The Rolling Stones: Album By Album

 

With the world currently shutting down for January and very little coming in in the way of releases at the moment, it's fair to say that the number of reviews on the site is going to be a bit low for the next few weeks so we're going to make up for it by doing a few more features. Including a couple of new instalments of the old Album By Album series we intermittently do on here. And where better to re-commence that than the Stones?

To my ears, the Rolling Stones are arguably the greatest band that this septic isle of ours has produced. I mean, with the greatest of respect to the Beatles, that whole "which do you prefer?" thing isn't even a question in my book. I'd never argue the toss that Lennon and McCartney weren't great songwriters but the truth is that to these ears, they wrote good simple sunny pop songs while the Stones' output hinted at a much murkier, darker side to the '60s dream. They weren't nice boys doing vocal harmonising, they were busy baiting the press by cultivating the image of being dangerous drugged-up outlaws who lived life on their own terms. However, similar to the Beatles, it would take time for the band to really hit their stride (both would arguably come of age around musically around the same time in 1965-66, the Beatles with Rubber Soul and Revolver and the Stones with Between The Buttons and Aftermath). And while the Beatles were self-destructing as the '60s came to a close, the Stones were just starting a run of five albums running from 1968's Beggars Banquet to 1973's Goat's Head Soup) that ranks as one of the greatest runs of musical output that anyone's ever produced.

The departure of prodigious guitarist Mick Taylor (who'd only joined the band a few years earlier after the departure of the group's founder Brian Jones) seemed to throw the Stones into a tailspin after this, however, and the second half of the '70s and the '80s generally weren't a good time for them musically with the group even going on hiatus towards the end of the latter decade. The split, though, would turn out to be temporary and after reuniting in 1988 the band have remained together ever since, producing a series of solid workmanlike albums and touring "the greatest rock 'n' roll show" across the world.

The passing of drummer Charlie Watts last year has left Mick Jagger and Keith Richards as the only two original Stones still with the line-up (bassist Bill Wyman having left in the early '90s) and it's now nearly two decades since the group's last album of original material. Although the group are still active on the live circuit and continuing to talk a good fight, it does seem that it's unlikely that we'll see their catalogue being added to and so now seems as good a time as any to go through their back catalogue and sort the dazzlers from the occasional dud. Enjoy.

22. Dirty Work (1986)

The Stones had definitely been staggering a bit through the ‘80s with internal frictions starting to boil over (typified by Charlie Watts knocking Mick Jagger out after a gig when the inebriated singer referred to Watts as “my drummer”) but Dirty Work really was the sound of a band without a rudder, a flat lifeless album that bore all the hallmarks of a band phoning it in - it says everything that the group’s cover of Harlem Shuffle was chosen as the lead-off single in the absence of any vaguely memorable originals. So bad was the reception to the album that the band didn’t even tour it with Mick and Keef soon heading off to concentrate on their solo careers and effectively placing the band on what turned out to be a thankfully temporary hiatus.

21. Black And Blue (1976)

The sound of the ‘70s Stones at their most flaccid and consisting of a measly eight tracks, Black and Blue is a mixture of hackneyed rockers, club-footed attempts at reggae and watery ballads. Fool To Cry would give the band a Top 10 hit and probably just about shades it as the best thing on here but that’s very much the musical equivalent of winning a tallest dwarf contest.

20. The Rolling Stones (1964)

The Stones’ early albums were very much the sound of a band finding their feet musically. With Mick Jagger and Keith Richards yet to really hit their stride as songwriters, it’s left to Brian Jones to do most of the heavy lifting here and the result is an album of three originals and nine covers of the blues standards that Jones was such a fan of. It’s an interesting insight into the band's origins but the truth is that there were several bands doing the same thing on the London scene around this time and although the effort's there, there's very little to make it properly stand out in the crowd.

19. Rolling Stones 2 (1964)

Similar to the group’s debut, Rolling Stones 2 is very much a Brian Jones album mostly consisting of rhythm and blues standards with the Stones yet to really start flexing their creative muscles. It’s an interesting snapshot into the band’s influences but like its predecessor, there's not really much here to distinguish the Stones from the dozens of similar bands who were around at the time and a very noticeable power shift would soon change the band’s dynamic very decisively.

18. Undercover (1983)

A stab at updating the band’s sound into the ‘80s by incorporating synthesisers, Undercover ended up being a bit of a botch job with the band frequently heading into the dreaded “dads at the disco” territory. It’s maybe telling that She Was Hot, the best track here, is also the one which is closest to the classic Stones template.

17. Out Of Our Heads (1965)

The Stones’ third album (or the UK version of it at least), similar to its predecessors, is mostly informed by Brian Jones’ covers of r&b standards. However, by this point Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were starting to come up with decent originals to put their own stamp on the band with I’m Free showing that the pair were well and truly coming into their own. Of course, those in the States would get a lot of the early classic singles on here as well like Satisfaction, The Last Time and Spider And The Fly and make no mistake, if those were on the UK version that we're looking at for the purposes of this list then this would be a lot higher up the list. By the time of the group’s next effort, Jones would find himself marginalised as Mick and Keef became the band’s dominant force.

16. Emotional Rescue (1980)

A workmanlike Stones album, Emotional Rescue isn’t quite the disaster that some paint it as but it’s not one of the group’s better efforts by any stretch of the imagination. On the one hand, She’s So Cold and Summer Romance are solid rockers from Mick and Keef’s heartbroken bluesy lament All About You is fine stuff indeed. On the flip side, the title track is just dull and hearing the Stones ripping off Sham 69’s Hurry Up Harry (yes, really) on Where The Boys Go is so hilariously bad that it’s almost a must-listen in its own right but for all the wrong reasons.

15. Voodoo Lounge (1994)

Similar to most of the Stones' output from Steel Wheels onwards, Voodoo Lounge is a solid album which kept the band ticking over without really looking like being any sort of threat to their '60s and early '70s output in the quality standings. At over an hour long, it could maybe have done with losing two or three of its fifteen tracks but the good stuff here (Love Is Strong and Out Of Tears being the picks) just about holds it up. Essentially it's the sound of the Stones playing it safe and doing what they do best but given that it gave them their first number one UK album for 14 years, evidently there's sometimes a case for doing just that.

14. Their Satanic Majesties' Request (1967)

An over-ambitious mess of an album let there be no doubt but Satanic Majesties isn't the out and out disaster it's sometimes painted as. With Brian Jones trying to reassert himself as the band's primary creative force, this album sees the Stones essentially trying to do their own Sgt Pepper but their attempts often backfire spectacularly. However, it does have three genuinely great songs in the brooding Citadel, the sinister 2000 Light Years From Home and the yearning Lantern which are all worth a listen. On the other hand though, the likes of Gomper, On With The Show and Sing This All Together (See What Happens) are the sound of a band well and truly floundering in second division hippie-isms. Mick and Keef would quickly sideline Jones again for the following year's Beggars Banquet and the luckless guitarist would find himself out of the band soon afterwards.

13. Bridges To Babylon (1997)

A decent '90s Stones effort, Bridges To Babylon shows a bit more variety than its predecessor Voodoo Lounge and gave the band two decent singles in the slinky Anybody Seen My Baby? and the Sympathy For The Devil soundalike Saint Of Me. If there's a minor complaint it's that like its predecessor it's a little long at over an hour but the band hit the target more often than not here to make this worth a curiosity listen at least.

12. It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (1974)

The band's first album with Ronnie Wood on guitar following Mick Taylor's departure (though the latter plays on a few of the tunes here), It's Only Rock 'n' Roll is mainly notable for the storming title track which unfortunately kind of puts the rest of the album in the shadow a bit. The remainder varies from solid rockers (Dance Little Sister, If You Can't Rock Me) to stuff that's a bit more anonymous (Luxury is a misjudged attempt at reggae and the final three tracks see the album coming to a close with a whimper rather than a bang). A bit of a mixed bag but the good bits are worth a listen.

11. Steel Wheels (1989)

Hailed as a return to form at the time, Steel Wheels was at least a marked improvement on the underwhelming Dirty Work and Undercover which had preceded it and probably on a great deal of the band's late '70s output before that as well. With the group reunited after a three year hiatus, this is a solid collection of Stones rockers in the classic mould but as the group have shown down the years, sometimes there's a good argument for that and while it doesn't quite have the same amount of stardust as their imperial phase, it was a welcome reminder of what the group were capable of when the world, not to mention the Stones themselves, arguably needed it the most.

10. A Bigger Bang (2005)

The Stones' final album of original material to date, A Bigger Bang is at least an fun album with the band sounding as though they're enjoying themselves throughout from the grinningly lascivious opener Rough Justice through the Some Girls style new wave of Rain Fall Down to Keef's tears in yer bourbon lament This Place Is Empty. Essentially, it's the group ticking off all the boxes of what the fans want but at least there's a good energy and some decent riffs in here to make A Bigger Bang arguably the group's best since Tattoo You twenty plus years before.

9. Aftermath (1966)

Arguably the album where the Stones really hit their stride with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards penning the whole album (leaving Brian Jones pretty much marginalised), it still stands up today. Yes, admittedly the likes of Under My Thumb and Stupid Girl's lyrics sound a bit uncomfortable in these more, shall we say, enlightened times but musically the songs pretty much invite you to sing along with them while the longing Out Of Time, the sinister lament Lady Jane and the dark Mother's Little Helper already show that the group were a much more lean and mean proposition than the sunny melodies of their rivals the Beatles.

8. Some Girls (1978)

Sometimes the best Stones albums come from the group being forced to go out of their comfort zone and try something different and Some Girls is a prime example. By the late '70s, the group were floundering badly on the back of the unremarkable It's Only Rock 'n' Roll and the below par Black & Blue with the rise of punk and its mission to stamp out the '60s arena rock dinosaurs putting the group in serious danger of becoming obsolete. Add to that Keith Richards being in court for most of the genesis of this album over a pair of drug busts and you've got the recipe for disaster. Yet somehow Mick Jagger, with no small help from new boy Ronnie Wood (this was his first album as a fully fledged band member) pulled a surprise out of the bag with Some Girls showing the group turning their hand to aggressive new wave (notably on Lies and Respectable) and the Studio 54 disco sound (Miss You, Beast Of Burden) while cutting out the meandering studio jams of previous efforts. Quite feasibly, this is the album that saved the Stones' career.

7. Between The Buttons (1967)

The first genuine classic Stones album, Between The Buttons saw the group building on the sound of its predecessor Aftermath with Mick and Keith's songwriting being complimented well by Brian Jones' growing interest in adding different instruments (which he'd usually take the time out to learn himself and quickly master) into the mix. The great songs come thick and fast here from the spiky lead-off Yesterday's Papers through the gentle Back Street Girl to the rollicking Miss Amanda Jones and the superb closer Something Happened To Me Yesterday (a quite brilliant pinpoint skewering of the Beatles' All You Need Is Love). The over-addition of instruments would trip them up a bit on the follow-up Their Satanic Majesties Request but on here it works perfectly and shows the three main creative forces behind at this point working pretty much in harmony and to great effect.

6. Tattoo You (1981)

Amazing to think that this album was essentially a "clearing out the vaults" exercise from the Stones consisting of songs half-recorded from the previous decade that the group had revisited and "patched up" for release. With the sound stripped back to the group's rock 'n' roll roots and powered on by the group's best post-'73 single Start Me Up (which also gave them their last Top 10 hit to date), the snarling aggression of Neighbours and Black Limousine, the showmanship of Tops and the quite lovely sax-drenched closer Waiting On A Friend make this the strongest Stones album since their imperial phase.

5. Goats Head Soup (1973)

Often pointed to as the start of the Stones' '70s decline, I would argue that to say as such is a massive injustice to this album which only falls short of its four more illustrious predecessors by a whisker (now if you're arguing that about It's Only Rock 'n' Roll which came afterwards then you've got a point). The group are still very much firing on all cylinders here from the swampy opener Dancin' With Mr D through the gentle lament 100 Years Ago to the pure rock 'n' roll firepower of Heartbreaker, Silver Train and the gleefully sleazy closer Star Star. A very unfairly maligned record which I'd honestly put up there with the Stones' best.

4. Let It Bleed (1970)

The album which arguably signalled the death of the '60s hippie dream (and of Brian Jones who had been fired from the band the year before and died in mysterious circumstances just a few months later) right down to its title (a sneering shot at the Beatles' Let It Be), Let It Bleed still sounds brilliant now from the broodingly ominous opener Gimme Shelter right through to the mournful You Can't Always Get What You Want which really feels like a funeral for the idealism of the decade just gone building into a wake when the song kicks in. The highlights come thick and fast on this one from the leering Live With Me through the sinister Midnight Rambler to the venom of Monkey Man and Keith's yearning You Got The Silver. Great stuff.

3. Beggars Banquet (1969)

The start of the Stones' near-flawless five album run that carried them from the '60s into the '70s and a perfect response from the band after the rather jumbled Their Satanic Majesties Request, Beggars Banquet kicks into fifth gear from the word go with the voodoo shuffle of Sympathy For The Devil and doesn't let up from then on. Taking in mournful country strumming (No Expectations), twisted psychedelia (Jigsaw Puzzle) and lean mean rock 'n' roll (Street Fighting Man, Stray Cat Blues), this was the sound of the Stones well and truly leaving their '60s origins behind and striking out into much bigger waters.

2. Exile On Main Street (1972)

The sound of the Stones at their most epic, it's to their immense credit that even over 18 tracks Exile On Main Street never gets dull. From the killer one-two opener of the strutting Rocks Off and the top speed rock 'n' roll boogie of Rip This Joint, it's a riot all the way taking in country laments (Sweet Virginia), swampy paranoia (Ventilator Blues) and sky surfing gospel (Shine A Light) among about a million other things. And in the soaring but mournful Tumblin' Dice, it turned out one of the Stones' strongest singles. Believe the hype - this really is as good as the critics would frequently tell you.

1. Sticky Fingers (1971)

The sound of the Stones at their swaggering best, Sticky Fingers simply ticks all the boxes as to what makes a great album. Tunes like Bitch have Keith Richards and Mick Taylor well and truly linked in on the guitars, Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman sounding super tight as the rhythm section and Mick Jagger absolutely owning the vocals. However, this is arguably a bit more of a reflective Stones album than those around it from the gentle lament of Wild Horses through the drugged up paranoia of Sister Morphine, the bitter country blues of Dead Flowers and the psychedelic dreamy closer of Midnight Mile. Quite simply, if you're only gonna listen to one Stones album, make it this one.