Are all non-classic Rolling Stones records underrated?

steve - "Faraway Eyes" was one of the songs I was thinking of in disparaging Some Girls! Really, though I was just being "provocative". Something about the thread just bummed me out, because no one had really mentioned the 90s stuff and everyone had just accepted the thread's premise that Some Girls and Tattoo You were just obviously classic. Who decided that? Anthony DeCurtis or something? What happened to examining received rock-crit norms? Those two records house their biggest post-Exile hits, sure! But do they really hold up as albums you want to throw on and enjoy all the way through? Anyway, I tried to throw out a couple thoughts to add to thread, only to be followed up with a dismissive "they aren't worth discussing." I apologize for snapping at Roger, but I honestly wonder if he's examining his own opinions at times.

Of course I don't think Some Girls "sucks", but it is true that I never play it. I suppose that could be partially due to overexposure, sure. Still, "Miss You" and "Shattered" were fresh and inspired and still sound great to me. "Beast of Burden" I've never liked though. Ever. I just don't like Mick's vocal or the lyrics, and christ it seems like it goes on forever. "Just My Imagination" is an ok performance but it's yet another Motown cover so that's lazy. Even taken as a rocker, "Some Girls" just plods and needless to say sounds embarassing today. When the Stones did "Dear Doctor" and "Country Honk" they sounded lively and novel; "Dead Flowers" and "Torn and Frayed" were poignant and affecting; but "Far Away Eyes" just sounds pointless and parodic.

I don't know. It's still a great record - "When the Whip Comes Down" KILLS - I just never feel like listening to it.

Props to sucka! You and I seem on the same wavelenght w/r/t these guys. Though I usually avoid Undercover for most of the reasons you like it. But that's cool man - you know why you like it! Good on ya. I often just find the record suffocating, but I occasionally find it enjoyable to bathe in all that bile, to get into the vicious headspace of that record... And yeah, "Emotional Rescue" is one of my all time favorite songs of theirs as well.

Plus, The Stones are not the kinda band I get white-knuckled about either way, and if the imminent carpal tunnel syndrome can be held off a bit by me not replying frivolously to every debate, so be it.

Part of the reason I like Black and Blue so much is it sounds as clear as glass. For something taped almost 50 years ago it's extra impressive - I feel it should be some sort of yardstick for analogue recording idk.

I agree. Kudos to that mix. Charlie and those guitarists sound great!

It also really helps in why I think Cherry Oh Baby works, in its admittedly obtuse way. Charlie has clear problems relaxing for a reggae beat but if that's the case you might as well heighten this contrast until (hopefully) the effect becomes something else. Every beat of the drum, slide of the cymbal, sounds so sharp-edged that it suits the stiffness well, and pronounces the sudden silences and rhythmic dropouts even further. Mechanical reggae years before On-U Sound !

God, "Hand of Fate" is a sexy-ass song.

haha that G Marcus quote upthread is amazing

Part of the reason I like Black and Blue so much is it sounds as clear as glass. For something taped almost 50 years ago it's extra impressive - I feel it should be some sort of yardstick for analogue recording idk.

as someone born the year this record came out, this post briefly hurt me to my core to be reminded of the number of years that has passed.

I recently realised I unconsciously take about ten years off everything whose distance in time feels wrong. Because 38 years makes more sense than 48.

Pretty sure “Black and Blue” is my most listened to Stones album at this point. It’s kind of the perfect barbecue in backyard background music. “Hand of Fate” is upper echelon material.

Just spun it thinking of it as chill BBQ/Khruangbin/Mdou Moctor grooves, and yeah! I'd forgotten that it's annoying that there's no track list on the jacket or sleeve, only on the label. But that underscore that they're not crafting songs so much as vibes.