Re: Worst Stones LP?
Date: August 3, 2005 16:13
One of a minority, I belong to those who think that there are no "worst Stones album(s)", only superb, good and a few least good ones.
Neither have I got a fixed order of preference for Stones albums. It's still living for me and changes. As to least good ones, I would all the same at most times have to mention "Tattoo You". Not as a distaste of the individual tracks, but because there is something about the totality of it that is not quite to my liking. More often than not, one less good album to me also is "Black and Blue". Sometimes and sometimes not, " It's only Rock'n'Roll", Dirty Work" and "Steel Wheels". Often mentionned candidates to be poor albums, there are on the contrary quite a few that I hold to be especially good and/or especially love - "Between the Buttons", "Their Satanic Majesties' Request", "Emotional Rescue" (each and every track) and "Undercover" (to me "Reexiled on Main Street Ten Years on". Apart from that - from time to time I reckon "Voodoo Lounge" to be a semi-classic in approach, but not quite in material (almost no weak tracks, but not strong enough to match e.g the four consecutuve studio albums and in between one live album of the peak years from '68, or the LPs, EPs and singles of the first years), whereas "Bridges to Babylon" in my view contains both stronger individual tracks (comprising to me both "I Might as Well Been Juiced" (!) AND the best track of the album (yes, after some time, also from the emotional aspect of it) "Always Suffering") and weaker tracks than Voodoo Lounge.
As to Mick's solo albums, sometimes sharply criticized : Not at its release, but years later I began to fancy "She's the Boss" and I do like even "Goddess ..." As an expression of how it feels to be Mick Jagger of later years, there are moments when the latter has greater value to me than stronger Stones music of the past. That is, because (the comparatively) now is the present time.That is also the reason why I, even more as a minority, would hope that the coming album will feature as abundantly as possible in the setlists of the approaching world tour.