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Rolling Stones unreleased: Talk Is Cheap
BEHIND THE SCENES OF TALK IS CHEAP Talk Is Cheap (not to be confused with Keith Richards’ first solo album in 1988) is pure Rolling Stones drama captured in a song. During the Dirty Work sessions in Paris, Mick was off chasing his solo career while Keith, Ronnie, and Bill held down the fort, and Charlie Watts barely showed up thanks to his addictions. Tensions exploded publicly at Live Aid, and Jagger’s guitar didn’t even make the credits. This unreleased track gives a raw peek into a band at odds but still rocking hard.
In the spring of 1985, the Rolling Stones descended on Pathé-Marconi Studios in Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, to kick off what would become the Dirty Work sessions. For two intense months, the band worked in fits and starts, but the atmosphere was far from harmonious. Mick Jagger had just launched his solo career with She’s the Boss, leaving Keith Richards frustrated and feeling like his bandmate’s priorities had shifted. While Richards, Ronnie Wood, Bill Wyman, and even guest musicians focused on laying down the album’s core, Jagger drifted in and out, adding vocals after the fact. This separation wasn’t just logistical—it reflected deeper creative and personal tensions.
The cracks were visible even to the public, as during the Live Aid concert that July, Jagger performed solo while Richards and Wood supported Bob Dylan on acoustic guitars, a moment that practically screamed internal band conflict. Notably, Dirty Work became the first Stones record since Sticky Fingers where Jagger’s guitar work didn’t even make the credits, a small but telling sign of the changing dynamics within rock’s most legendary band.
Personal Struggles Behind the Music
Adding another layer of complication, drummer Charlie Watts was battling serious heroin and alcohol addiction during the mid-1980s. His participation in the sessions was minimal, and replacement drummers stepped in for both Undercover and Dirty Work. In hindsight, Watts’ struggles, combined with Jagger’s solo ambitions and Richards’ growing frustration, created an unusual tension that seeped into the unreleased tracks like Talk Is Cheap (which also happened to be the title of Keith Richards’ first solo album 3 years later) These sessions capture a band at a crossroads: talented, seasoned, and yet fractured, leaving listeners with a rare glimpse of raw emotion and unresolved creative conflict in the making of a classic rock album.
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