Maps of Music

Emotional Rescue (1980)

Where the lyrics of Emotional Rescue take you, and where it was really made.

Keith Richards was cleared of a drugs charge that could have sent him to jail, and this was the first Rolling Stones album recorded after that.

Key places

Where the 1979 sessions began (1980)

Recording site Compass Point Studios — Recording for Emotional Rescue began here in 1979, at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, before the sessions moved on to Paris. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Paris sessions at Pathé Marconi (1980)

Recording site Pathé Marconi Studios — The 1979 sessions continued at Pathé Marconi in Paris after the Nassau start, as part of the album's recording run. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Emotional Rescue: fifteenth studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones
• Released 23 June 1980 through Rolling Stones Records
• Follows Some Girls (1978) and continues its mix of rock, blues, punk, and disco influences
• Lead single: the title track, No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100
• Several tracks left off the album formed the core of the follow-up, Tattoo You (1981)

Background

• First Rolling Stones album recorded after Keith Richards was cleared of a Toronto drugs charge that could have landed him in jail for years
• Richards and Mick Jagger led the band through dozens of new songs and picked ten for the album
• Some held-over songs went to Tattoo You: "Hang Fire", "Little T&A", "No Use in Crying"
• "Think I'm Going Mad" from the sessions became the B-side to "She Was Hot" in 1984

Recording

• Recorded throughout 1979 at Compass Point Studios, Nassau, Bahamas, then Pathé Marconi, Paris
• End-of-year overdubbing in New York City at The Hit Factory
• Core band on several tracks: Jagger, Richards, Ronnie Wood, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman
• Guests on other tracks: Nicky Hopkins, Ian Stewart, Bobby Keys, Sugar Blue

Cover

• Concept, art direction and design by Peter Corriston
• Thermographic photos by Roy Adzak, taken with a thermal camera
• Original release wrapped in a huge colour poster; the album sat inside a plastic bag

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in London in 1962 as an English rock band; their first stable line-up was Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts.
• Jones named the band after a Muddy Waters song; they were rooted in blues and rock and roll.
• Manager Andrew Loog Oldham encouraged them to write their own songs, and the Jagger–Richards partnership became their main creative force.

Members

• Current: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood (joined 1975).
• Former: Brian Jones (died 1969), Mick Taylor (1969–1974), Bill Wyman (1962–1993), Charlie Watts (1963–2021, died 2021).
• Steve Jordan became their drummer after Watts' death.

Career

• Hits included "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (1965), "Paint It Black" (1966) and "Start Me Up" (1981).
• Their 1969 Hyde Park show and Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St. are key points of their career.
• Formed Rolling Stones Records in 1970, whose tongue-and-lips logo became their band logo.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989; the band has sold more than 250 million albums.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Released in June with the disco-infused title track as lead single, and it was an immediate smash
• Critical reception was relatively muted; most reviewers found the album somewhat formulaic and unambitious, especially next to its predecessor
• Rolling Stone: Ariel Swartley wrote that "as far as the music goes, 'familiar' is an understatement. There's hardly a melody here that you haven't heard from the Stones before"
• The Village Voice: critic Robert Christgau called it "an ordinary Stones album" in the Pazz & Jop critics poll essay for 1980, where it finished 20th

Reappraisal

• Retrospective assessments were kinder, with several critics praising the band's performance despite sometimes lightweight material
• AllMusic: Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that the album may consist mainly of filler, but the filler is expertly written and performed
• Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s (1990) judged the album not "great" but credited it with mid-1960s lyrical charm
• The same guide placed its looser musical style above other less-than-great Stones records such as It's Only Rock 'n Roll (1974)

Records

• Topped the charts in at least six countries, including the United States, UK, and Canada
• Title track: No. 1 in Canada, No. 3 in the United States, No. 9 in the UK
• "She's So Cold": top-40 single in several countries
• Gave the Rolling Stones their first UK No. 1 album since 1973's Goats Head Soup
• Spent seven weeks atop the US charts
• "Dance Pt. 1" reached No. 9 on Billboard's Dance chart
• Remastered and reissued by Virgin Records in 1994, by Universal Music in 2009, and in a Japan-only SHM-SACD version in 2011

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Tattoo You was built from songs held back from these sessions, so the two albums share a core of material.
• The 1994 remaster first came as a Collector's Edition CD that copied many elements of the original packaging, including the colour poster.
• Max Romeo – backing vocals on "Dance (Pt. 1)"
• Ian Stewart played piano on some tracks, and Nicky Hopkins contributed synthesizers and piano to others.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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