The Rolling Stones' "Too Much Blood" - is this the best thing they ever did?

Undercover as a whole really kind of trounces Some Girls if you ask me. I want to see the video for "Under Cover of the Night!"

She Was Hot

I remember the 12" single for this song contained 30 minutes of music over three mixes. Completely dubbed out to infinity.

http://www.magiccity.ne.jp/~berocity/stones/museum/bero/video/clip/stones_1980/gif/11a_03.jpg

However, by '77-'85 I remember thinking about Undercover and Emotional Rescue and imagining these were dire albums, based on the dire title singles, and that goes triple for "She Was Hot", "Waiting for a Friend", "Start Me Up". Sucking in the Seventies always seemed an apt compilation title from times that seem like the beginning of the endless end of the Rolling Stones.

OK the video for "Undercover" was interesting, so i'm keen to see this other one (as long as it's _nothing_ _like_ "She Was Hot" or anything like KJs "Love Like Blood" for that matter).

alex there are other good reasons to visit the bois de boulogne no?

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000000W68.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Meanwhile back in the jungle...

YOU EVER SEE THE "TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE"? 'ORRIBLE, WASN'T IT?!?

the video

The Arthur Baker remix is indeed amazing: 12 minutes of hysteria.

I'll be happy to send it.

Here's the three versions (album, dance, dub):

http://burningtheground-djpault.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Rolling%20Stones

I'm after the dub version of Undercover of the Night if anyone has it.

This song rules, but so does the single cover (from the video)
http://www.securecrazydiamond.com/dizq/52838.jpg

how the hell can anyone consider this in the upper echelon of the stones catalog?!

I'm very comfortable with this residing in the middle echelon, thanks.

Coz their 60s stuff is mainly a snooze.

...

i would definitely say this single/ undercover was the last thing they did that excites me in any way.

I really love "One Hit (To the Body)" but I'm alone.

i liked highwire... a little...

aww c'mon "One Hit (To The Body)" is widely loved around here, isn't it? I think it's great too.

I didn't want to start another pro-Dirty Work thread.

i liked highwire... a little...

so did Greil Marcus!

keith's guitar sounds a lot like johnny marr in parts of this song.

It may not even be Keith, or if he is, he's mixed pretty low.

Roadie Jim Barber plays the main guitar line (Mick gets credit too). Apparently Mick told him to "play like Andy Summer."

i wanna dance, i wanna sing, i wanna bust up everything

dunno why this song is in my mind today but it is ...

'orrible, wadn't it?

soto should i break down and get undercover (note: i have every album thru tattoo you except it's only rock n roll)(also: should i break down and get it's only rock n roll?)

If you're a completist, by all means, but it's not essential. Most of the songs are needlessly explicit and gross; the trebly arrangement underscores every nasty lyric. But don't let that sound like an endorsement: besides "She Was Hot," the songs just ain't very funny.

You're better off with Dirty Work, where the songs and arrangements are odd and insistent in more complex ways.

yeah i've had several stones freaks thru the years try to sell me on dirty work (which i did own once thx to columbia house), but as great as 'one hit to the body' is i haven't bit.

the scene from basket case that appears at the beginning of the "too much blood" video ... enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok7fOwdk2gc

Today I agree. Best RS song.

ooh no don't saw off me arm

LMAO

It may not be—OK, it certainly is not— the best thing they done, but it's fucking excellent, there can be no question that what distinguishes Undercover is that its the Stones record that was conceived and released as the MTV/video era had matured…and so Jagger got Julien temple to make a bunch of full on plotline videos, after TY and SG's videos are mostly ""shoot the band playing and giving loads of attitude"…

The three singles from this record are amongst my favorite Stones songs ("She was hot" is my fave of 'em all), since its the first record by that band that came out since I had been engaged with music… TY, despite being assembled outta outtakes, was followed by the 81 tour which was the first all-points penetrative tour of the 80s and absolutely dominated mass appeal "rock" culture. But I was 10 in 81 and couldn't fully engage with music, couldn't discover things on my own…

apparent Keith really had nothing to do with this tune, being that its a great example of MJ's predilection to push forward and incorporate emerging forms and a great example of KR's phlegmy contempt for any development past, what, Peter Tosh? To me, MJ's desire to keep the band current is laudable, if occasionally needy…

So...what was the Stones' red with the kids in 1983? My reading is that Tattoo You was the last time (given its sales) the Stones mattered as a part of youth culture -- what Rob Sheffield called their Mall Rat Years, i.e. 1978-1982.

Red = reputation

it's also hard to find the "she was hot" video… this may have to do with the fact that to put it mildly it is not in tune with contemporary mores and maybe the Stones team has scrubbed it?

unless you were a very very cool kid with access to underground culture, the Rolling Stones were still the biggest band in the world, still somewhat scary, in no way were they part of anybody's parents cultures… those videos were right up there in terms of MTV prominence with Thriller, the Synchronicity and Purple Rain vids etc…and were in a significant sense scarier ("Too Much Blood") dirtier "She was hot") and more topical ("Undercover of the night"); which is to say that I think Undercover still mattered to youth culture, not as much as TY, but still significant…

I remember the "Undercover" video playing on the countdown shows with all the other contemporary pop; same with the Dirty Work videos, although they were less popular.

I ask because "Undercover of the Night" barely scraped the top ten and the album was their first since 1970 not to hit #1

It may not be—OK, it certainly is not— the best thing they done, but it's fucking excellent, there can be no question that what distinguishes Undercover is that its the Stones record that was conceived and released as the MTV/video era had matured…and so Jagger got Julien temple to make a bunch of full on plotline videos, after TY and SG's videos are mostly ""shoot the band playing and giving loads of attitude"…The three singles from this record are amongst my favorite Stones songs ("She was hot" is my fave of 'em all)

Up to that point, it might've been their worst album, but there's four commendable tracks that I enjoy. I'm not sure if they're the same four singles - I thought there were only three singles from that album, and they do make up three of the four I had in mind: "Undercover," "She Was Hot," "Too Much Blood" and "It Must Be Hell."

apparent Keith really had nothing to do with this tune, being that its a great example of MJ's predilection to push forward and incorporate emerging forms and a great example of KR's phlegmy contempt for any development past, what, Peter Tosh? To me, MJ's desire to keep the band current is laudable, if occasionally needy…

I agree with this. Some Girls is brilliant because of this. After that, it was hit-or-miss, but I rather they take risks than do something boring and corporate like most of Steel Wheels (which to be fair had "Continental Drift" - not a great track, but a commendable try).

Wait, somehow I read "three" as "four." NM!

The "She was Hot" video got discussed recently here on the What Can't You Find On The Internet? thread.

XPost!

it's also hard to find the "she was hot" video… this may have to do with the fact that to put it mildly it is not in tune with contemporary mores and maybe the Stones team has scrubbed it?

I went looking for it recently and found a notice on the label site (where a cut had been hosted) that it had been removed on copyright claims from some European film company, presumably because of some source footage.

The band themselves used to have it up on their YouTube page, and before that both edits in VHS rips where pretty easy to find there.

Apparently the easiest way to see it online now is to look at taped vintage MTV video blocks on archive.org. However the one I was directed to only had the first half of the video, probably an edit by the uploader.

And of course one could always track down the Rewind VHS/Laser Disc.