Back in the mid-’80s, there were some people who honestly
believed that the Rolling Stones were past their prime and years
past when they should have retired.
Of course, this was long before works of excellence like
Bridges To Babylon, which prove that Mick Jagger and crew
can still kick it with the best. But digging back a bit in the
Pierce Memorial Archives (long-time readers understand the name),
one could understand why the critics were having a field day with
the Stones.
Two words:
Dirty Work. And while it has one or two semi-decent moments
to it, it often turns brutal.
Just from the lead-off single “Harlem Shuffle,” you could tell
that this album was in serious trouble. Granted, it was a change in
direction from the all-out rock and roll that the Stones had tried
to do on albums like
Undercover and
Emotional Rescue, but it just wasn’t the greatest direction
that the band could have moved in. Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill
Wyman, Ron Wood and Charlie Watts sound downright uncomfortable on
this track. (Though it’s been years since I saw the video, the
Fritz The Cat-like cartoons that went with the video didn’t
help matters much.)
The other single, “One Hit (To The Body)”, holds the most
promise on the whole album, but even this is tainted by the overall
sound and feel of the album. A rocker in all senses of the term,
Jagger gets a chance to sway like a rooster on this one, but it
hardly serves as a showcase for the rest of his bandmates.
Even the two songs that Richards sings on
Dirty Work, “Too Rude” and “Sleep Tonight”, fall flat. The
former is a poor attempt at reggae-flavored rock; the latter drags
on far too long.
Of course, one would think that the Rolling Stones couldn’t go
wrong on straight-out rock, right? Wrong. Cuts like “Fight,” “Had
It With You” and the title track not only sound like they could
have been outtakes from the Tattoo You sessions, but they hardly
qualify as the Stones’s best songwriting efforts. The sound on “Had
It With You” is atrocious; I can’t make out one note that Wyman
plays. (Part of the blame here goes on co-producer Steve
Lillywhite.)
After experiencing an album like
Dirty Work, it’s easy to understand why one would think that
the Stones were through. Even the moments of brilliance on
Steel Wheels three years later wouldn’t totally erase the
doubts that some people had. The sad fact is,
Dirty Work is the one job that should have been left
unfinished.
Oh, well, there is at least one bright spot – the band didn’t
release a live album of the shows supporting this disaster.
