I listened Harlem Shuffle at high volume yesterday and WOW!!

It reconciled me with Dirty Work.

Everybody plays songs written by others BUT the only covers that really deserve that name are the ones that improve the original song. And the Stones always hit the target.



(and Bill Wyman as always adds the supreme flavour)

It's a great cover, that's for sure!

Other than One Hit to the Body ,the rest of the album is crap.

For their worst album those two cuts are undeniably good.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-09-17 15:36 by treaclefingers.

The extended version is pretty cool too. I've finally accepted that most people can't appreciate Wyman because your average listener can't pick out the bass, or understand what it does. Miss You and Harlem Shuffle are Bill's tour de force. I laugh when they ooh and ahh his replacement doing a lame Miss You solo.

I liked Too Rude too, but there wasn't much else

Xes, Harlem Shuffle and One Hit To The Body are fantastic tunes! The Live versions were great too. Harlem Shuffle was one of my favorites in 1990. The version of the London gig from 7th of July is realy nailing it. The rest of the album is meaningless.

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micha063
Xes, Harlem Shuffle and One Hit To The Body are fantastic tunes! The Live versions were great too. Harlem Shuffle was one of my favorites in 1990. The version of the London gig from 7th of July is realy nailing it. The rest of the album is meaningless.

Winning Ugly has some great lyrics, it just feels like they couldn't be bothered to come together and finish it. Same with Hold Back. Love Too Rude. And Sleep Tonight is nice. It's a very weird album though. You can almost hear the seams of them slapping things together and never quite getting there. It's still miles ahead of Undercover, which has UCOTN, and that's it.

Having a, decent, cover song as the lead single was a disappointment to me when the album came out. Otherwise the album was very loud and venomous, a strange combination of hard rock and synthesizers.
It didn't do it for me, then or now, but maybe for someone else?

You won´t hear one bad word from me.

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Stoneage
Having a, decent, cover song as the lead single was a disappointment to me when the album came out. Otherwise the album was very loud and venomous, a strange combination of hard rock and synthesizers.
It didn't do it for me, then or now, but maybe for someone else?

That's the perfect description of Dirty Work.

One Hit is great. Harlem Shuffle and Sleep Tonight are good. Winning Ugly could have been great without the 80's sound. Fight could have been worked on a bit more. The rest... I'm not sure how much could have been done to make it less horrible.

I listened to Dirty Work in its entirety about a year ago. Despite owning the CD for many, many years, I do believe it was, in fact, the first time I had done so. I dint know, perhaps it was the releases’ poor reputation, but I had never felt the compulsion to bare with it. After One Hit (To The Body), I’d find myself slipping to Sleep Tonight. I was under the assumption that this 1986 release is simply not worth my time. After last year’s listen, however, I do feel it is a little unjustly maligned. Whilst, certainly, it isn’t particularly good, the record is not unlistenable. I was pleasantly surprised by the enjoyment I felt listening to some of the melodies. The production had aged Dirty Work negatively, which doesn’t help, certainly, but look behind this flaw, and there’s some OK moments: One Hit, Harlem Shuffle, Fight, Sleep Tonight... the latter is a decent ballad. Winning Ugly isn’t bad. Too Rude is a stinker, mind.

ALWAYS loved this track. And One Hit. The rest… not so much. Title track is ok. Fight is ok. That’s about it…

Rod

Like a lot on this album, but Too Rude…worst piece of shit they have ever put out in my opinion. Horrible.

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24FPS

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micha063
Xes, Harlem Shuffle and One Hit To The Body are fantastic tunes! The Live versions were great too. Harlem Shuffle was one of my favorites in 1990. The version of the London gig from 7th of July is realy nailing it. The rest of the album is meaningless.

Winning Ugly has some great lyrics, it just feels like they couldn't be bothered to come together and finish it. Same with Hold Back. Love Too Rude. And Sleep Tonight is nice. It's a very weird album though. You can almost hear the seams of them slapping things together and never quite getting there. It's still miles ahead of Undercover, which has UCOTN, and that's it.

She Was Hot is a great song.

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24FPS
It's still miles ahead of Undercover, which has UCOTN, and that's it.

Objection! I was on a long train journey recently and played Undercover to death, it kept me entertained for the entire journey. Not a single bad song and a massively underrated album.

Dirty Work has its moments, it's not a classic album but I can usually enjoy almost everything on there.

I don't think the Stones have ever released anything truly terrible. Their quality control and taste is very tight and focussed - even on the weaker songs their musicianship is still incredible.

Oh no not another stupid "Dirty Work is terrible awful bullshit" thread again!

...Why not - it might lure HMRS50 (or whatever his nick was) into the forum again. His polemics with GLS were a lesson in the finer arts. Never boring for a second. Thread gold.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-09-17 16:47 by Stoneage.

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Taylor1

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24FPS

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micha063
Xes, Harlem Shuffle and One Hit To The Body are fantastic tunes! The Live versions were great too. Harlem Shuffle was one of my favorites in 1990. The version of the London gig from 7th of July is realy nailing it. The rest of the album is meaningless.

Winning Ugly has some great lyrics, it just feels like they couldn't be bothered to come together and finish it. Same with Hold Back. Love Too Rude. And Sleep Tonight is nice. It's a very weird album though. You can almost hear the seams of them slapping things together and never quite getting there. It's still miles ahead of Undercover, which has UCOTN, and that's it.

She Was Hot is a great song.

Great? It's another Chuck Berryish throwaway B-side.

How was that guy called who used to be on this forum always claiming that Dirty Work was the best Stones album? And nobody ever knew if that was irony or serious. This thread just reminded me of him. Wonder what happened to him...

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24FPS

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Taylor1

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24FPS

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micha063
Xes, Harlem Shuffle and One Hit To The Body are fantastic tunes! The Live versions were great too. Harlem Shuffle was one of my favorites in 1990. The version of the London gig from 7th of July is realy nailing it. The rest of the album is meaningless.

Winning Ugly has some great lyrics, it just feels like they couldn't be bothered to come together and finish it. Same with Hold Back. Love Too Rude. And Sleep Tonight is nice. It's a very weird album though. You can almost hear the seams of them slapping things together and never quite getting there. It's still miles ahead of Undercover, which has UCOTN, and that's it.

She Was Hot is a great song.

Great? It's another Chuck Berryish throwaway B-side.

Stop the insanity. This isn't funny anymore.

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24FPS
Winning Ugly has some great lyrics...

IMO, they contain the worst lyrics in the entire Stones history.

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24FPS
... Same with Hold Back...

No.

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24FPS
...It's still miles ahead of Undercover...

No.

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bitusa2012
Fight is ok…

No. Almost ... but not quite as bad as Back To Zero.

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bobo
...but Too Rude…worst piece of shit they have ever put out in my opinion. Horrible.

Great tune and by far the highlight of the album!

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Taylor1
She Was Hot is a great song.

100%!

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WorriedAboutYou
Dirty Work has its moments, it's not a classic album but I can usually enjoy almost everything on there...

It's really bad. Hurts me to admit it, but the Stones only total clunker in their entire catalog.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2022-09-18 00:40 by LeonidP.

I've said this before but "Fully Finished Outtakes" convinced me that "Dirty Work" could have been a good album. Add "Putty In Your Hands," "Strictly Memphis," and "Nobody's Perfect" and dump "Winning Ugly" "Hold Back" and "Too Rude"and it would have been a quite listenable record.

ROCKMAN

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emotionalbarbecue
I listened Harlem Shuffle at high volume yesterday and WOW!!

It reconciled me with Dirty Work.

Everybody plays songs written by others BUT the only covers that really deserve that name are the ones that improve the original song. And the Stones always hit the target.



(and Bill Wyman as always adds the supreme flavour)

Curious.

How does that reconcile you with DIRTY WORK?

It's one song. The trailer single at that, with two pretty damn good remixes - and the only song from 1986 to make any actual hits comps since.

The album extremely arguably, beyond arguable, actually, has only a limited amount of songs that work for it and it seems to depend on mood or where the moon is - Too Rude, One Hit, the title track, Had It With You and maybe Sleep Tonight, of which Keith ripped off Coming Down Again.

Bizarrely for some, Back To Zero. Some find Fight invigorating. Gibberish about guitar playing with Winning Ugly.

Overall... their worst album, which is saying something since THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST is horrendous as a whole.

STEEL WHEELS' Hold On To Your Hat would've fit perfectly on DW it's that bad.

But Harlem Shuffle? It should've been an EP that included Had It With You, One It, Too Rude and Dirty Work as the other tracks.

Just like some of the TSMR tracks - an EP would've been perfect.

No albums from either. Especially in 1986.

Would like to have seen what Steve Lillywhites production would have been like if he had been given a crack at another album like Voodoo Lounge

I think that with Tattoo You in 1981 their mission was pretty much accomplished. Not as a live act but as a recording act. They seem to think the same if you study their setlists.
Still, 1964 to 1981 is a long productive period compared with most acts.

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Stoneage
I think that with Tattoo You in 1981 their mission was pretty much accomplished. Not as a live act but as a recording act. They seem to think the same if you study their setlists.
Still, 1964 to 1981 is a long productive period compared with most acts.

I agree with you about 90%.

Harlem Shuffle was played every show of the 1989-90 tours. Same with Undercover Of The Night.

One Hit was played something like 14 shows and oddly enough it took them that long to figure out it doesn't work live. Then for some reason they apparently attempted it again in 1995 but from what I can figure fortunately only for one show.

In regard to their set list essentially stopping with 1981 since the BANG tour, perhaps, that leaves space that shows they actually play post-1981 songs.

Harlem Shuffle was played live once in 2019. UOTN has been played on the VOODOO tours, 1999 SECURITY tour, LICKS and the BANG tours.

Rock And A Hard Place for some VOODOO, BRIDGES and LICKS shows.

Mixed Emotions in 2016 for one show.

Sad Sad Sad has had a bit more air time - VOODOO, LICKS, and 3 of the NO FILTER tours.

The Stones obviously have some love for UNDERCOVER, similar to how they do with GOATS HEAD SOUP. Wanna Hold You was played on the BRIDGES tours and the 2007 BANG tour. She Was Hot during the BANG tour.

The only other post-1981 tunes they've played, more so than any of the ones mentioned above, have been Slipping Away and You Got Me Rocking.

It took a while but, as expected, the Dirty Work Police finally arrived

Yes GLS, you can add Undercover if you like. At least it was an honest effort. I would rank U in the same league as their 1973 to 1980 output. Not as good as Some Girls though.