Rolling Stones "Emotional Rescue" Song By Song Discussion

I prefer Linda Lou or Lonely At The Top myself.

 

Well no one else seems to want to say it, so I will. “Summer Romance” is cringe inducingly awful. The first (and not necessarily worst) major misstep on an album that has a few.

 

Can't believe they've never played Summer Romance live. Would love to hear them try this one. In fact there are a few songs off ER that have not been performed live yet. And probably never will be, since they only play greatest hits nowadays.

 

There was a thread a while back that posed the question - was Dance pt1 the last great Stones song?
I for one said Yes

 

"Dance, Pt. 1" isn't even the last great Stones song on this album.

 

As noted above, I dig the Japanese LP version of this album. While I shuffle my Stones albums in and out on my iPhone, Emotional Rescue is always on there. Not the Stones best album by far, but I love it because of its summertime, BBQ, chicks in bikini tops and jeans shorts vibe. Heck, I played it by the pool last Saturday while drinking beer and grilling steaks.

Yes, Dance (Pt. 1) is an attempt to recreate the magic of "Miss You" and, of course, it misses by a mile. But it is still a great groove and sets the tone for the album. "Summer Romance" is sleazy and dirty. Nothing wrong with that. Follow that up with some reggae and then, perhaps my favorite Stones lyric of all time ("maybe I'll become a playboy, hang around in gay bars, and moooove to the West side of town"), and I'm good to go, especially if I pick up the needle before "Indian Girl" brings me down with a lecture on third world poverty.

 

strangely enough, I was listening to every version of this tune I could find last week... for some reason, it was a big tune to cover in Finland in the '70s according to my Finnish friends from that era... the original of course is best, but I also have a soft spot for Johnny Kidd's version...

 

still never come to grips with this album.. had it in the early '80s, but it never opened up for me... heard it a few times drunk in the '90s and seemed to really like it until I sobered up... just bought the Virgin '90s remaster about a month back and spun it a few times... will spin it more now that there is a song by song thread to follow...

 

Got this on cd and vinyl so will dig out and listen again as been a while
From memory I like “down in the hole” and “all about you”
Can’t remember much else except the title track and she’s so cold which I really didn’t like

 

Got this album when it came out. Liked it better than Some Girls. ER has more of a variety and makes me want to dance more than SG. SG has a sameness to every song that gets kinda boring. The variations on ER makes it a classic stones album for me.

 

One of their weakest albums but it contains one or two goodies.

Dance (Part 1) - I love this one. Terrific groove.
Summer Romance - A great opening with those jerky guitars but it just becomes another dull bash like "When The Whip Comes Down", "Respectable", "Lies", etc.

 

Well it doesn’t have “Far Away Eyes” on it, which makes a small contingency of rock fans happy. What’s the ER country tune, “Indian Girl”? Not their best tune by a long shot but I do groove to the mariachi horns... getting back to the song at hand “Summer Romance” it’s like a lovable pit bull puppy. Harmless good fun that doesn’t overstay its welcome.

 

So gone thru side 1
Dance is a great opener
Let me go’s a goody ( great lyrics )
Summer romance is a nice fun romp
Indian Girl’s a nice chilled closer
Only send it to me is a bit weak

Why dont I listen to these Stones fellas more?

Onto the flip side

 

I dig “Summer Romance” and think it should have been the first song on the album.

 

I tracked the release of this record my last year in England. The NME printed it was to be called Emotional Release. When it arrived my brother worked at EMI which was their British distributor so I got a free copy - the cassette version. It was a major disappointment to me. To me it is Some Girls Lite. I think the concept was to make a record similar to Some Girls but with Mick pursuing his various voices (a la “Faraway Eyes” but in different genres) and this just didn’t do it for me. It’s not truly bad. I will play it every now and then. I know “Let Me Go” and “She’s So Cold” will be great to hear. I have even gained an appreciation for the title song. But generally I find it a very lightweight record.
“Dance Pt. 1”. For some reason I find this so much better in its “If I Was A Dancer” form. I really don’t like Mick’s shouted intro and though I might appreciate it as a groove (a la “Hot Stuff”), it’s not an interesting song to me. When I heard “If I Was A Dancer” a year later I really liked it so I would say it’s the vocal that soured me on this.
“Summer Romance” I think is pretty slight though I like Woody’s solo. I suppose when the record came out I didn’t mind this song but its generic qualities and general lack of lyrical finesse just wore on me.

 

Onto side two (U.K. OP vinyl)

Where the boys ... good little rocker
Down In the hole - belter and one of faves
Emotional Rescue - fun and different
She’s so cold - still leaves me cold
All about You - corker and another fave

So 5 very good ones
3 goods
And 2 fillers

Not a bad album

And the artwork always reminds of Predator

 

Remember Mick's beard from that era?

 

Calling the single "Filler" is amusing.

 

Kind of looks like Luke in The Last Jedi

 

It took me a long time to like Far Away Eyes. I kinda groove on Indian Girl as well. Dance is such a great song. Great groove, interesting instrumentation. Miss You is fun, but I prefer Dance.

 

To me Some Girls was a kind of last gasp, hey we're still standing release which I enjoyed a lot. ER and Tattoo You were barely ok with a few good songs I mostly heard only on the radio. Never played the albums. I'll give them both another chance. I couldn't tell you a thing about subsequent releases.

 

According to this Keith plays lead on Summer Romance.

https://www.amazon.com/Rolling-Ston...&sr=1-1&keywords=rolling+stones+all+the+songs

 

Not to critique you, but how do you know Some Girls was a "last gasp" if you are mostly unfamiliar with everything they released after it? I'm an ardent defender and fan of post-'81 Stones and I see comments like this a lot. I'm honestly curious about this dismissal without exploration.

 

Hmmm, love ‘em both but “Miss You” is a stone cold classic while “Dance” is just fantastic. Someone posted that “Dance” could be a sequel to “Miss You” and I liked that concept.