The Rolling Stones "Dirty Work" in retrospect

I bought it in 1989 , I played only 2 & half times. All Stones albums prior to that , countless times.

 

Didn't mind it at the time. There's better albums by them.

 

Meh..I like the record a lot. I venture to say that a great number of those who purport to hate it are allowing themselves to be led by the lazy reviewers who pan anything after Tattoo You.

And save the "80's production" battle cry of the lemmings...that would have been a PLUS at the time. Latter day reviewers (and listeners) miss the point of reviewing the music, despite somewhat dated production which, to those of us who lived through the 80's, isn't really all that offensive.

In fact, I like Undercover, Steel Wheels, Voodoo and ABB a lot too. And I like ER and B&B quite a lot too. My lowest rated albums are the first couple because they are mainly covers, and B2B. And I like those well enough even still.

Sure I am a fanatical, fanster, fan-type fan, but I don't think the Stones have ever done a "BAD" album. I venture to say that if somehow we could find someone who had never heard a Stones record and didn't know any of the Stones' history & legend, locked him/her in a room and played all of their records, he/she would conclude the same as I have after all these years: there isn't a bad one in the bunch.

 

Great song! also "Sleep Tonight" w/Keef on vocals.

 

Totally agree. I bought Dirty Work at the time and thoroughly enjoyed it on the level I was supposed to. It was only much much later that I found out it was "terrible" and uncool to like it. I still love it now, sentimentality notwithstanding.

 

It has the 2 very worst Stones songs on it: Winning Ugly and Back To Zero. Both sound like 80s Coke commercials, and I get a visual of Mick working out in spandex.

 

I like this guy!

I know, Dirty Work is supposed to suck according to a bunch of critics/fans who when it comes to the Stones are permanently stuck in 1972 and wish they'd just make Sticky Fingers over and over again? F--k that, says I! I'm a Stones fan who loves Exile On Main Street and Dirty Work just about equally most days, have done for nearly thirty years, damned if I'm gonna apologize for it now.

True (just picture Mick in that getup he wore on the '81 tour, close enough to spandex!) but "Winning Ugly" and "Back To Zero" both have killer basslines, especially "Back To Zero". Ronnie Wood kicks asss on the ol' bass on that one. Not sure if it's Ron on bass on "Winning Ugly" as well (Bill Wyman only plays on "One Hit", "Harlem Shuffle" and the title track)

 

I've always liked the album fine. It's not their best but I enjoy it whenever I listen to it (about once a year).

 

One Hit To The Body is one of my all-time favourite Stones tracks ever...! What an awesome riff! I remember the local music shop's owner playing it in his store at full volume and shaking his head at One Hit "Amazing song! And at THAT age!!".

 

Weak, with a few good tracks.

 

It's when Crocket and Tubbs joined the Stones

 

Wonder what that shop owner's take would be on the Stones now, now that they're thirty years older!

And yet, the Stones are still around in 2016 whereas all Crockett and Tubbs are these days are another reminder of 1980's cocaine hubris...of course I suppose you could say that about Dirty Work as well!

 

I love this album. Every time I think about it makes me want to put it on. This is not the case with many other Stones albums.

 

Not gonna lie, folks- I love the Stones, but out of all their albums Exile, Dirty Work, Black And Blue, Emotional Rescue and disc two of Hot Rocks are the only ones you'd actually have to pry from my cold dead hands...

 

Yeah I've always liked it. Flawed, but I feel they've done worse. The only song that resembles frozen anatomical moose parts is "Harlem Shuffle". The rest range from decent if slightly forgettable ("Back To Zero", "Hold Back") to great ("One Hit To The Body", "Sleep Tonight").

I will admit Mick's constant barking does the album a disservice - if the two Keef vocals weren't so strategically placed this might be a slog to sit through.

I do feel that these songs could have fared better in a better context. "Fight" could have made a great rock 'n' roller like "All Down The Line" (style, not quality), were it not for the production and approach. Why are the dueling guitar solos in "Had It With You" so buried? The song could have been top-tier if they were better mixed.

But overall, I like it. More than I should. But I still like it.

 

Not their best, but the Stones never put out a truly bad album. There are a couple clunkers. "Back to Zero" is usually right up there with "Indian Girl" in polls of the worst Stones song. In retrospect, they could have chosen better tracks from the stuff that ended up on the Some Girls bonus disk. Who wouldn't have preferred a sloppy but lively "Tallahassee Lassie" (or "Cook Cook Blues" for that matter) over the slick "Winning Ugly?"

 

Recently, I decided to buy some of those mid-80's Stones CD's and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised.

 

I never understood why Dirty Work gets trashed. It had a lot of rockers. And it was sooooo much better than Undercover... which was much more of an 80s sounding LP.

 

I appreciate your opinion, and I do think it's a better record than I initially gave it credit for, but the best song on it is "One Hit" and I can think of at least 4 songs on Undercover that are at least its equal if not better.

 

I never liked Undercover, but a couple of years ago, I bought the Japan SACD and loved it. The drums on the title track shake the walls.

 

I agree I have probably only listened to each CD 3 times but I would definately say I prefer Undercover to Dirty Work.

 

Especially the Junior Byles dub arrangement...it's a natural for his voice.

 

Indeed. I'd love for Keith to cover the classic "Curly Locks." His raspy voice would be perfect for that tune. Perhaps as a duet with Lee Perry?

 

Too Rude never gets enough love.

 

i think this is the first Stones album i bought. One Hit, Too Rude, Sleep Tonight and Had it With You I loved then and now. the rest don't do anything for me. i remember at the time thinking the lyrics in particular were dreadful on the rest of the songs. but maybe its a miracle that anything of worth came out of the stones at this time considering what state they were in - charlie on heroin, ron being ron, mick working on solo records.