The Rolling Stones

Sucking in the Seventies (1981)

 


  1. Shattered
  2. Everything is Turning to Gold
  3. Hot Stuff
  4. Time Waits for No One
  5. Fool to Cry
  6. Mannish Boy
  7. When the Whip Comes Down
  8. If I Was a Dancer (Dance, Pt. 2)
  9. Crazy Mama
  10.Beast of Burden
  

Sucking in the Seventies has all the hallmarks of a contractually obligated release. The title alone does little to disguise the contents within—an oddly sequenced collection of odds, ends, and edits that mostly draws from the less celebrated corners of the band’s 1970s output. To be fair, there’s nothing here that’s outright dreadful. This is, after all, still The Rolling Stones. But for the most part, the compilation leans heavily toward the middling and the forgettable.

Unlike Hot Rocks or even Made in the Shade, this is not a greatest hits album in any traditional sense. Nor does it offer a clear thematic throughline. Instead, it plays like a grab bag—an assortment of studio cuts, live tracks, single edits, and the occasional unreleased song. There are a few bright spots scattered throughout, but one is left with the impression that those moments are better served by returning to the original albums from which they were pulled.

The inclusion of previously unreleased material might, in theory, offer some incentive to the collector. But in practice, these tracks—while mildly interesting—do little to elevate the whole. They feel more like curiosities than discoveries, and their absence from earlier albums begins to make a certain amount of sense.

Ultimately, Sucking in the Seventies is not without its charms, but they are of the minor variety. It serves more as a footnote to the decade than a summary of it, and is best approached as such. For completists only.

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