Conflict within the Rolling Stones leads to Undercover, an underestimated album

Introduction

Late 1983 the 17th studio album (the 19th in the US) by the Rolling Stones, Undercover, was released. The album brought the slumbering conflict between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to the fore.

Underway to Undercover

In the early 1980s the Rolling Stones were definitely back. The album Some Girls (1978) had once again proved that the band was still relevant. After Emotional Rescue (1980), which was unjustly regarded as an in-betweener, Tattoo You (1981) was hailed. The US tour for the album was presented on the live album Still Life – American Concert 1981 (1982). In 1982 the Rolling Stones brought their European Tour 1982 to the UK and the continent and brought the stadiums down all over Europe.

Relevance/problems

As was the case at the time of the release of Some Girls, the music world had once again changed. Michael Jackson had turned the music world upside down with Thriller and in Minneapolis Prince was steadily building a true musical empire. Could the Rolling Stones be relevant still? Maybe more importantly, could they do that with two leaders at the helm? At the time of Some Girls and Emotional Rescue Mick Jagger was the band’s supreme sovereign, because Keith Richards was still deep in (the consequences of) his addiction(s) and didn’t interfere with the (musical) direction of the band. Tattoo You was largely made up of rest material. In 1982 it was all different, Keith Richards concerned himself with the band and demanded an active role.

But there were other problems to deal with as well. Again caused by drugs. This time both Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood had fallen victim to addiction, which was only deepened as the recording sessions for the new album continued on. Charlie Watts’ addiction was particularly ‘out of character’:

[My drug and alcohol problems were] my way of dealing with [family problems]… Looking back on it, I think it was a mid-life crisis. All I know is that, taking amphetamines and heroin, I became totally another person around 1983 and came out of it about 1986. I nearly lost my wife and everything over my behaviour. I was not particularly fun to live with.

Rolling Stones – 1983

Recording

Late November 1982 Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (later accompanied by Charlie Watts) met in Paris and recorded a couple of demos for their next album.

When we started off writing, Keith and I got in a bit early and we rented an 8-track demo studio here in Paris. And I said, Well, have you got some, Keith? and we took turns at playing the drums and – well, we played guitar and we got to know the material each of us had written in the past few months, you know. So when we actually got the band into the studio, we had sort of a hard-core bunch of songs, which is actually most of the songs on the album.

Mick Jagger, 1983

The official recording sessions for Undercover took place from:

• December 1st to 19th, 1982, at the Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris
• January 30th to February 8th, 1983, at the Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris
• February 19th to March 12th, 1983, at the Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris
• April 1983 at the Compass Point Studios in Nassau on the Bahamas

Recording of overdubs and mixing of Undercover took place at The Hit Factory in New York City from:

• early to the 9th of May, 1983
• late May to early June, 1983
• late June to August 1st, 1983

Where previous albums were produced by The Glimmer Twins (Mick Jagger and Keith Richards), this time they were officially accompanied by Chris Kimsey, primarily because of the many innovations in recording techniques. During the first recording sessions the cooperation between Jagger and Richards was reasonably civilized, but it didn’t last too long. The discord about the direction of the band turned into an ever bigger issue. Besides the irritation Jagger undoubtedly must have had about Richards’ sudden involvement with the band, after a decade of factual absence, the difference was fundamental.

Jagger had always showed more interest in modern music. It was Jagger who had invited Prince to be one of the support acts for the Rolling Stones. Jagger wanted to connect to the danceable pop of the times. At the other end of the spectrum was Richards who wanted the band to stay true to their blues-rock roots. The result was that Jagger and Richards became more and more vocal about their annoyances. In his auto biography Life Richards stated: “Jagger started to become unbearable”. Jagger probably didn’t feel any different towards Richards.

And still, both men got their way. With guests like the rhythm tandem Sly Dunbar (drums) and Robbie Shakespeare (bas), who were okayed by Richards, a number of songs contain the musicality that had a major influence on external albums like Grace Jones’ influential Nightclubbing, whose music was largely recorded at the Compass Point Studios in Nassau on the Bahamas, a studio regularly frequented by the Rolling Stones.

Rolling Stones – Undercover Of The Night – Video stills

Undercover Of The Night

On October 31, 1983, the first single of the upcoming Rolling Stones album was released: Undercover Of The Night. In 1984 Mick Jagger said:

The song Undercover Of The Night was always, when it was written, it was always like… it’s supposed to be about the repression of violence in our minds, you know, in society’s mind. Because we have so much of it. We get used to it. It’s also about repressive political systems. Pretty serious stuff for, you know, Top – sort of – 20 material. It’s pretty risky to put out songs like that ’cause nobody is really interested, I think. I mean everyone’s interested in songs about having a party all night or whatever. Or just mumbo-jumbo, you know. No one’s interested in anything real. Plus, then the video which is setting out to reflect that song made it perhaps a little easier – or not! (laughs) – to understand. So that was a bit of a departure for us, for a while. Cause we hadn’t done anything like that since Street Fighting Man.

It was heavily influenced by William Burroughs’ ‘Cities of the Red Night’, a free-wheeling novel about political and sexual repression. It combines a number of different references to what was going down in Argentina and Chile.

Funny Jagger quotes Street Fighting Man. Indeed, it was the last politically charged single the band had released up until Undercover Of The Night. Given the musical direction, the song can be credited to Jagger. An irresistible swinging funk beat, adorned with extra percussion and minimal bass lines (courtesy of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare).

The lyrics were significant as well:

Hear the screams of Center 42
Loud enough to bust your brains out
The opposition’s tongue is cut in two
Keep off the street ’cause you’re in danger
One hundred thousand disparus
Lost in the jails in South America

© 1983 Rolling Stones

The accompanying video also created controversy, always a great recipe for attention. The video was directed by Julian Temple (renowned for The Sex Pistols’ movie The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Swindle). After recording some kind of performance clip, Temple took Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to Mexico. The result? Blood, bullets, explosions and a young couple watching in horror to the images on a tv set. The Rolling Stones brought the political and violent chaos of Central and South America to the masses in the Western world. The band once again was at the center of attacking the status quo!

In the video Jagger portrays a detective investigating the abduction of a teenage girl, as he is constantly followed by the guilty party, led by Richards. The video ends with the Richards character killing Jagger with a machine gun. Oh, the irony.

The video was censored, which was a real problem in the age of videoclips, as heavy rotation on MTV almost automatically led to success in late 1983.

Rolling Stones – Undercover

Undercover

On November 7, 1983, the 17th (number 19 in the US) studio album by the Rolling Stones was released on their own Rolling Stones label. The album was successful, but only reached number 1 in The Netherlands and Sweden. In the UK it reached the 3rd position and in the US it reached number 4.

Perhaps the album is too electric for its own good? Musically speaking it ranges from (hard) rock to new wave, pop, reggae, dub funk and soul, it has it all.

Jagger’s lyrics are dark, aggressive and full of tension. Next to Undercover Of The Night Too Much Blood stands out. Both musically and lyrically.

Everything you see on the movie screen is tame
Everything’s going to be arranged
A friend of mine was this Japanese
He had a girlfriend in Paris
He asked to date her in six months
And eventually, she said yes
You know?
Took her to his apartment, cut off her head
Put the rest of her body in the refrigerator, ate her piece by piece
Put her in the refrigerator, put her in the freezer
And when he ate her
Took her bones to the Bois de Boulogne
By chance, a taxi driver noticed him
Burying the bones
You don’t believe me?
Truth is stranger than fiction
We drive through there every night

© 1983 Rolling Stones

The lyrics above paint the true story of Issei Sagawa, student at the Sorbonne (University of Paris), who murdered and ate (!) a Dutch student in 1981. The song also addresses the horror movie The Chainsaw Massacre. “I can feel it in the air / Feel it up above / Feel the tension everywhere / There’s too much blood”. The song was released as the album’s third single and was accompanied by another distinctive video, where Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood hunt Mick Jagger down with chainsaws.

The tensions during the recording sessions (sub)consciously found their way into the lyrics, which were angry and aggressive, as can be found in songs like It Must Be Hell, Tie You Up (The Pain Of Love) and Pretty Beat Up. Only the Keith Richards led Wanna Hold You sounds like an innocent love song, positivity contrasting the dark outside world of Undercover.

Rolling Stones – Undercover – Inner sleeve

Cover

Following Some Girls, Emotional Rescue and Tattoo You (whose cover earned a Grammy), Undercover‘s cover was the fourth consecutive album cover that was made by Peter Corriston. The original idea, photography and illustrations were done by Hubert Kretzschmar. The cover emphasized the band’s eagerness to stay current.

The idea was to use an image of a pin-up and place stickers over the parts to mask the obvious nudity. Easer said than done. Hubert Kretzschmar: “It turned out that it was very expensive to set up a machine that would place a sticker in exactly the same spot each time. So, the printing company ended up using manual labor and hired women that stuck the stickers in sort of an assembly line onto the printed sleeve”. Upon removing the stickers the pin-up wasn’t shown in full nudity, but other photographs or graphs were shown. The sticker covering the pin-up’s breasts hid a photo of a white poodle…

Review

As stated before, Undercover is a highly varied album. Readers of this blog know that I generally love those kinds of albums. Does that apply to Undercover as well?

Yes! At the time I loved the hits, especially Undercover Of The Night and Too Much Blood. The Rolling Stones had never before sounded that danceable. And on top of that the politically and socially charged lyrics. Just great. But the rest is almost equally good as well. The opener (Undercover Of the Night) immediately sets the tone for the rest of the album: sex, violence, corruption and suicide. Even though the music itself sounds rather uplifting, the lyrics are dark, especially for the Rolling Stones.

The influences of what was considered new at the time can be identified, but are intertwined organically. The Police (Feel On Baby) have been an influence. But the ‘old’ Rolling Stones as well. It Must Be Hell is most definitely influenced by Honky Tonk Women.

The heavy lyrics and new musical direction on a number of songs made that Undercover didn’t sit well with the fans. Perhaps that’s the reason both Jagger and Richards don’t look back positively on the record. The album is widely regarded to be one of the lesser albums by the Rolling Stones.

Totally unjustified by the way. The band rocks with sleaze, swings with lazy funk and spreads out into reggae and soul. That mix is what makes the album so good. What at first glance sounded like the Rolling Stones lost in their way, ultimately shows a band naturally progressing into dance music, without denying thier roots. A route that commenced with Some Girls, which through Emotional Rescue culminated in Undercover.

Final conclusion: an album that bubbles and sparkles. Recommended!

Rolling Stones – Undercover – Singles

Singles

Three singles were culled from the album:

• Undercover Of The Night
  (released on October 31, 1983)
• She Was Hot
  (released on January 23, 1984)
• Too Much Blood
  (released in December 1984 in the US)

Rolling Stones – Undercover – Back cover

Songs

All songs written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, unless stated otherwise.

• Undercover Of The Night
• She Was Hot
• Tie You Up (The Pain Of Love)
• Wanna Hold You
• Feel On Baby
• Too Much Blood
• Pretty Beat Up (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood)
• Too Tough
• All The Way Down
• It Must Be Hell

The original cassette and later CD releases contain a different version of Wanna Hold You, including the lyric: “You sure look good to me, so what’s it gonna be, it’s up to you to choose, I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse”.

Rolling Stones – 1983

Musicians

• Mick Jagger – vocals, guitar, harmonica
• Keith Richards – guitar, background vocals, vocals on Wanna Hold You, bass on Pretty Beat Up
• Bill Wyman – bass, percussion, piano on Pretty Beat Up
• Charlie Watts – drums
• Ronnie Wood – guitar, background vocals, bass on Tie You Up and Wanna Hold You

Additional musicians

• Chuck Leavell – keyboards, organ, piano
• Jim Barber – guitar
• Ian Stewart – piano on She Was Hot and Pretty Beat Up, percussion
• David Sanborn – saxophone
• Robbie Shakespeare – bass
• CHOPS – horns
• Sly Dunbar, Moustapha Cissé, Ibrahima Coundoul, Martin Ditcham – percussion
• Jim Barber – extra guitar on Too Much Blood

Rolling Stones – Undercover – Ad

After Undercover

Just before Undercover was released the Rolling Stones signed a new deal with CBS representing total worth of $28 million. Also, Mick Jagger signed a deal for a solo album.

I think the CBS offer was based on the performance of our last three studio albums (Some Girls, Emotional Rescue, Tattoo You). I think CBS figures they can sell more records than anybody, so if our next three sell the same as the last three, they’re gonna make money.

Mick Jagger 1983

The contract went into effect following the release of Undercover.

From January 16 to 25, 1984, the band reconvened to shoot videos for She Was Hot and Too Much Blood. Mick Jagger turned his attention to his first solo album and started recordings by the end of March, early April 1984. Early May he recorded the song State Of Shock with The Jacksons.

Charlie Watts & Mick Jagger 1983

Don’t ever call me “your drummer” again. You’re my fucking singer

Over the course of 1984 a number of meetings were held to discuss future plans for the Rolling Stones. The meeting of early November is stuff of legends now. This meeting between Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts took place in Amsterdam. Those present have their own turn of events:

Keith Richards:
I don’t think (Mick) thinks he needs anybody’s help. But I wonder if he’s realized that he’s way out on a limb. I feel like I’m his only friend. I know the way he lives. I know everybody else who knows him. I know that Charlie Watts dished him out a great fucking right hook and that was Charlie Watts saying, You and I have had it. It was 1984 at a Stones’ meeting and… Charlie punched him into a plate full of smoked salmon and he almost floated out the window along the table into a canal in Amsterdam. I just grabbed his leg and saved him from going out… (The fight) was about absolutely nothing. I had taken Mick out for a drink in Amsterdam, so at 5 in the morning, he came back to my room. He’s drunk by now, Mick drunk is a sight to behold. Charlie was fast asleep. Is that my drummer? Why don’t you get your arse down here? Charlie got dressed in a Savile Row suit, tie, shoes, shaved, came down, grabbed him and went boom! Don’t ever call me “your drummer” again. You’re my fucking singer. That was Charlie’s way of saying, It’s over, man. It went really downhill after that. If there was one other friend Mick had, it was Charlie.

Mick Jagger:
(The fight with Charlie) never actually happened like that. He pushed me, but I don’t think he actually punched me. There’s quite a lot of difference, in my book.

Didn’t happen. No, not at all. Keith invented that story. Now, Charlie was annoyed. And he was very drunk, as was Keith. And he was a bit wound up. But there were so many people there, so many people between me and Charlie, and it never came to blows… A table full of smoked salmon! That’s a good one. How about we go one better? I turned into a smoked salmon and dived out the window. Yeah, that’s what really happened.

Charlie
I had a row with Mick, about attitude I suppose. With a lot of these things, when you’re in a band it’s a bit like having a row in the family. You know, it’s over and you very rarely ever mention it again. That’s what these things are like. They’re like brother things… I was drunk (when that incident happened). I was really pissed off. It’s not something I’m proud of… I’m closer to Mick than I’ve ever been. I think Jerry’s done that. The children and that. He’s grown up a lot.

1988

Late 1985 Ian Stewart, a friend of the band and regular piano player on their albums, died.

The period of tension would truly reach its zenith in 1985 and 1986 with the recording and release of Dirty Work. After that album the Rolling Stones wouldn’t speak to each other for years. Until 1989 when things started to feel somewhat right again and the Rolling Stones would begin work on Steel Wheels.

In closing

I love the diversity of Undercover, an album filled with tension to great effect.

What do you think? Let me know!

Video/Spotify
This story contains an accompanying video. Click on the following link to see it: Video: Conflict within the Rolling Stones leads to Undercover, an underestimated album. The A Pop Life playlist on Spotify has been updated as well.