Emotional Rescue: The Rolling Stones' Misunderstood Follow-Up to Some Girls

When Emotional Rescue dropped in 1980, critics mostly shrugged. Some Girls had been a masterpiece — tight, punchy, a return to form after the sprawling Black and Blue. This one felt looser, weirder, with Jagger leaning into falsetto and the band chasing disco and reggae instead of rock & roll. Rolling Stone gave it a mixed review, and Trouser Press called it “a leftover stew.” It peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard chart (mostly on Some Girls’ momentum), but quickly faded from the conversation.

Later reappraisals have been kinder. The title track is a sly, low-key funk workout that could sit on any Stones mixtape, and “She’s So Cold” carries a nasty guitar hook. “Where the Boys Go” is pure pub-rock energy, while “Indian Girl” is a weird, string-laden detour that makes more sense as a Jagger-led world-music experiment. The album’s unevenness is now seen as a feature: it’s the sound of a band refusing to repeat themselves, even when the results are clunky. Retrospective reviews from Uncut and Pitchfork have bumped up its rating, calling it an underrated transitional record with several hidden gems.