have been a brilliant theme to a James Bond-movie....and Bill trying some 'Reggae-bass' on 'Feel on baby'...not bad either...but the rest...

a drum-machine on 'Too much blood'..you like that kind of tricks?

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-08-31 11:02 by Come On.

Fantastic album, easily in my top 3 Stones albums. Lean, clean, mean, aggressive, abusive. The only track I don't like is Wanna Hold You, but the rest is fab.

Mathijs

Lean, clean, mean, aggressive, abusive

I have trouble understanding that this would apply to reviews on this wretched album 'Undercover' ... it should instead be the words like: last round, perverse, ridiculous and square ...

(he he wrote it in Swedish and got this translation, pretty good I think)

2 1 2 0

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Glam Descendant
a copy of which still resides in my vinyl copy

Cool way to keep it.

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Keep On Rolling

Undercover fan here! its a crazy, cinematic album. those songs give vivid imagery and a lot of killer riffing. Pain Of Love? come on, who can't picture those characters...
same with 'She Was Hot'

the whole album is hot hot hot..


all the way down

This is such an enjoyable topic after what we've been enduring here lately!

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Rockman
Love Undercover it's a killer album ... And don't forget the must have 12" of Feelin On ....

Voice Of Authority has spoken...couldn´t agree more...

Under Cover is a great LP. I've always loved it. Especially: Undercover of the night, Tie you up, Pretty beat up, Too tough and It must be hell. The rest are still okay and definitely I don't consider them poor.

Last Big One

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shortfatfanny

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Rockman
Love Undercover it's a killer album ... And don't forget the must have 12" of Feelin On ....

Voice Of Authority has spoken...couldn´t agree more...

It just goes to show ya' should never judge an album by its cover

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colonial

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shortfatfanny

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Rockman
Love Undercover it's a killer album ... And don't forget the must have 12" of Feelin On ....

Voice Of Authority has spoken...couldn´t agree more...

It just goes to show ya' should never judge an album by its cover

I've even grown to like the cover....when it first came out, it was like, "oh, come on"...seemed too gratuitous. This is an excellent album.

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colonial
never judge an album by its cover

The cover of Undercover is great too

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Keep On Rolling

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Title5Take1
I heard this tale second hand—it includes an UNDERCOVER reference—and it's to be taken with a pinch of salt (I've heard similar celebrity "hang out" tales from people that I later learned were total BS). But it might be true.

An acquaintance who knows I"m a Stones fan told me a guy he knew years before told him the following tale. This American guy told my acquaintance, "I was visiting Jamaica and was at a gathering, and to my surprise, Keith Richards was there. And I actually got to talking to him and he was a really nice guy. And he invited me on his boat. And so I ended up offshore with Keith Richards and others on his boat as it cruised along the shore. And inside this boat Keith was very generous with his weed and booze, and he was talking about the album the Stones had just finished recording, but was not yet released. Keith said it had taken the Stones into new territory, and Keith was really proud of it." This is where I grilled my acquaintance about when this Keith encounter happened, and from what he told me it sounded around the time of UNDERCOVER. So it was likely UNDERCOVER Keith was talking about. Anyway, the tale ended this way, "Because Keith was so generous with his booze and drugs, I ended up passing out. And the next thing I know, I awoke on the beach alone. Keith obviously had me carried off the boat."

My acquaintance certainly believed the guy. But true or not? Maybe....

According to LIFE, Keith has only ever had a boat in France. So, going by LIFE, not true.

Was it Come On that had the 'neighbours don't like Dirty Work' thread?

There ARE great songs on Undercover. Just because they weren't big singles or played on the radio or played live over the years doesn't mean anything. She Was Hot and Tie You Up are great songs. All The Way Down is another one. UOTN has a lot going on in it - a lot of textures. And the opening riff and beat certainly grab the attention. Maybe that's why Mick insists on it being on every hits comp since then.

Their last truly solid album. Especially considering the tour they just finished - Undercover is a 180 in the right (better) direction.

Too bad they left that mentality in 1983 and have been on cruise control ever since.

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DragonSky
Was it Come On that had the 'neighbours don't like Dirty Work' thread?

There ARE great songs on Undercover. Just because they weren't big singles or played on the radio or played live over the years doesn't mean anything. She Was Hot and Tie You Up are great songs. All The Way Down is another one. UOTN has a lot going on in it - a lot of textures. And the opening riff and beat certainly grab the attention. Maybe that's why Mick insists on it being on every hits comp since then.

Their last truly solid album. Especially considering the tour they just finished - Undercover is a 180 in the right (better) direction.

Too bad they left that mentality in 1983 and have been on cruise control ever since.

or 'autopilot'. a good description. they've hardly put out any music in the last 25 years, and most of it has been 'by numbers'. I've liked most of it, and some occasionally great songs, but 'the work' has been put into the shows, not new music, which is a shame. I think it comes down to the dysfunctional Mick/Keith relationship.

after reading your posts, I did give "Undercover" another listening... and well, I must admit....it is very enjoyable and not that bad as I thought it was...(didn't play it for 27 years....).... Undercover....like some good wine?