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Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: Silver Dagger ()
Date: August 9, 2024 14:03

Quote
novica
Their Satanic Majesties Request

great guitars, great songs...ok, apart from Sing This All Together(See What Happens) smoking smiley
sound wise it is excellent!

Citadel, In Another Land, 2000 Man....hot smiley

Absolutely with you on that. See it for what it is, rather than a typical Stones' album. It's one of the most vibrant albums to capture the spirit of the psychedelic age - far more out there and authentic sounding than Sgt Pepper.

Apart from a couple of clunkers in Sing This All Together (See What Happens) and the second half of Gomper, it has everything - great songs, atmosphere, and great humour too.

If they would have switched those two songs for We Love You and She's Doing Her Thing I think it would get greater love.

Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: Big Al ()
Date: August 9, 2024 16:01

For me, the truth about Satanic Majesty’s sits somewhere in the middle: it is not the ‘reappraised masterpiece’ some would make out; nor is it the truly awful and an utter misstep, as some others think. I think there is some fairly excellent tracks, with some very-much less so. The result renders the album as being ‘average’ If anything, it is undeniably a very interesting time capsule. I appreciate it more than I enjoy it.

Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: GasLightStreet ()
Date: August 9, 2024 17:56

My biggest issue with TSMR is it sounds like they were trying in some spots and naturally flowing elsewhere. It's convoluted.

It goes from the incredible 2000 Man to out right ridiculous with let's sound like mushroomed hippies and make a bunch of odd noise to sound different Sing This All 2 with as many odd instruments as possible that sounds like a mud puddle.

From the idiotic Lantern to the astounding 2000 Light Years.

From the incendiary Citadel to let's be different just for the sake of it Gomper.

One of the things it accomplished was a new sound for Charlie, which started with We Love You and Dandelion and continued with Citadel, 2000 Man, Light Years and Rainbow. Lantern has some in it but it's not enough to carry the song, which is below average at best, especially in comparison. But set the tone for 1968-1973 in terms of his style and simple heaviness.

I recently got the 2002 remaster of TSMR and listened to it - just as lopsided as I remembered.

I think the comparison to SGT PEPPER is a little too convenient - the album cover being the biggest one, because musically they sound completely different and PEPPER has much more good songs on it.

And PEPPER isn't exactly some 'let's be weird' experiment all over the place as people make it out to be.

It's too bad they didn't get their senses about them and make TSMR either simply a 4 track EP and have In Another Land as a stand alone single with The Lantern as the B-side and an single EP release with On With The Show as the third track.

Overrated.

Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: bakersfield ()
Date: August 9, 2024 18:12

TSMR's weaknesses are easily remedied:

Remove:
Gomper
Sing this all together see what happens'
On with the show

Insert:
We love you
Dandelion
She's doing her Thing

An instant classic....!

Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: GasLightStreet ()
Date: August 9, 2024 18:15

Quote
bakersfield
TSMR's weaknesses are easily remedied:

Remove:
Gomper
Sing this all together see what happens'
On with the show

Insert:
We love you
Dandelion
She's doing her Thing

An instant classic....!

Well, sure, but two of those were already released! It would've made a fantastic EP.

Re: underrated albums
Posted by: dkwalika ()
Date: August 11, 2024 17:32

Quote
LeonidP
Quote
dkwalika
I just gave Steel Wheels a listen, and it remains one of my all-time faves, top-five even... Break the Spell is the only weak song, I think, and it's not even that bad.
You're probably right about it being underrated, but really? Top 5?? It suffers from not having a classic single too - I do like Mixed Emotions, but in comparison it is definitely one of their weakest lead singles, along with One Hit.

And give Break the Spell another listen! It's such a great bluesy groove with lovely harmonica that breaks in at just the right time. That track is probably underrated! It could be my favorite on the album.

Since you wondered:

Exile
England's Newest
Let it Bleed
Sticky Fingers
Steel Wheels
Ya-Yas (maybe that's cheating with the live one, but who gives a f***)
Some Girls
Tattoo You
Beggar's
Black and Blue

Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: bam ()
Date: August 11, 2024 17:56

Agree on Between the Buttons.

Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: Bashlets ()
Date: August 11, 2024 18:48

Break the Spell in my opinion is one of the best songs off Wheels. Swampy blues. I think ABB gets a lot of crap. BB, LIB, SF, Ex you cant compete with. All their studio albums are actually all good. The problem with the stones is nothing really compares to the big 4 though Some Girls and Tattoo You come really close. Although Undercover overall is my least favorite studio album there are still some gems on there. I guess what I’m trying to say it’s all good when I’m in the mood

Re: underrated albums
Posted by: GasLightStreet ()
Date: August 11, 2024 19:53

Quote
LeonidP
Quote
dkwalika
I just gave Steel Wheels a listen, and it remains one of my all-time faves, top-five even... Break the Spell is the only weak song, I think, and it's not even that bad.
You're probably right about it being underrated, but really? Top 5?? It suffers from not having a classic single too - I do like Mixed Emotions, but in comparison it is definitely one of their weakest lead singles, along with One Hit.

You're missing the point, which reveals that you're going by the standard way of looking at what makes an album great or whatever. I think the idea of why someone thinks or feels something is underrated has nothing to do with how it or anything from it charted.

I think UNDERCOVER is a fantastic album, their most inventive album, and it's easily a top 10 for me, some times of the year it's a top 5 or the most listened to. Having a great single, regardless of how it charted, or just great songs, any amount, is, first off, subjective, right? but secondly, how it all flows.

The Stones are a bit snootish about U because it didn't sell well enough or it didn't have a #1 single (UOTN got as high as #9 in the US, #11 in the UK). They have a lagging mentality about it so they dismiss it yet, to me, it's a downright excellent album - yet they've played three songs from it since 1989, two of them not a lot but a few tours.

Kinda like how they've done with GOATS HEAD SOUP over the years - they've played 5 off of that one over the years. They haven't really done that with any other album that wasn't, you know, a golden standard, the Big 6.

Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: roryfaninva ()
Date: August 11, 2024 22:29

Hard to fathom but noted rock music critic Robert Christgau gave "Dirty Work" an "A" score. Maybe its under rated...

The Rolling Stones: Dirty Work [Rolling Stones, 1986]
Dreaming of solo glory, Mick doesn't have much time for his band these days--just plugged into his Stones mode and spewed whatever he had to spew, adding lyrics and a few key musical ideas to tracks Ron and Keith completed before the star sullied his consciousness with them. And I say let him express himself elsewhere. For once his lyrics are impulsive and confused, two-faced by habit rather than design, the straightest reports he can offer from the top he's so lonely at, about oppressing and being oppressed rather than geopolitical contradiction. In the three that lead side two, always playing dirty is getting to him, as is his misuse of the jerks and greaseballs and @#$%& and dumb-asses who clean up after him, yet for all his privilege he's another nuclear subject who's got no say over whether he rots or pops even though he'd much prefer the former. Especially together with the hard advice of "Hold Back," these are songs of conscience well-known sons of bitches can get away with. Coproducer Steve Lillywhite combines high-detail arena-rock with back-to-basics commitment and limits the melismatic affectations that have turned so much of Mick's late work in on itself. Let him have his own life and career, I don't care. What I want is the Stones as an idea that belongs to history, that's mine as much as theirs. This is it. A

Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: GasLightStreet ()
Date: August 12, 2024 02:12

It looks more like he didn't finish his sentence. As in, "A... waste of time."

He must've been drunk when he turned that in. He goes to great lengths to inventively support the dismal lyrical output by Mick, hanging on to an antiquated mindset.

He was beyond extremely confused - except for his on the mark about Mick's SHE'S THE BOSS being so bad. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: IrelandCalling4 ()
Date: August 12, 2024 10:41

Absolutely agree on 'Break the Spell' from SW - love it, always been one of my top picks from the album.

Like many posters on this thread, SW is indeed far better than it's general reputation. It has a swing to it, a charm, and even through some of the 80s affectations, the quality of so many of those songs shines through.

Some of my most listened to Stones albums have at one time or another been discussed here as under-rated - Emotional Rescue, Undercover, Voodoo, Bridges.

Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: Jalfstra ()
Date: August 12, 2024 13:19

Quote
GasLightStreet
My biggest issue with TSMR is it sounds like they were trying in some spots and naturally flowing elsewhere. It's convoluted.

It goes from the incredible 2000 Man to out right ridiculous with let's sound like mushroomed hippies and make a bunch of odd noise to sound different Sing This All 2 with as many odd instruments as possible that sounds like a mud puddle.

From the idiotic Lantern to the astounding 2000 Light Years.

From the incendiary Citadel to let's be different just for the sake of it Gomper.

One of the things it accomplished was a new sound for Charlie, which started with We Love You and Dandelion and continued with Citadel, 2000 Man, Light Years and Rainbow. Lantern has some in it but it's not enough to carry the song, which is below average at best, especially in comparison. But set the tone for 1968-1973 in terms of his style and simple heaviness.

I recently got the 2002 remaster of TSMR and listened to it - just as lopsided as I remembered.

I think the comparison to SGT PEPPER is a little too convenient - the album cover being the biggest one, because musically they sound completely different and PEPPER has much more good songs on it.

And PEPPER isn't exactly some 'let's be weird' experiment all over the place as people make it out to be.

It's too bad they didn't get their senses about them and make TSMR either simply a 4 track EP and have In Another Land as a stand alone single with The Lantern as the B-side and an single EP release with On With The Show as the third track.

Overrated.

+ Child of the Moon (recorded for the first time 5 months before the release of TSMR)

Steel Wheels is my most underrated Stones album. From begin to end, a truly, great Stones album. It has it all: hits, rockers, balads, gems, blues, out of their comfort-zone tracks...

Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: GasLightStreet ()
Date: August 12, 2024 22:12

Child Of The Moon was in the writing stages less than two months of the release of TSMR, not five months, and regardless, no where near finished since it was just an instrumental version.

Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: GasLightStreet ()
Date: August 12, 2024 22:19

As far as STEEL WHEELS goes, I do listen to it occasionally but it requires some effort to really want to listen to it, and it really requires effort to not skip any tracks:

Ratings are in regard to the album, not their catalogue:

Sad Sad Sad *****
Mixed Emotions *****
Terrifying ***
Hold On To Your Hat *
Hearts For Sale *****
Blinded By Love ****
Rock And A Hard Place **
Can't Be Seen **
Almost Hear You Sigh *****
Continental Drift *
Break The Spell *****
Slipping Away ****

Fancy Man Blues *****
I Wish I'd Never Met You ****

Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: Bjorn ()
Date: August 12, 2024 23:44

Dirty Work - forever in my heart. And Buttons. And Goats. And Steel. Memories and girls mean a lot. Records are not seperated from time and life. Not in my world.

Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: GasLightStreet ()
Date: August 13, 2024 08:00

In regard to their underrated albums, in totality, I lean towards the latter part of their discography:

GOATS HEAD SOUP has recently been welcomed into the upper pantheon of classic albums - rightfully so - by critics and by fans. Even The Rolling Stones have given it a push, not only by its "deluxe" reissue but by performing Dancing With Mr D and Silver Train recently.

Maybe because IORR, B&B, ER and, in regard to the era, U, don't fit the narrative of The Big 6, I listen to them more. Every one of those albums has killer tunes. Oh but they don't jibe with some cultural aspect? So they can't just be?

Tumbling Dice was a Top Ten, from one of their highest esteemed yet quite underselling albums, just like Undercover Of The Night, Mixed Emotions, Fool To Cry, Emotional Rescue, which EMOTIONAL RESCUE, STEEL WHEELS and even DIRTY WORK sold better than EOMS.

That's great. But that doesn't mean a whole lot in regard to 'how good is the album?'.

No one in their right mind is ever going to say 'DIRTY WORK or EMOTIONAL RESCUE or UNDERCOVER is better than'...

Opinions can be wrong. As much as music is subjective, there are qualities that can not be denied.

The greatness of The Big 6 can not be denied and truly should be in everyone's Top Ten Stones albums. But some people probably listen to other albums ie not The Big 6, a lot more.

They might even like them more so.

People say RUBBER SOUL is the best Beatles album yet... most likely acknowledge that ABBEY ROAD or SFT PEPPERS are great - and their best - albums.

RUBBER SOUL is amazing - but SFT P and AR are better. Even THE BEATLES is better... to a point (too much on it, some WTF songs, but still damn good - kinda like EOMS only earlier).

It's all so subjective.

I can list one (easy) example of why DIRTY WORK (is their worst and) sucks so bad it's easily their worst album: incredibly awful songwriting.

Oh shit - I just pissed off the Keith fans.

Can't Be Seen by y'all. And I don't Wanna Hold You.

Then there's the production. I can go on. "Oh but what they left off"... sure - they left great tracks off of EVERY album.

Some can't admit that DIRTY WORK sucks yet go on to say UNDERCOVER sucks, it's their worst album.

That's astoundingly out of touch. Or, probably way more realistic, they have no understanding of music.

There's no accounting for taste, either.

But it's all subjective. I was hyped big time about DIRTY WORK when it came out. Got the Harlem Shuffle EP, was totally stoked. Then got the album and... uh... at the time I really liked One Hit, Fight, Harlem Shuffle, Back To Zero, Had It With You and the title track.

A year later?

10 years later?

20 years later?

30 years later?

Nah. Had It With You, Harlem Shuffle, sometimes the title track, Too Rude, sometimes Sleep Tonight, when I can stop laughing at the Coming Down Again rip off because they ran out of original ideas.

The rest of it SUCKS. I really tried with Fight but it still resembles a garage band full of 14 year old young boys.

It's a stupid album and easily the worst Rolling Stones album ever.

DIRTY WORK is overrated with a one star ranking.

Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: TeaAtThree ()
Date: August 13, 2024 08:24

Underrated from the early decades:

BETWEEN THE BUTTONS -- So unlike anything else in the catalog. Very British of the time, with some stomping rockers like Miss Amanda Jones, All Sold Out, and My Obsession. AND the British version Has Back Street Girl and Please Go Home. Wow!

GOATS HEAD SOUP -- though as many have pointed out, it seems to be rising over time. It has a very consistent feel and sound which holds it together.

UNDERCOVER -- To me the last record that had a meaningful, distinct personality. Once Steel Wheels emerged, there was a similarity or throwback quality to future releases.

BRIDGES to BABYLON -- In spite of my comment above, Bridges did have some creative spark. But it's just too long and has a number of true "duds" in my opinion.

*I give a special, second place in the 60s, nod to ROLLING STONES, NOW! which to me is the most consistent of the early records, recognizing that so many of them are chopped up from a slew of singles, EPs and albums. It's got great Chuck Berry riffage and the blooze.

T@3



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024-08-13 08:24 by TeaAtThree.

Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: GasLightStreet ()
Date: August 13, 2024 09:18

Quote
TeaAtThree
BRIDGES to BABYLON -- In spite of my comment above, Bridges did have some creative spark. But it's just too long and has a number of true "duds" in my opinion

Absolutely.

Flip The Switch
Anybody Seen My Baby?
Low Down
Already Over Me
You Don't Have To Mean It
Out Of Control
Saint Of Me
Too Tight
Thief in the Night
How Can I Stop

Re: underrated albums
Posted by: treaclefingers ()
Date: August 13, 2024 15:36

Quote
crholmstrom
I always thought Undercover was underrated. Lot of good stuff on that record.

Agree with you here.

I think the problem starts with the lead single, which I love, but which wasn't perhaps overly commercial.

And, it was in a time where there was a tonne of new artists, and huge albums coming out all at once,

Synchronicity, Let's Dance, Pyromania, Eurythmics-Touch, Shout At The Devil, Big Country, Speaking In Tongues, Eliminator, Culture Club-Colour By Numbers, Huey Lewis-Sports, She's So Unusual, U2 War. Madonna, Lionel Richie, REM Murmur and even Michael Jackson still on the charts with Thriller.

A brutally competitive but rich time in musical variety. Stones put out a great album that was just lost in the shuffle.

Re: underrated albums
Posted by: Mathijs ()
Date: August 13, 2024 16:02

Quote
treaclefingers
I always thought Undercover was underrated. Lot of good stuff on that record.

What I remember is that it was a huge hit on the (then new to us) MTV, but that the video was banned to be played before 8 PM or so after complaints. But together with the Rewind video and the Let's Spend the Night Together film (or actually, Rocks Off) being screened just about every weekend I remember 1983 as an excellent Stones year, the year I became a fan!

Mathijs

Re: underrated albums
Posted by: treaclefingers ()
Date: August 13, 2024 16:23

Quote
Mathijs
Quote
treaclefingers
I always thought Undercover was underrated. Lot of good stuff on that record.

What I remember is that it was a huge hit on the (then new to us) MTV, but that the video was banned to be played before 8 PM or so after complaints. But together with the Rewind video and the Let's Spend the Night Together film (or actually, Rocks Off) being screened just about every weekend I remember 1983 as an excellent Stones year, the year I became a fan!

Mathijs

Well it did get a quite a bit of play on MTV but it didn't quite soar as a single, which I guess is what I was referring to.

It's an excellent song, (possibly a top ten for me, certainly a post Big 4 top 10) ...I'm just not sure it is as "accessible" as a Start Me Up/Brown Sugar/Miss You to the general public, particularly in 1983 when you had all that pop dominating the charts. I was in university at the time and would play the crap out of the album...no one cared or wanted to hear it.

Great that you hitched your wagon to the Stones and not Culture Club in 1983 Mathijs, you dodged a bullet!

Re: underrated albums
Posted by: stanlove ()
Date: August 14, 2024 01:09

I hate the term underrated when discussing music and it’s a constant.
All it means is you like the album more than a lot of other people. Whst is the point of calling it that?

Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: jahisnotdead ()
Date: August 14, 2024 02:07

Voodoo Lounge is still one of my favorites, and I have no skips on Undercover.

Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: slew ()
Date: August 14, 2024 03:51

Between the Buttons
Goat's Head Soup
Black and Blue
It's Only Rock N Roll
Emotional Rescue

Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: dkwalika ()
Date: August 14, 2024 15:02

And, for underrated singles:

DON'T STOP

I've loved every second of this song since it came out.

On some faraway corporate "live DJ" show, they did a daily real cool thing. You could email three songs with a theme by a band, if possible. So I did:

"Start Me Up"
"Sympathy" from Ya-Yas (they were about to start the 2002 tour)
"Don't Stop"

To my surprise, they played them.

Never heard "Sympathy" in any form before or since.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024-08-15 01:04 by dkwalika.

Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: HardRiffin ()
Date: August 14, 2024 15:05

Black and Blue.
I love it.

Re: underrated albums
Posted by: GasLightStreet ()
Date: August 15, 2024 20:38

Quote
stanlove
I hate the term underrated when discussing music and it’s a constant.
All it means is you like the album more than a lot of other people. Whst is the point of calling it that?

No, it's albums that aren't critically lauded yet, pre-streaming, still sold well, like BLACK AND BLUE. Basically any album that got a 3 star rating, in general, or less, that has great songs on it or is pretty damn good regardless of not having a number one single.

Or nothing or hardly anything from it is played by the band/artist over years of tours.

Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: Spud ()
Date: August 16, 2024 10:38

If, when somebody states that a less well lauded album is "underrated", it makes somebody else dig it out and listen with a fresh pair of ears, that's a good thing ...whether it then changes their opinion or not.

Re: Underrated albums
Posted by: Mathijs ()
Date: August 16, 2024 11:28

There was a quiz on the TV yesterday, and they played the intro to Sympathy. No one in the team of 30-year-olds recognized the song.

Now that's underrated.

Mathijs

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