Bring them on, sir.

Seems like there were some weird, self imposed rules that may have impeded the project.

You mean like the main rule of only using shitty Stones songs?

Don Was.

Album was actually produced by Steve Lillywhite FWIW.

Anyway, I kinda liked "Fight", "Too Rude", "Sleep Tonight" and even "Harlem Shuffle" when I listened today.

"One Hit" is really terrible, mainly because the guitar and drum sounds and even the style of the playing could not be Richards, Wood or Watts--like obviously studio players (especially the guitar solos)

* Jimmy Cliff – backing vocals
* Dan Collette – trumpet
* Don Covay – backing vocals
* Beverly D'Angelo – backing vocals
* Anton Fig – shakers
* Chuck Leavell – keyboards
* Kirsty MacColl – backing vocals
* Dollette McDonald – backing vocals
* Ivan Neville – backing vocals, bass guitar, organ, and synthesizer
* Jimmy Page – electric guitar
* Janice Pendarvis – backing vocals
* Patti Scialfa – backing vocals
* Ian Stewart – piano
* Tom Waits – backing vocals
* Bobby Womack – backing vocals, electric guitar on "Back to Zero"

On 12 December, Ian Stewart—one of the founding members of The Rolling Stones and their longtime pianist and road manager—died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 47. In remembrance of their friend, a hidden track of Stewart playing Big Bill Broonzy's "Key to the Highway" was added to close the album.

Gotta love this crew, the "additional musician's" from Dirty Work:

Gotta love this crew, the "additional musician's" from Dirty Work:

Jimmy Cliff? Jimmy Page? Tom Waits???

I know she started out as a singer, but I wonder what twisted connection got her into the studio for Dirty Work while she was mostly known as "the mom" in National Lampoon's Family Vacation.

Probably shared a dealer.

Jimmy Page is a little weird, but 1986 - that's when Keef was showing up on Tom Waits albums and not far removed from Mick's reggae honeymoon.

Also, Anton Fig and Will Lee used to be (possibly still are) highly respected, fairly badass players. Check the band on Link Wray's Bullshot album for proof.

The Stones, or more accurately the relationship between Mick and Keith, imploded shortly after Dirty Work, resulting in Mick delivering a nearly unbearably mannered, ambitious solo effort that stiffed and Keith knocking out the greatest Stones album since Tattoo You, something that satisfied the cult but wasn't a hit. Clearly, they were worth more together than they were apart, so it was time for the reunion, and that's what Steel Wheels is -- a self-styled reunion album. It often feels as if they sat down and decided exactly what their audience wanted from a Stones album, and they deliver a record that gives the people what they want, whether it's Tattoo You-styled rockers, ballads in the vein of "Fool to Cry," even a touch of old-fashioned experimentalism with "Continental Drift." Being professionals, in the business for over two and a half decades, and being a band that always favored calculation, they wear all this well, even if this lacks the vigor and menace that fuels the best singles; after all, the rocking singles ("Sad Sad Sad," "Rock and a Hard Place," "Mixed Emotions") wind up being smoked by such throwaways as "Hold on to Your Hat." Even though it's just 12 songs, the record feels a little long, largely due to its lack of surprises and unabashed calculation (the jams are slicked up so much they don't have the visceral power of the jam record, Black and Blue). Still, the Stones sound good, and Mick and Keith both get off a killer ballad apiece with "Almost Hear You Sigh" and "Slipping Away," respectively. It doesn't make for a great Stones album, but it's not bad, and it feels like a comeback -- which it was supposed to, after all.

I actually really like Almost hear You Sigh and Slipping Away. Yeah its as ac radio schlock but Almost is a very well written fleshed out song. They should not have nixed that spanish guitar riff in there and kept it a more Stonesy ballad. . Sad ,Sad, Sad is a pretty good opener. That's about all I can take. What the hell is Continental Drift doing there?

I hate Rock and a Hard Place and Mixed Emotions. Never liked them.

I hate Rock and a Hard Place and Mixed Emotions. Never liked them.

Mixed Emotions is a fucking GREAT song. Not "good for 1989 Rolling Stones" but fucking amazing.

Slipping Away is amazing as well.

Keith knocking out the greatest Stones album since Tattoo You