The Rolling Stones: Steel Wheels version on vinyl LP in Remastered edition. This particular edition was published in Europe and USA in publishing company Rolling Stones Records on 26. June 2020.

The Rolling Stones' nineteenth studio album was released in 1989. Recorded in the spring at Montserrat and in London before the band embarked on their biggest world tour to date, it is the earliest comeback album ever released by the band. The Rolling Stones never released a comeback album because they never broke up. They were written off many times and fans and critics liked some albums more than others, but they never officially said so and agreed to go their own way. On the contrary... And what else would we expect? I mean, they're The Rolling Stones, the most controversial rock'n'roll band in the world... On the contrary, in the mid-eighties, when the band's creative unity was at its most precarious, they didn't come to an agreement and instead went their own way, highly committed and torn to shreds on even the purest of umbrage, if the intra-rock and roll banter in the period press was anything to go by. It was a tough time, no doubt, with rocks on the left and hard places on the right. Mick announced he felt stifled by the Rolling Stones, turned down the Dirty Work tour, instead went solo, performed Stones songs in his set and released She's the Boss and Primitive Cool. Keith retaliated with Talk Is Cheap. They blamed each other bitterly and publicly, and at times seemed - especially Mick - to admit it was over. The end of the Rolling Stones seemed inevitable and unavoidable. Then something happened, only they knew what, that made them both, along with Charlie, Bill and Ronnie (who had grimly watched the break-up, though never quite coming to terms with the post-Stones world) start working together again. The result was Steel Wheels, which is as close to a comeback as you'll ever get - except maybe for Beggars Banquet, depending on what you think of Their Satanic Majesties Request. It's safe to say that Steel Wheels is great. Granted, it also rolls a bit and goes off the rails on a few tracks, but by any standards it's a big old locomotive. It's not the most efficient or beautifully designed musical vehicle ever built. But the Rolling Stones, even with the occasional ringing comeback, are still the equal of almost any other band at the top; and there are some moments of genius on Steel Wheels that are and always will be available only to bands that created genius to begin with, played, toured, wrote and recorded together for 26 years, and recently had a two-year near-death experience together. First the worst? The opener Sad Sad Sad is probably one of the weakest songs on Steel Wheels. It's not so much that there's anything downright wrong with it, but there's not much originality here either. It's a predictable, four-verse play on confidence, and The Rolling Stones (80s version) do a damn good job of sounding exactly like The Rolling Stones (80s version). Mixed Emotions, the second track and first single from the Steel Wheels album, pulls it off, albeit with more intense lyrics - commentators and critics have given much pause to the possible commentary the song offers on Mick and Keith's relationship. "Let's bury the hatchet, let's erase the past" certainly sounds that way; though "...get off the fence/ Get your ass wrinkled" proves that the Stones' robust sense of humour and insight into human relationships still works perfectly well. Hearts For Sale rattles a bit in the "The Stones play The Stones" selection on Steel Wheels. A great blend of crunching, dirty, rolling guitar riffs (including Ronnie's solo turn and the opening motif itself, which Mick is responsible for), the jovial, laconic work of rhythm kings Charlie and Bill, and Jagger's growling vocals all combine here to give the song something extra, even if the singer sounds like he's more interested in fighting than making love. The album's number two single, Rock And A Hard Place, another piece of straight-ahead radio AOR , is lifted out of the ordinary by The Kick Horns' exhibition brass, a truly danceable Wyman bassline and a VERY 80s arrangement and production mix. The guitars wail and crash, Mick adds his usual drama and urgency to the lead vocals, but the only problem is that when backing vocalists Bernard Fowler, Lisa Fischer and Sarah Dash belt out the chorus in the extended play out, it could be just about anyone. Can't Be Seen suffers from a bit of the same problem - this record is not only very much a Rolling Stones record, but also very much a late 80s record. Wanting to make an original but popular album, and having access to exactly the same influences and technologies as everyone else, means that genericness sometimes creeps in all too easily. On the other hand, Terrifying manages to overcome this problem quite easily. Take a look: it could be an outtake from the current album The The; but on closer inspection you'll find that it's actually an early version of the X-Press 2/David Byrne dance hit Lazy from 2002, thirteen years before its release. What's more, it's better. Other highlights include the brisk and menacing rocker Hold On To Your Hat and the disarmingly sweet mid-tempo love song Blinded By Love, with lovely, gentle folk undertones provided by Wood/Jagger/Richards with acoustic guitars and Matt Clifford's harmonium and Phil Beer on fiddle and mandolin. Almost Hear You Sigh is another slower love song, this time all soul, and could almost be a George Michael song. Keith's solo work on his 1956 Velasquez "Guts" is stunning here. Strangest of all on this strange sonic history of how a band that almost broke up got back together is the amazing "Continental Drift. Featuring the master musicians of Jajouka (the Brian Jones connection adds to its poignancy), the track is best described as World Music; but that doesn't even begin to do it justice. Filled with bazaar sounds, catchy licks and riffs, both vocal and instrumental, to the constant refrain of "Love comes at the speed of light", the song grows and builds through the inclusion of layered vocals, incredible Jajouka drum beats, echoing strings and a driving, accelerating rhythm; until it ends up sounding very much like the accompaniment to a midnight chase through the medina in the old city of Fez: If you don't know where you're going, you're completely out of control, and you have to trust those who know to get you safely where you're going. Which of course they do: these men are masters of music, and so are their Moroccan guests. The Steel Wheels needed to get the Rolling Stones out of the Dirty Work drag and near-mid-decade breakup and into the 1990s and into another decade in which they could reinvent themselves. The ride isn't always as exciting as it could be. Slipping Away, the album's last track, is frankly below average, and shows a rare moment where it's not contemporary but actually out of place: 'All I want is ecstasy/But I'm not getting much,' Keith sings in the middle of The Second Summer of Love, while in fields across England the kids have had enough and are dancing to a really different beat. But Steel Wheels got them there, and indeed proved to be the vehicle that provoked or enabled their next big shape-shift. The Steel Wheels tour, which midway through turned itself into the Urban Jungle tour, was the first of the truly great tours for which the current Rolling Stones are most admired today. It's hard to come back from near-fatal and very public, more or less unforgivable slights with anything resembling integrity; but the irreverence for conventional standards and the dedication to making music together is what has always kept them alive, and never more so than on Steel Wheels. (rollingstones.com)

Album spans genres Rock and Classic Rock. 180g Remastered Half Speed Master Master. Vinyl. Vinyl.