Customer Reviews

Emotional Rescue (Reis)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I picked up Emotional Rescue along with Some Girls and Tattoo You from the newest Universal Music remasters series and was pleasantly surprised at how well the recent remastering enhances my enjoyment of this album. The remastering tops any previous CD version of this album by a wide mark and I don't even remember the vinyl version sounding this good. The Stones tried out a lot of echo effects on this album as well as instrumentation mixes that usually sounded cheesy and muffled. Now the mixes are crystal clear and the album emerges as a laid back but stylish effort by the Stones that deserves more notice than typically given it. The rockers are effortless and cocksure and the more experimental tracks such as the title cut shimmer with clever instrumentation. Emotional Rescue along with It's Only Rock and Roll, really benefitted from the new remastering by Universal Music. I really have high expectations for Exile on Main Street as well.

Released in 1980,"Emotional Rescue" was dismissed as a lazy,uninspired retread of "Some Girls" by rock critics.The public couldn't care less about their opinions-it topped the Billboard album chart for 7 weeks,and produced hits like the delightfully campy disco-ish title song,the aptly-titled funk number "Dance (Pt. 1)" and the stuttering rocker "She's So Cold".Other highlights include the reggae number "Send It To Me",the bluesy "Down In The Hole" and the uptempo rockers "Where The Boys Go" and "Summer Romance".It may not be a "classic" Stones album,but it's still a listenable,fun effort.The 2009 UMG remaster is a noticable improvement over the 1994 Virgin-the muddiness is lifted,and it sounds sharper,clearer and more lifelike this time around.

This record might be almost as good as Some Girls. This time around, the band did record some high energy rock tracks, but also played a few dance orientated tracks as well, that really accent the bass and drums. Which really sounds good on the remastered CD. Plus a couple slow songs thrown in as well.

I loved this recording 30 years ago and I love it now. No big comeback, no big statments, just a rock solid effort full of good, great and interesting songs. It is the Rolling Stones as I like to remember them. What is considered by some to be a throwaway effort would be a crowning achievement for most bands. Don't belive the bad reviews. Like Exile it takes several listenings to kick in, but when it does it wears very well. Where the Boys All Go and Dance Pt.1 are gems that never got the acclaim they deserve.

What do you expect for that time in music history. Rolling Stones fans can overlook all the faults of the era.

Hey, in 2009 no one, including this reviewer, NEEDS to comment on the fact that The Rolling Stones, pound for pound, have over forty plus years earned their place as the number one band in the rock `n' roll pantheon. Still, it is interesting to listen once again to the guys when they were at the height of their musical powers (and as high, most of the time, as Georgia pines). This album from the tail end of their most creative period , moreover, unlike let us say Bob Dylan who has produced more creative work for longer, is the "golden era" of the Stone Age. The album, however, is a little uneven in spots reflecting, I think, a certain exhaustion of material that they could call their totally their own unless the time when they owned a big chunk of rock 'n'roll in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The age of a more sedate music (at least technically) was approaching and I think there was some confusion about whether to embrace it or "spoof" it. Frankly, nothing jumps out here but "Dance", "Indian Girl", "She So Cold" and the title track "Emotional Rescue" make this album. I do not think anything here qualifies for their "greatest hits" vault.

After trolling the various audiophile forums and finding mixed reviews, I was reluctant to get this. My 1980 LP sounds just fine, but I wanted to have this for the car, and mp3 etc, so I took the plunge. I don't have the '94 CD version to compare it to, but I can report that on my mid-to-high-level home system, this version sounds very close to the vinyl. Yes, it IS mastered too loud, but it is actually very pleasant to listen to and has good "definition." Could it have been better remastered? No doubt, but for the $12-15 price point and the fact that it beats any attempt at ripping my LP, I have no regrets.

"Emotional Rescue" is one of the most challenging listens in The Rolling Stones' entire catalog. It's littered with some truly great moments interspersed with some of their worst recordings. Despite the success of "Some Girls," the band's growing personal conflicts was seriously clouding their artistry, and they began to come a head during the sessions for the 1980 release. The result is a very tense, uneven record with some gems among the fiberglass.

"Emotional Rescue" shares quite a bit in common with 1976's "Black and Blue" in its qualitative inconsistency. Mick is still very much all over the record as far as the sound goes, with further forays into funk, disco, reggae and punk. Sometimes, they work really well; the opening "Dance Pt. 1" is an excellent, gritty, funky way to start things off, with its mantra of "Get Up, Get Out, Get Into Something New" sounding like a message to fans that the 1980s' are here and the band is changing with the times. The band sounds really tight and Mick's voice is tough and impassioned. While not a great song, it works well enough and is one of the band's better post-1970s' efforts that isn't "Start Me Up."

The other highlights are even better; the title song, even with Mick's somewhat ridiculous falsetto, is catchy as hell and was a huge hit at the time. Not a great song, but one of their most fun and entertaining. "She's So Cold" is admittedly a little weak on the record, but is classic Stones misogyny that eventually became a real beast in concert. Best of all is Keith's soul bearing, slow burning closer "All About You," about his disintegrating relationship with Anita Pallenberg. Along with "Happy," it's probably the best Stones song to feature Keef on vocals, and he really lays into it.

Unofrtunately, the rest of the record is pretty dismal. "Summer Romance" and the god-awful "Where the Boys Go" sound like bad "Some Girls" outtakes with none of the bite or soul of "When the Whip Comes Down," "Respectable" and superior songs in that vein. "Indian Girl" has a nice melody but is lyricall odd and and meandering. "Send It to Me" is annoying faux reggae that only Mick can provide, and the clunky blues number "Down in the Hole" should've been left in the cutting room.

Overall, "Emotional Rescue" has its high points, but as a record it simply fails to come together. Best worth downloading the high points.

There are a few classic tracks here (the undeniable "She's So Cold" being the highlight), but overall the Stones sound adrift on this record, unsure of what to do with themselves after having just completed the essential Some Girls. There would be no such indecision on their excellent follow-up, Tattoo You, but unfortunately the rest of their output from the 1980s would be a lot more like this record: a few good tunes mixed in with some muddled, directionless filler.

Absolute crap. It seems in the 80's,the Stones always had to humor Jagger with at least one piece of disco garbage per LP, and "Dance Part 1" is the worst. ("Part 2" appears on a couple of compilations and maybe a 12" disco single.)It does have a kinda cool cover and two decent tunes, the blues "Down In The Hole" and the hit "She's So Cold", a rocker with a clever, politically incorrect, lyric. On the whole, comparable to other mediorcities of the era,such as "Dirty Work" and "Steel Wheels".