The Rolling Stones - Some Girls (RS500 - #269)

In my opinion, the last great Rolling Stones album, released in 1978 on Virgin Records. Yes, yes - I know that Emotional Rescue and Tattoo You were released afterwards, and both of these albums have their fans. But both Emotional Rescue and Tattoo You were comprised mostly of outtakes and leftovers, rags, bones and offal from sessions as far back as 1969, along with a lot of filler (especially Emotional Rescue, which frankly is redeemed by only two songs, the title cut and "She's So Cold" - otherwise, this album would be classed alongside Dirty Work as one of the Stones' worst).

In Some Girls, the Stones take on both disco and punk, the twin threats to their popularity and chart success in the late '70s. I think their response to disco, "Miss You", is spot-on, and a classic Stones song. However, they don't come at punk quite as directly. Instead of coopting the new sound, Mick and the boys instead channel punk's aggression, in songs like "When The Whip Comes Down" and especially in "Shattered", which they play the hell out of.

Radio stations had this one in heavy rotation throughout the summer and fall of 1978. You couldn't go more than 20 minutes, it seemed, without hearing "Shattered" on the radio. I loved this album, especially the cover art with the cutouts from the wig ads. The Rolling Stones dumped as much fire and vitriol into this album as they had; in hindsight, it now appears that afterwards, they had nothing left. Some of their later albums have been good, especially in the 1990s and afterwards (there was a lot of dreck put out by the Stones in the Eighties). But the drive, the passion, the verve is long gone.

What a drag it is getting old, indeed.

Anyway, here it is - enjoy:

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