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Monsoon Ragoon
Maybe I am repeating myself right now. But for me the main question is: why should they - at the moment a great, but still a Greatest Hits "company" - release another sub-standard album which doesn't really sell (at least compared to Some Girls or Tattoo You)?
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Monsoon Ragoon
Maybe I am repeating myself right now. But for me the main question is: why should they - at the moment a great, but still a Greatest Hits "company" - release another sub-standard album which doesn't really sell (at least compared to Some Girls or Tattoo You)?
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SomeGuy
I think Superheavy was just about the most creative thing Mick's done outside the Stones so far. The entire album breathes relaxation, a just-do-what-WE-like-attitude, instead of the relatively cramped this-has-to-be-a-hit-or-else forcedness that some of his other solo endeavours had. That's not to say the album couldn't have been a hit, of course.
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Hairball
The psychoanalysis of a Stones fan....lol...
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Rocky Dijon
SuperHeavy did one music video ("Miracle Worker"). Dave Stewart directed an hour-long documentary that was raided for promotional clips. The documentary never actually surfaced as the album didn't do what was hoped (though it out-performed SOME GIRLS DELUXE EDITION).
They did interviews, but A. R. Rahman and Damian Marley were both irritated that press interest focused on Mick and the Stones' pending 50th Anniversary. Mick and Dave Stewart hoped to play live (the 2012 Summer Olympics was a possibility had the album taken off), but it just never happened despite staged concert footage that was filmed at Paramount.
Falling during the whole "tiny todger" debacle over the promotion of LIFE, Mick's comments were quite defensive while promoting the project. He noted that Keith doesn't see the other Stones much since he lives in suburban Connecticut and that he doesn't know what music Keith listens to. He also noted that "some members" of the Stones don't see the big picture the way Ronnie and Charlie do and understand that side projects like SuperHeavy and solo work help keep the Stones in the public eye, bring them to potentially new markets (Virgin and Universal's marketing showed a growth in young female consumers - say hello to pop ballads), and serve the greater cause of ensuring maximum exposure for the band and their group projects. From that perspective, I would say Rahman and Marley were correct and Mick's focus was not on the project, but viewing the project as a means to an end with that end being The Stones.
Did I like SuperHeavy? No. I'm critical of a great deal of their work, together and apart. My lengthy post wasn't done to criticize fans I disagree with since I fall into some of the same categories I'm discussing.
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jbwelda
...let the creative be creative and if you like it, buy it, otherwise, leave it.
jb
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Nikkei
Under the Radar is an easter egg. They left it off intentionally in order to make the special edition interesting. It wasn't scrapped or anything. They are smarter than you are willing to admit.
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lem motlow
If we count Blue And Lonesome as our Spaghetti Incident there is still two years until we reach Chinese Democracy territory, so we have that going for us.
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SomeGuy
I think Superheavy was just about the most creative thing Mick's done outside the Stones so far. The entire album breathes relaxation, a just-do-what-WE-like-attitude, instead of the relatively cramped this-has-to-be-a-hit-or-else forcedness that some of his other solo endeavours had. That's not to say the album couldn't have been a hit, of course.
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Rocky DijonQuote
Monsoon Ragoon
Maybe I am repeating myself right now. But for me the main question is: why should they - at the moment a great, but still a Greatest Hits "company" - release another sub-standard album which doesn't really sell (at least compared to Some Girls or Tattoo You)?
Ask yourself why after the out of the box failure of MAIN OFFENDER and over 20 years of Stones tourists using his lead vocal spot as a bathroom break or beer run, why did Keith bother to cut CROSSEYED HEART? Why did he bother to write and produce it with the guy he worked on MAIN OFFENDER with and why use all of The X-Pensive Winos and their touring sidemen (except the bass players) if he was going to try one more time? Wasn't that asking for further humiliation?
Ask yourself why Mick bothers to write and record solo singles or put together SuperHeavy when he knows all anyone cares about is when the Stones are touring their Greatest Hits again? Why go solo at all when he knows he doesn't even have his core fans' support for doing so? Is he a masochist?
The answer is because the creative impulse is still there for both of them and they don't care whether a bunch of obsessive fans bemoan the fact that it isn't EXILE or SOME GIRLS again. They don't care that most of the tourists buying tickets every year won't support new work from them. They don't care that a handful of people on message boards have turned Don Was' phrase "hitting the wall" into a religious mantra they can recite while slamming their own head into walls several times each day. They don't care that diehard nutjobs hold their breath and threaten to turn blue if The Stones don't give them a new album today. They do what they want when they want and are in the fortunate position to still have major labels distribute their work once they hand it over.
Long before the internet, Keith had a stock answer when Bill German or guys from Rolling Stone would walk up to him and ask when the new album was coming out. Keith would snap, "When it's finished" and walk away.
It's the same answer even when we're a bunch of entitled loons or if we pout and scream, "They'll never finish it, why don't they stop torturing me so I can finally live my life again."
At the end of the day, we're the ones with problems, not them. They're actually being creative and making people happy when they perform. We turn our love of the band into a prison where we're miserable that we can't get what we want every time we decide we deserve it.
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SomeGuy
I think Superheavy was just about the most creative thing Mick's done outside the Stones so far. The entire album breathes relaxation, a just-do-what-WE-like-attitude, instead of the relatively cramped this-has-to-be-a-hit-or-else forcedness that some of his other solo endeavours had. That's not to say the album couldn't have been a hit, of course.
My memory probably fails me, but I cannot remember much PR and media activity when the album was released. Did anyone do the interview circuit, produce videos, TV chat shows, gigs etc.
Or did they assume it would sell on the basis of the names involved?
I wonder what effort the record label put in?
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HopeYouGuessMyName
S U P E R H E A V Y has at least 7 terrific songs on it.... I have loved this album from the day it was released... Fans of Mick Jagger unfamiliar with this work are really missing some great music!
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HopeYouGuessMyName
S U P E R H E A V Y has at least 7 terrific songs on it.... I have loved this album from the day it was released... Fans of Mick Jagger unfamiliar with this work are really missing some great music!
While I can't quite muster your enthusiasm for it, I liked bits of it. The problem was just as I liked a bit someone switched the radio dial and some doped-up Jamaican was yammering to himself in a corner. There was a Mariah Carey clone who kept trying to translate what Mick was saying for folks who don't speak Jagger. Once in a blue moon, a Hindu guy would turn up and start chanting some mantra in another language. The whole thing felt like I accidentally hit the scan button on the car radio and couldn't take my hands off the wheel to stop it.
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SomeGuy
I think Superheavy was just about the most creative thing Mick's done outside the Stones so far. The entire album breathes relaxation, a just-do-what-WE-like-attitude, instead of the relatively cramped this-has-to-be-a-hit-or-else forcedness that some of his other solo endeavours had. That's not to say the album couldn't have been a hit, of course.
That's just it - as creative as it may be considered for some, it wasn't good. I don't even think it was bad - it was awful.
Chris Cornell dealt with a similar thing with his solo albums - it ain't Soundgarden, dude.
Perhaps Mick thought he could secretly have a Phil Collins-esque solo career, or perhaps even Bruce Springsteen - both have had multiple successful solo releases outside of their bands. Collins, certainly. Huge.
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DiegoGlimmerStones
Happy Holidays!! Holiday time!Mick in Mustique today, Keef and Ronnie with family. I think The Stones are ready to release the new album and tour in 2020!!
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HopeYouGuessMyName
S U P E R H E A V Y has at least 7 terrific songs on it.... I have loved this album from the day it was released... Fans of Mick Jagger unfamiliar with this work are really missing some great music!