in the last days there were several threads about songs from emotinal rescue, always with the tendency to discuss the whole album. so i decided to open a new thread.

i personally like ER; in fact it was my very first stones album, the one which made a fan of me. there are some songs i really love (She´s so cold, Summer Romance, Down in the Hole, ER), some songs i like (Dance, Let me go, Where the boys..., All about you), one i don´t care for too much (Send her to me) and one, one really bad one (Indian Girl). Of course ER doesnt´t have the quality of Some Girls, but for me it´s not weaker than Tattoo You (i know that with this opinion i will be one of few....)

From song to song i give the following marks:
Dance: 7
Summer Romance: 10
Send her to me: 4
Let me go: 5
Little Indian Girl: 1
Where the boys...: 6
Down in the Hole: 10
ER: 8
She´s so cold: 10
All about you: 7

All about you is a clear 10 for me. Send her to me and litte indian girl are minimum an 8 for me. personally i don´t like ER too much, this would be a 1 in my book.

Dance: 7
Summer Romance: 7
Send it to me: 5
Let me go: 7
Little Indian Girl: 7
Where the boys...: 3
Down in the Hole: 10
ER: 5
She´s so cold: 5
All about you: 10

I love emotional rescue! To me is a "missed" great album, if only start me up and we had it all would have replaced where the boys go and send it to me..

From song to song i give the following marks:

Dance: 7
Summer Romance: 9
Send her to me: 7
Let me go: 6
Little Indian Girl: 3
Where the boys...: 10
Down in the Hole: 7
ER: 10
She´s so cold: 7
All about you: 10

And I think it´s not one of their best!

Like any Stones' album: i love it more and more after each audition.
Discovered All about you a few years after the first listening. It's a symphony. Supernatural. Impossible to guess where this music comes from. Maybe from the heart...

Here's mine:

Dance: 9 (If I Was A Dancer was a better version though)
Summer Romance: 6 (Throwaway)
Send her to me: 6.5 (Funny lyrics)
Let me go: 6 (Throwaway)
Little Indian Girl: 4 (The low point)
Where the boys...: 5 (The Rolling stones do Sham 69 - Sham 69 were crap)
Down in the Hole: 7 (OK)
ER: 10 (Masterpiece)
She´s so cold: 6 (Throwaway)
All about you: 7 (OK)

In short, not bad, but not great.

the problem with the ER was that it came after the Some Girls album, which was a true highlight with many strong songs. people expected an adequate follow-up. but ER failed to deliver somehow. dance tracks like Dance and Emotional Rescue were not as strong as Miss You, and the rockers sounded a bit like rehashes of Some Girls glory, or like Some Girls outtakes not regarded good enough for Some Girls itself.

and Indian Girl failed where Far Away Eyes succeeded...

all in all, I was a bit disappointed with the album when it came out. I really loved Down In The Hole but apart from that, not much else did really impress me. my general feeling was that it showed the Stones on a creative downturn after the hightlight Some Girls. in fact, for the next album, Tattoo You, their creativity was at such a low point that they decided to raid their vaults for strong songs and ideas. and this made Tattoo You such a killer album!!! but in terms of creativity, the Stones went down the hill after Some Girls, a fact that was well covered up by the strengths of the Tattoo You album.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-12-17 15:02 by alimente.

Dance - 7 (but If I Was a Dancer - 9)
Summer romance - 6 (what Nikolai said)
Send it to me - 5
Let me Go - 7.5 (much preferred the studio to the live versions. Great percussion!)
Indian Girl - 3 (a turd. Pleasant musically, but never liked the lyrics or vocals)
Where the Boys Go - 10 (love it. Its just a fun track, and musically superb)
Down in the hole - 7 (decent enough, but because its the Stones doing a blues track, it tends to get overrated IMO)
Emotional Rescue - 5 (I cant get past the 'knight in shining armour' bollocks, no matter how hard I try. Musically though, its very good, but a poor choice of first single)
Shes So Cold - 7
All About You - 7

alimente Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> the problem with the ER was that it came after the
> Some Girls album, which was a true highlight with
> many strong songs. people expected an adequate
> follow-up. but ER failed to deliver somehow. dance
> tracks like Dance and Emotional Rescue were not as
> strong as Miss You, and the rockers sounded a bit
> like rehashes of Some Girls glory, or like Some
> Girls outtakes not regarded good enough for Some
> Girls itself.
>
> and Indian Girl failed where Far Away Eyes
> succeeded...
>
> all in all, I was a bit disappointed with the
> album when it came out. I really loved Down In The
> Hole but apart from that, not much else did really
> impress me. my general feeling was that it showed
> the Stones on a creative downturn after the
> hightlight Some Girls. in fact, for the next
> album, Tattoo You, their creativity was at such a
> low point that they decided to raid their vaults
> for strong songs and ideas. and this made Tattoo
> You such a killer album!!! but in terms of
> creativity, the Stones went down the hill after
> Some Girls, a fact that was well covered up by the
> strengths of the Tattoo You album.


Logically, Tattoo You should have been an even weaker album as it contained so many songs that had been worked on and/or left off Emotional Rescue and Tattoo You - or even earlier albums which werent exactly career highpoints either (Black & Blue). Its something of a minor miracle that they were able to put together such a strong record consisting of old songs with some bits added to them AND that they made it all sound like the songs belonged together instead of some grab-bag of leftovers.

Some Girls and the '78 tour happened at the peak period of my interest in the band, the moment when I had my strongest-ever case of the legendary "Stones Fever". In '78, the talk was that the next album would be done quickly, since after selecting the 10 cuts that appeared on Some Girls, it was said that they still had another 10 cuts that were left off the album that were supposed to be every bit as good as the ones on Some Girls. Then two years went by, a long time between albums in those days. I anticipated the release of Emotional Rescue with greater hopes and expectations than I have ever anticipated any other album, so naturally, it filled me with a greater sense of disappiontment than any other album ever has. The best albums are done quickly. If a record takes a long time to make, it's generally not a good sign.

alimente Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> the problem with the ER was that it came after the
> Some Girls album, which was a true highlight with
> many strong songs. people expected an adequate
> follow-up.


I was thinking the same thing. It's tough to follow such a great album like Some Girls (although they did it in the late 60's and early 70's, putting out such masterpieces of Let It Bleed which was as good if not better than Beggars Banquet, and proceeded to do the same thing with Sticky Fingers and Exile).

Had it not followed Some Girls, it may be viewed quite differently!

In retrospect it's a very good album in my opinion when looking at their entire catalog of material.

At the time though, it did seem like a bit of a letdown.

Dance - 7
Summer romance - 6
Send it to me - 5
Let me Go - 8.5
Indian Girl - 5
Where the Boys Go - 8
Down in the hole - 7
Emotional Rescue - 4
Shes So Cold - 8
All About You - 8

Overall 6 for the album - not my favourite but contains a few good tracks.

I think a lot of the disappointment in those days (1979-81) was not just with the Stones but with the fact that the art form we now think of as "Classic Rock" had simply run its course. Although I don't know too many Pink Floyd fans who weren't totally delighted by The Wall, my hardcore Zep fan buddies HATED In Through The Outdoor, and if there WAS any album that disappointed me more than Emotional Rescue, it was the Who's Face Dances. Another record that took forever to make, was eagerly anticipated, and ultimately sucked: Steely Dan's Gaucho.

Dance - 9
Summer romance - 8
Send it to me - 5
Let me Go - 7
Indian Girl - 3
Where the Boys Go - 9
Down in the hole - 10
Emotional Rescue - 8
Shes So Cold - 8
All About You - 9

I really like this album.In the UK it was released at a similar time to Dylan's Saved.There are some strong tracks on there such as Down in the hole,She's so cold,all about you, and Send it to me.A nice poster was issued with it too.I also remember there was also a feature in Paris Match magazine on the photo session for this.There are so many albums that were underated at the time.

Let's just come to the conclusion that a band that has an album like Emotional Rescue as "one of their lesser albums" is one hell of a great band!

Love this record, but 10's (and 9's for that matter) are hard to come by in my world.

Dance: 7.5
Summer Romance: 6
Send her to me: 6
Let me go: 6.5
Indian Girl: 7.5
Where The Boys Go: 6
Down in the Hole: 7
ER: 10
She´s so cold: 9
All about you: 10

Thats right...even a mediocre Stones album is better than 90% of everything else that is out there.

JR

tatters Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think a lot of the disappointment in those days
> (1979-81) was not just with the Stones but with
> the fact that the art form we now think of as
> "Classic Rock" had simply run its course. Although
> I don't know too many Pink Floyd fans who weren't
> totally delighted by The Wall, my hardcore Zep fan
> buddies HATED In Through The Outdoor, and if there
> WAS any album that disappointed me more than
> Emotional Rescue, it was the Who's Face Dances.
> Another record that took forever to make, was
> eagerly anticipated, and ultimately sucked: Steely
> Dan's Gaucho.


Great point Tatters. All the big 60s acts were feeling the heat big time. Their claims to credibility cast from remote castles were laughed at by the new punk ethic. Punk needed to happen. Great punk recordings happened in weeks not months. Emotional Rescue though a personal favorite, was born in rough times.

Dance: 8
Summer Romance: 7
Send her to me: 6
Let me go: 6
Indian Girl: 2
Where The Boys Go: 7
Down in the Hole: 4
ER: 8
She´s so cold: 9
All about you: 7

stone-relics Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thats right...even a mediocre Stones album is
> better than 90% of everything else that is out
> there.
>
> JR



exactly

Gazza Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Logically, Tattoo You should have been an even
> weaker album as it contained so many songs that
> had been worked on and/or left off Emotional
> Rescue and Tattoo You - or even earlier albums
> which werent exactly career highpoints either
> (Black & Blue). Its something of a minor miracle
> that they were able to put together such a strong
> record consisting of old songs with some bits
> added to them AND that they made it all sound like
> the songs belonged together instead of some
> grab-bag of leftovers.

yes, LOGICALLY Tattoo You should have been even weaker than ER - mainly consisting of outtakes from albums which are not regarded as their highpoints.
but somehow the Stones are a band that often defies any logic, arent they?

however, Tattoo You always makes me think that the concept could work again - working on leftovers from the vaults to produce a new album. then again, my logic could be wrong!

and by the way, I remember that Too Tough from Undercover is another reworking job of a Black And Blue-era instrumental.

emotional rescue is ok, nothing better.

it has some good songs.

all about you, down in the hole, dance, emotional rescue and she,s so cold.

the rest of the album is mince, and it would really have needed at least 2 good rockers and another ballad or blues song to turn it into a good album.

alimente Wrote:
> yes, LOGICALLY Tattoo You should have been even
> weaker than ER - mainly consisting of outtakes
> from albums which are not regarded as their
> highpoints.
> but somehow the Stones are a band that often
> defies any logic, arent they?

Exactly.

>
> however, Tattoo You always makes me think that the
> concept could work again - working on leftovers
> from the vaults to produce a new album. then
> again, my logic could be wrong!

certainly possible. the only thing though is that in 1981 the Stones were putting out an album every 18 months to 2 years or so and were recording very prolifically (The 'Some Girls' and 'ER' yielded a combined total of over 80 songs in a two year period). They went back to 1972 to go through leftovers - they had recorded five studio albums in that seven year period from 1972-79. Nowadays, if they went back seven years prior to ABB, their entire recorded history would consist of a two week session in Paris in 2002. Going back through five albums worth of songs a la Tattoo You would see them going back to Undercover/Dirty Work, over 20 years earlier. Personally, I think that would be barrel scraping.


>
> and by the way, I remember that Too Tough from
> Undercover is another reworking job of a Black And
> Blue-era instrumental.


It was indeed. "Cellophane Trouts" to be exact. Then again, "It Must Be Hell" is basically a recycle of the riff from "Soul Survivor" as well.

"Emotional Rescue" was recorded in a very turbulant time for the band. It suffers most from being worked on too long. Initially with sessions being interrupted with long periods of time between then, and then with mixing and tracklist problems and arguments between band members.

There were several excellent 'cast offs' from the earlier sessions for the album, not to mention the earlier versions of 'Summer Romance' and 'Where The Boys Go.'

Jagger has been quoted as saying "you can hear the cocaine in the grooves" they were so strung out.

It's a very good album, conflicted over it's style, made by a band that was beginning it's 6-year progressive dissolution.

'Tattoo You' would be 'assembled' as a stop gap, revenue generator for a badly needed tour by a band who could barely be in the same room with one another, feeling the 80s creeping in, trying to find a niche for their relevance.

J

Dance - 5
Summer romance - 7
Send it to me - 9
Let me Go - 8
Indian Girl - 4
Where the Boys Go - 7
Down in the hole - 10
Emotional Rescue - 6
Shes So Cold - 10
All About You - 10

I used to hate it, how wrong, it's a good album, sandwiched with 2 damn masterprices.

Dance - 8
Summer romance - 7
Send it to me - 6
Let me Go - 7
Indian Girl - 6
Where the Boys Go - 9
Down in the hole - 9
Emotional Rescue - 9
Shes So Cold - 9
All About You - 7

It's a fantastic album. And could have been even better if Claudine would have been there.

JMARKO Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "Emotional Rescue" was recorded in a very
> turbulant time for the band. It suffers most from
> being worked on too long. Initially with sessions
> being interrupted with long periods of time
> between then, and then with mixing and tracklist
> problems and arguments between band members.

strange, if true, as the band plays very warmly together on this album, which for me is what makes it a favorite, despite how lightweight most of the songs are.

I think this a is a case of an album that blew then and blows now. However, some albums like Undercover and Keith's Main Offender, are far better than they were given credit for.