Two years after top-seller Some Girls, The Rolling Stones marked the beginning of a new decade with 1980’s Emotional Rescue.
The 70s had been a strong decade for the band, despite a slump in the middle years. They started with two of their best albums and finished it with another, their biggest hit. In between were a trio of lesser releases that still had their share of memorable songs.
How would they make the transition to the 80s, a decade that proved to be a landmine for many successful 70s acts?
Well, commercially they did just fine. Emotional Rescue went multi-platinum and topped the charts in both the U.S. and the UK, the first time the band had accomplished that feat since 1973’s Goats Head Soup. The disco-infused title track (on which Mick Jagger utilized a distinctive falsetto) made it to #8, and second single ‘She’s So Cold’ reached the Top 40.
Musically, it was a different story. This isn’t a bad album, but it boasts the most forgettable batch of songs on any Stones album since Their Satanic Majesty’s Request. ‘Emotional Rescue’ is a pale imitation of their previous disco hit, ‘Miss You.’ Only ‘She’s So Cold’ leaves any sort of impression.
Tensions were growing between Jagger and Keith Richards, as the latter wanted more control over the direction of the band now that he was sober and free of his legal troubles. Perhaps that conflict interfered with their songwriting collaboration to the detriment of the material.
Whatever the reason, this is one of the few albums I’ve covered so far that I have no urge to revisit.
Is there nothing I can say? Nothing I can do?
Change your mind, I’m so in love with you
Too deep in, you can’t get out
You’re just a poor girl in a rich man’s house
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Yeah, baby, I’m crying over you
[Verse 2]
Don’t you know promises were never meant to keep?
Just like the night, dissolve off in sleep
I’ll be your savior, steadfast and true
I’ll come to your emotional rescue
I’ll come to your emotional rescue
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
[Verse 3]
Yeah, the other night, crying
Crying, baby, yeah, yeah, I’m crying
Yeah, I’m like a child, baby
I’m like a child, baby
Like a child
Yes, I’m like a child, like a child, like a child, like a child (Woo)
[Verse 4]
You think you’re one of a special breed
You think that you’re his pet Pekingese
I’ll be your savior, steadfast and true
I’ll come to your emotional rescue
I’ll come to your emotional rescue
Ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah-ah-ah
Ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah-ah-ah
[Verse 5]
Yeah, I was dreaming last night, babe
Last night, I was dreaming
How you’d be mine, but I was crying
Like a child, yeah, I was crying
Crying like a child
You will be mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, all mine
You could be mine, could be mine
Could be mine, all mine
[Verse 6]
I come to you, so silent in the night
So stealthy, so animal quiet
I’ll be your savior, steadfast and true
I’ll come to your emotional rescue
I’ll come to your emotional rescue
Ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah-ah-ah
Yeah, you should be mine, mine, oh
[Verse 7]
Yes, you could be mine
Tonight and every night
I will be your knight in shining armor
Coming to your emotional rescue
[Outro]
You will be mine, you will be mine, all mine
You will be mine, you will be mine, all mine
I will be your knight in shining armor
Riding across the desert on a fine Arab charger
Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh-uh-uh
Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh-uh-uh
Meet Me In Montauk 
I’ve always been intrigued by how non-Disco artists, and, later on, non-rap artists have dipped into the genre. In fact, that could be a theme week (or more) onto itself. Sometimes the results can be rather embarrassing, but I actually don’t mind, and kinda like, the Stones’ disco era songs like “Miss You” and “Emotional Rescue.”