Undercover is possibly the Rolling Stones' most ambitious album since Some Girls, if not their entire career, as it is a mix of hard rock, reggae, dub, soul, and new wave. The inclusion of new wave in the mix is not surprising considering it is 1983 and the Stones were attempting to reinvent themselves for the MTV era; however what makes this album stand out in the Stones' catalog is the fact that it is so bleak, violent and nihilistic in attitude and overall feel, as it makes previous Stones' albums such as Let It Bleed sound like The Carpenters.

The album teems with Sadism & Masochism ("Tie You Up (The Pain Of Love)," "Feel On Baby," "Pretty Beat Up," and "Too Tough"), nymphomania ("She Was Hot," (a minor hit) and "All The Way Down"), political violence and corruption ("Undercover (Of The Night)" and "It Must Be Hell"), and to top it all off, the overblown slasher imagery of "Too Much Blood." Keith Richards' "Wanna Hold You" seems like an anomaly in the whole mix as it is a straight-forward rocker in the middle of unrelenting mayhem. This particular formula was probably too much for people to stomach as it was a commercial fall off from Tattoo You and most of the Stones' previous albums, failing to top the charts (stalling at #4) and providing only one Top 40 hit with "Undercover (Of The Night)," which barely cracked the Top 10 at #9. The commercial fortunes of the album are not an indicator of the album strengths or weaknesses; on the contrary, time has done a great service to this album as it has aged gracefully in spite of its disturbing atmosphere.

The mix of genres combined with the lyrical content and the ever-growing feud between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards make this album stronger and more substantial (depending on one's taste or lack therof) than Tattoo You. An underrated gem in the Stones' catalog, if not 1980s music in general. It seems as if Kurt Loder had it right back in 1983 when he gave this album four and a half stars in his review for Rolling Stone Magazine.