quote:

---

Lethargy wrote:
I was just taking a shower listening to my typical random mp3 shuffle-play of the entire stones catalog (I need to get out more), and I ended up hearing both Out Of Tears and You Got Me Rocking for the first time in ages. Made me think about all the underrated gems the guys have put out in the past 20 years or so, that are generally unmentioned, even on this great board.

So I offer the following list of "Underrated gems from 1983-2006". Note that generally revered songs aren't on here, b/c the point is underrated gems, not simply gems (like Slipping Away, which is simply sublime, and not underrated b/c most of us adore it):

#10 Out Of Tears - Beautiful. Mick's confessional "I can't pour my heart out to another living thing" is great, as is the piano, and wow, Ronnie's slide solo is sliver-inducing. Damn that guy can do it when really wants to (which is rare unfortunately).

#9 Let Me Down Slow - I don't know what it is about this one: none of the guys particularly shine on this one. The lyrics and song aren't that special. But I think it's just put together so well that the song is greater than the sum of its parts. It just hits a groove with me that makes me smile and sing along every time I hear it.

#8 Continental Drift - Listened to this again recently, and it takes awhile to get kicking, but by the time they get to the nearly-ecstatic Chah-Cha-Cha-Cha...Chah-Cha-Cha-Cha...I just get sucked in and think this is one of their most original creative endeavors.

#7 Might As Well Get Juiced - I thought this was a very
successful experiment in a more modern electronic sound, yet still with harmonica and with all the delirium of Exile. Just all kinds of fun to listen to.

#6 Anybody Seen My Baby - man did I ever hate this when it came out! But a few years later it started to sound okay. And for the last year I'm actually really digging it. This is my pattern, by the way. I'll probably be saying the same thing about more ABB tracks in ten years. The Ronnie solo at the end of the album version (not the horribly truncated forty licks version - anyone want to buy a used copy of that ripoff from Lethargy?) in particular is great.

#5 Break The Spell - awesome. Stones doing classic blues in their own way, just like they did recently with Back Of My Hand.

#4 Hold Back - the most hard rocking the Stones get. The drums and guitars are just amazing, and the lyrics (at the time at least) are quite revealing (I've been climbing this tree of promises for nearly 40 years...Your dreams get broken...etc.)

#3 Gunface - the anger, the rythms, the machine-gun guitars. Just great angst-rock, admittedly played by comfy billionaires (I haven't forgotten that contradiction, but I can let it go), but maybe it's not so unbelievable after all - isn't Keith a gun nut?

#2 Mean Disposition - mick's delivery, the guitars, the drums, the chuck berryesque jamming (especially on the voodoo brew version), awesome.

...drum roll...#1 underrated gem of 1983-2006 is...

#1 You Got Me Rocking - like most people, I grew tired of this over the last several tours, but I forgot how awesome the STUDIO version is. Mick's screaming empassioned voice ("no way to stop me...no way to STOP me!", and Ronnie's awesome slide guitar, make this simply an amazing track. Reminds me of what Ronnie is actually capable of when he's in the right mode. The touring version is of course lifeless like so many other songs of late, but man does this studio version ever blow me away. And for those of you who haven't heard it, the Voodoo BREW version is even better.

---

quote:

---

Lethargy wrote:
#6 Anybody Seen My Baby - man did I ever hate this when it came out! But a few years later it started to sound okay. And for the last year I'm actually really digging it. This is my pattern, by the way. I'll probably be saying the same thing about more ABB tracks in ten years. The Ronnie solo at the end of the album version (not the horribly truncated forty licks version - anyone want to buy a used copy of that ripoff from Lethargy?) in particular is great.

---

quote:

---

mrhipfl wrote:
I like all the songs you listed except might as well get juiced. That song is a complete waste. I hate it. It gives me headaches.

---

quote:

---

GotToRollMe wrote:
Nice list! I think Bridges To Babylon as an album is underrated.

---

quote:

---

Mel Belli wrote:


Nice writing all around, and good choices (quick fact check: Waddy Wachtel does that beautiful little guitar coda on "Baby," not Ronnie). "How Can I Stop" is my No. 1 underrated gem of the last 20 years - I think it's simply one of the best things Keith has ever written, period.


[Edited by Mel Belli]

---

quote:

---

gimmekeef wrote:


You should have been with me at MSG in fifth row when they did it live (only time?) Jan 17/98...was very good!

---

quote:

---

Lethargy wrote:
#4 Hold Back - the most hard rocking the Stones get. The drums and guitars are just amazing, and the lyrics (at the time at least) are quite revealing (I've been climbing this tree of promises for nearly 40 years...Your dreams get broken...etc.)

---

quote:

---

Lethargy wrote:
I was just taking a shower listening to my typical random mp3 shuffle-play of the entire stones catalog (I need to get out more), and I ended up hearing both Out Of Tears and You Got Me Rocking for the first time in ages. Made me think about all the underrated gems the guys have put out in the past 20 years or so, that are generally unmentioned, even on this great board.

So I offer the following list of "Underrated gems from 1983-2006". Note that generally revered songs aren't on here, b/c the point is underrated gems, not simply gems (like Slipping Away, which is simply sublime, and not underrated b/c most of us adore it):

#10 Out Of Tears - Beautiful. Mick's confessional "I can't pour my heart out to another living thing" is great, as is the piano, and wow, Ronnie's slide solo is sliver-inducing. Damn that guy can do it when really wants to (which is rare unfortunately).

#9 Let Me Down Slow - I don't know what it is about this one: none of the guys particularly shine on this one. The lyrics and song aren't that special. But I think it's just put together so well that the song is greater than the sum of its parts. It just hits a groove with me that makes me smile and sing along every time I hear it.

#8 Continental Drift - Listened to this again recently, and it takes awhile to get kicking, but by the time they get to the nearly-ecstatic Chah-Cha-Cha-Cha...Chah-Cha-Cha-Cha...I just get sucked in and think this is one of their most original creative endeavors.

#7 Might As Well Get Juiced - I thought this was a very
successful experiment in a more modern electronic sound, yet still with harmonica and with all the delirium of Exile. Just all kinds of fun to listen to.

#6 Anybody Seen My Baby - man did I ever hate this when it came out! But a few years later it started to sound okay. And for the last year I'm actually really digging it. This is my pattern, by the way. I'll probably be saying the same thing about more ABB tracks in ten years. The Ronnie solo at the end of the album version (not the horribly truncated forty licks version - anyone want to buy a used copy of that ripoff from Lethargy?) in particular is great.

#5 Break The Spell - awesome. Stones doing classic blues in their own way, just like they did recently with Back Of My Hand.

#4 Hold Back - the most hard rocking the Stones get. The drums and guitars are just amazing, and the lyrics (at the time at least) are quite revealing (I've been climbing this tree of promises for nearly 40 years...Your dreams get broken...etc.)

#3 Gunface - the anger, the rythms, the machine-gun guitars. Just great angst-rock, admittedly played by comfy billionaires (I haven't forgotten that contradiction, but I can let it go), but maybe it's not so unbelievable after all - isn't Keith a gun nut?

#2 Mean Disposition - mick's delivery, the guitars, the drums, the chuck berryesque jamming (especially on the voodoo brew version), awesome.

...drum roll...#1 underrated gem of 1983-2006 is...

#1 You Got Me Rocking - like most people, I grew tired of this over the last several tours, but I forgot how awesome the STUDIO version is. Mick's screaming empassioned voice ("no way to stop me...no way to STOP me!", and Ronnie's awesome slide guitar, make this simply an amazing track. Reminds me of what Ronnie is actually capable of when he's in the right mode. The touring version is of course lifeless like so many other songs of late, but man does this studio version ever blow me away. And for those of you who haven't heard it, the Voodoo BREW version is even better.

---

quote:

---

tumbling dice wrote:
Great review!In my humble opinion i just change HOLD BACK for ALL THE WAY DOWN and GUNFACE for LAUGH,I NEARLY DIED.

---

quote:

---

Lethargy wrote:


LAUGH I Nearly Died is one of my favs of the last 20 years for sure! I excluded it from my list only b/c most people on the board seem to like it already. Hard to measure that ever-changing factor, though. If I thought most people hated this song, thus making it under-rated, it would be in the list for sure.

Great tune. By the way, when I listen to ABB, it usually proceeds as follows:

- Rough Justice - Let Me Down SLow - It Won't Take Long
(skip RFD, SOL)
- Back Of My Hand
(skip She Saw Me Coming, Biggest Mistake)
- Place is Empty, Oh No Not You Again
(skip Dangerous Beauty (snore)
- Laugh I Nearly died
(REPEAT Laugh I Nearly died one or two times - might even be the BEST on the album)
(skip Neocon, Cat Dragged In, Too Fast - the three worst of the album all in a row)
- Infamy (this song sucks too but it's a good way to finish with a Keith album as usual)

---

quote:

---

Lethargy wrote:


Figures that was Waddy, not Ronnie. Doesn't really sound like Ronnie's style - I should have known it wasn't him. Thanks for pointing it out.

Keith is absent from the track entirely, from what I recall. Makes this quite a different kind of stones track.

How Can I stop is indeed brilliant. I'm now tempted to replace Let Me Down Slow with How Can I Stop on my original post.

---