Ranking ALL (studio) albums 1973-1986:

1. Tattoo You
2. Goats Head Soup
3. Undercover
4. Some Girls
5. Black And Blue
6. Emotional Rescue
7. It´s Only Rock´N´Roll

Quote
tomcasagranda
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.

100% agree with you. I think GHS is a great album too.

I would only add that Feel On Baby on Undercover adds to its mystery as to why it's underrated. it's a great Stones experiment that worked. compelling and strange.

Quote
Swayed1967
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.

Your description of Jagger on Black and Blue is hilariously funny!

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

1. Tattoo You
2. Goats Head Soup
3. Undercover
4. Some Girls
5. Black And Blue
6. Emotional Rescue
7. It´s Only Rock´N´Roll

Dear GLS, you have forgotten the one from 1986, imo one of the most important efforts from the period in question.

My ranking:

1. Black And Blue - 10/10
2. Undercover - 9/10
3. Dirty Work - 9/10
4. Emotional Rescue 8/10
5. It´s Only Rock N Roll - 4/10
6. Some Girls 3/10
7. Goats Head Soup 2/10

Tattoo You is an excellent compilation of revived leftovers but not a genuine album. I am not able to see it as a genuine Stones-album, no matter how hard I try, it is and will always remain a compilation album.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-02-18 19:07 by HMS.

Quote
matxil
1. Undercover -> it would have been a great album if it weren't for "Hold You", "Too Tough", "All The Way Down" and "Must Be Hell"
2. Emotional Rescue -> Too much filler, but filler well played, and at least two great songs ("She's So Cold" and "ER" ) and I actually like "Indian Girl"...
3. Goats Head Soup -> Probably deserves better, but I hardly listen to it. I like "Doo doo", "Angie", "100 years ago", "Winter" and "Star Star". I think "Winter" is great actually. But the overall sound of the album I don't like very much. A pity.
4. It's Only Rock&Roll-> "mwah"
5. Black and Blue -> I like "Melody" and maybe "Hand of Fate" and "Crazy Mama", I don't care about the rest.
6. Dirty Work -> ...

1. Undercover -> it would have been a great album if it weren't for "Hold You", "Too Tough", "All The Way Down" and "Must Be Hell"

Say what...those are my fav songs on the Album...

1- GHS
2- IORR
3- BAB
4- ER
5- U
6- DW

Quote
HMS

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

1. Tattoo You
2. Goats Head Soup
3. Undercover
4. Some Girls
5. Black And Blue
6. Emotional Rescue
7. It´s Only Rock´N´Roll

Dear GLS, you have forgotten the one from 1986, imo one of the most important efforts from the period in question.

My ranking:

1. Black And Blue - 10/10
2. Undercover - 9/10
3. Dirty Work - 9/10
4. Emotional Rescue 8/10
5. It´s Only Rock N Roll - 4/10
6. Some Girls 3/10
7. Goats Head Soup 2/10

Tattoo You is an excellent compilation of revived leftovers but not a genuine album. I am not able to see it as a genuine Stones-album, no matter how hard I try, it is and will always remain a compilation album.

I didn't forget anything - DIRTY WORK doesn't qualify to be ranked. There's nothing important about it. Only the imagination of a kook could invent such garbage. It's so bad that it makes THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST look genius.

TATTOO YOU is a genuine album. You're choice to be ignorant about the definition of album is what keeps you from understanding how TATTOO YOU is an album. All albums are compilations. All albums have overdubs from pre-recorded tracks (which is the only way an overdub can be done). As it's been pointed out before, you must therefor call these albums as well not genuine albums due to your ignorant stance on what an album is:


LET IT BLEED
STICKY FINGERS
EXILE ON MAIN STREET
GOATS HEAD SOUP
EMOTIONAL RESCUE
UNDERCOVER

For all I know all of their albums starting with sessions for the first one up to DECEMBER'S CHILDREN also fall under what your ignorant version of an album is.

Mine list wouhld have been like this:

1 It's only Rock'n'Roll (fav.song: Time Waits for No one)
2 Goats Head Soup (fav. song: Angie)
3 Black and Blue (fav. song: Hand of Fate)
4 Emotional Rescue (fav. song: She's so cold)
5 Undercover (fav. song: To much Blood)
6 Dirty Work (fav. song: Dirty Work)

Hey Pecman, your six albums - they make a damn good setlist, most of us here would
love to here in a future gig. Just guess:

1. It´s only Rock´n Roll
2. If you can’t rock me
3. Hand of fate
4. Silver Train
5. Undercover of the night
6. Dance, Pt.1
7. Angie
8. Heartbreaker
9. Let me go
10. She was hot
11. Sleep Tonight (KR)
12. All about you (KR)
13. She´s so cold
14. Fingerprint File
15. Memory Hotel
16. Time waits for no one
17. Too much blood
Encore:
18. One Hit to the Body
19. Star Star

Right now, here's how these albums have evolved for me:

#1. Undercover (It's a great album, the most serious and mature of all albums, the very last of the great albums, imho)

#2. Emotional Rescue (I love the raw feel of this, the mix with the vocals relatively low, blending in nicely with the instruments, the guitar sound, the slightly punk feel... This and Undercover are the two most underrated albums, imo)

#3. Black and Blue (The 'tween record... I just love this album, especially Hand of Fate and Cherry Oh Darling, but everything else too.)

#4. IORR (Luxury, Fingerprint File, Short and Curlies are among my very favorite tunes, and the studio version of the title track has a legendary groove. Kenny Jones kinda nailed it, dare I say.. Not to mention If You Can't Rock Me and Ain't Too Proud to Beg... and everything else. So great.)

#5. Goats Head Soup (I love Dancing with Mr. D, and the warm feel of this record. Another underrated LP)

#6. Some Girls... (I know this ranks among the best ever for some folks, and I love it too, but I think I have just heard it too much. It is bloody great, but I don't need to hear the album version or single version of Miss You ever again, really. Or any live version after '78, for that matter. I love the '78 live versions, and the 12" extended mix. With the long solos, and the "...I feel abandoned!!" line.)

#7. Dirty Work (Distant, distant, distant 7th place... IMO, the album has three keepers-- Harlem Shuffle, Sleep Tonight and Too Rude-- and horrible production all the way through. Dreadful vocals from Mick...'Hold Back'-- worst song ever..., just awful. The Rolling Stones crashed and burned in 1986. I tried and tried to like this album, to no avail. I won't get rid of it, because it is the Stones, and there are those three songs. But it is the worst album I have kept in my collection, by any artist.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-02-22 15:58 by Tate.

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.

save short and curlies, i love this album. a top ten

Quote
caschimann
Hey Pecman, your six albums - they make a damn good setlist, most of us here would
love to here in a future gig. Just guess:

1. It´s only Rock´n Roll
2. If you can’t rock me
3. Hand of fate
4. Silver Train
5. Undercover of the night
6. Dance, Pt.1
7. Angie
8. Heartbreaker
9. Let me go
10. She was hot
11. Sleep Tonight (KR)
12. All about you (KR)
13. She´s so cold
14. Fingerprint File
15. Memory Hotel
16. Time waits for no one
17. Too much blood
Encore:
18. One Hit to the Body
19. Star Star

Wow! Lovely set list! Just shows how exciting a Stones concert could be. The Stones are still fun, but we heard it all.

You forgot about Some Girls. And I know people hate DW, but I still think that any of those songs on it would work perfecrtly live. (Keef has said that they were written with a tour in mind.) It was the first Stones vinyl I bought, so I am bias. The only thing I don't like about DW is the production. It sounds loud and overdone. But hey! Don Was has done the same thing with recent albums (not just Stones albums).

Back to the set list. I would prefer Hot Stuff or Hey Negrita instead of Fingerprint File. No Angie, please. Let's get a rocker in there instead. And let's close the show with Had It With You to cool the crowd a bit after Starf+%/=r.

Anyway, it's a fun set list proving that the Stones could easily make the set list a lot more unpredictable.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-02-23 04:59 by frenki09.

Ranking The Mediocore Albums 1972 - 1986:

1. Love You Live (El Macambo side, an artfully edited RW YCAGWYW solo, a nice vibe throughout. Almost too fun to be mediocre)
2. Emotional Rescue (DITH rules)
3. Undercover
4. Metamorphosis (side 2 is a crucial and necessary listen, side one collection is sleepy and underwhelming)
5. Dirty Work
6. Still Life (a disappointing 10 song abbreviation of the 25 song set without Beast, Neighbors or WOAF?)
7. Sucking in the Seventies (Dance pt2, WTWCD live, ET2Gold)
8. Jamming with Edward (a fun peek behind the scenes during some sessions and some well-deserved silliness)
9. More Hot Rocks (Child of the Moon and a few early UK stuff; I expected a few more gems)
10. Made in the Shade (totally unnecessary just 3 years after Hot Rocks)



GHS, IORR, B&B, SG and TY do not belong in the mediocre class.

I'm Ranking The Mediocre Albums 1964 - 1969 right now...

-

2 1 2 0

Shall I rate the mediocre albums from 1968 -72 ?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-02-23 16:15 by Spud.

Quote
winter
Made in the Shade (totally unnecessary just 3 years after Hot Rocks)

HOT ROCKS wasn't an official Rolling Stones release ie the band, MADE IN THE SHADE was Rolling Stones Records first hits compilation.

Many of the songs on MITS weren't hits, though.

I like it nonetheless..

Quote
DandelionPowderman
Many of the songs on MITS weren't hits, though.

I like it nonetheless..

All of the tracks apart from "Rip This Joint" had been issued on singles though.
They needed new product for the 1975 tour as "Black And Blue" wasn't finished yet.


"As we say in England, it can get a bit trainspottery"

Quote
HMS



Tattoo You is an excellent compilation of revived leftovers but not a genuine album. I am not able to see it as a genuine Stones-album, no matter how hard I try, it is and will always remain a compilation album.

I have to disagree, here. Tattoo You was marketed as a new Rolling Stones album. I don't see what the age and origins of the recordings has to do with it. The likes of Worried About You and Waiting On A Friend were not publicly-known prior the the album's 1981 release. If the record was considered a compilation, it would have been promoted as such.

Quote
caschimann
Hey Pecman, your six albums - they make a damn good setlist, most of us here would
love to here in a future gig. Just guess:

1. It´s only Rock´n Roll
2. If you can’t rock me
3. Hand of fate
4. Silver Train
5. Undercover of the night
6. Dance, Pt.1
7. Angie
8. Heartbreaker
9. Let me go
10. She was hot
11. Sleep Tonight (KR)
12. All about you (KR)
13. She´s so cold
14. Fingerprint File
15. Memory Hotel
16. Time waits for no one
17. Too much blood
Encore:
18. One Hit to the Body
19. Star Star

No Winter ???

Quote
caschimann
Hey Pecman, your six albums - they make a damn good setlist, most of us here would
love to here in a future gig. Just guess:

1. It´s only Rock´n Roll
2. If you can’t rock me
3. Hand of fate
4. Silver Train
5. Undercover of the night
6. Dance, Pt.1
7. Angie
8. Heartbreaker
9. Let me go
10. She was hot
11. Sleep Tonight (KR)
12. All about you (KR)
13. She´s so cold
14. Fingerprint File
15. Memory Hotel
16. Time waits for no one
17. Too much blood
Encore:
18. One Hit to the Body
19. Star Star

Replace Angie and One Hit with better songs (nothing from DIRTY WORK) and that's a pretty killer set list, although Crazy Mama and Hey Negrita should be in it!

Nice setlist indeed, I would exclude
.Time Waits For No One
.Too Much Blood
.Heartbreaker
.Angie

and replace them with
.Dirty Work
.Winning Ugly
.Harlem Shuffle
.Hot Stuff

Quote
HMS
Nice setlist indeed, I would exclude
.Time Waits For No One
.Too Much Blood
.Heartbreaker
.Angie

and replace them with
.Dirty Work
.Winning Ugly
.Harlem Shuffle
.Hot Stuff

I really believe that the Dirty Work album would have worked live very well. If Emotional Rescue or Anybody Seen My Baby is part of the set list, Winning Ugly could be as well.

Quote
frenki09

Quote
HMS
Nice setlist indeed, I would exclude
.Time Waits For No One
.Too Much Blood
.Heartbreaker
.Angie

and replace them with
.Dirty Work
.Winning Ugly
.Harlem Shuffle
.Hot Stuff

I really believe that the Dirty Work album would have worked live very well. If Emotional Rescue or Anybody Seen My Baby is part of the set list, Winning Ugly could be as well.

You're wrong. Nothing from DIRTY WORK would have worked live well (not at all) with exception to Keith's Too Rude with the X-Pensive Winos. And Winning Ugly is tremendously awful - it's criminal you even mention it with ER or ASMB!

Replace those 3 DW tracks that HMS vomited with any other tracks. Anything's better than DW tracks.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-02-24 05:56 by GasLightStreet.

To All:

My title of Mediocore Albums wasn't me calling these albums Mediocre...I love all these albums and probably listen to some of these more than the Top 5.
It was a gest to the articles and music critics that I've read over the years
that the "Stones lost their way in the 70's" were "chasing trends instead of setting them" and were "experimenting with technology (Undercover) instead of writing songs"...but at the same time...none of these albums stand up to the big ones being Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky FIngers, Exile On Main Street, Some Girls & Tattoo You...I didn't say these are the best...The public did by the sales and the Hits...My Mediocore Stones Albums still blow away
the competition.

Anyway Caschimann...I love the set list you made...add in Crazy Mama and sell me my ticket.

Winter: Your list is probably the real mediocore list.

PECMAN

Re: Tattoo You

It's Not For us to determine whether this is a compilation or an album.

The fact is...they put it out as an album...not an album of outtakes..they held tracks back and put them out when they deemed they would be successful and wouldn't you know...they got it right...Tattoo You was beyond successful and the biggest tour the music business had ever seen up until that point.

"Start Me Up" on B&B...1976?...not so sure...Let this bake a while. 1981...Sounds about right.

Thought I have to say...SLAVE totally belongs on Black and Blue.

PECMAN



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-02-24 06:43 by Pecman.

Quote
GasLightStreet

Quote
frenki09

Quote
HMS
Nice setlist indeed, I would exclude
.Time Waits For No One
.Too Much Blood
.Heartbreaker
.Angie

and replace them with
.Dirty Work
.Winning Ugly
.Harlem Shuffle
.Hot Stuff

I really believe that the Dirty Work album would have worked live very well. If Emotional Rescue or Anybody Seen My Baby is part of the set list, Winning Ugly could be as well.

You're wrong. Nothing from DIRTY WORK would have worked live well (not at all) with exception to Keith's Too Rude with the X-Pensive Winos. And Winning Ugly is tremendously awful - it's criminal you even mention it with ER or ASMB!

Replace those 3 DW tracks that HMS vomited with any other tracks. Anything's better than DW tracks.

I am convinced that the entire Dirty Work album would work live very well, not every song equally good of course but at least enjoyable and satisfying when properly rehearsed.

Winning Ugly would be a highlight, just like the title track. Although ER is a well known song, Winning Ugly is the better one. Anybody Seen My Baby is completely meaningless, to play it live is a waste of time.

If they had been able to tour behind Dirty Work, these songs would have developed even further and some of them undoubtfully would be considered classics today.

Emotional Rescue **
Undercover *
It's only Rock n Roll *****
Black and Blue **
Dirty Work *
Goat's Head Soup *****
Some Girls ****
Tatto You ****

***
I'm just a Bad Boy Boogie

Quote
frenki09
I really believe that the Dirty Work album would have worked live very well...

It could have worked very well as a studio album too, if it were completely replaced with different songs, and then perhaps would have done well live, to boot!

Quote
Pecman
Some may love these albums and some may hate them...but taking away Some Girls and Tattoo You...we are left with these six albums to battle for best to the worst from 1973 - 1986.

Here's my picks...let's hear yours: Rank them Favorite to least Favorite.

1. Black and Blue(Best engineered album and with experimental music directions)
2. It's Only Rock&Roll(Fingerprint File-only notable song staying w/the times)
3. Undercover (trying to stay with the times...experimental in nature)
4. Goats Head Soup (Exile hangover...murky..out of tune..a #1 ballad...no rock)
5. Emotional Rescue (Some Girls out takes...horrible engineering...no bottom)
6. Dirty Work (we all know about this)

Pecman

I fail to see any mediocre albums here.
All these recordings are part of the Rolling Stones constant artistic evolution.
Maybe Dirty Work was less < popular > but still a good Rolling Stones album;
all the titles mentioned here are different aromas from a very different era.
Goats Head Soup is a very special album (100 Years Ago/Silver Train/Winter/Star Star).
Actually Hand of Fate, Fingerprint File or She Was Hot would be nice during the current Olé tour!
Simply my opinion.