Text "Dirty Work-criticism" (Nico Zentgraf)
How long did we wait? How often the release was postponed? Suddenly all this seems to be all the same. I hold this magnificent cover in my hands and the vinyl will rotate on the turntable till it's white! How good / bad this record really is and what position in the Stones discography it holds we will only be able to say retrospectively in some years. For sure it isn't the best LP since Exile, as Mick apparently said - just as Undercover wasn't the little brother of Beggars banquet, as Keith claimed once.
One hit (To the body) is the ideal opener. How many guitars are on this anyhow? It's called double tracking, I suppose. If the single releases keep to the order on the "mean lean"-sticker, this will be the second single to yield - it'd be the most reasonable, I think.
Fight is a good, aggressive rocker. Unfortunately on some places it remembers me too much to "Too tough".
Harlem shuffle is the single: right so, 'cause a single has to sell. And this single will surely also be bought by lots of non-Stonesfans. The video's super, the 12" versions are trash.
Hold back catched my ear as last one. What doesn't detract it from its qualities! A good song, a good text, maybe Mick's voice is just a little too much in the foreground.
Too rude is the reggae. Keith discovered this song on a cassette a friend had recorded for him - and I'm astonished that such a colourless reggae tune can be so salient on a cassette. Or is the original so much better?
Winning ugly could be an outtake from She's the boss, now recorded by Mick with the Stones as his backing band. Also lyrically it just goes with "Running out of luck" and "Lucky in love". Yet the song is better than these. Which lies on the Stones and on the production which lets Mick's voice its edges. And with these two ingredients you can create a good song out of an average composition.
Back to zero is the flop. A horrible song, really atrocious pseudo-funk. It could be played in a supermarket... Luckily the three remaining tracks make everything good:
Dirty work, the title song, is a fantastic rocker. It's a shame it'll never be released as a single, I presume, 'cause of its dirty lyrics. Nearly the same applies to
Had it with you. This rocker is also fantastic, sounding a little like "Hip shake". It already graced a single B-side, what proves again there ain't no bad B-sides on Stones singles.
Sleep tonight then is even an increase once more! Keith makes the muffed reggae good. Like "All about you" on Emotional rescue this song's an offence for one part of the fans while for others - like me - it is a manifestation. Merci, Keith. By the way: a Berlinian DJ tipped this had to be Bobby Womack on vocals - certainly a compliment for Keith...
At the end half a minute of the boogie woogie music Stu loved so much, played by himself, of course. Could there be a nicer dedication? The song reminds me to 63's "Trouble in mind", by the way.
All in all this record is the best album since Undercover: not more, not less.
PS: Poor old Chawlie! Whom they put on your chair?
Publication
| 1986 unreleased |  Charlie is good tonight nr. 5
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