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shattered

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GasLightStreet

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shattered
...and Bill made it sound easy.

Was it Wayne Perkins or Wayne Shorter that played with them on this?

On what.

Sorry, Undercover.

David Sanborn on sax. The Sugarhill Horn Section CHOPS, Sly Dunbar, Jim Barber and Robbie Shakespeare.

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GasLightStreet

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shattered

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GasLightStreet

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shattered
...and Bill made it sound easy.

Was it Wayne Perkins or Wayne Shorter that played with them on this?

On what.

Sorry, Undercover.

David Sanborn on sax. The Sugarhill Horn Section CHOPS, Sly Dunbar, Jim Barber and Robbie Shakespeare.

Thanks, was havin a senior moment.

Ian had a clear head, unlike others in the Stones.

(On Undercover) the songs are much stronger. I think Mick's come up with some good sort of lyrics and his VOICE sounds great on it. And there's also - there's a good feel to it. I think Mick and Keith have done really well on this album. The only fault I've got against it is again they've spent MUCH too long mixing the bloody thing. And, as a result, the actual sound of the instruments is a little bit harder and cold, whereas when they're still in the early stages, when they're just basic tracks, to me a lot of those things sound better.

- Ian Stewart, 1984


Not a very special record.

- Mick Jagger, 1995


I thought it was a little busy. It didn't hang together, although some of the individual tracks I enjoyed very much. Some albums, you can have some of the best tracks in the world, and they just don't hang together, track by track by track. It's the hardest bit to do sometimes because you have to choose the tracks when you just don't know anymore, because you're at the end of the whole process of making a record. If it sounds cohesive that's always a bit of luck.

- Keith Richards, late 1980s/90s



Yet earlier Mick and Keith liked it:

I think Mick has done an incredible job. I think he's taken quite a leap forward, lyric-wise, on this album.

- Keith Richards, 1983


Obviously, I think it's pretty good and it's the best we could make right now. I'm pretty happy with it.

- Keith Richards, 1983


Perhaps the future was cast right here, though, which is why some see UNDERCOVER as the beginning of the spiral:

(M)y favorites are... Undercover, Tie Me Up and Too Much Blood.

- Mick Jagger, 1983


Yeah, I liked (Undercover). It didn't sell perhaps as much as I would have liked, though it sold over 2 million copies - I shouldn't really complain. There was plenty of stuff on it that was mine: Undercover, She Was Hot. Keith contributed to all that stuff. Some was completely his. But it wasn't like I was frustrated with it because it wasn't my material.

- Mick Jagger, 1984

[timeisonourside.com]


U has possibly Mick's best vocal work of all their albums. The production is top notch. It's an excellently produced album and the mix is fantastic. There's a lot going on. The guitar sound is fresh and different. Perhaps where Ian Stewart is coming from is that when Mick sounds a bit sneery he's really doing it, like his social commentary in All The Way Down, where he gets his exasperation across ("Still you're a slut!" and "Was every hour a foolish chase?"), one of the other outstanding tracks on the album.

Although I love the album, it would be interesting to hear everything they left off sans the two ballads. Too Tough is over the top modern. It Must Be Hell... the vocals sound good but the song - did they have to completely rip themselves off?

I think there were some wasted opportunities in 82 for sure, but not in 82 though.

And still the catchiest Undercover Stones-style song was not even from the Stones themselves:

Check this!

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retired_dog
And still the catchiest Undercover Stones-style song was not even from the Stones themselves:

Check this!

Incredible. Could swear it's Mick...

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deardoctor

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retired_dog
And still the catchiest Undercover Stones-style song was not even from the Stones themselves:

Check this!

Incredible. Could swear it's Mick...

When the tribute band sounds better than the actual band..

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GasLightStreet


I think Mick has done an incredible job. I think he's taken quite a leap forward, lyric-wise, on this album.

- Keith Richards, 1983

Funny to read this because 15 years later Keef had 180°'ed on his opinion. Around 1998 he lambasted Mick for wanting to make social comments in his songs. Like : "why write a song about Bosnia when in 10 years nobody will give a sh!t about that!".

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dcba

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GasLightStreet


I think Mick has done an incredible job. I think he's taken quite a leap forward, lyric-wise, on this album.

- Keith Richards, 1983

Funny to read this because 15 years later Keef had 180°'ed on his opinion. Around 1998 he lambasted Mick for wanting to make social comments in his songs. Like : "why write a song about Bosnia when in 10 years nobody will give a sh!t about that!".

Huh. Well he's the pot calling if one wanted to take him to task about covering old songs and, I dunno, aside from CROSSEYED HEART, kind of, not coming up with as much new music as someone else yet alone his idea of social commentary.

Has he said similar about Highwire? Or any other song of that kind of nature? Weirdly enough, perhaps, is that Mick's timing of lyrical content of, say, Bosnia, doesn't really matter when since it seems that any place he's written about is always in the middle of some issue. Why bother commenting on something like that? He should know that songs can be a social or cultural snapshot of a time. He could easily be criticized about Gimme Shelter - there's this thing called therapy and who gives a shit about Vietnam now? Etc.

The difference being is that Gimme Shelter has no such specifics of a certain time, a particular place, or an actual event.
The lyrics can allude to a variety of different things making it more open to interpretation which ultimately results in it being timeless.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

As 24FPS said, I also had the feeling that North America "served" as a warming up for Europe. That doesn't mean however that there weren't great concerts in North America. On the contrarary, I would even dare to say. But, yes in Europe things were somehow smoother (or is it "more smooth"?). In 1982 the band delivered really well.
For me however my number one mass (not counting smal(ler) sized ones) Stones concert beating them all was La Plata 2016 (Cuba was from a different magnitude).


I'm a GHOST living in a ghost town

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Hairball
The difference being is that Gimme Shelter has no such specifics of a certain time, a particular place, or an actual event.
The lyrics can allude to a variety of different things making it more open to interpretation which ultimately results in it being timeless.

I mentioned Gimme Shelter because of things Mick has said as to what inspired its content. I know the song is not specific. However, in relevance as to Keith's bit, Mick has been specific, and here is one example:

And I know it was during that time of the Vietnam War and so on, so it was very much the awareness that war is always present, or almost... very present in life.
- Mick Jagger, 2003

[timeisonourside.com]

ROCKMAN

Undercover is in my top 5 Stones records, Too Much Blood, that intro is just great! The anger in Must Be Hell is brilliant, as well as the details in All The Way Down.

1982 was a great Stones year all in all, for me even more important as I was born

Max is a swingin' cat .....
Sorta dude ya'd wanna be in the trenches with ..... Rat-A-tat tat



ROCKMAN

Undercover vid shoot -- Mexico City -- 24 January 1984 ...... photo Bill Wyman



ROCKMAN

Listen to Bill's rubbery bass in Tried To Talk Her Into It! And what sounds like a mandolin is shimmering and beautiful.

Undercover - Too Much Blood vid shoot -- Mexico City -- 24 January 1984 ...... photo Jo Wood



ROCKMAN