The Rolling Stones: Ranking The Albums Best To Worst

8. Undercover

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXaY8PR5IQQ Date Of Original Release: 1983 Key Tracks: Undercover of The Night, Too Much Blood On this album, the Stones discover that MTV is a thing that exists. They produced music videos in the past, like the "stuck in a washing machine" clip for "It's Only Rock and Roll", and the "hanging out on a stoop" clip for 'Waiting On A Friend", but here they show an awareness of the true potential of the form. Their video for "Too Much Blood", directed by Julian Temple, was famously banned for being "too violent". That's fair enough, if you think chainsaw fights and blood geysers are "too violent". Which is pretty ironic, as the song was intended to be anti-violence, but some can have difficulty with irony. Apart from the singles, there's not all that much of interest here, and the dated 80's production does the songs no favors. "Undercover Of The Night" is a bona fide Stones classic though, with topical political lyrics from Mick and a catchy chorus. We also get the obligatory reggae song in "Feel On Baby" and the leeringly sexist track in "She Was Hot". For the most part though, the Stones attempt to remain relevant in face of the ascendant media juggernaut that was MTV is a bit of a damp squib.

7. Black And Blue

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRVlhlwUMlg Date Of Original Release: 1977 Key Tracks: Cherry Oh Baby, Memory Motel, Fool To Cry Remembered mainly for its reprehensibly sexist advertising campaign featuring a beaming model covered in bruises with the copy "I'm Black and Blue from the Stones.... and I love it!", this is another fair-to-middling LP with an OK reggae cover ("Cherry Oh Baby") and a couple of solid, well-written tracks ("Fool to Cry" and "Memory Motel"). Billy Preston again plays keyboards on some tracks so the album has a very funky 70's feel, especially on Preston's duet with Mick, "Melody". Their longtime guitarist Mick Taylor had left by this point, throwing the Stones into confusion and producing ridiculous, hectoring tripe like "Hot Stuff". It's also the Stones album with the least number of songs (a paltry eight.)