I am really into steel wheels at the moment, and I really like the album.
Its another example of an stones album that grew on me. From the nice dirty sounding guitars on sad sad sad, to slippin away.And what a super song is almost hear you sigh. Jagger is on top of his game.
Anymore Steel wheels lovers here?

Yap!
One of my favourites. "Terrifying", "Hearts For Sale", "Hold On To Your Hat" are other great numbers. No fillers.

It's a mixed bag for me:

I think Slipping Away is Keith's best ballad and a top five keith song overall. I also really like Jagger's backup singing on the studio version.

I really like Almost Hear You Sigh, Continental Drift and Can't Be Seen. Terrifying is all right.

Can't stand: Mixed Emotions and Rock And A Hard Place and the rest just don't do anything for me.

I know this album really well because I was so hungry for new Stones when it came out that I played it all the time.

I'm tired, I'm tired of doing what I'm told.
Things are moving way too slow.

michel Wrote:
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> I am really into steel wheels at the moment, and I
> really like the album.
> Its another example of an stones album that grew
> on me. From the nice dirty sounding guitars on
> sad sad sad, to slippin away.And what a super song
> is almost hear you sigh. Jagger is on top of his
> game.
> Anymore Steel wheels lovers here?

same feeling for me about this album; it grew little by little. now it's one of my favourite.

bardo

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
..five strings, three notes, two fingers, one @#$%&..

take a look at my RS tribute band:
[www.stickyfingers.it]

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I love the album but the Monitor Mixes shows that it really could have been a great album.....

Why on earth precious love was left of baffles me

michel Wrote:
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> I am really into steel wheels at the moment

Yeah, me too. Like just about all of it. Right now Terrifying is working real good.

Production ruins it for me. I love the sounds and sort of laid back style of Voodoo Lounge but SW much like Bridges is somehow too sharp for me. Nevertheless, I like many of the songs on those two albums but often I'm just not in the mood to listen to that kind of production.

I agree with artalta, I've always been put off by the cold, digital sounding production/recording...Wood must be one of the deepest, warmest bassists in rock, but even he sounds thin on the 4 tracks he plays bass on (compare to 'Shattered' or '3 Button Hand Me Down'). Charlie's recorded to sound like a drum machine. There are some gems on there, like 'Slipping Away'and the hit 'Mixed Emotions' (sounded great live), but lacking the anger and confusion of Dirty Work, which was at least a statement about the state of the Stones' world or the leisurely paced, mostly cohesive VL, it's one of my least favorite Stones albums, along with IORR. Songs like 'Hat' COULD sound really hot.

I'm a big fan of Steel Wheels. I consider the last good Stones album - where they sounded like they'd made an effort to write great songs as opposed to picked the first soundalike tune which floated in through the creative ether. Yes, the production makes it sound a tad clinical and dated, but at least half the songs on it still stand up today. Shame they neer includsed For Your Precious Lovve on the album though. That's a beautiful version of a beautiful song.

I agree with artralta and john r.
A good album let down by poor production and awful mastering !
The resulting sound did no justice to the pains taken in the studio.
No dymanics, no air, no tonal colour. Shame.

How's about "Break The Spell"?? Spitzklasse!

...on the old vinyl format, once you get past "Rock and a Hard Place", side two is just classic Stones (Ohh...and "Continental Drift" the best ever tension-builder for a concert!!!! Basta!)

I love that album!!

Still remember hearing 1.000 times back in 1989...

time flies!

I do like it because it's a Stones album :-)

i like the album cos it was the stones first release with me as a fan.

i liked the idea they would be touring again and it was a vast improvement on dirtywork which wasnt really an album you could play on the radio.

mixed emotions, terrifying and hearts for sale i dont really like.

rock and a hard place and cant be seen are ok.

blinded by love
slipping away
continental drift
almost hear you sigh
break the spell
hold on to your hat
sad sad sad

are as good as anything they released post exile.

Three absolutely brilliant songs - Continental Drift, Almost Hear You Sigh and Slipping Away

The rest is solid enough without ever being either subpar or outstanding, but the slick production doesnt make it age well.

Hard to believe it came out less than 3 and a half years after Dirty Work. At the time it seemed like forever. It was the longest gap between Stones albums to date (although the 5 year gap before VL and 8 years before ABB now make the wait for Steel wheels look like it was akin to a hasty follow up)

the difference of course was that for a couple of years in the late 80s' the band was to all intents and purposes broken up and they werent even touring either - so getting the CD home and hearing that opening blast (by Mick, of all people, on guitar) of 'Sad Sad Sad' as if to say "we're back" was a great thrill.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-11-02 15:45 by Gazza.

Other than the Mick Taylor period, from 1989 till today the Stones have put out their best nusic. Don't give me crap about Some Girls. The album sucks in my opinion.

Some Girls is the tops! Superb stuff.

There was great excitement around the Steel Wheels time. The huge tour, album etc were superb. Most modern day fans started around this period.

I'd agree that is proberly was there last real stones album mainly cause Wymans swing.

The b-sides were also great, cook cook blues etc.....

ablett Wrote:
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> Some Girls is the tops! Superb stuff.
>
> There was great excitement around the Steel Wheels
> time. The huge tour, album etc were superb. Most
> modern day fans started around this period.
>
> I'd agree that is proberly was there last real
> stones album mainly cause Wymans swing.
>
> The b-sides were also great, cook cook blues
> etc.....


Wyman didn't play on half of the album. He never swung and Some Girls is soooo overated. Give my D Jones anyday. That cat can play.

Daryl Jones couldn't tie Wymands boots up!

BW and Charlie were one of the most solida rythmn sections ever.... you'd have to be after 30 years!!

Listen to the rythmn on Miss You - outstanding

steel wheels is horrible. the songs, the mix, the cover....
they played some great show on that tour (atlantic city) but all together it was too polished and the overall aesthetic (also how they looked) of that period was not very cool!
i'd rate it as one of the worst albums of the band, sorry!

mutton.....

My Stones Wrote:
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>> Wyman didn't play on half of the album.

myth

Wyman plays on all but 4 songs from the album, as he went back to Europe because he was distracted by his wedding plans. the only songs hes missing on are Sad sad Sad, Continental drift, Break the spell and Hold on to your hat.

his input was pretty much the same as that of most other Stones albums recorded when he was a member.

Gazza Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My Stones Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >> Wyman didn't play on half of the album.
>
> myth
>
> Wyman plays on all but 4 songs from the album, as
> he went back to Europe because he was distracted
> by his wedding plans. the only songs hes missing
> on are Sad sad Sad, Continental drift, Break the
> spell and Hold on to your hat.
>
> his input was pretty much the same as that of most
> other Stones albums recorded when he was a member.


Hey Gazza; It's probably a task but what is the percentage of songs Wyman played bass on from lets say 1968 to 1989. I would say about 75 percent?

guitarbastard Wrote:
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> steel wheels is horrible. the songs, the mix, the
> cover....
> they played some great show on that tour (atlantic
> city) but all together it was too polished and the
> overall aesthetic (also how they looked) of that
> period was not very cool!
> i'd rate it as one of the worst albums of the
> band, sorry!


Still not as bad as Some Girls

As I have said several times before - a great album followed by a tour which showed the Stones at their peak. After seven long years of not touring they came back with a real bigger bang.

I was born in 1971. I was first aware of the Stones with the singles from SOME GIRLS which I thought were "fun." I converted with the release of EMOTIONAL RESCUE. I had been buying 45's starting with Dire Straits' "Sultans of Swing" the year before and had moved onto a couple of singles by Billy Joel from GLASS HOUSES when I suddenly discovered the Stones and thought I'd never heard anything better. Still love that album even though its a bit off-kilter. The next few months were spent devouring HIGH TIDE & GREEN GRASS and then HOT ROCKS. TATTOO YOU came out when I was 10. I kept scrap books of every newspaper and magazine clipping I could find. I tried deciphering the lyrics from the album and copied them into a notebook. I quickly bought David Dalton's THE FIRST 20 YEARS book and the A-Z lyrics book. I was crushed I couldn't see them in concert (too young) and didn't have cable to see Hampton live, but I devoured STILL LIFE and saw LET'S SPEND THE NIGHT TOGETHER countless times. UNDERCOVER came out when I was in 7th grade and suddenly my classmates thought I was some sort of throwback for preferring it to SYNCHRONICITY. I was embarrassed by SHE'S THE BOSS (that hasn't really changed with time). My first year of high school brought DIRTY WORK and I didn't know anyone my age that loved it like I did. Ditto PRIMITIVE COOL and TALK IS CHEAP. STEEL WHEELS meant graduation parties and going off to college parties. Some people were on board for the tour, but more seemed to prefer The Who or even Ringo. I look back on those eighties albums as part of my growing up. I still love EMOTIONAL RESCUE and think TATTOO YOU is a classic. I hear lots of potential in UNDERCOVER and DIRTY WORK even though they don't quite work. STEEL WHEELS has "Almost Hear You Sigh," "Continental Drift," and "Slipping Away" to stand as latterday classics, but otherwise hasn't aged well. I still rank VOODOO LOUNGE and BRIDGES TO BABYLON (alongside MAIN OFFENDER and WANDERING SPIRIT) as the best of late-period Stones. I'm still somewhat disappointed with A BIGGER BANG and GODDESS IN THE DOORWAY and the new stuff on 40 LICKS and ALFIE with the exception of a few gems. I'm in my late 30's now and have a couple of kids running around and I pretty much play the Stones in sequence 1962-2006 all year round. I throw in other artists from time-to-time (Knopfler, Kinks, Fogerty, Dylan) but nowhere near as often as the Stones. Andrew Oldham was primarily full of shit, but the liner notes of the first album where he says "the Stones are more than a band, they're a way of life" is a rare instance of BS coming true. Its been true for me for the past 27 years and I expect it'll be true until I die.

ME and SSS solid rock songs, Slipping away a gem in itself.
can't stand the rest. terrible production too.
The ' garage' sound what made the Stones sound 'mean' is completely gone.
Can't stand listen to any of the bootlegs also of the tour.
But remember being very happy that the Stones toured again and released an album after so many years.
Prefer even DW as it is ' mean' and that album is weak.

The year I became a Stonesfan, so naturally SW will always be special to me, but agree with the fact that it could have been much better productionwise. It hasn't stood the test of time in a way. With a more like VL / ABB sound maybe?

[www.reverbnation.com]

audun-eg Wrote:
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> The year I became a Stonesfan, so naturally SW
> will always be special to me, but agree with the
> fact that it could have been much better
> productionwise. It hasn't stood the test of time
> in a way. With a more like VL / ABB sound maybe?


Hehe - you never forget your first love. I was first turned on by "Goats Head Soup" but only after it had come out and can still remember the anxiety of waiting for "It's Only Rock'n'Roll" - hearing the lead single on the radio for the first time - walking past the record store with the big cut-out of Mick Jagger stabbing himself with a pen. Always wanted to go and ask the store if I could have it but could not get up the nerve. (I was only 11 or 12)

I've just finished watching above. These bring back to my good memory.
Strange to say, there was a possibility that one of their roadies would play the bass because Bill's father passed away just before this tour.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2008-03-19 03:18 by Toru A.