What were they thinking? Punk and early 80s minimalism were long gone. If ever there was a Stones album out of time it was this one.

Keith said We've got a good album here! Spent a year making it and putting our backs to the wall.

As if that makes it good.

He was really trying to convince people.

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GasLightStreet
Keith said We've got a good album here! Spent a year making it and putting our backs to the wall.

As if that makes it good.

He was really trying to convince people.

What do you want him to say. Its a crap album the worst we ever did. I even hate the cover?

Listening to songs like One Hit these days I actually thing the guitar work was pretty good, I just can't get that stupid video of Mick and Keith jumping around like monkeys and bumping into each other out of my head. Keith and Mick trying to look like such tough guys, it was laughable.

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Naturalust
Listening to songs like One Hit these days I actually thing the guitar work was pretty good, I just can't get that stupid video of Mick and Keith jumping around like monkeys and bumping into each other out of my head. Keith and Mick trying to look like such tough guys, it was laughable.

Somehow no more ridiculous than the mid 70s videos like IORR etc and yet so much worse... I agree.

Am I mistaken or was this the first stones album with the lyrics on the sleeve?

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Naturalust
Listening to songs like One Hit these days I actually thing the guitar work was pretty good, I just can't get that stupid video of Mick and Keith jumping around like monkeys and bumping into each other out of my head. Keith and Mick trying to look like such tough guys, it was laughable.

It's always good to have the Hey Negrita and Silver Train videos to lean on, then...

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Cooltoplady

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GasLightStreet
Keith said We've got a good album here! Spent a year making it and putting our backs to the wall.

As if that makes it good.

He was really trying to convince people.

What do you want him to say. Its a crap album the worst we ever did. I even hate the cover?

Mick was hinting otherwise. Keith was proud of it possibly more so than the previous umpteen albums for whatever reasons it seems. It's just weird.

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Turner68
Am I mistaken or was this the first stones album with the lyrics on the sleeve?

Didn't LET IT BLEED have a lyric sheet with it?

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GasLightStreet

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Turner68
Am I mistaken or was this the first stones album with the lyrics on the sleeve?

Didn't LET IT BLEED have a lyric sheet with it?

just this:

I thought there was a pull out lyric sheet with LIB at some point.

If not, well, every album since DW has had lyrics with it.

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GasLightStreet

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Cooltoplady

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GasLightStreet
Keith said We've got a good album here! Spent a year making it and putting our backs to the wall.

As if that makes it good.

He was really trying to convince people.

What do you want him to say. Its a crap album the worst we ever did. I even hate the cover?

Mick was hinting otherwise. Keith was proud of it possibly more so than the previous umpteen albums for whatever reasons it seems. It's just weird.

Probably because it was mostly he and Ronnie who put all the songs together initially and it was more "his baby" that any other Stones record ever done. Mick was busy with his solo record release, had pretty much blown his wad of songs and great ideas for it and according to Keith was often missing in action for the recording of this one. The first time a Stone had ever put a solo record ahead of Stones work and a source resentment, according to Bill.

A Steve Lillywhite quote about the record:

I... it's strange, 'cause I usually like to talk about an album I've just made, but with this, I just feel as though I don't want to say so much. It is Keith's album to a great extent. I mean, he wrote those songs because of Mick's solo commitments. I would definitely say it was a Keith Richards-inspired record. Mick did a little bit as well, but all you need to put about this is that it was a Keith Richards-inspired record.

- Steve Lillywhite, 1986

[www.timeisonourside.com]

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Naturalust

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GasLightStreet

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Cooltoplady

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GasLightStreet
Keith said We've got a good album here! Spent a year making it and putting our backs to the wall.

As if that makes it good.

He was really trying to convince people.

What do you want him to say. Its a crap album the worst we ever did. I even hate the cover?

Mick was hinting otherwise. Keith was proud of it possibly more so than the previous umpteen albums for whatever reasons it seems. It's just weird.

Probably because it was mostly he and Ronnie who put all the songs together initially and it was more "his baby" that any other Stones record ever done. Mick was busy with his solo record release, had pretty much blown his wad of songs and great ideas for it and according to Keith was often missing in action for the recording of this one. The first time a Stone had ever put a solo record ahead of Stones work and a source resentment, according to Bill.

A Steve Lillywhite quote about the record:

I... it's strange, 'cause I usually like to talk about an album I've just made, but with this, I just feel as though I don't want to say so much. It is Keith's album to a great extent. I mean, he wrote those songs because of Mick's solo commitments. I would definitely say it was a Keith Richards-inspired record. Mick did a little bit as well, but all you need to put about this is that it was a Keith Richards-inspired record.

- Steve Lillywhite, 1986

[www.timeisonourside.com]

Dirty work and She's the Boss go hand in hand, demonstrating that the band needed Mick and Mick needed the band. They learned the lesson and yet somehow things were never the same.

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matxil

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DandelionPowderman
[www.youtube.com]

Wow, yeah! Much better!

Charlie on that picture...

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Turner68
Dirty work and She's the Boss go hand in hand, demonstrating that the band needed Mick and Mick needed the band. They learned the lesson and yet somehow things were never the same.

Well to the extent that things are never the same with regards to much, I'm not sure that even if they were working together locked in a kitchen in 1985, the results would have been much better. Everyone loves to blame the lack of magical collaboration between Mick and Keith for their lack of great records but I'm more inclined to believe other factors may be more responsible. Both or either of them must have just changed individually in a way that keeps them from creating the magic they once did. I could speculate about lifestyles, drugs and alcohol, creative burn out, habitual musical patterns and a bunch of other nonesense but the fact remains, they just haven't been able to do it anymore.

Some people may point to Keith's new records and say "look, Keith can still do it", I'm not so convinced. I don't see Keith record as a particularly great rock record, a Stonsey record or one where any specific song grabs me as truly genius. It's a good piece of work but none of the tunes are anywhere near "favorite song" status like so much of the Stones earlier work was. Some people may disagree and I'm actually still developing my opinions on the record but I doubt that aspect is going to change. Keith certainly is moving in the right direction though! No rules, just as good of songs as can be created at the time based on what is in his heart and soul. Simple production. The stuff that makes those ballads so good.

I'd love for one more Stones record to prove me wrong, but to tell the truth, I'm not going to set my expectations too high. I think the Stones have kind of painted themselves into a creative box where all the sides are already painted and there isn't enough blank canvas left to truly paint another masterpiece. The box was already painted when Dirty Work came out and the results are pretty obvious. They need to move to a new box, like they did when Jimmy Miller came on board and they started afresh with Beggar's Banquet.

My vinyl copy of TY had a lyric sheet. Unfortunately someone I gave the LP to make a tape copy must have taken it out and never put it back. Noticed that after months and then it was not possible to find it anymore

Dirty Work is a hell of an album, even most critical fans should be pleased at least by the following songs, which are as good as nearly everything else on their other albums:

One Hit/Harlem Shuffle/Dirty Work/Had It With You/Sleep Tonight

which is about half of the album. Dont be so overcritical and enjoy these fantastic songs.

Sometimes I feel someone somewhere somewhen started to bash and all others have fallen in. It´s the same with EOMS, their acclaimed "masterpiece" which in reality is nothing but a good, but most of all over-long record, that could have been better with just 12 songs. Someone somewhere somewhen started to praise EOMS and, guess what, everybody´s fallen in.

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Turner68
Am I mistaken or was this the first stones album with the lyrics on the sleeve?

In Germany the first lyric sheet came with Black And Blue. Sometimes it deferres to english spoken countries..

Tom

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RobertJohnson

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DandelionPowderman
<Too Rude one of the few successful Keith Reggaes>

Few?

The Harder They Come
Too Rude
Words Of Wonder
You Don't Have To Mean It
Love Overdue

Which one was not successful?

Love Overdue is okay, too, but I don't like Stones going Reggae at all ...

So then you don't like reggae at all then, i guess. That is fine.

As for Dirty Work, it suffers from poor songs and worse lyrics -- far below anything they've ever done, including solo albums. The rock songs are almost lacking in any type of melody.

Too Rude is fantastic, One Hit is very good, Harlem Shuffle is okay. Like others said, the rest isn't really worth commenting on.

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HMS
Dirty Work is a hell of an album, even most critical fans should be pleased at least by the following songs, which are as good as nearly everything else on their other albums:

One Hit/Harlem Shuffle/Dirty Work/Had It With You/Sleep Tonight

which is about half of the album. Dont be so overcritical and enjoy these fantastic songs.

That is all wrong. It's historically wrong, it's factually wrong and it's opinionally wrong. You really need to accept the facts.

Those songs "are as good as nearly everything else on their other albums" is the most misleading misinformed statement one could make about this "album".

GasLightStreet, dont you have the slightest sympathy for any of the tracks? Is there not even one song you can listen to from start to finish without disappointment?

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HMS
GasLightStreet, dont you have the slightest sympathy for any of the tracks? Is there not even one song you can listen to from start to finish without disappointment?

Regardless, that doesn't warrant the gleam of slop you apply to DIRTY WORK as if it's EOMS or SF or LIB or TY, which you seemingly seem to view as below the shitline on the sewer that DW is. A horrible LP can have "good" songs on it, in this instance, Too Rude is probably the best song on DW. No matter. It doesn't detract from the fact that it's a horrible album.

It's not about "falling in line" or whatever you were on. It's about facts. You have an... offset look at that for some reason. A majority of Stones fans here on IORR acknowledge that DW sucks and is their worst album ever. And the same goes for outside of IORR. Facts are facts, opinions - they can be wrong.

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IrelandCalling4
A much better album than it's given credit for; while it's nowhere near the Stones' best of course, and includes some awful 80s touches, when you look at the songs now there's actually half a damn good album there.

One Hit, Sleep Tonight, Harlem Shuffle, Dirty Work, Too Rude - all fine tracks I think really, the guitar interplay in the middle of the title track especially good. That's half the album!

Had it With You is also good; the bootleg 'Cut the Mustard' was even better methinks.

Quite a lot of good material was there, the 'Crushed Peals' boot has some fine, unreleased tracks. The album sessions did hold a lot of promise, and as it is, with half the album or more good, I hoenstly think it's reputation as an awful record is just not accurate.

It's brought down by 3 tracks that everyone seems to hate; 'Hold Back', which is just a tuneless mess with arguably Mick's worst vocal performance. 'Back To Zero'; very divisive, it's not bad, but it's not the Stones either. 'Winning Ugly' has some very nice guitars, but again, just not the Stones. It's Mick solo, not a great song, but not awful either. Forgettable perhaps.

'Fight' - it's okay, too 80s, a good tune there waiting to come out but not entirely coaxed out.

Overall, much better than it's dire reputation, and with the bootlegs, there is quite a bit of good Stones music to enjoy.

I pretty much agree. It's like Undercover or Steel Wheels (half the album is good) and typical of any of the post Tattoo You albums by the Stones.

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Blueranger

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matxil

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DandelionPowderman
[www.youtube.com]

Wow, yeah! Much better!

Charlie on that picture...

At the end there? Yeah, he's in bad shape...it's so obvious in retrospect. Everyone else in the band looks healthier than he does here.

Patti Hansen said later about Keith and the album "There was a lot of anger during that album." (I forget the name of the short-lived magazine in which she said this.)

I don't love it, don't hate it. But I've found it's a good album during an exercise session. Keeps me moving.

My grandmother looked at the back cover and thought the "pretty colors" meant it included "pretty music."

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Turner68
Am I mistaken or was this the first stones album with the lyrics on the sleeve?

I think Some Girls had a lyric sheet.

Anyway,DW is a very bad album.

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shortfatfanny

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Turner68
Am I mistaken or was this the first stones album with the lyrics on the sleeve?

I think Some Girls had a lyric sheet.

Anyway,DW is a very bad album.

I did some research, according to Rolling Stone magazine, Dirty Work is the first stones album in the US to have a lyric sheet.

Ah ok...I have to look up my vinyl copy .
Bought it in Germany in 1978 with the uncensored cover.Maybe my memory plays tricks but I'm sure it came with an extra lyric sheet.

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Turner68

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shortfatfanny

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Turner68
Am I mistaken or was this the first stones album with the lyrics on the sleeve?

I think Some Girls had a lyric sheet.

Anyway,DW is a very bad album.

I did some research, according to Rolling Stone magazine, Dirty Work is the first stones album in the US to have a lyric sheet.

You mean on the sleeve? Because there were other albums with a separate sheet with lyrics (TY fi).

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DandelionPowderman

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Turner68

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shortfatfanny

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Turner68
Am I mistaken or was this the first stones album with the lyrics on the sleeve?

I think Some Girls had a lyric sheet.

Anyway,DW is a very bad album.

I did some research, according to Rolling Stone magazine, Dirty Work is the first stones album in the US to have a lyric sheet.

You mean on the sleeve? Because there were other albums with a separate sheet with lyrics (TY fi).

according to rolling stone magazine it was the first in the US. i had an original of tattoo you in the US and it didn't have a lyric sheet.

reference: [www.rollingstone.com]