{"id":4472,"date":"2010-11-29T10:15:41","date_gmt":"2010-11-29T14:15:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/?p=4472"},"modified":"2010-11-29T12:10:12","modified_gmt":"2010-11-29T16:10:12","slug":"undercover-is-awesome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/undercover-is-awesome\/","title":{"rendered":"Undercover Is Awesome!"},"content":{"rendered":"<iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GugjdJzMePw?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>I remember it was freezing cold when The Stones released <em>Undercover<\/em>. The winter of 1983 was really brutal around here, so what else was there to do but sit inside and really get to know The Stones\u2019 new album? The album is all new music, as far as I can tell, with &#8220;Too Tough&#8221; being at least the only song that had been worked on previously that was leaked out and bootlegged. I think what made <em>Tattoo You<\/em> a little uneven for me was the fact that the songs came from so many different sessions. <em>Undercover<\/em> is a singular project, and it\u2019s different from almost every other Stones album.<\/p>\n<p>This may be the last album by a band that would be a surefire big seller in the &#8217;80s that didn\u2019t have that horrid drum sound (like <strong>Steve Lilywhite<\/strong> almost wrecked <em>Dirty Work<\/em> with). The drums are big, and integral to the sound, but they aren\u2019t splashing constantly like they have a puddle of water sitting on them. They aren\u2019t <strong>Jimmy Miller<\/strong>\u2019s drums, but they aren\u2019t bad, and the more popular sound of the decade is actually used to good effect on &#8220;Undercover of the Night.&#8221; While the drums are prominent, this is definitely a guitar album, first and foremost.<\/p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UyurmoSsiSw?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>&#8220;Undercover of the Night&#8221; is one of those Stones semi-disco songs that their rocker fans can get behind in a way they couldn\u2019t with &#8220;Emotional Recue.&#8221; I think it\u2019s partly the slashing, machine-gun guitars, and partly really dark subject matter concerning sex and violence. I know, the video is kinda dumb, but is there a video of a song anywhere that makes the song better? I don\u2019t think so, so why would anyone expect this to be any different? At least <strong>Tawny Kitaen<\/strong> isn\u2019t washing a car with her tits in it. The other single that made a name for itself was &#8220;She Was Hot,&#8221; and it\u2019s just a road song of the type that makes up the entirety of what most bands that get a record deal end up calling their second album. Again, the guitars are great, Keith and Ronnie sound like one guy with four arms. The other highlight of side one is Keith\u2019s \u201cWanna Hold You,\u201d which is about his last fast song with The Stones. His ballads are okay, but this is Keith Richards, International Rocker, and it bums me out that he has chosen to play his guitar with no hands so much lately.<\/p>\n<p>Side two kicks off with the pure dance club record, &#8220;Too Much Blood.&#8221; I know a lot of people thought it was really disturbing, but I think it\u2019s pretty cool. The 12\u201d version is longer and has more of Mick\u2019s weird carrying on about all that\u2019s going down on the seedy side of things. I really like the second side the best. After the dancefest of &#8220;Too Much Blood&#8221; it\u2019s pure guitar riffs. Ronnie\u2019s &#8220;Pretty Beat Up&#8221; is pure groovetastic goodness and lyrically carries on the theme of the album, which I swear is, \u201cDon\u2019t trust anyone, and be afraid of the dark.\u201d\u00a0 &#8220;Too Tough&#8221; is The Stones finally coming to grips with a middle for a song with a working title of &#8220;Cellophane Trousers.&#8221; I can listen to it all day.\u00a0 It\u2019s the kind of mid-tempo rocker that The Stones seem to make with ease, but if it were really that easy, there\u2019d be a lot more good songs to listen to.<\/p>\n<p>The guitars just keep cutting and slashing through the last two songs. Mick Jagger sounds like he\u2019s pushing and the band is pulling but it all seems to meet in some dark, slightly disturbing middle. I think that middle is \u201cDon\u2019t go out in the dark, and be afraid.\u201d I love it. It\u2019s one of my favorite Stones albums, and if they had put &#8220;Feel on Baby&#8221; as the B-side to &#8220;She Was Hot&#8221; instead of &#8220;I Think I\u2019m Going Mad,&#8221; which would have worked better on the album if you ask me. &#8220;Feel on Baby&#8221; is an odd, slow, mostly boring bit of reggae.<\/p>\n<p>I remember reading <strong>Steve Simels<\/strong>\u2019 review of this in <em>Stereo Review<\/em> when it came out.\u00a0 He said something like, \u201cThis is a classic Stones album, and most of their fans won\u2019t like it. It\u2019s too dark, and it\u2019s too depressing. But the fans that get to know this will be well rewarded.\u201d I totally agree, and I think one day when some future generation listens to this, they\u2019ll think it ranks as one of the best Stones albums. Like me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I remember it was freezing cold when The Stones released Undercover. The winter of 1983 was really brutal around here, so what else was there to do but sit inside and really get to know The Stones\u2019 new album? The album is all new music, as far as I can tell, with &#8220;Too Tough&#8221; being <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/undercover-is-awesome\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2006,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[61,45,387],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4472"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2006"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4472\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}