Great album, one of my faves. I think it's criminally overlooked, why do they only play Undercover when there are so many great songs on there? I would love to hear She was Hot, Tie You Up or Pretty Beat Up live. Too bad they didn't tour in 84, we could have gotten some of these songs. In the video for Undercover of the Night they are shown performing, does anyone know if that was just mimeing for the cameras or was there an actual performance?

You hopefully have the killer 12 inch w/ the long (6:22) version of 'Undercover' b/w a bone-rattling bass dub of "Fee On Baby" (vocals wiped, except Keith's - also longer at 6:27)
No that was a video from when MTV played music videos, mimed. There are several made for songs from Undercover, some banned. Dig Ron's version of "Pretty Beat Up" on Slide On Live (& the dense original), other winners in addition to the ones I mentioned include Pain Of Love, She Was Hot, & the great Too Much Blood, yes a dark album from the Stones.

I've seen the video were it's just UNDERCOVER live all the way through in that little club (in Paris I think) but it's very rare and the one cut together with the Central America political story is the one you ALWAYS see. I don't believe anything, including the singing, is live. Other Video's from the Album is "SHE'S WAS HOT" (with an extra verse or 2, why they trimmed it for the album I don't know) and also "TOO MUCH BLOOD " was a video - both shot in Mexico I believe.

I listened to it a few days ago. It does seem dated at first listen but once you listen to it a couple times you get over that to some extent. It's not really a knock on the Stones since a lot of that 80's stuff sounds dated- not just the Stones.

I like She was Hot, Undercover, Too Much Blood and All The Way Down.

Not the Stones best work but if you grade it on a curve and compare it to the other eightees crap by other artists it's not bad at all.

Are there any music tv stations left that actually still play videos? MTV used to many years ago.

Gotta agree with FrankM, the 80's music has not aged well, Stones or almost everyone else...best place to see video's these days are YOUTUBE. If you wanna see them on TV/Cable/SAT watch MT2/VH1/VH1 classics/FUSE in the middle of the night (2 to 6 am Pacific time) that's when they play regular videos....TIVO it if you got one

Are there any commercial dvds that have the Stones videos on them? I would love to see some of those old videos even the bare bones ones like Start Me Up and Hang Fire.

afraid not - although theres been a couple of "unofficial" compilations circulated of late

john r Wrote:
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> You hopefully have the killer 12 inch w/ the long
> (6:22) version of 'Undercover' b/w a bone-rattling
> bass dub of "Fee On Baby" (vocals wiped, except
> Keith's - also longer at 6:27)
> .


Yep got that along with the 12" Too Much Blood, not that great, There is a 13 minute mix that is really cringe-worthy with Mick just repeating something like "really @#$%& funny Michael" over and over.
They had a video compilation out back then on VHS, had some silly stuff with Mick and Bill inbetween the videos. They should put out a dvd retrospective of their music videos. ( along with all the other stuff locked up in the vaults). They, and their fans ain't getting any younger!

i really like UC alot, and always have. what makes it a classic in my books though is that closing volley of tracks starting with Pretty Beat Up through the closing Must Be Hell. they are sequenced well and each track is killer, building to an exciting finish, 80s production be damned UC is mean, nasty, funky, violent and sexy. unfortunately, it became the first studio release since let it bleed not to hit #1, and i think its relative failure is something the band has never recovered from, putting them into retreat which continues up to this very day.after the monster success of TTY and the wildly successful tours which followed, the stones were on top of the world, but '83 was a pretty wimpy year for music and the listening public wasn't ready for the gratitious blast of bad vibes the stones shot forth with UC, their loss, because UC showed the 70s were over, the band was in fighting trim ready to do battle, they were ready for the 80s but the 80s weren't ready for them. when the album stalled at #4 in US, 84 tour plans were cancelled, Mick did a solo album and an inseurity crept into their music which continues to this day.

Have always loved Too Tough

coffeepotman, agree the long remix of Too Much Blood is dated (Arthur Baker Mix, afterall) in a way the earlier 12-inch was like longer, hotter versions of the album track & deep dub version..."Think Im Going Mad" made a great '84 b-side to 'She Was Hot' too...The whole reggae/dub/electro/Afrobeat vibe plus the dark content made it a less commercial lp than Thriller, the Police, Lionel Riche, etc...And as their last for Atlantic, maybe the label took too much (saleswise) for granted.

john r Wrote:
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> coffeepotman, agree the long remix of Too Much
> Blood is dated (Arthur Baker Mix, afterall) in a
> way the earlier 12-inch was like longer, hotter
> versions of the album track & deep dub
> version..."Think Im Going Mad" made a great '84
> b-side to 'She Was Hot' too...The whole
> reggae/dub/electro/Afrobeat vibe plus the dark
> content made it a less commercial lp than
> Thriller, the Police, Lionel Riche, etc...And as
> their last for Atlantic, maybe the label took too
> much (saleswise) for granted.


i think you bring up a good point here, despite what many people say about the stones going for an 80s commercial sound, I think you're right, UC is not a very commercial record, and they should be commended for not making another SG-ER-TTY redux and taking the chances they did on UC, which in retrospect makes UC, if not better in the sense of listenability, a more compelling record than it's highly vaunted predecessor TTY. it along with the discovery of EXile made me a Stones fan as a teen, not TTY, which I thought was mediocre when it came out. the Stones should've released UC in '84, it might've been better received that year amidst all the Orwell 1984 hype, topical (Springsteen) and funky (Prince) kinda vibe of that year. who know's though hindsight is 20/20

I was just listening to the record today on my way to work. There are many gems to be found on UC. I think the hardest part to get over, 20 years later, is the over produced percussion. Pretty Beat Up is a great groove though.

john r Wrote:
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> coffeepotman, agree the long remix of Too Much
> Blood is dated (Arthur Baker Mix, afterall) in a
> way the earlier 12-inch was like longer, hotter
> versions of the album track & deep dub
> version..."Think Im Going Mad" made a great '84
> b-side





I like the extended 12" of Miss You, just the band jamming on the song, no studio tricks (well maybe) just 8 min. of solid song.
Any reason Think I'm going Mad didn't make the (not so)Rarieties comp.??

I wait for some real Undercover outtakes like the DW songs on Crushed Pearls or the SW outtakes, or like Voodoo Stew/Brew. I've got some UC outtakes but they aren't very listenable. Poor quality but a 15 min. Think I'm going Mad sung by Keith.
Did Ronnie ever do Pretty Beat Up live???
Anybody know of any more UC outtakes????

Too Tough is great Saturn57 your correct IMO MEZ

coffeepotman Wrote:
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> Did Ronnie ever do Pretty Beat Up live???

Yes, in 92/93.
A decent version, recorded in Tokyo, is available on Slide On Live.

I love Undercover. Criminally underrated album by everyone from the fans to the shitpricks (critics).

Lemme see - it's a Satanic Majesties for the eighties (almost relentlessly experimental- dance beats fusing with rock grooves and a large helping of reggae), it's got the same blood on the walls outlook of Exile, and it's consistent. I think it should have ended with a nice long version of I Think I'm Going Mad, because it's a superb, haunting song, and would have tied in very neatly with the album's imagery. It was also a brave album to make after a hugely successful world tour. If they'd been U2, they would have churned out some same-old same-old bullshit holdover like Desire, but they went the other way.

I would like to point all fans of She Was Hot to a bootleg called Accidents will Happen, which features the very rare EXTENDED (almost 6 minutes) version of the song, which was taped from a radio broadcast and is meant to have been released on 8 Track.

I should also like to piint out that nonre other than Mathis rates this album VERY highly. So go rediscover it.

i would really enjoy hearing both the 15 min.version of I Think I'm Going Mad by Keith & the extended She Was Hot.

I've always really liked the Chainsaw Rocker outtake. I have a handful of UC outtakes on my computer from the CD UC Outtakes Vol. 2 but everyone may already have those.

Think I'm going mad 15min

[www.megaupload.com]


enjoy

I rather like the 6 minute version (of TIGM) on my (rather cool) 'Claudine' vinyl...(cut to 4 for the single) - 15 min seems a bit much...I have a really cruddy Undercover outtakes set as well, very poor sound, only listened to it once. It may have been the poor transfer by an inebriated son of B Keys.

great goddamn album. don't much care they didn't tour in '84, though - I WASN'T BORN YET!

I agree with the dark mood comments. I actually think the album doesn't go far enough in that direction, if they were going to go for it. The happy relief tune, "Wanna Hold You," is a good idea but comes too early on side 1. Then after "Pretty Beat Up" come more bright rockers, "All the Way Down," et al., songs that a lot of people here prefer but for me they dilute the album and end it in an unsatisfying way.

i don't consider Too Tough, All The Way Down or Must Be Hell in the bright rocker category, each are pretty downcast, nasty songs full of violent imagery, decadence and resignation to a certain kind of unpleasant fate. as i said earlier those last four tracks starting with PBU really put UC over the top to classic status IMHO

thank you coffeepotman for the long version of Think I'm Going Mad, always thought that was a Jagger song, but now I'm not so sure

"Too Tough" maybe, but I don't think those songs have the power of the opening tracks on each side. "All the Way Down" is bright and mellow, almost like a Dire Straits song, albeit with some nasty lyrics, and "It Must Be Hell" is in the right direction but just flops after a thrillingly minimal beginning. A few more minutes in the writing room would have helped, IMO.

The special radio version of ''She was Ht'' was posted here...man you have to hear that version...maybe someone ...will post it again..ts pretty hard to get..pretty rare and pretty fuc-ing good.

The poorest album equal with Dirty Work. Unimaginative and uncreative. The Stones trying to catch up with what was in the air. Dustbin !!!

UC is one of those albums that makes me think of places...some girls is new york city...for some reason tattoo you is boston...exile is san diego....undercover make me think of paris, i've never been to paris but knowing that the album was recorded there and the dialoge from too much blood it would seem that mick had absorbed alittle of the city onto the tracks and i imagine that if i were to ever visit the city of lights, then UC would been the album i would listen to...now,reasons to love undercover...the guitar solo from hell on too tough, the slashing guitar work on the title tune, the chuck berryish romp of she was hot,just the lyrics alone are worth a howl, like keith has no money, mick beening romantic with officer and a gentleman yet we know he likes the texas chainsaw massacre,who did mick seen in his dreams with the kitchen knife? perhaps it was keith?
this is the last stones guitar album. this is the last album that didn't seemed forced like BTB or even ABB...this album was born of conflict as keith and mick were in their bitch stage, ronnie acting as middle man and charlie was in the ozone of addiction...without the catalyst of creative tension the group hasn't really sounded good...just on cruise control...think of the albums that were born with a tension surrounding them...BB with keith manning all of the guitars and what to do with brian?... Exile moving to france mick being with bianca keith in a haze...some girls, keith trying to get out of the haze and mick just fed up with keith' behavior...
undercover is like let it bleed, you should play the album loud...
the jamming with stu outtakes are also interesting...may have to pull them out today and give another listen...it's raining here in new england so what else is there to do on a wet sunday except drink some coffee and listen to the boys...

phd Wrote:
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> The poorest album equal with Dirty Work.
> Unimaginative and uncreative. The Stones trying to
> catch up with what was in the air. Dustbin !!!




Your PHD must be in SUCKOLIGY

cuz your taste in tunes SUCKS!

If you find UC unimaginative and uncreative you must not know a thing about Rock and ROLL!

this is a VERY creative record, born out of a hostile Stones camp. It does sounds, at times, as if it were recorded in the 80s, however that is the ONLY problem I can find with this album.

It is attitude and sex and dancing and fighting! it is EVERYTHING a Stones album should be.

your opinion of this album, sir, is DUSTBIN.

Gotta agree with you RadioMarv!!

jeff14 Wrote:
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> UC is one of those albums that makes me think of
> places...some girls is new york city...for some
> reason tattoo you is boston...exile is san
> diego....

????