Customer Reviews
Who would believe you were a beauty indeed...
Instead they went back into the studio and recorded the follow-up, 'Emotional Rescue', released in June 1980. After the twin triumphs of both 'Some Girls' and the suspended sentence of Keith Richards, the Stones could have been forgiven for resting on their laurels and taken a break. The album was almost the same type of autopilot Stones recording that two of the previous three albums were accused of being. It's not bad but it's just not a particularly memorable record. Sporting really only two notable songs/pseudo classics in the disco-pop title track and the flashy rocker "She's So Cold", many of the songs were run-of the mill Stones. Personal favorites are without a doubt "Cold", "Summer Romance" and maybe "ER" but I must admit it is one of my least favorite of the modern Stones' hits. "Down in the Hole" is a decent blues, but compared to "Some Girls" (which also featured Sugar Blue on harmonica) please! "Dance" is more disco. . . "Miss You" lite. Keith sings his heart out in "All About You" but again, he's done better. I think the biggest reason 'Tattoo You' is slightly overated was because this present record didn't really do anything. It was certainly not good enough to tour behind, which is what the band wisely chose not to do until a year later. . . behind a much better record than this one. . . nothing I can say. . . nothing I can do.
Emotional Get Up and Go
This becomes wonderfully obvious on a turn-of-a-decade album that at this point in their already hyped career had one either jumping on or off their tumultuous band wagon. The Rolling Stones have never been afraid to experiment- with music that is. C'mon, you either loved or loathed Emotional Rescue. There was no in between. The quirky title track proved how the Rolling Stones could put out anything and come away with flying colors. The song has it all; a disco flare with a touch of funk, daring vocals, impeccable saxaphone, an infectous bass line, and Charlie playing his drums in a tempo decidedly unique and interesting. Even the lyrics are slightly impressive. Jaggars ability to sing high, low, and everywhere in between, including a spoken verse, in the same song is unprecedented. My favorite verse being, "yeah remember the night, cryin'. . . ". 'All About You' is the only mediocre track on an otherwise delightful record,full of surprises, including one of their best tunes,'She's So Cold'. If 'Summer Romance' doesn't make you feel good (there's that aggressive bass again)then I'm not sure what the Stones can do for you. Emotional Rescue may not be their best album, but it's certainly the most fun. .
Pretty Good Stuff... 4.5 Stars
Pretty decadent album for a 10-year old to listen to on the family Zenith stereo in the basement. This was the first Stones album I bought back in '80 at Sears, along with Big Hits - High Tide And Green Grass - on LP - so this album has somewhat a special place in my X-rayed thermo heart. Obviously it's not one of the most serious Stones ablums; I think their method of recording in those days was to first, reconvene, then load up on drugs and alka, and then get about he process of recording. Thus, we get a party album with a few heartfelt moments here and there.
I think the album suffers most from the sequencing. Whoever gave the master tapes ordered the songs like he was a cokehead with a plane to catch. Literally, with the exception of the last song, the album seems like the ordering was decided by tossing the titles into the air and seeing where they fell. Unlike Tatto You, which would follow, the song order seems to make no sense whatsoever, so it leaves the listener confused and uncaring, emotionless, which, I guess, is where the Stones come to the Rescue.
The title track needs to be the first song. And I thinnk 'She's So Cold' needs to kick off Side 2. 'Dance' is a horrible lead-off track; while a good groover auto-pilot disco-dance song, I think it needs to be buried on the second side, where it can lead the album out at track 09. In retrospect, 'All About You' is one of the very best Keith songs out there.
Here's how I would have ordered the songs (for what it's worth, it still doesn't change what the songs are--they are what they are):
Side One:
Emotional Rescue
Let Me Go
Where The Boys Go
Indian Girl
Down In The Hole
Side Two:
She's So Cold
Send It To Me
Summer Romance
Dance (Pt. 1)
All About You
At the time (1980), I ended up siding with the classic Stones vs. the Emotional Resuce Stones--at least stylistically as a youngster musician (I was learning to play guitar), and took the retro route--getting into HIgh Tide, Green Grass--and the Stones classic '60s and early '70s albums more-- rather than indulging in any of the mid-to-late '70s Stones (I did get Laid In The Shade, and also Some Girls soon after -- I mean, who could resist the die-cut cover of Some Girls? People used to unwrap the Some Girls album in the store--along with LEd Zep III--just to see what the packaging was like). Yep, I found out the way to learn guitar was the earlier Stones (I think that 'Let Me Go' and 'She's So Cold' were the only ones worth figuring out at the time). The next album, Tatto You was actually a good LP for learning guitar; indeed, Tatto You and the Still Life tour gave the Stones way more of a contemporary clout than Emotional Rescue did. Emotional Rescue was really a holding pattern album--an album for the Stones to figure out how to get up out of the hole! They didn't even want to show their faces on the album. It was the strangest thing--the thermo-video imaging images on the cover and giant poster.
At any rate, has there ever been a more casually despondent and depressing song than 'Down In The Hole'?. . . I think not. That song used to torment me when I was ten. Now I find it's a pretty great blues.
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