By the late seventies, The Rolling Stones were unquestionably the world’s greatest rock’n’roll band, a tag they thoroughly deserved and have yet to lose. They had moved effortlessly into open-air stadiums but also began a tradition of performing more intimate shows in theatres and clubs alongside their groundbreaking concerts in arenas. To the delight of their millions of fans, they have continued with this policy to the present.
The world really was The Rolling Stones’ oyster in the late seventies, as their Canadian escapades made headlines around the world. They partied at Studio 54, came up with dancefloor favourites Miss You and Emotional Rescue, and recorded in Paris, Nassau and New York. The eighties saw the band stretch the envelope further still, working with jazz great Sonny Rollins, film directors Julien Temple and Michael Lindsay-Hogg, and producers Chris Kimsey and Steve Lillywhite.
Amazingly, the Rolling Stones topped these achievements with ever-more ambitious tours in the nineties and noughties, and recorded three more classic studio albums with acclaimed producer Don Was, in Dublin, Los Angeles, France and the Caribbean.
Produced by the Glimmer Twins and Chris Kimsey, and recorded in Paris and New York, Undercover made the Top 5 on both sides of the Atlantic in 1983. Its lead-off single, the stunning Undercover Of The Night, incorporated elements of reggae, dub and dance and proved that the group kept their finger on the pulse of popular music. Jagger has never been in better form than when delivering its politically-charged lyrics. He also raps about the Texas Chainsaw Massacre on the nasty Too Much Blood. The Top 50 single She Was Hot has rightly been revived by the band in recent years, as has the Richards-sung rocker I Wanna Hold You. Corriston’s cover originally came with strategically-placed stickers.