Jumping on the wagon of the much anticipated Top 3 post Exile thread please post a Top 3 of 1989-2017 albums. Studio only.
Easy.... only 5 albums to choose from.
My list:
1.VOODOO LOUNGE (not forgetting the great B-sides from these sessions) 2.A BIGGER BANG (Yes indeed) 3.BLUE & LONESOME () 4.BRIDGES TO BABYLON 5.STEEL WHEELS
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-04-11 22:53 by RipThisBone.
1. Bridges to Babylon (10/10, an almost perfect album) 2. Voodoo Lounge (9/10, a few song too long) 3. A Bigger Bang (8/10, some excellent songs, some weak songs) 4. Steel Wheels (8/10, Nice comeback album) 5. Blue And Lonesome (6/10, not much to brag about after 11 years of silence)
1. A Bigger Bang 2. Steel Wheels 3. Really dealer's choice. I'll say Blue And Lonesome cause I feel its neither amazing nor awful, but really all 3 of those albums don't do much for me.
Overall, Steel Wheels gets a worse rap than it deserves. Its by the numbers and slick, but I think it comes off relatively solid. Its pretty concise and is probably helped by the fact that they were trying not to be "too" out there. Means that most of the songs aren't great, but passable. Whereas I think on the others they had too much freedom and it often meant many bad songs.
*1. Highwire 2. Sex Drive 3. Like A Rolling Stone 4. Don't Stop 5. Stealing My Heart 6. Keys to Your Live 7. Doom & Gloom 8. One More Shot 9. Plundered My Soul
I'll chime in with one that no one has mentioned: the bonus disc of the 2010 deluxe Exile reissue.
A Bigger Bang isn't really a "post" Dirty Work album -- it's the sequel. Should've called it Dirtier Work. Stale, flat, noisy, shouty songs that go nowhere, with that trendy, dated overproduction, all the life compressed right out of the music -- I never much liked the idea of Charlie as a "lead drummer".
It's hard to tell if the Stones ever really made a great album after Tattoo You. They might have, but the flavor of the month production values kill it every time.
I have the monitor mixes of the Steel Wheels material and the sessions as well (Training Wheels) -- and they sound fantastic, just the band in a room together creating a spark of magic. There's something that happens when they play together in a room, call it a vibe. But it works, and you realize that the Steel Wheels material is actually pretty good.
And then they put out the finished album, and it sounds unbearably 1989. The vibe has been cut off, a wall of faulty production choices is put up between the band and the listener. The material sounds cold, plastic, contrived.
So, who knows, perhaps Bigger Bang is actually good. I'd have to hear some pre-production mixes or sessions before I could be sure.
Also, I have the Voodoo outtakes -- Voodoo Residue. Every time I hear those I mourn for the album that could have been.
I know you said just studio albums, but they've essentially been a touring act the past 35 years, so I'd just pick the best live album (not sure what that would be.).
Wow! Looking at the post Dirty Work albums noted here I realize I haven't listened to a complete Stones album in some time except for Beggar's Banquet. I prefer to mix songs from various Stones albums into a blend of music, but I digress. I remember I liked a good bit of Steel Wheels, Voodoo Lounge and Stripped, though, I haven't played them in ages. So, these would be my three.
1. Bang 2. Voodoo 3. Blue & Lonesome (I probably like it better than the 2 other ones; but there's no original material on it - that's why it comes in 3d.)
...Including the bonus discs of the Aniversary Editions (interesting concept, btw, because I do tend to think of these as 'new' material as well...), putting the arbitrary (dis-)qualification of B&L aside, and making it a 'pure pleasure ' top-4, I'd say:
1. Some Girls bonus material 2. Blue & Lonesome 3. Bang 4. Voodoo