Word: recording
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Golems. Geezers with a quarter-century of history together, "a long shadow," as Keith Richards says, "that we drag around." Their tour starts Aug. 31 in Philadelphia; when the New York City shows were announced, some 300,000 tickets (at an average price of $28.50) were sold in a record six hours. The band, which fussed over choosing photos and picking among twelve different covers for their new record, knows it's no longer got the look knocked. Image is vital, and taking the stage will be a severe test...
Steel Wheels is the name of the record; Nothing Ventured would have suited too. It boasts five reprobates cranking themselves up for yet another crack at the distance, showing their years -- flaunting the things, in point of plain fact -- while they swan around some of the nation's largest concert stages, soaking up the applause and the revenues, blowing off their greatest hits, taking the new material out for an audience airing...
...Stones know their audience, though. It's pretty much the same as it's always been, and it will be happy to see them. It will also be happy to know that the material on Steel Wheels is a lot like them -- up to date but fundamentally unchanged. The record kicks off with Sad Sad Sad, a creditable attempt to capture again the dynamics of the group's early sound, when the rhythm came in solid sheets and the lyrics sounded as if they were being spit out of a semiautomatic weapon. After that, it bustles through a very commercial...
...band. Whatever it was, it seemed likely that they had been together too long -- 27 years, to be exact. So when Slipping Away begins and the husky fragility of Richards' vocal takes instant hold, it is clear that this is more than just a good closer for a record. Richards takes the lead for once, and Jagger glides in on harmony. It's a political gesture, a way of dealing with all that friction, even as it's being moved out front. And it's something more, an envoi, the start of a long goodbye...
...There's a lot of energy in the band right now," says Keith. "This new record's been miraculously fast for us. Mick and I are still holding our breath, saying, 'This can't last.' We pretty much wrote it in a month and laid down the basic tracks in about five weeks." To get the steel wheels on track so quickly, Jagger and Richards set aside those publicized vexations to find a common footing...