Mick Taylor was the best guitar player who ever played with the Stones, agreed - except for the 1975 sessions Jeff Beck took part in.
The studio stuff they did with him on lead was so skilled - the best live stuff you can find was made with Taylor too, "Get Yer Ya Ya's Out",
"Brussels Affair", "Ladies & Gentlemen"...
The Brian Jones years were magic - if only they could have recorded their stuff with Jones with the technology from the late 60s/early 70s... - maybe the best they ever did as far as composing; too bad the sound of those days didn't tally their inspiration.
With Ronnie Wood since 1975 they've delivered great stuff too, and Ronnie allowed Keith to reach the guitar interaction he wanted, that you especially hear on "Some Girls", their best album with Ronnie Wood I think.
"Emotional Rescue" is rather uneven, but there are great tunes like "So Cold", "Let Me Go", "All About You", "Where the Boys Go"...
The videos from the 1978-81 period kicked ass ("So Cold", "Neighbors", "Start me Up"...).
"Undercover" is really underrated, as "Dirty Work" is. Neither of these two albums were followed by a tour, which probably got them ill-appreciated.
I wouldn't rate them under "Tattoo You".
I'd say "Steel Wheels" is their second best with Woodie.
Voodoo Lounge would have been excellent if they had cut about 4 tunes off it IMO...
Bridges to Babylon almost sounds like some Jagger solo album, except for "Flip the Switch". Almost boring... Haven't listened to it in a good dozen years.
"Bigger Bang" would have been much bigger, had they taken a few tunes out, like for Voodoo Lounge...
But in retrospect, what an amazing discography, there's so little to leave aside!
Too bad Bill Wyman didn't play more than he did the other day, and even Mick Taylor. The celebration would have been more complete -
but apparently Mick Jagger decided it wouldn't happen like that... by the way, he was limping on stage, wasn't he?