Rock N Roll Short Takes # 2 - The Rolling Stones
In a career spanning [as of this writing] 574 years.. whoops! 57 years and 23 studio albums, and just as many live albums [or more now with the From the Vault series] and in the mid-teens for compilation sets, the Stones have surprisingly few totally essential albums. Now having an 8 year gap between albums 21 & 22 and 12 years between 22 & 23 certainly doesn't add prolific to their list of accomplishments. There will be only two albums that have different US and UK track listings, I will use the CD versions for these two compilations that use the US versions. So let's start there.
Big Hits [High Tides & Green Grass] & Through the Past, Darkly [Big Hits, Vol. 2]
These two collections from 1966 and 1969 respectively will cover most everything one needs from the early Stones years. Big Hits has [I Can't Get No] Satisfaction, It's All Over Now, The Last Time, 19th Nervous Breakdown and Get Off My Cloud. Through the Past has the non-LP singles Jumpin' Jack Flash and Honky Tonk Women plus Paint It Black, Ruby Tuesday, Let's Spend the Night Together, She's A Rainbow and 200 Light Years From Home. The only reason I go with these two sets over the Hot Rocks collection is the duplicate songs from the Beggar's Banquet, Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers albums. With these two albums, the only duplicate song is Street Fighting Man.
Taken together, these two albums rate an 8.5 / 10. I'd say they are the 5th and 6th most essential Stones albums, Through the Past ahead of Big Hits.
Beggar's Banquet - 1968's Beggar's Banquet is the album that probably was the turning point leading into the Stones becoming The World's Greatest Rock & Roll Band. Very acoustic and very rural the album touches on country [Dear Doctor, the first appearance of Jagger's country twang voice], country-blues [No Expectations, Prodigal Son], a touch of Appalachia {Factory Girl] and the beginnings of the Stones' version of their blues-rock [Parachute Woman, Stray Cat Blues]. But it's most remembered for thew two incendiary side opening tracks, Sympathy For the Devil and Street Fighting Man. Contrary to popular myth, Sympathy For the Devil was NOT the song being played when Meredith Hunter was stabbed by the Hell's Angels. [It was Under My Thumb.] And Street Fighting Man was banned a lot of places, too hot for the times, although Jagger decried "It's stupid to think you can start a revolution with a record." Compared to what the Beatles were doing - slowly disintegrating and drifting away from each other, the Stones had basically locked their problem child out and Keith Richards completely took over, locking himself and Jagger in as the band's leaders.The Stones would shortly fire Brian Jones from the band he started. But this is the metamorphosis album for what was to come.
I rate this 9 / 10 but it's only the 4th most essential Stones album.
Let It Bleed - Let It Bleed is the Stones album I resisted the most. Mostly because it included the heavily overplayed You Can't Always Get What You Want. Which after years of avoiding I can occasionally tolerate and now the most annoying Stones song goes to Start Me Up, followed VERY QUICKLY by Sympathy For the Devil and Dead Flowers. But as I've mellowed a bit and really analyzed the Stones catalog, I've come to determine that Let It Bleed is the most important Stones album. This is where it all came together The anger of Street Fighting Man is now the enflamed dire warning of Gimme Shelter. The seedy pervert of Stray Cat Blues is the hopped up maniac of Monkey Man and the anti-hero of Live With Me. The country-blues comes through on a devastatingly understated take on Robert Johnson's Love In Vain and the fun acoustic take of Honky Tonk Women, Country Honk and of course the title track. The under rated track here is Midnight Rambler. Of course I prefer the live version from Get Your Ya Yas Out because it shows what the Stones do - they lock into a groove and just ride it, the band huddles together and Jagger blows harp and they just groove.
This rates a 10 / 10 and is the best and The Most Essential Stones album.
Sticky Fingers - While Let It Bleed is the essential Rolling Stones album, Sticky Fingers is the DEFINITIVE Rolling Stones album. This is one you would hand to anyone who asks "What are Rolling Stones all about?" The two kind of go hand in hand since some of the songs were already around [Sister Morphine dates back to 1968]. But this is where the Stones gelled into the World's Greatest Rock & Roll Band. At least four of these songs are Stone cold Stones classics: Brown Sugar, Wild Horses, Can't You Hear Me Knocking and Bitch. Brown Sugar may be the quintessential Rolling Stones track - I'll hear arguments for Start Me Up but I'll be hard to Sway [hee hee]. Brown Sugar probably defines the Stones of this era, i.e. the Mick Taylor years: Keith locking into the groove and Mick Taylor throwing out beautiful lines almost effortlessly. [Bobby Keys sax solo was tacked on much later but remains an essential part of the song to this day]. Wild Horses was given to Gram Parsons and the Flying Burrito Brothers but the Stones take here is just amazing - dripping with a pain, weariness and honesty that the ever defensive Jagger rarely gets to. It took a long time for me to connect I Got the Blues to it's real roots - the great Stax Records soul ballads, particularly Otis Redding's These Arms Of Mine. Unbelievably there are two tracks with no Keith [except vocals on Sway]. Mick Taylor plays admirably on Sway - I would like to hear a longer ride out one day - and absolutely beautifully on Moonlight Mile. Slide guitar virtuoso Ry Cooder plays on Sister Morphine - this is apparently where Keith leaned /"stole" the Open G tuning which he would make his trademark sound. I can forgive the former kitschy favorite now nails on a blackboard to me Dead Flowers - in a few years it may fall back into rotation like Shattered has. This is still vital Rolling Stones.
I rate this a 9 /10 and would declare this the 2nd Most Essential Stones album - I might even go 1a with Let It Bleed - they are that close.
Exile On Main Street - now lauded as the best and Most Essential Rolling Stones album [It's not.], this sprawling double disc set still rates very high in the greater scheme of the Rolling Stones catalog. Eight of the first ten cuts are truly essential listening for any fan of rock & roll and anyone interested in the Rolling Stones in particular. My personal problem with Exile has always been the side three tracks Turd On the Run, Ventilator Blues and I Just Want To See His Face. These tracks feel like filler, throwaways added to pad out the record to for sides. The rest of the songs play out wonderfully, All Down the Line and Soul Survivor bordering on essential Stones tracks. The album veers all over stylistically - the gospel tinged Let It Loose and Shine A Light, the countyish Sweet Virginia, the blues of Shake Your Hips and Stop Breaking Down, the breakneck rockabilly of Rip This Joint and the soulful Loving Cup. And then there are songs that one can only describe as Rolling Stones songs: Rocks Off, Tumbling Dice, Happy and the Us Against the World of Casino Boogie and my personal favorite Torn And Frayed. Still for all it's greatness and really, really good, I can't forgive the duds of side three.
I rate this 8 / 10 and consider it the 3rd Most Essential Stones album.
After these Essential Stones albums, the catalog then falls into which era of the Stones you like. Some Girls was the first Stones record I bought, maybe one of the first 10 albums I ever bought [1978? That's about right.] and the second Stones album I was exposed to [Mom bought Black & Blue into the house - almost universally panned, it remains a personal favorite]. Some Girls is one of those records you like a lot but if you're paring your collection down would be one of the last ones sold - but you could and would sell it. A lot of people would put Tattoo You on the list of Essential Stones records - and good for them. When I listen to it, the first side - the fast, groovy side carries the whole record. There are a couple of good songs on the second side - Heaven and Waiting On A Friend - but nothing else that makes you for the car CDs. They're as forgettable as much of the Emotional Rescue album.
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Rock N Roll Short Takes # 1 - The Beatles
I just felt the need to address some things in a bit of an expanded way but not necessarily completely. In this case, addressing the best, the most essential and the most over-rated, in my never humble opine of course. in addressing the Beatles catalog, I will use the now universal British catalog / CD issues.
A Hard Day's Night - the first completely original [i.e no covers] Beatles album, this is the pinnacle of the early "rock & roll" period of the Beatles, if just for the singles A Hard Day's Night and Can't Buy Me Love.But it also contains two of their best early ballads, Paul's And I Love Her and John's If I Fell. It's also chock full of joyous upbeat songs with great harmonies [Tell Me Why, When I Get Home] and George's I'm Happy Just To Dance With You is a pretty good toe tapper. You Can't Do That is one of the great early riffs that might be necessary to get to I Feel Fine, Ticket To Ride and Day Tripper.
Rate it an 8 / 10. 5th most essential.
Rubber Soul - After the mishmash of Help! which found John very under the spell of Robert Zimmerman [Help!, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away], the band knocked this gem [plus the non-LP double A sided Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out] out in a mere two weeks of sessions. Again very acoustic and organic [i.e. Dylanesque] it again shows Lennon leading the way with very honest [Norwegian Wood, In My Life] sometimes cutting [Nowhere Man, Girl and especially Run For Your Life] lyrics and his first call for universal love The Word. Paul adds two excellent numbers in Michelle and I'm Looking Through You George's If I Needed Someone is pretty good and the Buck Owens-ish spotlight for Ringo [Lennon-McCartney-Starkey credited] What Goes On features great harmonies and a pretty good vocal from Ringo. And then there's the sheer silliness and fun of Mac-Len's Drive My Car. For people who wonder why Paul McCartney is considered in innovative and creative bass player, I suggest getting an earful of his work on The Word and What Goes On.
I rate this an absolute 9 / 10. Taken with the Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out single, I think that this is The Most Essential of all Beatles albums.
Revolver - Revolver may be the most important album in the Beatles catalog and among the most important in rock & roll. In their search for new sounds, the engineers invented ADT [Artificial Double Tracking"], variable speed recording, close up miking of instruments and the use of backwards tapes. Plus for John's The Void [later rechristened Tomorrow Never Knows], the ran John's voice through the rotating speaker of a Leslie organ [2nd verse]. [Lennon suggested an opposite approach - hanging him by his feet from a rope and swinging that / him around a microphone, an idea Martin told Lennon he 'was working on' but never got tried.] As for the songs, it's more an electric than acoustic record and by this time at least John and George had tried LSD. Lennon contributes the acid tinged She Said, She Said , the lazy drifting I'm Only Sleeping, the tale of the pill pushing Dr. Robert and the acidic jab of And Your Bird Can Sing. Paul adds the wonderful For No One [one of my faves by Paul], Elanor Rigby and the rubbery soul of Got To Get You Into My Life [an ode to Mary Jane and I don't mean any girl, nudge wink]. Two of George's numbers are very good, the sneering lead off Taxman [with brilliant bass work and guitar solo by Paul] and Love You Too are pretty good. Unfortunately, the album also has the damnable cutesy ear-worm Yellow Submarine. But that can be forgiven in the grander scheme of things.
I have to rate this a 9 /10 also. Taking this album and the criminally under rated non-LP single Paperback Writer / Rain as a whole, I'd say this is the 2nd most essential Beatles album.
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Billed as a concept album [It's really not other than McCartney suggesting that the Beatles can pretend to be another band so they could experiment (further) with the music and sounds andf the removal of the little 2-3 second break between the songs.], SPLHCB is the album most everyone claims is the most important in rock & roll [As I just told you, it's not.] and a favorite. I get it. I do. There's still a lot of innovative sounds and some absolutely knock your socks off songs. IMHO, the clams [Within You Without You, When I'm Sixty-Four (the start of Paul's musical pablum songs like Honey Pie, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, Hello Goodbye and Your Mother Should Know)] are less forgivable. Stating for the record again: the final song, A Day In the Life is the best thing the Beatles ever put on record. The whole first side flows most wonderfully. SPLHCB into Ringo's vocal for the album With A Little Help From My Friends into John's NOT ABOUT ACID Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds into Getting Better, Fixing A Hole, She's Leaving Home and Being For the Benefit Of Mr. Kite [inspired by an 1840s circus poster Lennon had]. The remaining bits: Paul's Lovely Rita [a fave of mine also], John's Good Morning Good Morning [inspired by a breakfast cereal commercial] and the reprise of SPLHCB are okay as well. I will state here also, a lot of the records the critics and people who blindly follow then cry are the best aare usually not in my opine. An example being the Beach Boys Pet Sounds. It's okay but I don't get all the fuss, especially if one compares it to the groundbreaking Rubber Soul or Revolver. This is one of those cases. But here's a kicker - one has to include the non-LP single , the first two songs cut - Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane when considering this album. This adds points, a lot of points.
I rate this a 9 / 10 also. I'd say it's the 3rd most essential Beatles album.
Abbey Road - Abbey Road was the last Beatles album recorded and according to all, it was an attempt to get back to the Beatles old way of making music. In the end they compromised, played nice, played well mostly together and generally acted tolerant of each other. Anyone seeing the dour Let It Be movie [done a mere 6 months earlier] would never have thought this was possible. It's an impressive piece of work even though it has little to actually say and doesn't break a lot of new ground. Aside from the clanger of Maxwell's Silver Hammer ["God that was so fruity" Harrison opined; Lennon called it "more of Paul's granny music"] the songs are pretty good. Even Ringo's Octopus' Garden is catchy in a not cringe inducing way. George steals the show with his hit single Something and the FM staple Here Comes the Sun. [He also helped Ringo arrange Octopus' Garden which shows again some fluid country type playing.] Paul's Oh! Darling is another clssic, sort of a cousin to Lady Madonna, Hey Jude and Don't Let Me Down.[Lennon stated in his Playboy interview "He should have let me sing it - it's more my style anyway."] John's I Want You [She's So Heavy] may be too much for some people but it's a great interplay between the band and Billy Preston on organ. Also one of those songs on which McCartney shows his innovation as bass player. And then there's the medley. For jamming together 1 song [You Never Give Me Your Money] and 7 unrelated little bits of "songlets" it's pretty impressive. Taking this album with the non-LP single The Ballad Of John And Yoko / Old Brown Shoe but with it's lack of much groundbreaking it's merely damn good.
I rate it again 9/10 but I'd say it's only the 4th most essential Beatles album.
After these five, the idea of 'essential" Beatles begins to come down to what you like in the catalog. Some would say Magical Mystery Tour because the CD includes I Am the Walrus and the non-LP singles Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane, All You Need Is Love and Baby You're A Rich Man.In the era of Amazon, I'd say pick and choose the songs you like.Unless these essentials turn you into a full fledged Beatles nut / completest, I'd say the two collections 1962 - 1966, 1967 - 1970 can do you pretty good,.
I just felt the need to address some things in a bit of an expanded way but not necessarily completely. In this case, addressing the best, the most essential and the most over-rated, in my never humble opine of course. in addressing the Beatles catalog, I will use the now universal British catalog / CD issues.
A Hard Day's Night - the first completely original [i.e no covers] Beatles album, this is the pinnacle of the early "rock & roll" period of the Beatles, if just for the singles A Hard Day's Night and Can't Buy Me Love.But it also contains two of their best early ballads, Paul's And I Love Her and John's If I Fell. It's also chock full of joyous upbeat songs with great harmonies [Tell Me Why, When I Get Home] and George's I'm Happy Just To Dance With You is a pretty good toe tapper. You Can't Do That is one of the great early riffs that might be necessary to get to I Feel Fine, Ticket To Ride and Day Tripper.
Rate it an 8 / 10. 5th most essential.
Rubber Soul - After the mishmash of Help! which found John very under the spell of Robert Zimmerman [Help!, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away], the band knocked this gem [plus the non-LP double A sided Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out] out in a mere two weeks of sessions. Again very acoustic and organic [i.e. Dylanesque] it again shows Lennon leading the way with very honest [Norwegian Wood, In My Life] sometimes cutting [Nowhere Man, Girl and especially Run For Your Life] lyrics and his first call for universal love The Word. Paul adds two excellent numbers in Michelle and I'm Looking Through You George's If I Needed Someone is pretty good and the Buck Owens-ish spotlight for Ringo [Lennon-McCartney-Starkey credited] What Goes On features great harmonies and a pretty good vocal from Ringo. And then there's the sheer silliness and fun of Mac-Len's Drive My Car. For people who wonder why Paul McCartney is considered in innovative and creative bass player, I suggest getting an earful of his work on The Word and What Goes On.
I rate this an absolute 9 / 10. Taken with the Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out single, I think that this is The Most Essential of all Beatles albums.
Revolver - Revolver may be the most important album in the Beatles catalog and among the most important in rock & roll. In their search for new sounds, the engineers invented ADT [Artificial Double Tracking"], variable speed recording, close up miking of instruments and the use of backwards tapes. Plus for John's The Void [later rechristened Tomorrow Never Knows], the ran John's voice through the rotating speaker of a Leslie organ [2nd verse]. [Lennon suggested an opposite approach - hanging him by his feet from a rope and swinging that / him around a microphone, an idea Martin told Lennon he 'was working on' but never got tried.] As for the songs, it's more an electric than acoustic record and by this time at least John and George had tried LSD. Lennon contributes the acid tinged She Said, She Said , the lazy drifting I'm Only Sleeping, the tale of the pill pushing Dr. Robert and the acidic jab of And Your Bird Can Sing. Paul adds the wonderful For No One [one of my faves by Paul], Elanor Rigby and the rubbery soul of Got To Get You Into My Life [an ode to Mary Jane and I don't mean any girl, nudge wink]. Two of George's numbers are very good, the sneering lead off Taxman [with brilliant bass work and guitar solo by Paul] and Love You Too are pretty good. Unfortunately, the album also has the damnable cutesy ear-worm Yellow Submarine. But that can be forgiven in the grander scheme of things.
I have to rate this a 9 /10 also. Taking this album and the criminally under rated non-LP single Paperback Writer / Rain as a whole, I'd say this is the 2nd most essential Beatles album.
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Billed as a concept album [It's really not other than McCartney suggesting that the Beatles can pretend to be another band so they could experiment (further) with the music and sounds andf the removal of the little 2-3 second break between the songs.], SPLHCB is the album most everyone claims is the most important in rock & roll [As I just told you, it's not.] and a favorite. I get it. I do. There's still a lot of innovative sounds and some absolutely knock your socks off songs. IMHO, the clams [Within You Without You, When I'm Sixty-Four (the start of Paul's musical pablum songs like Honey Pie, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, Hello Goodbye and Your Mother Should Know)] are less forgivable. Stating for the record again: the final song, A Day In the Life is the best thing the Beatles ever put on record. The whole first side flows most wonderfully. SPLHCB into Ringo's vocal for the album With A Little Help From My Friends into John's NOT ABOUT ACID Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds into Getting Better, Fixing A Hole, She's Leaving Home and Being For the Benefit Of Mr. Kite [inspired by an 1840s circus poster Lennon had]. The remaining bits: Paul's Lovely Rita [a fave of mine also], John's Good Morning Good Morning [inspired by a breakfast cereal commercial] and the reprise of SPLHCB are okay as well. I will state here also, a lot of the records the critics and people who blindly follow then cry are the best aare usually not in my opine. An example being the Beach Boys Pet Sounds. It's okay but I don't get all the fuss, especially if one compares it to the groundbreaking Rubber Soul or Revolver. This is one of those cases. But here's a kicker - one has to include the non-LP single , the first two songs cut - Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane when considering this album. This adds points, a lot of points.
I rate this a 9 / 10 also. I'd say it's the 3rd most essential Beatles album.
Abbey Road - Abbey Road was the last Beatles album recorded and according to all, it was an attempt to get back to the Beatles old way of making music. In the end they compromised, played nice, played well mostly together and generally acted tolerant of each other. Anyone seeing the dour Let It Be movie [done a mere 6 months earlier] would never have thought this was possible. It's an impressive piece of work even though it has little to actually say and doesn't break a lot of new ground. Aside from the clanger of Maxwell's Silver Hammer ["God that was so fruity" Harrison opined; Lennon called it "more of Paul's granny music"] the songs are pretty good. Even Ringo's Octopus' Garden is catchy in a not cringe inducing way. George steals the show with his hit single Something and the FM staple Here Comes the Sun. [He also helped Ringo arrange Octopus' Garden which shows again some fluid country type playing.] Paul's Oh! Darling is another clssic, sort of a cousin to Lady Madonna, Hey Jude and Don't Let Me Down.[Lennon stated in his Playboy interview "He should have let me sing it - it's more my style anyway."] John's I Want You [She's So Heavy] may be too much for some people but it's a great interplay between the band and Billy Preston on organ. Also one of those songs on which McCartney shows his innovation as bass player. And then there's the medley. For jamming together 1 song [You Never Give Me Your Money] and 7 unrelated little bits of "songlets" it's pretty impressive. Taking this album with the non-LP single The Ballad Of John And Yoko / Old Brown Shoe but with it's lack of much groundbreaking it's merely damn good.
I rate it again 9/10 but I'd say it's only the 4th most essential Beatles album.
After these five, the idea of 'essential" Beatles begins to come down to what you like in the catalog. Some would say Magical Mystery Tour because the CD includes I Am the Walrus and the non-LP singles Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane, All You Need Is Love and Baby You're A Rich Man.In the era of Amazon, I'd say pick and choose the songs you like.Unless these essentials turn you into a full fledged Beatles nut / completest, I'd say the two collections 1962 - 1966, 1967 - 1970 can do you pretty good,.
