Whatever the truth, Some Girls – released in June 1978 and their first full album with Ronnie Wood – was the best Stones album in yonks. The raised energy levels of tracks like When the Whip Comes Down, Lies and Respectable forcefully make the point that this ensemble were practising breakneck tempos when the punks were in short trousers. However, the Stones also demonstrate a musical palette absolutely beyond their three-chord detractors. Far Away Eyes is a fond mickey-take of country, Shattered a funky dissection of the irritants of big city life and the smash Miss You skilfully co-opts the slick grooves of disco. Elsewhere, Keith’s vocal showcase Before They Make Me Run – a renunciation of his junkie life – evinces a reflectiveness and regret beyond the emotional vocabulary of musicians in their 20s. In fact – though Mick Jagger can’t resist stirring up some outrage with the lecherous, bluesy title-track – there is an overall sensitivity and vulnerability that had never before been part of the Stones’ make-up, whether it be the machismo-spurning of Miss You, the achingly sweet cover of Just My Imagination or the exquisitely lovelorn Beast of Burden. All this made for a staggeringly good ‘comeback’ that left many veteran Stones fans rather emotional.