The Rolling Stones - Steel Wheels (Remastered) (2020) [Hi-Res]

Half Speed ReMasters HiRes Re-Issue: Originally released in 1989, now remastered at Half-Speed at Abbey Road Studios from original tape transfers designed to get the very best possible sound from the format.

Steel Wheels is the 19th British and 21st American studio album by The Rolling Stones, released in 1989, and the final album of new material the band would record for Columbia Records.

Heralded as a major comeback upon its release, the project is notable for the patching up of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' relationship, a reversion to a more classic style of music and the launching of the band's biggest world tour to date. It is also long-time bassist Bill Wyman's final full-length studio album with the Stones, preceding the announcement of his departure in January 1993. Wyman's final tenure with the band would be on two studio tracks for 1991's Flashpoint. It was also the first album not to feature former member and frequent contributor on piano Ian Stewart, who died shortly before the release of their previous album Dirty Work. It was produced by Richards and Jagger along with Chris Kimsey, who had previously produced 1983's Undercover.

After the relative disappointment of their prior two albums, Steel Wheels was a hit, reaching multi-platinum status in the United States, reaching top-five status in numerous markets around the world, and spawning two hit singles: "Mixed Emotions," which peaked at number one in Canada and number five in the United States, and "Rock and a Hard Place," the band's last top-40 U.S. hit. Critics were generally lukewarm on the album, exemplified by Stephen Thomas Erlewine: "It doesn't make for a great Stones album, but it's not bad, and it feels like a comeback."

"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." (Stephen Thomas Erlewine , AMG)

Mick Jagger, lead and backing vocals, electric and acoustic guitars; harmonica, percussion
Keith Richards, electric, acoustic and classical guitar, backing vocals; lead vocals on "Can't Be Seen" and "Slipping Away"; bicycle spokes on "Continental Drift"
Ronnie Wood, electric and acoustic guitar, bass and acoustic bass, backing vocals, dobro
Bill Wyman, bass
Charlie Watts, drums
Additional musicians:
Chuck Leavell, organ, piano, keyboards
Matt Clifford, electric and acoustic piano, clavinet, harmonium, percussion programming, strings
Luis Jardim, percussion
Phil Beer, mandolin, fiddle
The Kick Horns, brass
Roddy Lorimer, trumpet
The Master Musicians of Jajouka led by Bachir Attar Farafina
Sonia Morgan, backing vocals
Tessa Niles, backing vocals
Sarah Dash, backing vocals
Lisa Fischer, backing vocals
Bernard Fowler, backing vocals

Recorded 29 March – 5 May, 15 May – 29 June 1989 at Air Studios, Montserrat
Mixed at Olympic Studios, London
Produced by Chris Kimsey, The Glimmer Twins

Digitally remastered