Dirty Work
Studio album by
the Rolling Stones
Released24 March 1986
Recorded5 April – 17 June and 16 July – 17 August 1985
Studio
Genre
Length40:03
LabelRolling Stones, Columbia
ProducerSteve Lillywhite, The Glimmer Twins
The Rolling Stones chronology
Rewind (1971–1984)
(1984)		 Dirty Work
(1986)		 Singles Collection: The London Years
(1989)
Singles from Dirty Work
  1. "Harlem Shuffle"
    Released: 28 February 1986
  2. "One Hit (To the Body)"
    Released: 9 May 1986

Dirty Work is a studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. It was released on 24 March 1986 on the Rolling Stones label by CBS Records, their first under their new contract with Columbia Records. Produced by Steve Lillywhite, the album was recorded during a period when relations between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had soured considerably, according to Richards' autobiography Life.[3][4]

The album was recorded during a time of turmoil for the band, as its two principal songwriters, Richards and Jagger, had been feuding over the band's direction during most of the 1980s. Almost all of the band members had spent the previous few years working on solo albums or side projects. Some band members, including guitarist Ronnie Wood, drummer Charlie Watts and bassist Bill Wyman, were often absent from the studio during recording sessions; it was rare that all five principal members were together at the same time. It would be the last album to feature former member and frequent piano contributor Ian Stewart, who died shortly before the album's release. As a result, a number of guest musicians appeared on the album, including guitarists Jimmy Page and Bobby Womack. Keyboards were played by Ivan Neville and Chuck Leavell, who would remain with the band for decades. Unlike most Stones albums, there was no supporting tour, as the level of animosity among band members prevented them from being able to work together live onstage.

Dirty Work sold well, reaching platinum or gold status in several countries, including the United States, Canada and the UK, and peaking as a top-10-charting album in over a dozen markets. The album spawned two top-40 hits: a cover of Bob & Earl's song "Harlem Shuffle" and one of the songs written with Ronnie Wood, "One Hit (To the Body)". However, the album was a critical flop, with most critics then and now finding it uneven and uninspired,[5] many reviewers citing the tensions within the band at the time.

Recording

The sessions for Dirty Work, the first album under the Rolling Stones' recording contract with CBS Records, began in April 1985 in Boulogne Billancourt,[1] running for two months before breaking for a short spell.[6] Mick Jagger had just released his first solo album, She's the Boss (1985), much to Richards' annoyance, since Richards' first priority was the Rolling Stones and he was stung that Jagger was pursuing a career as a pop star.[7] Jagger was absent from many of the Dirty Work sessions while Richards recorded instrumental parts with Ronnie Wood, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts. As a result, Dirty Work is the first album since Beggars Banquet (1968) not to feature any guitar playing from Jagger, who instead recorded vocals at a later time. The divide between Jagger and Richards was on public view on 13 July 1985, when Jagger performed a solo set at Live Aid while Richards and Wood supported Bob Dylan's set on acoustic guitars.

Charlie Watts' involvement in the recording sessions was also limited; in 1994 Watts told Ed Bradley on 60 Minutes that during the 1980s he had been addicted to heroin and alcohol. Steve Jordan and Anton Fig play drums on some tracks; Ronnie Wood plays drums on "Sleep Tonight". Jagger would later cite Watts' personal state as one of the reasons he vetoed a tour in support of Dirty Work in 1986, preferring to start work on his second album, Primitive Cool (1987).

Four of the album's eight original compositions are credited to Jagger/Richards/Wood and one to Jagger/Richards/Chuck Leavell. Only three are credited to Jagger/Richards, the lowest number on any Rolling Stones album since Out of Our Heads (1965). Dirty Work is the first Rolling Stones album to feature two tracks with Richards on lead vocals ("Too Rude" and "Sleep Tonight").

Following a further month of final recording in July and August 1985 (which saw guest appearances by Jimmy Page, Bobby Womack and Tom Waits), co-producer Steve Lillywhite supervised several weeks of mixing and the creation of 12-inch remixes. On 12 December, Ian Stewart, one of the Stones' founding members and their longtime pianist and road manager, died of a sudden heart attack at the age of 47. As a tribute, a hidden track of Stewart playing Big Bill Broonzy's "Key to the Highway" was added to close the album.

Artwork and packaging

The original vinyl release of Dirty Work came shrinkwrapped in dark red cellophane. Breaking with Rolling Stones tradition, Dirty Work was the first of their studio albums to contain a lyric sheet in the United States, apparently at the insistence of then-distributor CBS Records. Also included was a comic strip, drawn by Mark Marek, called "Dirty Workout".

In 2005, Pitchfork included the album cover in their list of "The Worst Record Covers of All Time", with Brent DiCrescenzo saying that no other cover "goes so far to completely tarnish the reputation of a Valhalla-ensconced band while demonstrating the crushing awfulness of 1980s aesthetics".[8]

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
Christgau's Record GuideA[10]
MusicHound Rock[11]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[12]
Tom Hull – on the WebA−[13]
Uncut[14]

In March 1986, the Rolling Stones' cover of "Harlem Shuffle" (the first lead single from a Stones studio album not to be a Jagger/Richards original since the band's earliest days) was released to a receptive audience, reaching No. 13 in the UK and No. 5 in the United States. The follow-up single "One Hit (To the Body)" was a US top-30 hit and featured a revealing video of Jagger and Richards seeming to trade blows (although Richards is syncing to Jimmy Page, who played lead guitar on the song).

Dirty Work was released a month after "Harlem Shuffle", reaching No. 4 in the UK and United States (going platinum there), but the critical reaction was less than enthusiastic. Some reviewers felt the album was slight in places, with weak, generic songwriting from Richards and Wood and puzzlingly abrasive vocals from Jagger. Some felt Jagger was saving his best material for his solo records, though the critical reaction to those releases was muted as well. People named it one of the worst albums of 1986, denoting "The worst fears of the Baby Boomers come true: If the Stones are sounding this old and tired, what does it say about their original fans?"[15]

However, at the same time, Robert Christgau called Dirty Work "a bracing and even challenging record [which] innovates without kowtowing to multi-platinum fashion or half-assed pretension. It's honest and makes you like it."[16] In 2004, Stylus Magazine's "On Second Thoughts" feature assessed the album as "a tattered, embarrassed triumph, by far the most interesting Stones album since Some Girls at every level: lyrical, conceptual, instrumental" and claiming that the album features "the most venomous guitar sound of the Stones' career, and Jagger's most committed vocals."[17]

Richards said that songs on the album were structured to be played live with a view to tour in support of the album, before Jagger decided he was not going to tour after all,[18] though Jagger later cited his concerns about Watts's health for not doing so. The only songs from Dirty Work to be played live have been "One Hit (To the Body)" and "Harlem Shuffle", both performed on the Steel Wheels tour.[19]

In 1994 Dirty Work was remastered and reissued by Virgin Records, and again in 2009 by Universal Music. It was released on SHM-SACD in 2011 by Universal Music Japan.

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."One Hit (To the Body)"Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood4:44
2."Fight"Jagger, Richards, Wood3:09
3."Harlem Shuffle"Bob Relf, Ernest Nelson3:23
4."Hold Back"Jagger, Richards3:53
5."Too Rude"Lindon Roberts3:11
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Winning Ugly"Jagger, Richards4:32
2."Back to Zero"Jagger, Richards, Chuck Leavell4:00
3."Dirty Work"Jagger, Richards, Wood3:53
4."Had It with You"Jagger, Richards, Wood3:19
5."Sleep Tonight"Jagger, Richards5:10
6."Key to the Highway" (uncredited excerpt)Big Bill Broonzy, Charles Segar0:33

Personnel

The Rolling Stones

Additional personnel

Production

  • Engineered by Dave Jerden
  • Additional engineer – Steve Parker
  • Assistant engineers – Tom Crich, Mike Krowiak
  • Recorded at Pathe Marconi Studios Paris
  • Mixed at R.P.M. and Right Track Studios N.Y.C.
  • Art direction and package design – Janet Perr
  • Art direction and photography – Annie Leibovitz
  • Inner sleeve artwork – Mark Marek

Charts

Certifications

Certifications for Dirty Work
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[43] Platinum 70,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[44] Platinum 100,000^
France (SNEP)[45] Gold 100,000*
Germany (BVMI)[46] Gold 250,000^
Netherlands (NVPI)[47] Gold 50,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[48] Platinum 15,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[49] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[50] Platinum 1,000,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. 1 2 "Quand les Rolling Stones s'éclataient à Boulogne-Billancourt". www.leblogdeboulogne.com. Archived from the original on 12 September 2020. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  2. ↑ Pareles, Jon (24 March 1986). "Dirty Work". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2 September 2020. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  3. ↑ Rich, Motoko (1 August 2007). "A Rolling Stone Prepares to Gather His Memories". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 5 June 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2008.
  4. ↑ Richards, Keith (2010). Life. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-03438-8. OCLC 548642133.
  5. ↑ Banulescu, Eduard (5 September 2023). "The Rolling Stones Albums Ranked: The Story of the World's Premier Rock Band - from Worst to Best". Alt77. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  6. ↑ Zentgraf, Nico. "The Complete Works of the Rolling Stones 1962–2008". Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2008.
  7. ↑ Richards, Keith (26 October 2010). Life. Orion (Kindle edition). p. 464 and 470. ISBN 978-0-297-85862-1.
  8. ↑ "The Worst Record Covers of All Time – Page 8 – Pitchfork". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 6 January 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  9. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Dirty Work – The Rolling Stones". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 30 March 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  10. ↑ Christgau, Robert (1990). "R". Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-679-73015-X. Retrieved 18 March 2022 – via robertchristgau.com.
  11. ↑ Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel, eds. (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 952. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
  12. ↑ "The Rolling Stones: Album Guide". rollingstone.com. Archived version retrieved 15 November 2014.
  13. ↑ Hull, Tom (5 July 2021). "Music Week". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  14. ↑ "The Rolling Stones – Dirty Work/Steel Wheels/Voodoo Lounge And More – Uncut". Archived from the original on 18 April 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  15. ↑ "Worst of Song". People. 22 December 1986. Archived from the original on 31 March 2011. Retrieved 10 November 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  16. ↑ Christgau, Robert (15 April 1986). "Winning Ugly: An Essay on Dirty Work". Village Voice. Archived from the original on 4 April 2008. Retrieved 7 March 2008.
  17. ↑ Soto, Alfred (September 2004). "On Second Thought: Rolling Stones – Dirty Work". Stylus Magazine. Archived from the original on 14 August 2007. Retrieved 29 August 2006.
  18. ↑ Keith Richards – In His Own Words by Mick St Michael, Omnibus Press, 1994, page 33. ISBN 0-7119-3634-X
  19. ↑ "The Rolling Stones Tour Statistics – songs played total". setlist.fm. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  20. ↑ Saulnier, Jason (8 April 2010). "Chuck Leavell Interview". Music Legends. Archived from the original on 16 December 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  21. 1 2 Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  22. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – The Rolling Stones – Dirty Work" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  23. ↑ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 0663". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  24. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – The Rolling Stones – Dirty Work" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  25. ↑ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  26. ↑ "Le Détail des Albums de chaque Artiste – R". Infodisc.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2012. Select Elton Rolling Stones from the menu, then press OK.
  27. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – The Rolling Stones – Dirty Work" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  28. ↑ "Classifiche". Musica e Dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 27 May 2022. Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Rolling Stones".
  29. ↑ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  30. ↑ "Charts.nz – The Rolling Stones – Dirty Work". Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  31. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – The Rolling Stones – Dirty Work". Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  32. ↑ Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  33. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – The Rolling Stones – Dirty Work". Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  34. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – The Rolling Stones – Dirty Work". Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  35. ↑ "The Rolling Stones | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  36. ↑ "The Rolling Stones Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  37. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Jahreshitparade 1986". Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 9 November 2010. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  38. ↑ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 8824". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  39. ↑ "Dutch charts jaaroverzichten 1986" (in Dutch). Archived from the original (ASP) on 21 August 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  40. ↑ "Les Albums (CD) de 1986 par InfoDisc" (in French). infodisc.fr. Archived from the original (PHP) on 9 February 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  41. ↑ "Top Selling Albums of 1986 — The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Recorded Music New Zealand. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  42. ↑ "Billboard Magazine – 1986: The Year in Music & Video". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. 27 December 1986. Archived from the original on 4 May 2021. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  43. ↑ "International – Mick's Picks" (PDF). Billboard. 5 November 1988. p. 63. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 May 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2020 – via American Radio History.
  44. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – The Rolling Stones – Dirty Work". Music Canada. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
  45. ↑ "French album certifications – The Rolling Stones – Dirty Work" (in French). InfoDisc. Select THE ROLLING STONES and click OK. 
  46. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (The Rolling Stones; 'Dirty Work')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
  47. ↑ "Dutch album certifications – The Rolling Stones – Dirty Work" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved 16 February 2012. Enter Dirty Work in the "Artiest of titel" box.
  48. ↑ "New Zealand album certifications – The Rolling Stones – Dirty Work". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  49. ↑ "British album certifications – The Rolling Stones – Dirty Work". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
  50. ↑ "American album certifications – The Rolling Stones – Dirty Work". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 16 February 2012.

Further reading

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