Quote
24FPS

Quote
DandelionPowderman

Quote
24FPS
The last great Stones album. A few clunkers, Sad, Can't Be Seen, Hard Place, but overall a return to form, and their first album of all original material since Some Girls, and a cure to those awful Undercover and Dirty Work albums.

Slipping Away, to me, represents the end of the magic. Afterwards they would occasionally have a listenable single, but it was mostly over after Steel Wheels.

All the songs on Undercover were originals, weren't they?

Or are you thinking of Cellophane Trousers?

I guess I meant the last GOOD Stones album of originals. I tend to rip away the stunningly great single Undercover of the Night from the album and throw the rest away, with Dirty Work only being slightly better.

Cellophane Trousers/Too Tough is "original". Or is it meant as written for the album at the time... ha ha.

That was what I was asking, yeah

It was a great new release with incredible hype, a very well executed, what, project? There's one specific word I'm thinking of that I can't think of to describe the whole thing. Mixed Emotions was a shot in the arm that was desperately needed, especially after the disastrous DIRTY WORK. And STEEL WHEELS carried the momentum of Mixed Emotions with the tour. It's as if the Stones were in a snow globe and someone picked it up and reset the band.

But then it went away. FLASHPOINT and AT THE MAX were good at the time but it, like STEEL WHEELS, neither has aged well.

At least Love Is Strong was a nod to getting back to a dirtier sound than the polished hospital floor that STEEL WHEELS was.

Quote
GasLightStreet
...the polished hospital floor that STEEL WHEELS was.

That's a very good description.

I think '..Wheels' is a fine album, it's not Exile, not is it Some Girls of Black and Blue, and it's not Bigger Bang or Bridges, but, it is much better than it's latter day reputation would have you believe.

Of 12 tracks, I honestly feel 5 are top drawer, with that Stones inspiration of old; Keith's wonderful 'Slipping Away', the beautiful 'Almost hear you Sigh', 'Continental Drift', the groovy and irresistible 'Terrifying', and perhaps my favourite, 'Break the Spell', with it's atmospherics and killer harmonica.

Aswell as those 5, 'Mixed Emotions' and 'Sad Sad Sad' are very good rock tracks, perhaps not quite 'Rocks Off' cool, but they have a quality of their own (especially the extended bootlegged versions).

The sessions produced 5 other tracks I loved to listen to; B Sides 'Wish I'd never met you', 'Fancy Man Blues' (the full 6 of 7 minute version is even better!), 'Ready Yourself', 'Givin' it Up', and greatest of them all, 'For Your Precious Love'.

'Steel Wheels Monitor Mixes' and 'Training Wheels' can be quite compelling; with the extra tracks mentioned above and in a lot of cases superior versions of album tracks. The full-lenght 'Break the Spell' for instance is just glorious; the way the bass and harmonica mix on the extened outro; just wonderful. The live rehearsal take of 'Sad Sad Sad' is far superior to the album version; lyrics not all written yet, just listen to the way the guitars weave, and that rhythm section - it's the Stones!

A good to very good album, and on just under half of it, even inspired. A solid 7/10, to echo Nick Kents' retrospective look at it. Taking the bootlegs and B Sides, you could compile your own 12 track great album.

I enjoy Steel Wheels. Keith's songs and Almost hear you sigh are great.

Quote
IrisC
I enjoy Steel Wheels. Keith's songs and Almost hear you sigh are great.

This.

Quote
DandelionPowderman
That was what I was asking, yeah

According to Mick no songs were leftovers for UNDERCOVER ala TATTOO YOU.

According to history as we know it, there was one leftover that was from the BLACK AND BLUE sessions. Seeing how they had just worked on old tapes for TY certainly that track came up for consideration since they revamped it for U, as in, a new recording of it.

UNDERCOVER had a fantastically garish cover. It fits the sound of the record.

But wow would they ever sum up their sound with the cover of DIRTY WORK, their worst LP cover conveniently for their worst LP. And then with STEEL WHEELS, easily their second worst LP cover ever, it represents the sound as well - shiny. Shiny shiny shiny. Very shiny.

They were on a roll. FLASHPOINT looks like an app icon, not an album cover.

VOODOO LOUNGE I still don't understand. That's just WACK.

VL has a most impressive cover, very mysterious, one of their best. Flashpoint looks like an app icon many years before app icons were invented, so it must be their hippest cover ever. What´s bad about the DW-cover, just five guys in bright clothes. Btw, the colors Mick wore in the Tennessee woods were not better... Usually I do not care about the covers, almost each is ugly in one way or another, Steel Wheels not worse than ER or TY.

okay...i've already given my opinion about Steel Wheels...but for some reason i feel the need to defend Dirty Work. I know it's popular here (IORR) to bash Dirty Work and say it's their worst album etc...but it's not bad. I think many people go along with saying it sucked because they don't want to be in the minority.

yes, we all have opinions and all are valid. maybe there are other factors that determine why we like or dislike something. associated memories etc. not sure.

anyway...i liked Dirty Work when it came out and still like it. I would say that I enjoy more than A Bigger Bang.

if I remember correctly, Dirty Work was primarily a Keith & Ronnie Album in which Mick came in toward the end.

imho the weakest songs are Winning Ugly and Back to Zero.

strongest songs are: Sleep Tonight, One Hit, Had it with You. Harlem Shuffle & Too Rude are good too.


IORR............but I like it!

Quote
HMS
What´s bad about the DW-cover, just five guys in bright clothes.

That's a very subtle way of putting it.

Sad Sad Sad 4/10 lyrics need a complete re-write; bridge too.
Mixed Emotions 6/10 filler
Terrifying 7/10 high quality filler, a refreshing track.
Hold on to Your Hat 5/10 like "had it with you" but faster and worse.
Hearts for Sale 5/10
Blinded By Love 5/10 better than "winning ugly".
Rock and a Hard Place 5/10
Can't Be Seen 6/10

however the last 4 songs are almost good enough to be classic stones:

Almost Hear You Sigh 8/10
Continental Drift 8/10
Break the Spell 7/10 -
Slipping Away 10/10 - keith sums it all up. it slipped away.

new category: album cover 1/10



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 2016-01-13 11:18 by Turner68.

Quote
HMS
VL has a most impressive cover, very mysterious, one of their best. Flashpoint looks like an app icon many years before app icons were invented, so it must be their hippest cover ever. What´s bad about the DW-cover, just five guys in bright clothes. Btw, the colors Mick wore in the Tennessee woods were not better... Usually I do not care about the covers, almost each is ugly in one way or another, Steel Wheels not worse than ER or TY.

Starting with ER, the Stones began an still-unsurpassed run of the most ugly album covers ever put out by a major act. Very odd since BB-> SG was one of the best runs of album covers ever.

Quote
Turner68
Sad Sad Sad 4/10 lyrics need a complete re-write; bridge too.
Mixed Emotions 6/10 filler
Terrifying 7/10 high quality filler, a refreshing track.
Hold on to Your Hat 5/10 like "had it with you" but faster and worse.
Hearts for Sale 5/10
Blinded By Love 5/10 better than "winning ugly".
Rock and a Hard Place 5/10
Can't Be Seen 6/10

however the last 4 songs are almost good enough to be classic stones:

Almost Hear You Sigh 8/10
Continental Drift 8/10
Break the Spell 7/10 -
Slipping Away 10/10 - keith sums it all up. it slipped away.

new category: album cover 1/10

The single is filler?

I think Hearts For Sale, Blinded By Love and Can't Be Seen are under-appreciated. Love all of those songs, especially the former. The live version of Blinded By Love from Spain 1990 was great as well.

EDIT: I agree about those four songs (add Terrifying there, too!), though. All great.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-01-13 11:36 by DandelionPowderman.

Quote
DandelionPowderman
....

The single is filler?

i threw that comment in just for you ;-)

Quote
Turner68

Starting with ER, the Stones began an still-unsurpassed run of the most ugly album covers ever put out by a major act. Very odd since BB-> SG was one of the best runs of album covers ever.

I agree. And for some reason, I find the A Bigger Bang cover the worst.
Undercover: weird, kinky, bad taste on purpose it becomes interesting in an almost Lynchian way
Dirty Work: even more bad taste on purpose, almost Cronenbergian.
Steel Wheels: the message here is: we don't care about the cover.
Voodoo Lounge: idiotic, silly, puerile.
Bridges to Babylon: like the cover for a Disney movie.
A Bigger Bang: compared with the previous, it should be an improvement, but instead I find it a mix of all the above: bad taste, puerile, silly, maybe it's the ridiculous reference to a scientific theory which annoys me most.

B2B and ABB are the worst covers, closely followed by SW and DW, imo.

B2B is so bad taste that it's unfathomable that they even considered using it.

I like the Undercover and ER covers for some reason. The former has some provoking qualities to it and ER is just weird and mystic, yet direct.

SW is just an ugly «we'll take this on the road»-cover. DW was «modern», but ridiculous.

The poster that came with ER was the cherry on top.

Quote
DandelionPowderman
B2B and ABB are the worst covers, closely followed by SW and DW, imo.

B2B is so bad taste that it's unfathomable that they even considered using it.

I like the Undercover and ER covers for some reason. The former has some provoking qualities to it and ER is just weird and mystic, yet direct.

SW is just an ugly «we'll take this on the road»-cover. DW was «modern», but ridiculous.

This is a amazing - I agree on every single word in your post. Spot on. 100% spot on.

It's funny how different my opinion on Steel Wheels is today. When it was released I liked it but I didnt quite "trust" it/trust them. It actually felt manufactured just like the new face of the Glimmer Twins. Anyhow; I used to like Sad Sad Sad, Mixed emotions and hate rock n a hard place and Cant be seen. I still loathe the latter two songs but now the only songs worth listening to are Continental drift, Terrifying and Almost hear you sigh + Mixed emotions (the backing track minus the refrain).

Quote
Redhotcarpet

Quote
DandelionPowderman
B2B and ABB are the worst covers, closely followed by SW and DW, imo.

B2B is so bad taste that it's unfathomable that they even considered using it.

I like the Undercover and ER covers for some reason. The former has some provoking qualities to it and ER is just weird and mystic, yet direct.

SW is just an ugly «we'll take this on the road»-cover. DW was «modern», but ridiculous.

This is a amazing - I agree on every single word in your post. Spot on. 100% spot on.

You have your moments

Last great album-cover must be 'Black and Blue'...No need even for comments for the followers...

2 1 2 0

It's been some time since I heard Steel Wheels so I gave it a play this morning. Loved it! Brought back some good memories too. When it was released I knew the boys would be coming to town, and sure enough when they did we went and saw them and it was my first time seeing them live. Awesome time. I was so young back then...and they seemed so old. I went to the show with a gang of friends. We got so drunk before the band got on the stage. It was an amazing night. They played a variety of songs from many albums.

Good times. The Stones have been the soundtrack to my life. I love nearly all their songs. Also heard "Long Long While" recently. What an amazing song. Great tune. I sure hope we get some new stuff soon, or even some new old stuff. The Stones still rule.

A nice positive post. That wasn't my 1st show but I went to the gig in Canada. Took the KISW party bus from Seattle to get there. Awesome memories.

The tour was good, the album was not.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

That's when I became a fan, went out and bought Hot Rocks and Steel Wheels on the same day with my lawn mowing money

Quote
Hairball
The tour was good, the album was not.

That about sums it up.

Through his lunatic defense of Dirty Work, HMS’ greatest contribution to this forum was allowing us to forget just how truly bad Steel Wheels is. But now that he’s finally been institutionalized it’s time to face the fact that Steel Wheels is actually worse than DW – honestly, there’s not a single good song on it.

Quote
Swayed1967

Quote
Hairball
The tour was good, the album was not.

That about sums it up.

Through his lunatic defense of Dirty Work, HMS’ greatest contribution to this forum was allowing us to forget just how truly bad Steel Wheels is. But now that he’s finally been institutionalized it’s time to face the fact that Steel Wheels is actually worse than DW – honestly, there’s not a single good song on it.

Rubbish. It may be your opinion, but some opinions are just plain wrong.