ROCKMAN

I know, Terry. I have it, too. I guess it all depends if a version of "Call Girl Blues" was one of the dozen songs Ronnie and Charlie cut with Mick and Jimmy in the summer of 1988.

From timeisonourside.com:

Mick came over with about twelve new songs the other day and I must admit it's sounding much more healthy now, more like the Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers time. Much more rock, Rip This Joint-type of stuff, which is great, 'cause I was a bit worried that he'd gone off at a tangent. But he's really still there, still with Muddy and Howlin' Wolf, Slim Harpo and all that. I've got 20 or 30 songs, and at least ten of them are geared towards the Stones. I know Keith's been writing, apart from his own album, and he's got lots of other songs. We're just dying to weld them all together somehow...

- Ron Wood, September 1988



From Nico's site:

880600C June and/or July: probably London, unidentified studio
MJ works on demos with RW (gtr), CW (dr), Jimmy Rip (gtr) and Doug Wimbish
(bass), incl.
- What Kind Of World Is This? (MJ) -unverified

880800B mid-August: Pocé sur Cisse, France, La Fourchette (MJ’s homestudio).
MJ, RW and CW work on demos.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2019-08-11 07:12 by Rocky Dijon.

Quote
Rocky Dijon
I recall that, now that you mention it. Interesting. I'll be curious to see if this goes anywhere.

Maybe it goes back to What A Shame? Oh wait, that was Brian's riff!

Seriously, it's hard to tell, Bill. It's interesting, though. There is a certain "Keefness" to that descending line on BTS that tells me that Keith did play it. The more "correct" and fluent rockabilly-style on WS, the song, sounds a bit different.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2019-08-11 08:58 by DandelionPowderman.

Revising an earlier evaluation of mine:

"Sad Sad Sad" - 7/10
"Mixed Emotions" - 5,5/10
"Terrifying"- 7,5/10
"Hold On to Your Hat"- 2/10
"Hearts for Sale"- 5/10
"Blinded by Love"- 6/10

"Rock and a Hard Place" - 2/10
"Can't Be Seen" - 4/10
"Almost Hear You Sigh"- 5/10
"Continental Drift"- 10/10
"Break the Spell" - 7,5/10
"Slipping Away" - 5/10

[www.nzentgraf.de]



ROCKMAN

I guess until we get a tape of what was worked on in the Summer of 1988 we won't know for certain. I found it interesting all the same.

And to re-state what I tried to convey in my initial post, I'm not claiming Keith isn't on the tracks, just that I was told you can still hear Jimmy Rip's licks on those two songs. Whether that means him actually playing or if it is claimed it was a sponge job, I couldn't say. I took it to mean some of his licks were left in the mix.

Somehow I just can't stand this album.
Back in the day it was ok.
But now I never go back to it.
Must be among the most unfavored albums to me.

I picked up a collection of Rolling Stone Keith Richards interviews last year when he turned 75. One of the interviews was from shortly before Talk Is Cheap was released, and in it he talked a lot about wanting to see rock n’ roll “grow up”. He saw it as the Stones’ responsibility to help it grow up and to leave the newest trends to the younger bands. He seemed inspired to take up the challenge, since as he saw it, no one had not been able to do it - not even Elvis (his words, not mine).

Talk Is Cheap and later Steel Wheels seem to be his attempt to answer that challenge. Steel Wheels comes across as a more mature Stones album to me. There’s not a lot of youthful rock n’ roll edge to it and I think that was intentional on Keith’s part.

Of course, this being a partnership, Mick has to have his say too. There does seems to be some of his usual dance groove-type preferences in the album (Rock and a Hard Place, Continental Drift to an extent), but its toned down from previous attempts.

Overall, I think Steel Wheels is an slightly above average album. Highlights for me are Mixed Emotions, Blinded by Love, Break the Spell, Almost Hear You Sigh, Slipping Away and Sad, Sad, Sad. Though it’s not on the album, Fancy Man Blues is another song from this era that I like and include in my own personal Steel Wheels playlist.

Hold On To Your Hat and Hearts For Sale sound like the band was being influenced by Guns N’ Roses. I guess that’s better than whatever the hell was influencing Dirty Work’s music, but it’s not a good fit in my opinion.

Can’t Be Seen, Terrifying, RIAHP and Continental Drift sounds like Vegas-Stones to me. I think CBS and Terrifying could be decent songs if you stripped away the glitz and glamour of the production. That’s a good segue to my big complaint...

As others have mentioned, what really hurts this album is the production. The whole album sounds sterile. I’m okay with the Stones writing less edgy songs, but this album could use some more rawness to it. It sounds like it was produced on an assembly line in a factory.

-Cam

I remember august 1989. "And now, here is the new single from The Rolling Stones!" Me, the radio and a taperecorder. Then I played it ten times in a row. And I really love Mixed emotions even today. It had been over three years since Dirty work...this was the big comeback...Steel wheels became my soundtrack for a year or so... :-)

since someone has posted it on youtube

here's the uncorrected/remastered video recently shared by imthemastah here on iorr of the studio sessions for rock and a hard place and mixed emotions

i'm posting it here because some i assume don't want to download it since its a very large file and would rather watch it on youtube and i believe this video will be of immense interest to those who like this album and these songs

for and improved version of this video check out the remastered version by blueturns2grey and audio by stonyroad

youtube



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024-02-09 01:50 by ProfessorWolf.

Quote
Rocky Dijon
So talking of STEEL WHEELS, I've heard two tracks on the album feature Jimmy Rip's licks from his session in the Summer of 1988 with Mick, Ronnie, and Charlie: "Break the Spell" and "Hold On To Your Hat." That's not to say Keith didn't overdub guitar as well, but allegedly some of the licks we're hearing on those two album tracks are Jimmy. In that respect, they can be seen as the dry run for WANDERING SPIRIT the same way DIRTY WORK had tracks featuring the nascent Winos.

I would expect some will probably say there's no way that's Jimmy playing on those tracks. I'm most interested in what Mathijs and Bard have to say about it. The source, however, would know so it's just a question of whether they're mistaken or not. I suspect it is indeed Mr. Rip and felt like kicking myself for not having thought of it first after I was told. I wouldn't have known 30 years ago when I played the album over and over, but it certainly should have occurred to me by the time I heard WANDERING SPIRIT.

I don't hear Jimmy Rip on this track. The riff is similar to the style of JR, and it could be that Jagger was inspired by something JR played during his stint with Jagger, but the timing and phrasing is completely in the style of Richards. JR really is a pro session player with fantastic timing, whereas Keith and Wood have this sloppy, laid-back feel of playing behind the 1, and correcting it with that G to E slur on the low E.

Also, there are some Jagger mix tapes in circulation with demos and mixes that he gave to his solo band to rehearse (with a fantastic mix down version of Strictly Memphis) and the demos are all low-fi in quality. I really doubt they would use any of his tapes to record over in Montserrat, which was the most state-of-the-art studio of the day. As far as I know, they recorded everything fresh in that studio. The only left over they worked on in 1989 was Cook Cook Blues, but they worked on that at Olympic.

Jimmy Rip has given quite some interviews, where he spoke fondly of his days with Jagger. He mentions the various sessions he did, but as far as I know he has never mentioned anything about Break the Spell, that it was his riff or idea, or that his playing ended up on a Stones album.

Mathijs

Quote
ProfessorWolf
since someone has posted it on youtube

here's the uncorrected/remastered video recently shared by imthemastah here on iorr of the studio sessions for rock and a hard place and mixed emotions


youtube

Thank you!!

Wow, I love that! Thanks for sharing.

Steel Wheels is kinda special for me, becauase it was the most recent Stones album when I became a fan in the early 90's.

- Sad Sad Sad: Great opener. Still a good rocker! 8/10
- Mixed Emotions One of my favorite >70's Stones tracks 9/10
- Terrifying Love the vibe, but not the structure of the song 6/10
- Hold on to your Hat Mediocre 5.5/10
- Hearts for Sale Not my cup of tea 5.5/10
- Blinded by Love A underrated gem 8/10
- Rock and a Hard place Good song, but I dislike the production 6/10
- Can't be Seen Passable 6/10
- Almost Hear you Sigh How was this a TiC leftover? Brilliant! 9/10
- Contintental Drift Weird track. Sometimes I love it, next day: skip 7/10
- Break the Spell Dirty, groovy, Bluesy. Stones at its best 8.5/10
- Slipping Away One of Keiths best 8.5/10



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2024-02-09 12:23 by Jalfstra.