Lately we've had threads on each album since ca. '81. except VL. I will be the first to say that this is not one of my favorite albums. Of the late era albums my least; and even the good songs on there are never iconic.
Likes - "Love is Strong", "The Worst", "Moon is Up", "Out of Tears", "I Go Wild", "Thru & Thru", all the outtakes w/ Brew, Stew, Residue, the great B-Sides,

Dislikes - Don Was, "Sparks will Fly", "Blinded by Rainbows", the forced hodgepodge of styles



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-11-05 09:22 by Palace Revolution 2000.

I happen to like Voodoo Lounge,admitted some filler,but I tell you what many a band would kill for this as their debut.I do agree the outtakes are great.

There's no real outstanding track on it. Except maybe for Love Is Strong and Thru and Thru. But I like how each track is polished and all the varied arrangements.

haven't even thought about playing it in years....doubt i ever will again. kind of a "fake stones" album as others here have opined over the years. life's too short for fake stuff.

From the press back then it sounds like Don Was really tried. Not only with the different styles, the "psychedelia", and (to his credit) that he made sure the band was together in the studio for a long time. The things with Charlie in the stairwell, all the outtakes from the band jamming together, Ron and Keith doing BU vocals - all that was great.
The songs just aren't that good. And what is more frustrating to me is that from Brew, Stew we can tell that there was lots of better material left off. There always seems to be a cut or two left off, that we, the fans feel should have been included; but that's par 4 the course. With VL it is the entire album, and the identity of the album that drifted off course.

although not a great album i always thought that VL was and still is the stones best work since TATTOO YOU

Quote
melillo
although not a great album i always thought that VL was and still is the stones best work since TATTOO YOU

high praise indeed

Really liked the art from VL:

Love the whole album, even tracks like Suck on the Jugular and Blinded By Rainbows which often get slated.

My least favorite Stones album. There's just nothing on it that excites me the least. Dirty Work is bad, but at least there's two or three tracks that are nice. VL just has nothing to offer me.

Mathijs

Quote
melillo
although not a great album i always thought that VL was and still is the stones best work since TATTOO YOU

Totally agree! For a band past their prime years, I think this is a pretty solid effort.

it was a well done album, but not magic or great or something special, was like wondering spirit. many styles and very polished

At first I loved it. But it hasn't aged very well. Perhaps if it had less on it. I've always liked Love Is Strong, The Worst, Out Of Tears, Brand New Car, Mean Disposition, Moon Is Up, Baby Break It Down and I Go Wild. Hell, the B-sides are better than what's left of the album.

Average Stones really.

not a great album but good that the band were still active, love is strong is the pick of the bunch, brand new car, i go wild and the worst are decent, a couple of other good songs but collectively not enough punch to this album, some good moments though.

Quote
melillo
although not a great album i always thought that VL was and still is the stones best work since TATTOO YOU

My sentiments exactly..

Quote
Mathijs
My least favorite Stones album. There's just nothing on it that excites me the least. Dirty Work is bad, but at least there's two or three tracks that are nice. VL just has nothing to offer me.

Mathijs

Actually I hate this record....I feel bad when I listen to it.. (I just listen to it to answer this topic.....the bad feeling is back again )

Love Is Strong is the only good song on it, yeah Dirty Work is more of a Stones album

__________________________

Quote
NICOS
Actually I hate this record....I feel bad when I listen to it..

i'm reminded of the old hee haw bit..."it hurts when i do this....we'll don't do that!"

I like more than I used to although it still is near the bottom of my list. I would rate at at least as high as ABB (but well behind BTB and SW) among later albums. I still don't like the 5 songs from Sparks will fly to Out of Tears. But the last half has grown on me. Songs like Sweethearts Together, Blinded by Rainbows, Baby Break It Down, Thru and Thru make it worth an occassional listen. You Got Me Rocking is definitely the most manufactured Stones tune ever, but I don't agree with VL as a Stones by the numbers type of criticism. I think they put more effort into the song writing here than ABB for instance.

Quote
SweetThing

Quote
melillo
although not a great album i always thought that VL was and still is the stones best work since TATTOO YOU

My sentiments exactly..

I thought this when it first came out...I may even have drank the kool-aid with Rolling Stone's "Best Since Exile" exclamation (haven't they done that with every album since Some Girls?).

BUT, I don't think it really stands the test of time. ABB is better, Steel Wheels is better, Undercover without a doubt is MUCH better.

It has some ok songs, but it started the whole, bloated, look-what-we-can-do-on-CD, unedited album thing, that has persisted since then.

If there is one reason to applaud the demise of the CD, it is with that notion, will hopefully go the idea that you have to fill all 80 (or 90 now?!) minutes of a CD with music (I use that term loosely).

Nobody mentioned 'You Got Me Rocking'? Pretty successful song, as it's the last song since Start Me Up to achieve a sort of warhorse status, being played on practically every tour since '94. It's even opened a few along the way. But really, there's some entertaining stuff on the album, but it's a shameful attempt to sound like the Stones. I really enjoy the lyrics to 'New Faces' but the background is too obviously a Lady Jane echo. Too many songs that go nowhere.

Quote
StonesTod

Quote
NICOS
Actually I hate this record....I feel bad when I listen to it..

i'm reminded of the old hee haw bit..."it hurts when i do this....we'll don't do that!"

Oke this was the last time...I promise

__________________________

Quote
24FPS
Nobody mentioned 'You Got Me Rocking'? Pretty successful song, as it's the last song since Start Me Up to achieve a sort of warhorse status, being played on practically every tour since '94. It's even opened a few along the way. But really, there's some entertaining stuff on the album, but it's a shameful attempt to sound like the Stones. I really enjoy the lyrics to 'New Faces' but the background is too obviously a Lady Jane echo. Too many songs that go nowhere.

Successful insofar as they played it a lot, but I don't think you'd get a majority actually wanting it to be played. Every time I hear it, I think, "yeah, but they could be playing Have You See Your Mother Baby Standing In The Shadow."

Quote
StonesTod

Quote
NICOS
Actually I hate this record....I feel bad when I listen to it..

i'm reminded of the old hee haw bit..."it hurts when i do this....we'll don't do that!"

StonesTod, I think NICOS just posted the funniest thing of the year. That is truly hilarious! I don't think I've ever heard - or read - anyone express their displeasure with an album with such precision.

Quote
24FPS
Nobody mentioned 'You Got Me Rocking'? Pretty successful song, as it's the last song since Start Me Up to achieve a sort of warhorse status, being played on practically every tour since '94. It's even opened a few along the way. But really, there's some entertaining stuff on the album, but it's a shameful attempt to sound like the Stones. I really enjoy the lyrics to 'New Faces' but the background is too obviously a Lady Jane echo. Too many songs that go nowhere.

As I recall the video for it was cool but it got played a few times for a week. The CD single was only worth Jump On Top Of Me. The remix sucks. It seems only the Stones noticed this song for some reason because radio sure didn't.

The album got fantastic press and hype. Maybe because it was such a dirty sounding record compared to the sterile Steel Wheels and how clean that tour looked and sounded. At least we got some kind of dirtier and sloppier Stones for this one. The new songs fit in well live - even YGMR somehow. Although Love Is Strong should have never been played live.

Some of the hype seemed more Rolling Stones to me than the Steel Wheels hype did.



Compare these two:

I hate the sound of this album. The production, etc.

Quote
24FPS
Nobody mentioned 'You Got Me Rocking'? Pretty successful song, as it's the last song since Start Me Up to achieve a sort of warhorse status, being played on practically every tour since '94. It's even opened a few along the way. But really, there's some entertaining stuff on the album, but it's a shameful attempt to sound like the Stones. I really enjoy the lyrics to 'New Faces' but the background is too obviously a Lady Jane echo. Too many songs that go nowhere.

The Rolling Stones have made a shameful attempt to sound like the Rolling Stones ? - Whaaat ? - gimme a break...what should they sound like ? Sting ? Backstreet Boys or Take That ?

The Stones sound that the Rolling Stones themselves can't play ? - You mean, that Jagger's disco is more like it, or do you mean the early 60's blues is the one and the only sound, what's the best on your opinion - the 80's radiofriendly Undercover sound ?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-11-05 20:52 by seitan.

I guess I just never really agreed with the "it's a fake Stones album", etc. Why? Because they're producer pushed a more classic sound? Because they hadn't been together in 4 years when they did it?

To me, "Dirty Work" and "Steel Wheels" are closer to "Fake" Stones albums. One was made under tension and duress to essentially fulfill a contract and little more. The other, merely an excuse for a big tour. Not to mention "Bridges To Babylon" (which I like, don't get me wrong), which was just a melding of two failed solo albums from the group's songwriters.

"Voodoo" is NOT a great album, but it's well executed, and still an enjoyable listen for me. It touches on many of the sounds they're known for (horny rock, country, tear-jerk ballads, funk), and tries for new ones at times, even if they don't work out so well (huge success: Thru and Thru, nice attempt: Moon Is Up, noble failure: Blinded By Rainbows).

To me VL is mostly average songs with nice production, but it still sounds like the Rolling Stones. That's because it WAS the Rolling Stones.

In other words, everything about it sounds unmistakably Mick, Keith, Charlie, and Ron. I think "A Bigger Bang" sounded far more like a band out of ideas trying to bring back some ghost from the past.

One my favorites actually.

BUt it's another late period album that could benefit from a little more editing and a shorter track list.

Quote
StonesTod

Quote
NICOS
Actually I hate this record....I feel bad when I listen to it..

i'm reminded of the old hee haw bit..."it hurts when i do this....we'll don't do that!"

We'll we'll...now, how about that