Happy

Exile on Main St.
Side Three, Track One
"Happy" – 4:23



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Keith steps out into the spotlight here, due probably to Mick's missingness at the "studio" in France. I'll probably have to make a separate post just to discuss the shenanigans at Nellcote, so look for that. "Happy" is another one of those songs that nobody seems to like except me. It is a total mess, mix-wise, even worse than most of this album, but Keith's rhythm guitar is always right out there in front, and that is enough to get a pass from me.

Loving Cup

Exile on Main St.
Side Two, Track Four
"Loving Cup" – 4:23



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A little bit of trivia: of the first nine songs on Exile, four of them start their verses on chords other than the tonic. "Rocks Off" and "Sweet Virginia" start on the IV, "Torn and Frayed" and "Loving Cup" being the verse on the V. Unusual, if not particularly notable. Can you sense that I have nothing to say about this track?

Here's a clip of the Stones playing the song around the time of its release. The performance is not particularly notable, but Keith is wearing one of the greatest belts I have ever seen. Even Vinnie Pazienza would have been embarrassed to wear that thing into the ring.



Another piece of trivia: this is the third Youtube clip I have posted where Keith has forgotten to bring a guitar strap to a television taping. What's that all about?

Sweet Black Angel

Exile on Main St.
Side Two, Track Three
"Sweet Black Angel" – 2:54



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I am going to put forward the proposition that "Sweet Black Angel" was the only good political song Mick Jagger ever had a hand in. Except for "Street Fighting Man". That was a good one, too. I guess "Gimme Shelter" counts as well. But that's it: "Sweet Black Angel" was one of only three good political songs that Mick Jagger could claim any credit for. Every other time he ventured into this arena he wound up embarrassing himself: "Undercover Of The Night" is shit, "Let's Work" is ridiculous, and we don't even have to discuss "Sweet Neo Con".

The Sweet Black Angel, if you're not familiar, was Angela Davis, a political activist and possessor of one of the great Afros of all time who was then facing a murder charge in association with a Black Panthers-related shootout (see Associated Press report of the incident – she was later acquitted). Davis was on trial during the recording of Exile, but who knows what prompted Mick to take a stand on this issue, penning some of his better lyrics:

Well, she ain't no singer, she ain't no star,
But she sure talk good and she move so fast.
But the gal in danger, yeah, the gal in chains,
But she keep on pushing
Would you take her place?
She counting up the minutes, she counting up the days,
She's a sweet black angel, not a sweet black slave.

More on Angela Davis here.

Torn and Frayed

Exile on Main St.
Side Two, Track Two
"Torn and Frayed" – 4:17



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Well the ballrooms and smelly bordellos
and dressing rooms filled with parasites.
On stage the band has got problems,
they're a bag of nerves on first nights.

Rock and roll autobiographies come in all kinds. There's the tediously frank Lennon style ("Ballad of John and Yoko", "Mother"), the comic bragging style perfected by Springsteen ("Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", "Growing Up"). You have the sepia-toned nostalgia of Van Morrison's "Cleaning Windows", the egomaniacally specific "Solsbury Hill", and the whatever-it-is of "Nutbush City Limits". Wikipedia has a long list of these type of songs. The Stones check in with "Torn and Frayed", ostensibly about the wearying life of a band who is not the Stones on the road.

Joe's got a cough, sounds kind a rough.
Yeah, and the codeine to fix it.
Doctor prescribes drug store supplies
Who's gonna help him to kick it?

The recording itself is a sloppy mess of a mix, sloppier even given the sloppy standards of Exile. This has been the subject of some complaints, notably Mick, Jagger who has been vocal in his remarks. I'll address his comments in a future post. Me, I don't mind the mix at all. I said it before, but Exile's greatest virtue is the scope of its ambition, and it almost seems to me that the band wanted to follow these ambitions without having to worry about little things like getting a good sound on the bass or recording the high hat properly.

Well his coat is torn and frayed.
It`s seen much better days.
Just as long as the guitar plays
let it steal your heart away.

It is well known that Mick was getting a little fed up with the rampant drug use within and around the band. Here, at least, he used that frustration to good use, coming up with some of his best lyrics on the album.

Sweet Virginia

Exile on Main St.
Side Two, Track One
"Sweet Virginia" – 4:25



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Thank you for your wine, California
Thank you for your sweet and bitter fruit
Yes I got the desert in my toe nail
And I hid the speed inside my shoe

Some of the best lyrics Mick ever had a hand in. Musically, "Sweet Virginia" is sort of the sequel to "Love in Vain", although Charlie Watts and Bobby Keys show up to give the song a more rocking backbone. One of the things I noticed here that could be applied to any number of songs from this era: the Stones had a way of sounding incredibly sloppy but actually playing very precisely. Much of the charm of this song is hearing Charlie ramble around the kit seemingly aimlessly and Mick slur his lyrics incoherently, as if half asleep.

Tumbling Dice

Exile on Main St.
Side One, Track Five
"Tumbling Dice" – 3:45




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"Tumbling Dice" evolved from an earlier unreleased Stones track called "Good Time Women", which has the same chord changes but a completely different melody:



The recording of "Tumbling Dice" proper took place in four different studios over three years, beginning at Stargroves during the Sticky Fingers sessions. There are at least three different bass tracks, uncountable guitar overdubs, and five different singers overdubbing who knows how many parts. The whole thing is a mess, a glorious, glorious mess.

The key, I think, is the rhythm section. Watts and Wyman (and Taylor on one of the bass overdubs) lock down the laid back midtempo grove, give it strength and direction, and while those sloppy guitars and vocal tracks meander aimlessly, the rhythm section is there to anchor the whole thing, keep it from drifting too far.

Abridged Zeppelin (nonstones)

Unledded: The Abridged Zeppelin I

A few months ago I was reflecting on the fact that whenever I played a Zeppelin album, I spent a large part of the time leaning on the fast forward button. I came to the realisation that over the years my love for Led Zeppelin has become very focused: I no longer have any use for the fantasy elements (maidens and goblins and all that), I hate hearing blues played by white guys in blackface, I can do entirely without British folk music played by a heavy metal band. All I really want from bands like Zeppelin is the riffs. That's all: monster riffs played by six overdubbed guitars that sound like the end of the world.

I began re-imagining what their albums would sound like if stripped of all the elements that I didn't like, left with only those riffs. I began to think that would be one of the greatest albums ever. Unlike most of these flights of fancy, I actually spent a bit of time making this dream come to life. I loaded up Zeppelin I in Audacity, and trimmed out everything about that album I didn't need. Here is what I ended up with: Zeppelin I in 14 minutes, with just the guitar goodness.

1. "Good Times, Bad Times"



2. "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You"



3. "Dazed and Confused"



4. "Your Time Is Gonna Come"



5. "Communication Breakdown"



6. "How Many More Times"

Casino Boogie

Exile on Main St.
Side One, Track Four
"Casino Boogie" – 3:33




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On an album with aspirations that encompass nothing less than the entire scope of American blues-based popular music, "Casino Boogie" stands out as a somewhat less than thrilling track. There's nothing particularly bad about this lazy shuffle, but it has virtually nothing to recommend it either. In that way it's a call back to the early days of the Stones, when their albums were chock full of nondescript blues songs[*]. I suppose this is one of those tracks Exile could have done without, except that a big part of the charm of the album is the looseness, the disregard for an organisational plan, that allows the band to experiment in productive ways – but also gives them the freedom to take a break from challenging numbers, and churn out some filler like "Casino Boogie".

[*  when their albums were chock full of nondescript blues songs: Of course, in those days, the mere fact that a British band was performing blues songs with passion, if not ability, was a reason to sit up and take notice.]

Shake Your Hips

Exile on Main St.
Side One, Track Three
"Shake Your Hips" (Slim Harpo) – 2:59




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Kind of a proto-ZZ Top shuffle via John Lee Hooker on the one. The Stones attack the blues from many different directions on Exile, but on "Hips" they meet the blues head on – something they haven't done in a while (maybe since "Parachute Woman"). I was never a big fan of this track, but now I'm starting to hear some things that escaped me before: Charlie's clickity clackity percussion work; Mick's echo-drenched vocal; Keith's chugging open-G rhythm work.

"Shake Your Hips" is a song closely associated with its composer, Slim Harpo (né James Moore). Swear to god, until this moment, I thought the songs was one of those ancient delta blues songs, but it turns out that Harpo first performed it in 1966, only three years before the Stones recorded it using his arrangement. Take a listen:

Rip This Joint

Exile on Main St.
Side One, Track Two
"Rip This Joint" – 2:23



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Mama said yes, Papa said no
Make up you mind 'cause I gotta go

This is as close as the Stones got to the sheer anarchy of those great Little Richard singles: two minutes of sustained chaos.

I really have nothing to say here. "Rip This Joint" has always been one of my favourites, and if you put on some headphones, turn up the volume, and press the play button above, it will become one of your favourites as well.

Rocks Off

Exile on Main St.
Side One, Track One
"Rocks Off" – 4:32


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When I first started this blog, I was enthusiastic about getting to two areas of the Stones discography: their shitty late-70s and 80s material, and Exile on Main St. – the former because it's always more fun to write about bad things than good things, and the latter because Exile is a special album to me, one that has accompanied me through every music phase that I went through over the years. Reviews of the album typically use the words "sprawling" and "mess" in the description, and there can be no argument that Exile is maybe not as concise as it could have been. However, by trying to do so many things on those four side, not limiting themselves to the best material or apt arrangements, they managed to produce music that can appeal to a listener is different ways depending on the mood.

Exile opens with Keith playing that brutal "Rocks Off" riff, and the effect is opening your front door to have someone punch you in the face.




Charlie and Mick Taylor come in, beefing up the sound, and then it's off to the races, with Jagger slurring incoherently about real and imagined slights. Here and there you hear a phrase that sticks out

The sunshine bores the daylights out of me.
Chasing shadows moonlight mystery.
Headed for the overload, splattered on the dusty road.
Kick me like you've kicked before, I can't even feel the pain no more.

But I only get my rocks off while I'm dreaming.

---

Justin Heming was a friend who died yesterday. I was going to write a little memorial, but now I find that I can't. Sorry, man. Can't do it. All I can say is this: he was a great guy and musician, and one of the best compliments I can give to anyone is to say that they had a great record collection. Here he is playing straight-up rock and roll on that familiar low-hung bass for the Brown Hornets.

Cancon! III: Rise of the Machines (nonstones)

Even more CanCon, nuggets from 90s Canadian alternative radio.

Sloan, "Coax Me"


The Super Friendz, "Karate Man"


The Odds, "It Falls Apart"


Lowest of the Low, "Pistol"

CanCon! II: The Legend of Curly's Gold (nonstones)

More CanCon, nuggets from 90s Canadian alternative radio.

The Mahones, "Dragging the Days"


BTK, "Peppyrock"


King Apparatus, "Five Good Reasons"


Northern Pikes, "Kiss Me You Fool"

CanCon! (nonstones)

CanCon!

Here, without comment, are four Canadian tracks from the 80s and 90s.

54-40, Baby Ran


Me, Mom, and Morgentaler, No More Nervous Breakdown


Doug and the Slugs, Real Enough


Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, Original Grin

Sticky Fingers Roundup

Sticky Fingers Roundup


1. "Brown Sugar" – 3:50
2. "Sway" – 3:52
3. "Wild Horses" – 5:44
4. "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" – 7:15
5. "You Gotta Move" (Fred McDowell/Rev. Gary Davis) – 2:34
6. "Bitch" – 3:37
7. "I Got the Blues" – 3:54
8. "Sister Morphine" (Mick Jagger/Keith Richards/Marianne Faithfull) – 5:34
9. "Dead Flowers" – 4:05
10. "Moonlight Mile" – 5:56

The Stones are really on a roll: Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, and now Sticky Fingers. The biggest change came with the addition of Mick Taylor – finally the band had a world class lead guitar player, and as "Knocking" and "Moonlight Mile" proved, he had some interesting rhythm ideas as well.

The album is unusual in that it features only three rockers – the rest of the songs are mostly mellow, if not contemplative.

Some background info from Wikipedia:

Although sessions for Sticky Fingers began in earnest in March 1970, they had done some early recording at Muscle Shoals Studios in Alabama in December 1969 and "Sister Morphine", cut during Let It Bleed's sessions earlier in March of that year, would be held over for this release. Much of the recording for Sticky Fingers was effected with The Rolling Stones' mobile studio unit in Stargroves during the summer and fall months in 1970. Early versions of songs that would appear on Exile on Main St. were also routined during these sessions.
With the end of their Decca/London association at hand, The Rolling Stones would finally be free to release their albums (cover art and all) as they pleased. However, soon-to-be-ex-manager Allen Klein (who took over the reins from Andrew Loog Oldham in 1965 so that Oldham could concentrate on producing the band), dealt the group a major blow when they discovered - to their horror - that they had inadvertently signed over their entire 1960s copyrights to Klein and his company ABKCO, which is how all of their material from 1963's "Come On" to Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert has since come to be released by ABKCO Records. The band would remain incensed with Klein for decades over the swindle.

When Decca informed The Rolling Stones that they were owed one more single, they cheekily submitted a track called "Cocksucker Blues" - which was guaranteed to be refused. Instead, Decca released the two-year-old Beggars Banquet track "Street Fighting Man" while Allen Klein would have dual copyright ownership - with The Rolling Stones - of "Brown Sugar" and "Wild Horses".

Sticky Fingers may just be the band's most drug-drenched album, as well over half of the songs mention drug use, while the rest merely allude to it. Some final overdubbing and mixing in January 1971, found the album complete and preceded by "Brown Sugar" that March, which reached #1 in the US and #2 in the UK. Appearing in April on their new Rolling Stones label (with distribution by WEA Music), Sticky Fingers was rapturously-received and hit #1 worldwide, beginning an uninterrupted string of eight consecutive chart-topping US studio albums. "Wild Horses", covered by Keith Richard's friend Gram Parsons with The Flying Burrito Brothers, was the second single in the US only, making the Top 30.

Moonlight Mile

Stick Fingers
Track 10
"Moonlight Mile" – 5:56





The story goes that Mick Taylor's first major contributions were on "Sway" and "Moonlight Mile", two songs the Stones had already recorded rudimentary demos of. Taylor came in and, with Jagger, finished the songs off, playing all the guitars as well as arranging the songs (including adding the string sections). Taylor later said that he quit the band because of Jagger and Richard's refusal to grant him songwriting credits.

Keith does not play on "Moonlight Mile", and although the lead acoustic riff is frequently credited to Jagger, it is pretty clearly Taylor's work. Here, we get an idea of what the Stones would have sounded like without Keith – it turns out they would have sounded exactly like the Beatles, complete with a double-tracked lead vocal.

The lyrics fall into the whiny "being a rock star is so hard!" genre that Mick dipped into on occaiasion. They do have a particular grace and facility on "Moonlight Mile", suggestive of Lennon:

Made a rag pile of my shiny clothes.
Gonna warm my bones, gonna warm my bones.
I got silence on my radio.
Let the air waves flow, let the air waves flow.

Dead Flowers

Sticky Fingers
Track 9
"Dead Flowers" – 4:05



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You all know this one. A classical midtempo country groove, some tasteful string bending, a catchy melody. That's the way you write a drug song: you make it too good to ignore.

Steve Earle liked the song too:

Sister Morphine

Sticky Fingers
Track 8
"Sister Morphine" (Mick Jagger/Keith Richards/Marianne Faithfull) – 5:34

As soon as you're born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all

Oh, wait. That's a different song. Sorry.

"Sister Morphine" was written (or co-written – the record is a little unclear) by Marianne Faithfull, who was a famous junkie in the sixties. She also apparently had a sideline as a singer/songwriter. Given that description, you won't be surprised to learn that I haven't heard her version of the song, nor have any desire to hear it ever (I'll put it down at the end of this post). The Stones' version of "Sister Morphine" is a drag, slow and blue, simulating, I suppose, the experience of junkyism in musical form.

Listen: I am a 37 year old middle class white guy with a house, job, and a dog. I'll go out on weekends and knock back a few pints with friends. I give money to homeless people in an attempt to curb my innate liberal guilt. I watch sports on TV. I don't want to hear songs about how some famous rich cunt in the sixties ruined her own fucking life, okay? I just don't give a shit.

I Got the Blues

Sticky Fingers
Track 7
"I Got the Blues" – 3:54



I'd forgotten that Sticky Fingers was such a ballad oriented album – "Sway", "Wild Horses", and now "I Got the Blues".

I'd also forgotten what a great song this is – a letter-perfect ripoff of an Otis Redding soul balled, complete with a Steve Cropper arpeggio into, B3 solo (by Billy Preston, moonlighting from his gig over at Abbey Road Studios), and Otis horns (by the previously dissed – regretfully, may I add – Bobby Keys and Jim Price). In an earlier entry I wrote that there comes a point when commitment turns into caricature, when homage turns into parody. It's easy to understand how someone could think that "I Got the Blues" maybe crossed the line, but I'm inclined to give the Stones a break here. Unlike some of their other attempts to mimic their heroes and influences, this track is notable for how well it is executed – not only did they manage to write a song Otis could have sung, they played it pretty much exactly the way he would have recorded it.

Here they are performing the song live at the Marquee Club in London on March 26, 1971. Otis had been dead for three years.

Bitch

Sticky Fingers
Track 6
"Bitch" – 3:37




Unlike many other canonical rock bands, the Stones didn't really go in for single-string riff rock. Whereas Zeppelin had dozens of songs in that style (eg "Heartbreaker", "Whole Lotta Love", "Good Times, Bad Times", "Black Dog"), "Bitch" is the only Stones song I can think of off the top of my head.

It's not a particularly good song, although the riff itself has a kind of satisfying inevitability to it. One of the things that's always bugged me about the track is the horns: they sound like shit. I don't know why that is. Maybe I'm just used to the contemporaneous horn charts of Stax and Muscle Shoals and on all the R&B/Soul recordings of the era, which represent the pinnacle of horns on pop/rock recordings. Compare, say, Aretha's version of "The Weight", recorded the year before the Stones recorded "Bitch" (the horns kick in on the second verse):



Hear the difference? The horn charts on "The Weight" act as a counterpoint to the melody, and take off at odd angles, rhythmically and harmonically. The three horns on "Bitch" (sax by Bobby Keys, Jim Price on trumpet and trombone) play in unison with each other and with the main guitar riff. I've never liked the sound of unison horns, which sound totally artificial to my ears. (Don't the "Bitch" horns sound exactly like the early digital synthesised horns of the 80s?) I think that's what's always bugged me about this song.

Anyway, here's a great live recording of "Bitch", from a concert in Houston, Texas, June 25 1972.