Revisiting the Rolling Stones

For reference, I’m going to use the U.S. releases as these were the prevalent CD’s until 2002. Note that the U.K. versions of 1965’s Out Of Our Heads and 1966’s Aftermath vary greatly [1967’s Between the Buttons less so] from what the U.S. market was given – like the Beatles, the Stones’ singles in the U.K. were not put on the album. And like the Beatles the two countries releases were synched up in 1967, in this case starting with Their Satanic Majesties.

 

1. Sticky Fingers – starting with Brown Sugar [did you know Mick wrote that while in Australia filming Ned Kelly?] and ending with the dreamy Moonlight Mile, this is just an amazing album. Wild Horses is just one of the most beautiful songs the band has ever done, the outro jam on Can’t You Hear Me Knocking, the hard driving riff and horns on Bitch, the Memphis inspired soul of I Got the Blues and Ry Cooder’s stinging slide work on Sister Morphine are all just jaw dropping even almost 50 years later. If you listen closely to the lyrics of Moonlight Mile, that’s about as personal as you’re gonna get from Mick.

 

2. Let It Bleed – from the opening notes of Gimme Shelter to the last strains of the London Bach Choir, this is perhaps the quintessential Stones album. It was my favorite and perhaps sits more of a 1-A [depending on the day] to Sticky Fingers. At times You Can’t Always Get What You Want seems bloated but you can’t argue with Gimme Shelter, Love In Vain, the under-rated Live With Me and Monkey Man.

 

3. Exile On Main Street – while it was not well received in 1972, this double album has risen to become many people’s “best” Stones album. I am not one of those people. Still, hitting on 15-16 of 18 tracks is pretty damn good! This album runs the gamut of basic Stones rockers [All Down the Line, Soul Survivor] to country tinged [Sweet Virginia and one of my favorites, Torn And Frayed] to blues [Slim Harpo’s Shake Your Hips, Robert Johnson’s Stop Breaking Down] to gospel [Let It Loose, Shine A Light]. Also has two of the best songs the Stones ever laid to tape: Tumbling Dice and Keith’s lead spotlight song Happy.

 

4. Some Girls – Ron Wood’s official debut as a full member of the band [though he was not made a full partner until 1990]. Some Girls is a great recovery from a band that had seemed in free fall for a couple of years. The songs are short and intensely focused thanks to Woody’s guitar style meshing with Keith’s into what Keith calls “the fine art of weaving.” And the Stones finally redeem themselves for two previous bad covers of Tempations songs with Just My Imagination [Running Away With Me]. While one can argue whether certain songs are now played to death [Miss You] and how Jagger’s syrupy faux country voice on Far Away Eyes [And Dear Doctor. And Dead Flowers] gets old after a few hundred plays, it’s hard to argue with these 10 songs as one of the strongest Stones albums ever.  ***

 

5. Beggar’s Banquet – a similarly critical turning point for the Stones as Rubber Soul was for the Beatles this album marks the beginning of a classic period of the Stones history. The Stones left pop and psychedelics completely behind and dug back into their roots in blues and country. It was the last album on which Brian Jones played a major contribution [notably sitar and tanpura on Street Fighting Man and the wonderful slide guitar part on No Expectations] and the first of a run of five with producer Jimmy Miller. While I could go a long, long time without hearing Sympathy For the Devil again, there’s a great pile of tracks I can enjoy: No Expectations, Parachute Woman, the extremely fun Jigsaw Puzzle, Street Fighting Man and the low down Stray Cat Blues.

 

6. Tattoo You – while this is a compilation of vault tracks from as far back as 1972 [Waiting On A Friend and Tops, with Mick Taylor on guitar, not Ron Wood] side 1 is a lineup of killer rockers, even if I could go a long time without hearing Start Me Up again. The 2002 CD version even restore about a minute and a half of the great groove tune Slave. Side 2 starters Worried About You and Tops are just okay, I always liked the sweeping tone on Heaven.

 

7. Through the Past, Darkly [Big Hits, Vol. 2] – You’re going to need some Rolling Stones compilation to get the two great singles Jumpin’ Jack Flash and Honky Tonk Women [and the good Dandelion]. If you’re just a casual fan of the band, this record or Hot Rocks 1964 – 1971] will fit the bill. *

 

8. December’s Children [And Everybody’s] – this collection of tracks released just in time for Christmas in 1965 compiles the single Get Off My Cloud and the rest of the UK version of Out Of Our Heads. It’s actually one of my favorites of the early period Rolling Stones. **

 

9. Between the Buttons – London peeling off two tracks to add Let’s Spend the Night Together and Ruby Tuesday actually works to make this a better record than the UK version. A lot of tracks I dig like Yesterday’s Papers, Connection, My Obsession and Miss Amanda Jones. [The Rolling Stones In Mono version is better – fixes some of the weird stereo separation that dogged the Beatles’ Rubber Soul, which I also prefer in mono.]

 

10. The Rolling Stones [aka England’s Newest Hit Makers] – the debut by the Stones is more memorable that the Beatles [Please Please Me]. Powered along by Muddy Waters’ I Just Want To Make Love To You and I’m A King Bee, Buddy Holly’s Not Fade Away, Nat King Cole’s Route 66 and Chuck Berry’s Carol.

 

11. Black And Blue – While it holds a special place in my heart, being the first Stones record I was exposed to, this mishmash is what it is. I like Hot Stuff, Fool To Cry and Crazy Mama is a great little gem. But it’s the semi-autobiographical Memory Motel that’s the standout track on this album.

 

12. Goats Head Soup - while I have come to like this a little more over the last couple of years, coming off of the four albums before this, the Stones were due for a bit of a “coming down.” Angie is another song I’m tired of. It does have Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (yes that’s the official title) [Heartbreaker], another great track for Mick Taylor in Winter, the fun Silver Train and the evil Dancing With Mr. D. Again, a good record, just not one I reach for a lot.

 

13. Emotional Rescue – the Stones second album with Woody is an okay album. Despite how cringeworthy it is now, the title track was a top 5 US hit. But with songs like Down In the Hole, Let Me Go and She’s So Cold, it’s not terrible like say It’s Only Rock And Roll.

 

14. Steel Wheels – A return to form for the Stones – it’s amazing what a Mick and Keith can accomplish when they work together instead of against each other. Yes, it’s about two songs too long I’d cut Blinded By Love [although Willy Deville could do a great cover of it] and Continental Drift. [Break the Spell can stay on as that one song you always forget to program out when playing the CD]. Contains two of my favorite Stones ballads in Almost Hear You Sigh and Keith’s Slipping Away.

 

15. Blue And Lonesome – 2016 saw the surprise release of new Stones – sort of. An album of blues covers it’s mercifully short but surprisingly tight. The band is in really good form. Jagger concentrating on playing harp makes him think about where he’s fitting in with the music and don’t kid yourself, the man can blow a pretty mean harp. Eric Clapton guests on the very satisfying Everybody Knows About My Good Thing and [a very un-Zeppelin take of] I Can’t Quit You Baby. Other highlights: Just Your Fool, All Of Your Love and Hate To See You Go.

 

16. It’s Only Rock And Roll – with Keith deep into addiction, the Micks [Jagger and Taylor] try to soldier on with decidedly mixed results.  If You Can’t Rock Me, Fingerprint File  and the funky Dance Little Sister are pretty good. The title track I’m tired of but it’s a good song. And Time Waits For No One is absolutely stunning, a great showpiece for Taylor’s guitar playing. The cover of the Temptation’s Ain’t Too Proud To Beg is a cringeworthy as Emotional Rescue.

 

17. Out Of Our Heads– While the US version adds [I Can’t Get No] Satisfaction and The Last Time and also contains the hilarious Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man, the under rated Spider And the Fly and Play With Fire, the covers again slow this collection down.

 

18. Undercover – In reviewing this album in 2021, I have to admit, it’s not as terrible as its reputation. One of the problems is timing – it follows one of the Stones most accessible albums in Tattoo You. The second problem it has too many weird moments. Undercover of the Night is a great song – not a single though. It’s got too much going on with the reverb and trickery on the vocals. The dub feel of Feel On Baby. Too Much Blood is just something Let’s Dance era Bowie [OMG the horns!] but the spoken parts? What the hell are you talking about Mick? There was nothing else you could have put in that 6 minutes? Keith’s song Wanna Hold You is just too happy, too upbeat. The rest of the album is just as vintage Stones as anything else of this era. Too Tough is good and It Must Be Hell recycles the Soul Survivor riff pretty well.

 

19. Their Satanic Majesties Request – ah yes, the band’s acid tinged album. She’s A Rainbow, 2000 Light Years From Home and Citadel are great tracks. The Lantern is pretty good. But overall, yeah it’s pretty mediocre. Unless you like a lot of Mellotron.

 

20. Aftermath – While this does contain three of my favorite tracks from this period, Stupid Girl, Lady Jane and Under My Thumb, the rest of this album just really does nothing for me.

 

21. Voodoo Lounge – At 15 songs, it’s definitely too long. Great songs: Love Is Strong, You Got Me Rocking, Out Of Tears, Blinded By Rainbows, Baby Break It Down and Thru And Thru. I Go Wild is a rewrite on the opener Love Is Strong. Suck On the Jugular is passable. Keith’s The Worst may be the worst song in the Stones catalog – it’s definitely fighting for it with the two tracks that end Bridges. Sparks Will Fly just tries too hard.

 

22. Bridges To Babylon – Where Bridges To Babylon is good, it’s very enjoyable: Flip the Switch, Anybody Seen My Baby, Low Down, Out Of Control, Saint Of Me. But there’s 8 other songs on here and maybe only one worth revisiting. Three of them move slower than frozen molasses. Two of those are Keith’s numbers and they end the album.

 

23. A Bigger Bang – At 16 songs, again it’s just too long. Geez guys put out the top 10 or 11 and save some for Tattoo You II! But the boys still know how to kick off a record: Rough Justice, Let Me Down Slow and It Won’t Take Long. The blues of Back Of My Hand is a nice slab of Mississippi Fred’s You Got To Move. But not too much else is memorable. This one doesn’t even have a nice mid-tempo or ballad to balance things out a bit.

 

24. Dirty Work – reviewing again, this holds its reputation as the worst of the Stones records in the post Tattoo You period. But it’s really close. The production is a little odd – very midrangey, not a lot of bottom. [Had It With You may not even have a bass on it if it is it’s buried in the mix and unheard and unfelt.] One Hit [To the Body], Fight and the title track are the best things here. Even Keith’s two tracks don’t move the needle. Keith wanted to take this album on the road?!?

 

25. The Rolling Stones, Now! – again a lot of covers here. Stand outs include the 1940 boogie woogie number Down the Road Apiece and Willie Dixon’s Little Red Rooster [a long time favorite of mine]. Mick and Keith add Heart Of Stone and What A Shame but still a thin record.

 

26. 12x5– unlike the Beatles, who were writing their own songs from the get go, Jagger and Richards didn’t start writing their own songs until 1964. So the early, early Stones records are mainly covers. While this can be good if you’re picking good material, some of the covers here leave something to be desired. Not so of their takes of Chuck Berry’s Around and Around and Bobby and Shirley Womack’s It’s All Over Now. [The version of Time Is On My Side here starts with the organ – and I hate that version.] Jagger and Richards come through here with the very under rated Good Times, Bad Times [not to be confused with the Led Zeppelin song with the same title]. The band jam [credited to Nanker Phelge and names in honor of the location of Chess Records studio] 2120 South Michigan Avenue is surprisingly funky for English white boys. Bill Wyman smokes on this track!

 

27. Flowers – As noted, [and much as Capitol had done with the Beatles], the Stones US/Canada label London felt free to cut and paste the Rolling Stones catalog as it was received. In most cases this was to add whatever singles were out or had just finished their run. Flowers is the second collection of a couple of singles plus songs pulled from the UK versions of Aftermath and Between the Buttons. [I actually would recommend seeking out the UK versions of those two CDs for your collection.] While it does contain Ruby Tuesday, Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby and Let’s Spend the Night Together, you will be getting those on other releases. The only real necessity here is the folky Sittin’ On A Fence.

 

28. Metamorphosis – As a result of splitting from Allen Klein at the end of the 60s, Klein’s company ABKCO won control of the Stones masters from 1962-1969*. This dump of 14 outtakes plus a decidedly morbid Heart Of Stone with an organ as the lead instrument and Out Of Time with strings is mostly bottom of the barrel dreck. Even the Stones take on Memo From Turner is pretty bad. [The London / ABKCO Singles Collection uses Jagger’s first solo single version with Ry Cooder on guitar.] Save your ears and just get Don’t Lie To Me, I Don’t Know Why, Jiving Sister Fanny and I’m Going Down off of Amazon and don’t look back.

* With the Stones ABKCO years, there’s a choice to be made for your “hits collections” because you WILL need one to complete your catalog. As with the Beatles, there are a few singles that never appeared on any LP. In the Stones catalog that includes the essential tracks Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Honky Tonk Women and 19^th Nervous Breakdown. 

On the collection Hot Rocks 1964-1971 you get those plus Under My Thumb, Sympathy For the Devil, Gimme Shelter, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, the smoking hot live Midnight Rambler, Brown Sugar and Wild Horses. The early [1964-1966] period though misses several of my favorite tracks which do appear on the 1966 comp Big Hits [High Tides and Green Grass] namely The Last Time and It’s All Over Now as well as Good Times, Bad Times, Tell Me and Not Fade Away. 

While 1969’s Through the Past, Darkly [Big Hits Vol. 2] [famous for its octagonal sleeve] does NOT have Under My Thumb, Sympathy, Rambler, Brown Sugar or Wild Horses, it does add Dandelion, Have You Seen You Mother Baby [Standing In the Shadow], 2000 Light Years From Home and She’s A Rainbow. 

Big Hits and Fazed Cookies [Big Hits Vol. 2] does have all the tracks I named as pros for Big Hits [High Tides] and Through the Past plus I’m Free, Lady Jane, Sittin’ On A Fence, No Expectations and Let It Bleed. 

Having said all that, I guess I would advise a casual, “how do I start listening to these guys?” person either Hot Rocks or 2004’s 40 Licks [covering the first 40 years, up to Bridges To Babylon]. If someone asked specifically about the “beyond what I hear on the radio,”  then Big Hits and Through the Past. 

** With the Stones, there are two major catalogs: the Pre-1971 ABKCO [originally on London Records in the U.S.] catalog which fell into the hands of former manager Allen Klein [as noted in the Metamorphosis review] and the Rolling Stones records catalog. 

Atlantic allowed the Stones their own label / company as the Beatles had done with Apple [and Led Zeppelin would do (also with Atlantic) with their very successful Swan Song imprint]. Although the Stones never developed other artists [they did release a few albums by reggae artists Peter Tosh ] their own catalog remained / remains a huge cash cow even to this day. So when CDs first came out, the Stones then current label CBS paid the Stones some cash and rushed everything from Sticky Fingers up to the then current Dirty Work out on CD. And of course people rushed out to add their favorite songs back into their lives on this new “forever” format. 

What we later learned was that these 1986 / 1987 versions were compressed and had flaws in the logic behind them – certain frequencies were chopped off because they are beyond the range of hearing. As a result, when listened to very closely by a fan who is really paying attention, they sound ‘clipped.’ 

In the one thing they may have ever gotten right with the Stones catalog, ABKCO brought in former producer Andrew Loog Oldham to oversee the mastering of the Stones catalog that they controlled for CD [Oldham ended up remixing some things as well] and in 1986 released them, including the favorites Hot Rocks collection. [ABKCO re-remastered their Stones catalog in 2002 and these are the versions still available.] 

When the Stones moved to Virgin records in 1994, they took that back catalog with them. Virgin then was able to issue Rolling Stones Records back catalog from Sticky Fingers up the Steel Wheels under their imprint [Voodoo Lounge was the first new release on the Virgin deal]. Virgin went back to the source tapes, the masters, and basically created a new “digital” master using much improved technology. The new masters usually allowed more range especially in the lower / bass registers that was missing in early CDs making them feel “thin” or “tinny.”  They were also remastered when the Stones moved on to the Universal Music Group [UMG] in 2009 and yet again in 2015 for vinyl.  

For my money, I prefer the Virgin remasters or the 2009 UMG remasters. Later remasters [like 2021's Tattoo You or 2020's Goats Head Soup] sound incredibly “bright” or excessively treble-y. [An issue I also had with Elektra’s HDCD versions of the Cars 1^st 3 albums.] 

 

*** My Uncle J. Michael Leone, God rest his soul, used to tell me that Ron Wood was “absolutely the worst choice” the Stones could have made to replace Mick Taylor. In a way, I get that – Ron Wood as a lead guitar player is not in the same class as Mick Taylor. However, Mick Taylor was not the kind of guitar player who really “meshed” with Keith Richards. Coming from being the lead and rhythm guitarist for the Faces, Ronnie would just switch between the two as the song needed. I think that this wall of guitars where you don’t know who played what [and Keith says sometimes they don’t either] allowed him to move around the rhythm as well instead of being forced to anchor it at all times. SOME people have called Ron Wood a “Keith Clone.” My take on it is that Ron Wood can play like Keith but Keith can’t play like Ronnie.

 

Twilight Of the Gods [Part II]

No one really ever wants to say it. That this might really be the Last Go ‘Round. But one day it really will be. Whether announced form the stage or some press conference [or not]. The Rolling Stones said it in 1974: Time waits for no one, and it won’t wait for me.  But the Stones have withstood predictions that this will be The Last Time since at least 1972. But they’re still rolling..

Some might ask why. Well, damn, it’s what they do! For sixty years in the Stones’ or Paul McCartney’s case. They’re musicians, musicians need to play. [And some with Lead Singer Syndrome still need the adoration and approval of 40,000-50,000 people a night.]  I must say the Stones in November [2021] were tight and look like they are still having fun up there. And why not? The Rolling Stones have nothing to PROVE to anyone – except that they can still bring it.

Even though the Stones were good, it raised the question: Is it better if the artists just say “I’m getting too old for this”?

It kind of depends on your expectations.  It gets kind of silly to see faces lifted, hair dyed old men still doing pelvic thrusts and singing about “girls.” Ozzy and Peter Frampton have said that they can’t do it anymore [health reasons]. Elton John is doing one last goodbye tour. Bob Seger just wrapped up his farewell tour. David Lee Roth has said he’s hanging up his rock and roll shoes.

Kiss is on one last one for the road. Word is that they’re using taped / sampled vocals in spots, so maybe they really can’t bring it like they used to. But with Kiss you’re going mostly for the spectacle, right? Are you looking for substance or style when you go to that kind of show? Does anyone care if Judas Priest tunes down so Rob Halford [if they are, I don’t know] can hit the notes or do they just want to whip themselves into a frenzy, hear something loud and see Rob ride his Harley on stage?

But could James Taylor just take out his guitar and stand and sing? Sure. Jackson Browne?

Bob Dylan doesn’t care what you or I think. Does not give a fuck.

But one day there will not be a Rolling Stones to tour. No Mick coming out and shaking his ass. No band for Keith to command. Face it - they’re all well into their 70s. [But I also said that losing Charlie Watts would end the Stones but (with Charlie’s blessing) they came out again this time, so who really knows.] Bruce sadly moved on without Clarence Clemons but even Buff Bruce won’t be able to do it forever. Prince was already suffering from years of his on-stage work. I don’t know how Paul and Gene still get up on those platforms every night, yet they do.

But one day, they will not be there to tour and people will talk about seeing the Stones / Who / McCartney / Springsteeen / U2 on their “last tour.” Did the people who bought tickets to Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers last tour think it might be Tom’s last tour? Are folks who said “ah we’ll see them next time” kicking themselves? Mom and I missed out to Ray Charles and George Carlin with this “We’ll see them next time” thinking. When I saw Queen with Freddie did I think that would be the last time they played U.S. dates?

Time waits for no one.

Think about this as well: the Stones haven’t toured new music in 15 years. To be fair, most people plunking down to see the Who, Paul McCartney or Elton John are NOT there to hear “Here’s one from our new album.” [With a temperamental artists like Bob Dylan or Nei Young, you should know going in what you get is what you get.]

For comparison, contemporaries who also put out albums in 2005 have. Paul McCartney has put out 4 albums of new music and an album of covers. Not exactly prolific but not the movement of glaciers either. Bruce Springsteen has put out 6 of new music plus the tibute album The Seeger Sessions. Dylan didn’t put out a record in 2005 but put out Modern Times in 2006. Since then he’s also put out 6 albums of new music and a Christmas [!!!] album. 

Neil Young on the other hand continues to pop them out, with varying degrees of my attention. I learned during the Geffen years not to just hop on anything with Neil’s name on it. I like some Neil Young but sometimes I find him preachy. And meandering. But since 2005’s Prairie Wind, Neil has put out 12 albums of new material [number 13 is scheduled for a December 2021 release], plus his archives series.

But it’s not just the Rolling Stones, it’s all of the artists from the golden age of Rock [say 1967 – 1976], those people who dominate the ever-shrinking playlists of Classic Rock stations that will soon be shuffling off this plane of existence. The tributes will pour out on Facebook and Twitter and people will all say “we’ll always have the music.” Which is true of course. Sales of back catalog will see an uptick for a couple of weeks and then things will return to normal.

But the list…

Eric Clapton. Mick. Keith. Paul. Ringo. Ron Wood. Rod Stewart. Jeff Beck. Jimmy Page. Robert Plant. Elton. Neil. Van Morrison. James Taylor. John Fogerty. Steven Tyler. Joe Perry. To name a few. Of course, there are those who have already gone on – Prince, Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Rory Gallagher. And the trifecta of Jimi, Janis and Jim Morrison have been gone since I was a tyke. But all their legends and legacies live on. 

Even the bands of the Metal Years, the hair band guys are getting there. Nikki Sixx will be 63 in December. Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden is 62. Bret Michaels is 58. Axl is 59. Slash is 56.

It just puts a little bit of sadness in my heart is all. But I take it all a little too seriously anyway because of the way music affects me personally.

To quote the Stones again:

When you hear the music trouble disappear
When you hear the music ringin' in your ears
Can you feel the magic floatin' in the air?
Can you hear the magic? Oh, yeah, yeah

When you hear the music ringin' in my ear
Can you hear the music? Oh, yeah
Can you hear the drummer? Gets you in the groove
Can you hear the guitar? Make you want to move? Yeah

 Twilight Of the Gods?

No one really ever wants to say it. That this might really be the Last Go ‘Round. But one day it really will be. Whether announced form the stage or some press conference [or not]. The Stones said it in 1974: Time waits for no one, and it won’t wait for me.  But the Stones have withstood divorce, slander, rip off, slagging, drugs and booze and predictions that this will be The Last Time since 1972. Or 1969. They’ve managed to keep rolling and here we are almost 5 DECADES later – 50 years folks! – and they rolled into the Cotton Bowl in Dallas last night.

Some might ask why. Well, damn, it’s what they do! For sixty years! They’re musicians, musicians need to play, [And Jagger I think still needs the adoration of 40,000-50,000 people a night. Lead Singer Disease.] The band was pretty tight and by God it looks like they are still having fun up there. Ronnie Wood still gets out there and proves the clown prince of Rock & Roll, Jagger still works the stadium with the moves he’s famous for. And I give Mick Jagger credit where credit is due – the man can blow on the harp. I kinda dig it when he stops strutting and jiving and running about and gets into the groove with the band! Keith… well, Keith is still Keith. At least on the video screen one could see Keith smiling a lot. 2 story tall nice white teeth, too.

Hits? Played several. Classic favorites? Yep. With the vote song winner Heartbreaker [Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo] the great run from Beggar’s Banquet to Goat’s Head Soup were well represented. Although oddly Sticky Fingers was not hit with the retirement of Brown Sugar from the set. 19^th Nervous Breakdown and Paint It, Black provided a couple of wild card songs. The new song Living In A Ghost Town was merely okay.

Keith’s segment… well as my brother in law said, you’re not going to remember Keith as a vocalist. Connection is an oddball if not fun choice and Keith and Steve used to do it with Keith’s other band. Slipping Away was beautiful. Keith had a beautiful Gibson and seemed to be searching for the right notes and tone to express some blues. Keith was flashing those teeth on the big monitors but it seemed like there was a touch of sadness in the corner of his eye. Lines like “Here comes just another day / That’s drifting away / Every time I draw a breath / It’s dying away” can carry more meaning than just a relationship on the rocks or missed opportunity.  [Yeah I’m reading a lot in there – artistic license. ]

I think the only points it seemed a little odd: a bass solo from Daryl Jones during Miss You and the drumming seemed off during Midnight Rambler. Charlie used to take his cues from Keith but this time it seemed that Jordan was pulling Keith along a bit. Maybe that’s just me again.

Time waits for no one. One day it there will not be a Rolling Stones to tour. No Mick coming out and shaking his ass. No band for Keith to command. Face it - they’re all well into their 70s. But I also said that losing Charlie Watts would end the Stones but [with Charlie’s blessing] they came out again this time, so who really knows.

So the big question: Did the show itself live up to my expectations? Absolutely! I am 111% happy that I got to see the Stones again and I gratefully thank my sister and brother-in-law not only for the fine birthday present but for coming along to make sure I didn’t get into any trouble.

So I am reworking some CDs as usual – “jeez, do I really want Jungleland there? I’m not a huge Boss guy or Born To Run guy and those nine minute epics get a little schmatltzy. I think a little Tenth Avenue Freezeout works better there…” And I’m at the spot where Billy Joel is needed. Now on the first mix, I had The Stranger here – good song, flexes a little muscle without being overpowering – but after Freezeout, it doesn’t quite roll right. Because of the long opening and coda with the whistling. So I tried a couple of things – right now All For Leyna from Glass Houses is holding the spot but I haven’t road tested this one yet, so we’ll see. But also considered Vienna and Get It Right the First Time [The Stranger] and Stiletto from 52nd Street.

But it got me to thinking about LPs I’ve had for a long time. And who listens to the B side.

Now The Stranger happens to have a couple of hits on the B side – Only the Good Die Young and She’s Always A Woman – so maybe it had a few more listens than the average album. Aerosmith’s Toys In the Attic side 2 kicks off with Sweet Emotion which slams into the really good No More No More. The Who’s Who’s Next has Going Mobile and Won’t Get Fooled Again on side 2. The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s Are You Experienced has one of the greatest side 2s ever: The Wind Cries Mary, Fire, 3rd Stone From the Sun, Foxey Lady and the title track. I love side 2 of Little Feat’s Feats Don’t Fail Me Now with the medley of Cold Cold Cold and Tripe Face Boogie. I might argue that side 2 of Kiss’ Dressed To Kill is BETTER than the A side!

But Glass Houses? Probably could have been blank as far as most people are concerned. It is not littered with Joel’s best songs. The vocals on I Don’t Want To Be Alone and Sleeping With the Television On sound like they were recorded in desperation like two nights before the album was due and Billy suffering a head cold. C'Etait Toi (You Were the One) with William Martin Joel singing in French?

Having said all that, side 2 of Glass Houses was one of my bedtime albums. As was side 2 of the Cars Panorama. And The Beatles [aka ‘the white album’]. One might think that putting an album on to go to sleep to it would indicate a complete lack of interest, an argument not without merit. One thing I notice is that they winddown into softer 3rd songs [well nothing really hard on the white album – Don’t Pass Me By is maybe the hardest thing], so maybe 8-9 minutes to get settled in the a calming thing? But Panorama ends with a couple of upbeat numbers, really a couple of my faves: Running To You and Up And Down. Maybe the tone arm lifting after that last chord of Up And Down was the signal that it was over and it really was time to get to sleep? 

But all of that got me mulling over Billy Joel and I have finally come to the conclusion I was looking for. People LIKE Billy Joel or they like Billy Joel's songs. But no one's FAVORITE ALL TIME SONG is a Billy Joel song.

Billy Joel just doesn't inspire fanaticism like Led Zeppelin or the Beatles or the Stones or the Who or Kiss. You might turn up the radio when a particularly favorite Billy Joel comes on but it's not like Free Bird or Born To Run or Jumpin' Jack Flash or Won't Get Fooled Again. Not Big Shot [which I like] Piano Man [which I don't] Scenes From An Italian Restaurant, Just the Way You Are, Honesty, We Didn't Start the Fire, Captain Jack, New York State Of Mind... None of them are someone's all time favorite.

It's weird because Billy has sold millions of records. But he's not cool. Liking Billy Joel was cool from about 1976 to 1982 when you couldn't escape the man's records. But none of those records no matter how many they sold are talked about in the same breath as Born To Run, Rumours or Hotel California. Because it's Billy Freaking Joel!

 

I was watching Dan Rather’s The Big Interview last night – Dan really does some good interviews on this show, catch it on AXS TV. On this John Fogerty interview, ol’ John piped up that as soon as he wrote Proud Mary he knew it was a classic. Classic. “So what makes a classic?” Dan had to ask. John thought about it for a minute and he said “I don’t know if I can put it into words. But you know it when you hear it.”

And with a few words, John Fogerty confirmed what I have been contemplating for a little while now. Any list of the 10, 100, 500, 1000 Greatest Anythings is total bullshit. Any list that says 10, 100, 1000 books you have to read or records you need to here or places you need to see [etc., etc.] before you die is also bullshit and needs to be ignored. [ESPECIALLY if it’s put out by some magazine with the initials R.S. that hasn’t been relevant since the end of Reagan Administration but keeps on churnin’ stuff out there anyway.]

I say that with some tongue in cheek because sometimes I do read [or view on You Tube] like Pete Pardo’s Sea Of Tranquility where he will or he and one of his buddies will pick their 10 favorite Thin Lizzy songs, Aerosmith songs or rate the Deep Purple studio albums. That’s fun. And they’re not putting it out as any gospel truth. As a matter of fact, they quite frequently say “this is our list, opinions just for fun, disagree if you like.” [And many do but the did drive me to re-evaluate Jefferson Starship’s Freedom At Point Zero. Meaning I found it as better than I recalled with some good moments but not earthshaking.] And in response I wrote some lists of ranking various catalogs of classic rock artists. They were fun to think about and a reason to revisit some albums but I don’t expect anyone takes my lists as the gospel truth [either]. Honestly I assume anyone reading my blather is just bored to tears because they’re reading the brain droppings of one lonely music lover with too much time on his hands, a guy writing just to fuckin’ write.

Taking one of the earliest songs I can recall being in love with – there is no way to explain how I feel when Marvin Gaye’s I Heard It Through the Grapevine comes on. I can ramble about the chill up my spine when those smokey electric piano notes creep out of the speakers. I can try to explain the heartbeat of the kick drum and the high hat [and the space I swore there was a rattlesnaking tambourine in the intro but I seem to be mistaken. And I checked the mono and stereo versions. But there are different mixes of these all over the place too.] Then the rising tension as the guitars and the horns and strings rise up for a few seconds. And then the bass kicks in carrying the whole melody. You have heard people talk for years about how great the Motown bassist James Jamerson was. Listen to this bass line.

And then there’s Marvin himself. How can one describe Marvin Gaye’s vocal performance here? How his voice [higher than his normal range, insisted on by producer Norman Whitfield] just clamps the top down on all of that great instrumentation like the whipped cream and the cherry on top of a sundae. How it soars, swoops and dives like an eagle on the wind. The phrasing – “I can’t heeeeeeeeeeeelp, bin confused…’ Oh man that just slays!

I mean it’s sold millions of copies so it has connected with a lot of people in 55 years. But me trying to explain it is like trying to describe a rainbow to someone who has lived in a darkened cave all their life. And yes, all of those people can agree man that’s a great song and compile their lists of favorites and compare them and tally them in some sort of points system to come up with “The Greatest However Many Songs Chosen By One Set Of People” and have someone write a few paragraphs trying to summarize the song [like I just did]. 

But I get that same feeling with other ‘agreed upon great songs’ like the Stones Jumpin’ Jack Flash, the Doobies Rockin’ Down the Highway, James Taylor’s take of Handy Man, Jerry Jeff Walker’s Desperados Waiting For A Train… but I also get that from deep down ‘nothing’ tracks like Three Dog Night doing Ain’t That A Lotta Love, little two minutes fifteen second filler [the soulful Corey Wells on lead vocals] on Suitable For Framing.  Or Jaded Strumpet, a second side filler on Steppenwolf’s For Ladies Only. Or Jailbait, lead track from Aerosmith’s Joe Perry-less album Rock In A Hard Place. Hell, Aerosmith’s 2001 single Jaded! And I snarl and cringe at almost everything after 1989’s Pump album. Don’t get me wrong, Jaded is no Rats In the Cellar in the grand scheme of great Aerosmith songs but it’s a damn catchy song.

I guess it’s my fault for having taken such things waaaayyy too seriously when I was young. I wanted to amass the greatest coolest music collection ever – well, among my friends anyway. But I read those lists and buy or listen to some of those records and scratch my head and say “ I don’t get it.” The Beach Boys Pet Sounds for example.  When I read that it had inspired the Beatles to make Revolver and Sgt. Pepper, I guess my expectation was for something different from what I heard when I put Pet Sounds on. [For the record when I heard the Zombies very psychedelic Odyssey And Oracle, I said “This is what I always expected Pet Sounds to sound like.”]

For one thing, the Beach Boys are a vocal group. A damn good one. But they don’t rock. Or roll. [A criticism I once heard of the Eagles though they could occasionally rock once Joe Walsh joined the band.] A trio of undeniably great songs like Sloop John B, God Only Knows and Wouldn’t It Be Nice. And I will admit that the songs on Pet Sounds are unlike almost anything that was going on in music then. For a Pop [as in Popular] record it’s quite ambitious. It’s an influential record in a way. “Look pop music can go far beyond three chords and ‘I love you, you’re so fine’ lyrics.” I get it. But Pet Sounds would not even make my top 500 albums. Maybe 1000 if I had to put a pen to paper and ‘in no particular order and excluding compilation records.’ In fact, I do not own a copy. I who desired to have the coolest record collection ever do not own a copy of one of the most influential albums in rock history.

But I don’t own The Velvet Underground & Nico album either [merely okay in my list]. Or Nirvana’s Nevermind. I don’t really care for Radiohead either.

Some of the things I fond enjoyable would probably perplex a lot of the people who do make lists. Decidedly ‘uncool’ records ala aforementioned Rock In A Hard Place album David Bowie’s Never Let Me Down and the Stones Black and Blue albums. Barry Manilow’s Mandy – oh yes, I love that song! And that’s fine, too. I’m sure some of them have things in their collections we call ‘guilty pleasures,’ things so uncoo0l we feel ‘guilty’ for loving them.

Anyway, my point here was “like what you wanna like and fuck what everyone else says about it.” Unless someone is stuck in the car with you on a three day cross country drive, what anyone else thinks about your musical taste means nothing.

 I got a bunch of records – vinyl records – from Mom last weekend. A lot of “I don’t listen to this, why do I have this?” things. A couple were records I had replaced with clean copies and left my old ones – notably the Cars Candy-O. Most were records that Dad had bought or were bought for him – Bob Seger’s Nine Tonight, Petty’s Damn the Torpedoes [mom HATES Tom Petty!], Head East’s Flat As A Pancake. I also took some of those original records that I loved for so long – warts and all. Joe Cocker’s With A Little Help From My Friends [with that scary blood red cover art!], Three Dog Night Suitable For Framing, a very old [but not valuable] Are You Experienced. [Never mind the ones that made it out the door with me when I moved out like Jefferson Airplane’s Flight Log collection.]

These are not pristine collectable records mind you. These records were played. Mostly on an old console stereo with a record changer. Remember those? You’d put on two or three and when one record ended the next would drop on top of the other and the tone arm would swing over and start playing the next album? I’m sure it makes some people cringe now but let’s face it, records are made to be PLAYED. It is the only way to enjoy the music in the groove, right?

All that using the records gives them character. One example as my old copy of Aerosmith Rocks. Even though I got a brand-new copy for graduation, from the first play, it had a pop right at the end of Combination. The song would come to its metallic screeching halt [ending the first side] and not half a second later – POP. Now I always wanted my records to sound good so sometimes this drove me bananas when I would be making a tape. But over the years I have found myself remembering that pop when I play that song and MISSING the old pop.

This pile of freshly arrived vinyl made me think back to high school days when I’d make these tapes for Robin. The problem is that music always meant that much to me. I found it hard to express myself [all those long notes to the contrary] and I tried to use other people’s words to express my own feelings. It’s a thin line sometimes. I’d sit there and cram songs that I thought were cool on them and write long sappy notes about what I thought about the songs and basically pour my heart out. One of those songs that I always associate with her is Petty’s Even the Losers. I didn’t smoke and we sat on the trunk of my car in her parents driveway instead of the roof. I tried to show her some things that maybe she never noticed before – “stars [you] never could see.”

It did work both ways though. She was the first person to turn me on to U2 [Under A Blood Red Sky – she loved I Will Follow]. She saw the Tears For Fears video for Everybody Wants To Rule the World – because she lived in the city and had cable / MTV – and said “hey you look like that guy.” [I felt sorry for Roland Orzabal for looking like me.]

Do I really know what Robin thought of those tapes? Not really. I know there were maybe some things that connected. Those tapes became a part of the soundtrack for a couple of years in her life. For my part, I eventually learned not get all starry eyed and be such a trusting, giving person and not to pour my heart out. But it would be a while.

 The "greatest" songs take a little piece of your heart and soul and a sliver of time and file them in your memory banks so that when you hear them again, you're taken back and you feel what you were feeling then. Like stepping inside an isolation chamber and you hear the music and you smell and the memory washes over you. Some of these little moments are common moments - concerts or that one hit that was all over the radio that one spring / summer / fall of the year...

Some of them are a little more personal. Like Magic by the Cars. Sure, Magic was almost a top ten hit in the summer of 1984 and maybe it was one of those songs for some other folks that year - especially after seeing the video. [Although Drive would be released as a single a couple months after "Magic" and become the Cars highest charting single. "drive" brings up a whole 'nuther range of emotions for me.]

But for me, Magic represents that last summer of innocence. The last summer of no expectations and being 'just a kid.' About a week after school let out, I drove that shitty faded out lime green Duster up to the Sears at Seminary South - an outdoor mall - at an ungodly hour [in the summer] to get tickets to the see the Cars in September. Maybe eight or ten of us waited around. There may or may not have been a boom box. When time came, we walked up to the Ticketron and waited our turn. And when I left I had the Cars tickets I had been cruelly denied in 1981 [because uncle Mike and Uncle Rich wanted some coffee].

But when I hear Magic it still take me back to that summer. First job, drinking Buds out of those squat little brown bottles in the parking lot after work. Finding more and more music to wrap my ears around.

What's one of those songs for you?

The Cars - Magic (Official Music Video) - YouTube

So a couple months back, I was in Born Late picking up my Deluxe copy of Liquid Sound Company’s Psychoactive Songs For The Psoul [link to album on Bandcamp], when I spotted a fave in the reissues bin, the Steve Miller Band’s Book Of Dreams. I don’t think I’ve ever owned a clean copy, so I plopped down some greenbacks in the fine establishment and hit the road.

 Another album I haven’t owned a clean copy of is [was] the predecessor, Fly Like An Eagle. I recently picked this up, too. Why Capitol records had one of the greatest albums by an American band pressed on 180 gram vinyl in the Czech Republic is beyond me. I guess it saved them a few pennies that they could put into their endless repackaging of the Beatles.

Is the title track overplayed? Yes, yes it is. [I saw the SMB on Austin City Limits and the keyboard player hit the sample of that climbing synthesizer riff about 15 times too many. I hope Stevie Guitar beat the crap out of him backstage.] But the rest of the album is nothing to be dismissed. I mean six of ten [dismissing two short instrumentals] made the Greatest Hits album! [Fly Like An Eagle in a shortened single mix.] My parents had the 8 track of this and it’s just another one of those albums I have just always known. I’ve heard it so many times, I know every note of this backward and forward.

What I have not done – probably since 1978 or do – was listen to this classic on headphones. So today I did.

The vinyl itself is incredibly clean and quiet. The thing that jumped out to me in a new way was the sound of this. Hearing it on the stereo with four good speakers or at the stadium or the skating rink it sounds huge and fills the place. But in the headphones [and maybe just because I was listening closely and to a good new, clean copy] I noticed just how much space there really is. On most of the tracks [besides the title track and the always a favorite Wild Mountain Honey] it’s apparent that this is basically a trio recording. Vocals tend to be edged to the right channel.  Highlights are the return to the blues of Sweet Maree with former Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters harmonica man James Cotton blowing. And the great cover of the K.C. Douglas song Mercury Boogie [retitled Mercury Blues] is a track I almost never get tired of. The organ led The Window is a refreshing more atmospheric piece that kind of hints at what will be coming on Book Of Dreams. [The basic tracks for both albums were recorded at the same time.]

The total waste of vinyl is Steve’s cover of Sam Cooke’s You Send Me. If I could program vinyl to skip a track, that would be the one. Still one bad idea [dismissing the :53 second Space Intro like Blue Odyssey] does not ruin a pretty damn fine record. Still 4.5 stars.

 So I was watching Color Me Obsessed,  last night [instead of lie sleeping or something important like that.] It's the 2011 film [meaning there's not even a hint of the Filthy Luchre Reunion shows] of fans and critics talking about how the Replacements were the greatest "____" band . 

It made me think about my own fandom of the Replacements. I am one of the rare birds - a fan of the later Replacements albums. 

I guess I was too old to "punk" by the time I found Sorry Ma... Hootenany has a few moments but is mostly forgotten. Let It Be is a good album although Favorite Thing and We're Coming Out have not held up well. Tim is only moves me half the time - Bastards and Hold My Life, of course. Swingin' Party and Left Of the Dial. It's been in and out of my collection a couple of times [currently: out]. And it sounds like it was recorded with a blanket in front of the microphones.  But the last two? HUGE fan. I used to have Don't Tell A Soul and All Shook Down Back To Back [see what I did there?] on a 90 minute cassette and I would play it over and over and over for a week at a time, back when I was in Burleson and I had to drive at least 20 minutes to get anywhere. When I was driving 45 minutes to an hour each way to get from Burleson to downtown Dallas five days a week. 

My introduction to the band was 1987's Pleased To Meet Me. [And I might not have ever heard that had I not been working in a record store. But I did and I fell [mostly] in love. Nightclub Jitters still doesn't do anything for me.  The Ledge moves the needle a bit but not much.]  Since this was my introduction to the band, I had no idea about the politics going on over recent releases, the firing of Bob Stinson or even what the band sounded like before this release. Therefore, I was not appalled by the use of horns or strings or acoustic guitars or any of the things that offended "original band" or "from the start" Replacements fans. I'm pretty sure I didn't know about the Twin Tone releases until the Inconcerated EP brought Answering Machine and Here Comes A Regular into my orbit. [I  didn't know Another Girl, Another Planet was a cover either until many years later when I heard the original.] 

That opening salvo of I.O.U, Alex Chilton and I Don't Know though - FUCKING FANTASTIC. That whole second side smokes and then suddenly there's the super quiet Skyway. And then the sheer brilliance of Can't Hardly Wait - which if it isn't my favorite Replacements song most days, it's surely top three. [You know what makes it such a great song - besides that riff? It's the breaks - the skidding to a dead stop for two bars. It gives you a second to absorb what you've heard - and a second to anticipate everything kicking back in again. And those horns. Just like Jim Price and Bobby Keys on Exile On Main Street - they give it just a touch of soul, just a punch  to put it over the top.]

Since I joined the party so late, I also didn't know to be horrified by the purely poptasticness [po + fantastic = poptastic] of Don't Tell A Soul. Maybe the first couple of times I tracked it I was "Boy this sure doesn't sound much like the last record" but I soon fell in love with it for a different reason. It could rock some [I'll Be You, I Won't, Back To Back, We'll Inherit the Earth] but when they slowed down the wrote some really pretty songs. I was 21 when I got Pleased To Meet Me - Paul Westerberg would have been 29.  Staring 30 in the eyeballs, he could have been asking himself "Do I want to be caught up playing some cartoonish over the top boob when I'm 30 or 35 like the god damn Ramones? Or do I want to say something?" Hearing DTAS, I think he wanted to say something. He did say something to me. Don't Tell A Soul touched me in a way that's hard to explain. Part of it was the times - the people I was running with, the girl I was hopelessly head over heels for. The moments it seemed we were together and the sudden "we have to talk" and "losing" what you never really "had." [But that doesn't really mean anything when your heart is dedicated.] I found a lot of solace in Achin' To Be and They're Blind and Darlin' One. Many nights achin' to be on her canvas. Many nights pondering the things I held dearly that were judged once and then swept aside. 

Then came All Shook Down. The ridiculously low selling finale, the all but in name Paul Westerberg solo debut. People hate and loathe this record and I don't get it. It's not that far removed from Don't Tell A Soul which sold a respectable 300,000 copies. I guess if you were a fan of a certain narrow form of expression like 2 minute bursts of energy of Sorry Ma, then All Shook Down [and Don't Tell A Soul] are complete "sell out" records. "What, they want to be pop stars, have hits and get played on the radio? Fuck that noise!" But then, Let It Be would be a sell out record too. Too polished and professional sounding. But I like it. It continues the slide to mainstream but on the Replacements own terms. Merry Go Round, One Wink At A Time, Nobody and When It Began are pretty good "Pop" [as in Popular] songs but they have those weird little bits that are pure 'Mats. The guitar solo on Nobody - the song kind of a winking tip of the hat to I Knew the Bride When She Used to Rock & Roll - is just too weird to be on top 40 radio. Otherwise it's a great dose of power pop. the lines in One Wink At A Time ["The magazine she flips through / is the special double issue / smells like perfume / she leaves it on the plane"] don't fit anyone's play list. I love the line in Bent Out Of Shape: "A little sleepy time tea / spiked with a heartache."

But the killer here is the worldy weary Sadly Beautiful. I don't have the words to describe the emotions this brings up. Open to interpretation of course, it seems to be about someone admired from far away who only occasionally crosses your path but each time they do, you notice them slipping into some sort of darkness that they finally give into [Think No Place From You from 2002's Stereo] or succumb to. 

The "second side" [i.e. everything after When It Began] starts really getting a little weird. but on cassette, 70 MPH on a darkened interstate, you're committed. Plus it's not BAD, just weird short little things. Happy Town is a little slice of Pleasant Valley Sunday [lyrically] run through Westerberg. Maybe a warning to the bands following - attention Goo Goo Dolls! The duet with Concrete Blonde's Johnette Napolitano [My Little Problem] is a hot little rocker. 

As far as the movie, well, it was interesting hearing how the Replacements impacted some people. I guess they had an impact on me as well but not to a fanatical level. I never saw The Replacements, though I have seen Replacements  -Westerberg once, Tommy twice [once solo and one with the short lived Bash & Pop] even short set by Bob 'Slim' Dunlap. I still enjoy putting those records on from time to time but I admit Bash & Pop's Friday Night Is Killing Me is the one I've probably played the most in the last decade. [I had that on a cassette with Izzy Stradlin & the Juju Hounds - another one that I could play over and over.]