>>127410954
Undercover sessions = Icy cool, moody and atmospheric, ultra-chill downtempo jams with thick hooks mixed with pop-oriented rockin' numbers; overall several potential minor hit singles. A mix of classic sounding Stones and an updated-for-the-80s sound.
Undercover: The actual released version = Literally all the worst and least "classic Stones" sounding songs from the sessions. Without exaggeration probably the worst tracklist they could have selected from the sessions.
A pure outtakes disc, if it sticks to the most finished versions of songs, would even at its worst be better than the album they released at its best. And I say that as someone who likes Undercover. But it's also one of the great unknown tragedies of 80s rock. A would-be-classic that wasn't, whether because of questionable judgement, label interference, or a know-it-all producer, I couldn't say for sure, but somebody fucked up big time and we got cheated out of the last CLASSIC Stones album. (Though I do think there've been GOOD ones since then. But nothing on par with their releases through and including Tattoo You.)