Ranking ALL (studio) albums 1973-1986:

1. Goat´s Head Soup
2. It´s Only Rock´n´Roll
3. Tatto You
4. Some Girls
5. Undercover
6. Emotional Rescue
7. Black And Blue
8. Dirty Work

I´d only call the last 3 mediocre...

Ranking Schmanking:

Black and Blue: Great engineering. Raw, fresh and new. Crazy Mama, Melody, Fool to Cry, Memory Motel all great songs.

It's Only Rock 'n Roll? What Hall of Fame band wouldn't have loved to put out something like this? IORR, Fingerprint File, If You Can't Rock Me? Forget about it. Eminently quaffable, if it were a wine.

Goats Head Soup: From the quiet and personal (Coming Down Again) to the raucous and rowdy (Star Star) with gems sprinkled about like Dancing with Mr. D, 100 Years Ago and Silver Train. Just Angie and Heartbreaker keep this far from Mediocreville.

Emotional Rescue: By itself, a fun album with a lot of energy. Compared to their body of work, a toss off, except for Down in the Hole - a classic.

Dirty Work: Running on Empty, for sure. Efforts to keep up with the times are painful to watch and hear, although Mixed Emotions gives a hint of the stadium sound and Ronnie themes that would prove central in the coming decades.

Under Cover: Nice drilling down into a variety of genres: power pop (Wanna Hold You), disco (Undercover) and Reggae (Feel On Baby)

Tattoo You: Really nice bit of pulling old sketches together and cobbling a very presentable and well-tooled whole. Start Me Up is pretty stupid, however.

Ranking ALL (studio) albums 1973-1986:

1. Tattoo You
2. Some Girls
3. Goat´s Head Soup
4. Black And Blue
5. It´s Only Rock´n´Roll
6. Undercover
7. Emotional Rescue
8. Dirty Work

Agree with the idea that Undercover and Dirty Work have great guitar work.

Depends on the week, of course. I love all of them, except Dirty Work, which easily qualifies as the least played of the bunch. But as we all know, even the worst Stones album is better than much of the dreck we could endure every day!

1. Goats Head Soup -- A great mix of styles, only Hide Your Love is a true throwaway. Not a great mix (which brings down some of the other albums), but it has an incredible vibe. Feels like it was recorded in a single all night session, a hungover, debauched, beautiful session.

2. Emotional Rescue -- The ultimate "summer" album." I love the sound on this almost as much as Black and Blue.

3. Undercover -- I love the aggressiveness of this album, the sense of humor. Still taking chances with reggae and dance of Too Much Blood. So wish they had toured it!

4. Black and Blue -- The BEST sounding Stones record ever and maybe the greatest cover ever. I only wish the songs were a bit better. Great riffs, but I somehow always end up feeling a bit dissatisfied when I'm done.

5. It's Only Rock n' Roll -- Song wise, it goes above BnB, FF, Luxury, IYCRM, TWFNO, but the muffled production, even on remasters, just leaves me thinking of what could have been. And I am not an audiophile. I listen on everything.

6. Dirty Work -- I will bust it out occasionally, but Back to Zero and particularly Winning Ugly just ruin the overall record.

T@3



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-02-15 19:48 by TeaAtThree.

Taking a variation on your theme, here's a very personal ranking of songs off these albums.

1. Memory Motel
2. Worried About You
3. Slave
4. Hey Negrita
5. Coming Down
6. 100 Years Ago
7. If You Can't Rock Me
8. Crazy Mama
9. Hand of Fate
10. Pain of Love
11. Silver Train
12. Winter

i dont agree that goats head soup and its only rock and roll are mediocre.

both have a unique atmosphere which is different to anything the band had done previously. sure they came after exile and could never had been as good, but they are both very good albums.

my ranking of albums during the 1973-86 period would be

1. tattoo you. excellent.
2. its only rock and roll. very good.
3. goats head soup. very good.
4. some girls. very good.
5. undercover. very good.
6. black and blue. short/average.
7. emotional rescue. average/too much filler.
8. dirtywork. mediocre.

1. Emotional Rescue
2. Undercover
3. It's only Rock n Roll
4. Black and Blue
5. Dirty Work
6. Goat's Head Soup

1. Goats Head Soup (a classic Stones album)
2. Emotional Rescue (in many ways I find it more interesting than Some Girls)
3. It's Only Rock n Roll
4. Black and Blue
5. Dirty Work
6. Undercover (terrible, terrible album. Breaks the amazing streak of 10 great albums between Beggars Banquet and Tattoo You).

...all are,at least,very good albums..!

Quote
FeelTheFire
1. Goats Head Soup (a classic Stones album)
2. Emotional Rescue (in many ways I find it more interesting than Some Girls)
3. It's Only Rock n Roll
4. Black and Blue
5. Dirty Work
6. Undercover (terrible, terrible album. Breaks the amazing streak of 10 great albums between Beggars Banquet and Tattoo You).

I don't even know you anymore.

1. It's Only Rock 'N' Roll
2. Goats Head Soup
3. Black And Blue
4. Emotional Rescue
5. Undercover
6. Dirty Work

Black And Blue and Emotional Rescue are their weakest albums of the 70s.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-02-16 03:33 by boogaloojef.

Quote
rootsman
Ranking ALL (studio) albums 1973-1986:

1. Goat´s Head Soup
2. It´s Only Rock´n´Roll
3. Tatto You
4. Some Girls
5. Undercover
6. Emotional Rescue
7. Black And Blue
8. Dirty Work

I´d only call the last 3 mediocre...

If ranking is necessary, this is the most accurate of the posts, in every respect. No way those top 5 are mediocre. And B&B and Emotional Rescue both have great moments.

And Goat's Head Soup is classic Stones, belonging more with the prior group than this one, in my opinion.

how are ghs iorr and black n blue mediocore albums? not seeing that at all!

Quote
treaclefingers

Quote
FeelTheFire
1. Goats Head Soup (a classic Stones album)
2. Emotional Rescue (in many ways I find it more interesting than Some Girls)
3. It's Only Rock n Roll
4. Black and Blue
5. Dirty Work
6. Undercover (terrible, terrible album. Breaks the amazing streak of 10 great albums between Beggars Banquet and Tattoo You).

I don't even know you anymore.

Anyone that ranks DIRTY WORK above any Stones album is not a true fan.

Mediocre eh?

Nah. None of these are mediocre, mainly because DIRTY WORK is the worst release by a rock band in the history of rock - and the absolute worst Stones album ever.

But, if a ranking is what's wanted...

1. Goats Head Soup
2. Undercover
3. Black And Blue
4. Emotional Rescue
5. It's Only Rock 'N' Roll

Emotional Rescue & Goats Head Soup are brilliant records. Black and Blue is simply ridiculous so I refuse to rank it (out of nowhere emerges this gun-toting cowboy Mick persona for Hand of Fate & Crazy Mama...then he puts down his gun and cranks up the schmaltz factor to 11 with Fool To Cry and Memory Motel...then with some inspiration from Billy he channels his inner black man for Melody, taking it way too far in Cherry Oh Baby until he returns to the more familiar self-parody of Hot Stuff and Hey Negrita, the latter being a decent rocker but nothing more. I know the order is all wrong but it's a totally ridiculous album...still enjoyable in its way of course but hard to rank). Dirty Work too I refuse to rank for obvious reasons. IORR is definitely mediocre in a comfortably numbing kinda way. Half of Undercover sounds like a Jagger solo album and thus calling it 'mediocre' is slightly generous but what the heck - It's mediocre too.

1.Goats Head Soup (mediocre???????? )
2.Emotional Rescue
3.Undercover
4.Black & Blue
5.Iorr
6.Dirty work

I've been listening a lot to IORR lately, and everytime I listen to it it baffles me why this album is ranked so poorly among Stones fans, myself included. After all, there are so many great songs on it.

One possible explanation could be that the songs really don't gel well together as an entity, both sonically and as a collection of songs.

Then we have the uneven production. IYCRM is a very good song, but it sounds like someone put Charlie in a cardboard box to record his drums. That is more or less the case for ATPTB as well, although that track sounds somewhat crisper. IORR sounds like a fun demo.

After those songs the sound also improves, imo. TTNG and TWFNO both sound very good. With Luxury we're back in the cardboard box. The rest of the album sound pretty good, though, perhaps with the exception of DLS, which has very odd sounds.

Some great songs, some clunkers and some songs that don't fit together on an album, imho.

Quote
TeaAtThree
1. Goats Head Soup -- A great mix of styles, only Hide Your Love is a true throwaway. Not a great mix (which brings down some of the other albums), but it has an incredible vibe. Feels like it was recorded in a single all night session, a hungover, debauched, beautiful session.

Agreed! Goats Head Soup is easily my favourite of those "mediocre" albums. In fact, I like it more than Some Girls and Tattoo You, and much more than IORR and Black And Blue.

Goats Head Soup 10/10 classic
It's Only Rock'n Roll 10/10 classic
Black & Blue 10/10 classic
Some Girls 10/10 classic
Emotional Rescue 10/10 classic
Tattoo You 10/10 classic

Undercover 7/10 good
Dirty work 5/10 mediocre

I hate the title of this thread mainly the first date!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2016-02-16 13:45 by 1962.

Quote
DandelionPowderman
I've been listening a lot to IORR lately, and everytime I listen to it it baffles me why this album is ranked so poorly among Stones fans, myself included. After all, there are so many great songs on it.

One possible explanation could be that the songs really don't gel well together as an entity, both sonically and as a collection of songs.

Then we have the uneven production. IYCRM is a very good song, but it sounds like someone put Charlie in a cardboard box to record his drums. That is more or less the case for ATPTB as well, although that track sounds somewhat crisper. IORR sounds like a fun demo.

After those songs the sound also improves, imo. TTNG and TWFNO both sound very good. With Luxury we're back in the cardboard box. The rest of the album sound pretty good, though, perhaps with the exception of DLS, which has very odd sounds.

Some great songs, some clunkers and some songs that don't fit together on an album, imho.

"Dance Little Sister", "Short and Curlies" and "If You Really ..." are three very bad songs. Not as bad as what they later would come up with, but a lot worse than anything appearing on the big four or even Goat Heads Soup.
"If You Can't Rock Me", as you say, is a great song but is not produced very well. The rest is alright, but not very inspired. The only "a bit special" song on the album is "Fingerprint File", but it's not my cup of tea.
It's not a bad album to listen to, but why would you if there are so many much better albums or on the other hand at least more interesting/exciting albums.

I think If You Really Want To Be My Friend is a great soul tune. Then again, I really love soul music

Till The Next Goodbye, however, is totally disposable. It does nothing for me.

And in all its «schmaltziness», TWFNO is a unique, stand-out track for the Stones, which I learned to appreciate even more when the IORR Band recorded it.

Quote
GasLightStreet
DIRTY WORK is the worst release by a rock band in the history of rock - and the absolute worst Stones album ever.

I like your sense of humor

Quote
HMS

Quote
GasLightStreet
DIRTY WORK is the worst release by a rock band in the history of rock - and the absolute worst Stones album ever.

I like your sense of humor

Since Stones is The History of Rock it might be true...

2 1 2 0

For me:

Black And Blue
Tattoo You
Goats Head Soup
Some Girls
It's Only Rock 'N' Roll
Undercover
Emotional Rescue
Dirty Work

Like some folks above, I've always thought that IORR suffers from the nature of the mix & arangements.

"Drummers in a box" asside its almost a case of the mix being too transparent.

The arrangements are also rather more sparse than with Exile or GHS, lacking that murky mystery which adds so much to the vibe of those albums.

1. Goats Head Soup (the last album with the classic Jimmy Miller sound. Hung over & washed out, but still decadent and great. MT/Jagger collaboration for the most part, and quite nice)

2. Some Girls Special Edition Outtakes Disc 2 (Almost the album I have been wanting them to make since Exile. Rootsy, country & bluesy! A little too disjointed to hold up as a proper album, but close to a masterpiece!)

3. Tattoo You (nice recovery from ER. Well selected outtakes spiffed up nicely to make a surprisingly cohesive album, their last masterpiece)

4.Some Girls (Good comeback - perfect response out-punking the punks. A bit simplistic at times [Lies, Whip], brilliant at others [Miss You, Beast, BTMMR])

5.Black And Blue (Funky & well recorded. Could have been great with the addition of the left-off tracks Slave & Worried About You, which fit the mood and would make it a proper 10-song album. But, of course, that would have robbed Tattoo You of a couple of highlights!)

6. Undercover ( I like this one more than most people.)

7. Emotional Rescue (Why didn't they use the great tracks leftover from Some Girls that ended up on the special edition?)

8.It's Only Rock 'N' Roll (the most aptly named album in their library. Tired & forced for the most part, but you can dance to it! better than Foghat, Foreigner, or other bland bands of the day)

9.Dirty Work (enough has been said about this disaster)

Just my humble opinion based on my personal taste, certainly not definitive!

Ross

Dirty Work has some good tracks on it, i.e Harlem Shuffle, One Hit, and Sleep Tonight. It's just that everything else is considerably awful.

But to go right back: Goats is just a great album, full stop, period, with no filler. It's Only Rock'n'Roll is let down by Short & Curlies, same with Cherry Oh Baby on Black & Blue. Emotional Rescue is odd, but has some great tracks, i.e the title track, Let Me Go, All About You, Down In The Hole, Summer Romance. Undercover is underrated, what with She Was Hot, the title track, It Must Be Hell, Pretty Beat Up, Too Much Blood, Wanna Hold You.

Quote
Pecman
Hey...The Joker...Kowalski..and Jimmer have got it right on...
There is not a Stones fan in the world who doesn't love all these albums just like me...sorry for the Mediocre terminology...however..there are 2 albums that obviously stand tall with these others...Some Girls and Tattoo You as
noted WORLDED WIDE and backed up by Stones Fans.

Joker...I love them all and listen to them all almost every day...but some have to be on top and some have to be on the bottom.

But there has to be some order that you listen to...and I doubt you listen to Emotional Rescue over Some Girls and Tattoo You...

So if you think that Some Girls and Tattoo You don't make your Top 2 from that Era...Give us your list...and the reason why.

This is what the thread is about.

PECMAN

Hi Pecman, this is all right to have preferences.... I guess I agree with some of your choices

Thing is that "mediocre" put me a sort of bad mood... Yes, the Stones had their up and down... But I had just this image of TV shows with jury, sort of freak show, and the title of your post conjured stuff like "Britain's got talent" or Pop Idol, or X Factor, and all this stuff really annoying where people are noted like cakes in a food contest