Just started listening to it again after some years, and it is even better than i thought it would be.

I think its a great album, and so underrated by so many!! Hearts for sale, blinded by love, cant be seen (keiths vocal is great), continental drift, almost hear you sigh, slipping away are some of the best they have written the last 20 years. The album is so much better than b2b, ABB and the crappy voodoo lounge!

it's not a great album, but there are 6 or 7 songs that are listenable, a few that are actually pretty decent. i agree it is way better than voodoo lounge (except for love is strong and you got me rocking, the only good songs from that album which happen to be really good songs), way better than bridges... but i think a bigger bang is a better album... there are about 10 songs on this latest album that are actually quite good.

I hardly play Steel Wheels after the outtakes was shared by Gazza, last year. Only songs better on the official album are ALmost Hear You Sigh, Slipping Away and Can't Be Seen. Just like DIrty WOrk - the production and mixing ruined a lot.

It's a far better album than we dared expect after the debacle of Dirty Work and all the solo stuff that went before it,
haven't listened for a while but will give it a turn this weekend



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-07-20 00:11 by adotulipson.

last year I did the same thing--listened to it again after maybe 15 years--and came away with mainly the opposite conclusion. it's better than the crappy Voodoo Lounge but is recorded too anemically to be as interesting as B2B and even ABB. Dirty Work is much better.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-07-20 00:11 by cc.

does anybody know where i can get these outtakes?
i also like steel wheels, but i think b2b is the best new album.

Good album spoiled by poor mastering to disc in my opinion. I bet the masters sound great but the commercial release has no air or dynamics.

That's why the outtake Steel Wheels leaves the official Steel Wheels in shame

the first corporate Stones album. Dirty Work for all its flaws seems to me motivated by genuine emotions and a sense of being in a band together. Steel Wheels is appropriately titled as it suggests their only motivation at that point is to turn the big engine of $$, b/c they realized the group was their best career option.

The production might be bad, but with a few exceptions the material is pretty poor to begin with. Two or three good songs, but that's about it.

Steel Wheels is blah.

One of the worst Stones records.

Agree with spud, but i think its a far more creative album than the other new albums. The songs are so different from eachother. The keith-songs are among his best, nice guitarplay by woody and of course keith, and nice swinging bass by bill. Maybe im a bit carried away here but i just think its so good!
dont care much about sad sad sad though...

cc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dirty Work for all its flaws seems to me motivated by genuine
> emotions and a sense of being in a band together.

Interesting, I like the attitude of Dirty Work too. Apart from the obvious mistakes, like Back To Zero - there's some great stuff there. Edgy guitars...and a furious Jagger

I think it's a pretty mediocre album but for some reason "Break The Spell" finally jumped out at me recently after 18 years of listening to the damn thing.

Great, great underrated tune!

For best sound on the out-takes track down
Steel Wheel Monitor Mix on the Japanese Halcyon label....





ROCKMAN

Erik_Snow Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Interesting, I like the attitude of Dirty Work
> too. Apart from the obvious mistakes, like Back To
> Zero - there's some great stuff there. Edgy
> guitars...and a furious Jagger

yeah... though I've seen the same thing I say about Steel Wheels being the first corporate album said about It's Only Rock 'n' Roll, something like the first unnecessary Stones album, where they were just professionals doing a job.

A lot of Stones records has good tunes but it's the overall vibe that kills the record (don't ask me why is't just a feeling, maybe the time that the record was released maybe the weather or my kids where yelling)

__________________________

the one album by my favourite band that I just cannot stand, by far their worst ever

Rockman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> For best sound on the out-takes track down
> Steel Wheel Monitor Mix on the Japanese Halcyon
> label....
>
> [i9.photobucket.com]
> IMMERBOY%205/HALCYON.jpg

I agree with Rockman on this. I really enjoy listening to the Halcyon version.

Great album? I don't think so but it is very good especially if you consider the out-takes.

It's all good,like i've said to many people,every Stones album grow's on you it takes time!

>Dirty Work for all its flaws seems to me motivated by genuine emotions and a sense of being in a band together.

Your comparison reminded me of this from Christgau:

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


Steel Wheels [Rolling Stones, 1989]

All rancor and bad vibes, Dirty Work was the Stones: all impartiality and bad boys grown up; the reunion is an amazing simulation. Charlie's groove enlivens--and IDs--the mature sentiments while gibes at "conscience" and "reason" hint obliquely at self-awareness. But for Mick, self-awareness means above all accepting one's status as a pop star. Maybe he thinks "So get off the fence/It's creasing your butt" saves "Mixed Emotions" from its own conventionality. Probably he thinks giving Keith two vocals is democracy and roots. Certainly he thinks he needs the money. Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. B-

"Almost Hear You Sigh" is better than anything off DW though (or VL for that matter).

JuanTCB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think it's a pretty mediocre album but for some
> reason "Break The Spell" finally jumped out at me
> recently after 18 years of listening to the damn
> thing.
>
> Great, great underrated tune!

I've mentioned this before, but I'll say it again: "Break The Spell" is a sonic cousin to the studio-"Let It Bleed" version of "Midnight Rambler." Segue into it after "Rambler" and you'll find it's a continuation of that song's mood and feel.

cc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dirty Work for all its flaws seems to me motivated
> by genuine emotions and a sense of being in a band
> together.


That is horsecrap. The band could not have been farther apart when Dirty Work was recorded, and the only ones who cared about finishing the album was Keith and Ronnie. Mick didn't want to be there, which is why he sang like shit, as if he was trying to sabotage the record. Besides the weak songwriting and abysmal production, the rotten attitude that permeates the album is what also killed it. Dirty Work has not held up well over the years and I cannot believe people are still trying to convince themselves otherwise.

Your description of Dirty Work would fit Steel Wheels better, because they all cared and were functioning as a band again.

Glam Descendant Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> >Dirty Work for all its flaws seems to me
> motivated by genuine emotions and a sense of being
> in a band together.
>
> Your comparison reminded me of this from
> Christgau:
>
> Dirty Work
>
> 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
>
>
> Steel Wheels
>
> All rancor and bad vibes, Dirty Work was the
> Stones: all impartiality and bad boys grown up;
> the reunion is an amazing simulation. Charlie's
> groove enlivens--and IDs--the mature sentiments
> while gibes at "conscience" and "reason" hint
> obliquely at self-awareness. But for Mick,
> self-awareness means above all accepting one's
> status as a pop star. Maybe he thinks "So get off
> the fence/It's creasing your butt" saves "Mixed
> Emotions" from its own conventionality. Probably
> he thinks giving Keith two vocals is democracy and
> roots. Certainly he thinks he needs the money.
> Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. B-




Robert Christgau is an idiot, he gives Dirty Work an "A", yet slags Undercover as "their worst album".

it's_all_wrong Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That is horsecrap. The band could not have been
> farther apart when Dirty Work was recorded, and
> the only ones who cared about finishing the album
> was Keith and Ronnie. Mick didn't want to be
> there, which is why he sang like shit, as if he
> was trying to sabotage the record. Besides the
> weak songwriting and abysmal production, the
> rotten attitude that permeates the album is what
> also killed it. Dirty Work has not held up well
> over the years and I cannot believe people are
> still trying to convince themselves otherwise.
>
> Your description of Dirty Work would fit Steel
> Wheels better, because they all cared and were
> functioning as a band again.

now this is horsecrap, straight from Rolling Stones, Ltd.'s executive memoranda. do you believe what they say in According to the Rolling Stones, too? yeah, they were functioning, just like a corporate machine. mick's haircut summed it up. there are bad vibes all over Dirty Work (and a few bad songs) but at least something authentic is at stake. even the good songs on Steel Wheels just aren't performed with guts. I had better memories of the album from when I was 16, but it has dated worse than DW.

thanks to Glam D for the Christgau quotes... I had read those and felt happy that someone else liked DW.

Steel Wheels is a solid album, way better than Bridges and IMO slightly better than ABB.

I must have fallen asleep and woken up in some parallel universe. Someone actually gave Dirty Work an A rating? Astonishing. Don't get me wrong it wasn't a piece of crap imo, but way subpar for The Stones.

I can listen to DW or SW but imo SW is much better. You have a better variety of music on SW. You have some ballads, some rockers, some offbeat songs like Continental Drift. DW is too one dimentional imo and the best song on the album wasn't even written by the band (Harlem Shuffle). DW was the band going through the motions.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-07-20 05:55 by FrankM.

Steel Wheels is BRILLIANT!!!! And the outtakes even better. IHO, Almost Hear You Sigh has been a favourite for many year.

Ps - VL is NOT crappy! The Stones simply don't make crappy music :-)

michrud Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------


>
> Ps - VL is NOT crappy! The Stones simply don't
> make crappy music :-)


Amen to that. If any unknown or emerging band had made any of their albums...folks would have hailed that band as the best thing since sliced bread ;^)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-07-20 10:40 by Spud.

I haven't listened to it since 1990 and I think I know why that is.