WHAT A DRAG IT IS GETTING POLLED – ILM Artist Poll #16 – The Rolling Stones (Extended deadline: April 1st)

you saying it sounds like a van morrison song?

― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Friday, March 23, 2012

Yes. But then it goes somewhere Van wouldn't.

Oh! The other thing I liked about the Jagger interview was the little quip about Altamont: he said something like, oh you journalists talked about the death of innocence, I was just upset that a person had died, for her family. YEAH JANN.

WENNER: What about the contribution of Mick Taylor to the band in these years?

JAGGER: I think he had a big contribution. He made it very musical. He was a very fluent, melodic player, which we never had, and we don’t have now. Neither Keith nor [Ronnie Wood] plays that kind of style. It was very good for me working with him. Charlie and I were talking about this the other day, because we could sit down – I could sit down – with Mick Taylor, and he would play very fluid lines against my vocals. He was exciting, and he was very pretty, and it gave me something to follow, to bang off. Some people think that’s the best version of the band that existed.

WENNER: What do you think?

JAGGER: They’re all interesting periods. They’re all different. I obviously can’t say if I think Mick Taylor was the best, because it sort of trashes the period the band is in now.

WENNER: Why did Mick Taylor leave?

JAGGER: I still don’t really know.

WENNER: He never explained?

JAGGER: Not really. He wanted to have a solo career. I think he found it difficult to get on with Keith.

WENNER: On musical issues?

JAGGER: Everything. I’m guessing.

Volumes here, when you think about Jagger/Taylor tracks like "Sway," "Moonlight Mile," "Winter" etc.

Reading that interview in 199-whatever confirmed my suspicions about where Keith wasn't (i.e. "Sway" and "Moonlight Mile").

that inteview was great. thanks Alfred!

Part of me wonders if Jagger says that stuff about Taylor knowing that Keef is reading...

Not that Taylor isn't great, but Keef is your guy whether you want him or not, dude.

my friend in college had this whole ritual she went through every year - when she was 16 her best friend committed suicide, and so on the anniversary of her death my friend would wear this girl's favorite color (yellow), buy a bunch of her favorite flowers (daffodils), and listen to her favorite song (Ruby Tuesday). She would play that song ALL day. ALL DAY.
And it drove me crazy because by then I had found out about Exile On Main STreet, and Let It Bleed; she had bought the Hot Rocks cd soley for RT, and it was the ONLY song she ever listened to on it bc of this bloody ritual.

it was all just kind of weird and annoying

Loved this btw - I guess it's maybe not something to be especially proud of, but I can totally relate to hating on someone's memorial for spoiling this shiny new album you just bought.

Part of me wonders if Jagger says that stuff about Taylor knowing that Keef is reading...

Not that Taylor isn't great, but Keef is your guy whether you want him or not, dude.

according to an interview Keef gave last fall, there's no hard feelings. He invited Taylor and Wyman to join him, Ronnie, and Charlie to jam.

Vegemite Grrl otm abt the catty subtext of Jagger on Taylor, esp "I obviously can’t say if I think Mick Taylor was the best, because it sort of trashes the period the band is in now." Uh, except you just said exactly that, dude.

And I wouldn't expect there to be any hard feelings between KR and Taylor. It's more that Jagger's statements suggest tensions between Richards and himself.

Interesting to note that songs we like to think of as classic Jagger-Richards compositions like "Brown Sugar," "Sympathy...," and "Miss You" are Jagger-only songs.

Ruby Tuesday is gonna be waaaay up near the top of my ballot--it's a bit tainted by all the boomer love, I suppose, but that melody, my god, so beautiful

What Jagger rather artfully elides in the interview -- artfully because he does suggest it -- is that Taylor left in large part b/ he was fed up with not getting songwriting credit on stuff like "Sway" and "Moonlight Mile" -- for all those "dreamy" lovely lead lines Jagger raves about.

Legend has it that Wood was their first choice before Taylor. The story goes that someone from the Stones' camp called during a Faces rehearsal. Ronnie Lane (or Ian MacLagan, depending on the account) answered the phone and said, "Nope, he doesn't want to join the Stones; he's happy with the Faces." Wood didn't find out about this until years later.

convenient legend that. agreed with alfred that mick is quite forthcoming when you read between the lines.

a bit torn on "memo from turner"... like, ry cooder's stuff is just filthy and maybe that alone warrants a place on the ol' ballot but... hm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbyrm9q_bvM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2wttYva1AQ

another thing I really liked about that Jagger interview was how candidly he broke down the 'what it's like on stage' question. AI really respect how much of a student of his own craft he is, and that it's no accident that he became "Mick Jagger". I mean, as Alfred said he pretty much invented the rock n roll frontman, and from that interview there's little doubt that he pretty much knew from the beginning what he was doing up there.

Also, when he talks about music, it's 100% clear to me why he and Keith work together so well. If they dabble in a certain style Keith knows how to play it, how to arrange it, Mick knows already how it's supposed to sound, and lyrically how to write it...might sound a bit soppy/misty eyed but I like to think that maybe when they write together that that's how they manifest their friendship now. They maybe can't BE friends the way they were in the old days, but those times might be like their own time-machine, where things are easy and they can communicate in a more familiar way.
McCartney said something similar about the few times he was able to write with John later on when things were not so great between them, that in those moments it was like nothing had changed.

another thing I really liked about that Jagger interview was how candidly he broke down the 'what it's like on stage' question.

That was a great part of the interview, and not one that I expected Jagger to seriously tackle. It's amazing to me that he can be something of a micromanager while simultaneously setting the pace for, and being the focal point of, the stage show.

I'd like to thank whomever posted that clip of "I Am Waiting"--I never really paid attention to that song. My new favorite deep cut from the "twee" period

Obv I need to read that interview. That timeisonourside.com site is pretty sweet too, once you get past the horrible design and navigation. All the Tracktalk sections are in Section 1, Database.

yeah the layout is awful, but the content is pretty interesting

VOTED

*collapses in heap*

I'm gonna need the rest of the week, listening to mono vinyl Out Of Our Heads right now, "The Last Time" sounds MASSIVE.

it was driving me mental, I had to just do it and be done with it, another week would have had me with another 50 more songs on the shortlist.

I ginned up an excuse to go out driving tonight so I could take Exile with me and howl along at top volume. I sound like Tallulah Bankhead now. Greatest karaoke album ever, especially "Sweet Virginia" -- "got to scrape the shit right off your SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooees"

also, "judge and jury walk out hand in hand" would be a funny title for the results thread, but I'll bet roger m already has titles in mind that have that beat

especially "Sweet Virginia" -- "got to scrape the shit right off your SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooees"

this line is why SV made my ballot

The latest round of remasters shifted my focus to their first three years...if I did this three years ago, my ballot would've been all of Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers...now It's gonna be 1/2 pre-68. Feels weird...

The Rolling Stones Now! is serious heat.

That timeisonourside.com site is pretty sweet too, once you get past the horrible design and navigation.

It's still in a 2001-era design.

I ended up with a lot of Sticky Fingers, and only a couple of Exile...but it's more because Exile's such a, I dunno, tapestry or something it feels weird picking out individual threads.

But this thread was crucial for me to revisit Let It Bleed, Beggars Banquet, and Goat's Head in particular, as well as stuff I'd never really looked at like Between the Buttons. I think my poll is a lot more well rounded with all the homework listening I've been doing, compared to my first, fairly myopic list of 20.

Poor Ian Stewart--didn't cut a good enough profile to get in, right? He's all over those early records and adds a lot.

I love the credits for "Heaven":

http://www.timeisonourside.com/SOHeaven.html

Stewart appears on 3 of my picks, according to wikipedia

or about "Respectable"

It's important to be somewhat influenced by what's going on around you and on the Some Girls album, I think we definitely became more aggressive because of the punk thing. On this track, I was banging out three chords incredibly loud on the electric guitar, wich isn't always a wonderful idea but was great fun here. This is a punk meets Chuck Berry number. The lyric carries no fantastically deep message, but I think it might have had something to do with Bianca.
- Mick Jagger, 1993

Mick had this one already to go. This was one of the first times we allowed him to join in on guitar. He's a really good rhythm player, man; but then, he's had a good teacher.

- Keith Richards, 1993

voted

Time capsule ...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lNP-x94-SE

^ well that links to footage Robert Frank shot in NYC & LA to go along with Exile cover

man... i dunno if "worried about you" is gonna make my ballot, but I forgot how much it can grab me when it catches me right. A+ backing vox from keef; enjoy the lol Early Days of Video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MMgPbt9jhw

I may lose sleep tonight over leaving You Got The Silver and/or Happy off my ballot. I was so torn about a Keef song...and yet they both felt like songs for a longer ballot. 20 requires such mercenary decision making! :(

Sorry Keef.

I've always loved this quote about Stray Cat Blues being influenced by the Velvets. I feel like there is another quote about the Stones nicking something else from the VU & Nico but I can't find it...

I mean, even WE'VE been influenced by the Velvet Underground... I'll tell you exactly what we pinched from (Lou Reed) too. You know Stray Cat Blues? The whole sound and the way it's paced, we pinched from the very first Velvet Underground album. You know, the sound on Heroin. Honest to God, we did!
- Mick Jagger, 1977

I'm having a run through It's Only Rock & Roll at the moment. Thoughts on this one? It seems to be regarded as a bit of a dud, if it gets regarded at all, but there're some nice cuts on here - title track, Time Waits For No-One and Luxury are all my kind of Stones, to varying degrees.

One of their worst.

B&B is my favorite of the Stones' mid seventies Anomie Trilogy but not by much.

I like If You Want To Be My Friend and Fingerprint File too. The album as a whole seems vaguely lifeless - I'd need to live with it a bit to be sure - but those are good songs.

Yeah It's Only Rock N Roll is not good, I have a hard time hanging with it. It always sounded like they didn't even want me to *listen* to it, let alone play on it themselves.

I feel like there is another quote about the Stones nicking something else from the VU & Nico but I can't find it...

i mentioned upthread that "child of the moon" reminds me strongly of the first-album velvets (GREAT SONG, VOTE FOR IT NOW), but i don't know that there's any stones-on-record commentary supporting the connection

Black and Blue at least has Fool To Cry, so not a total waste.

It always sounded like they didn't even want me to *listen* to it, let alone play on it themselves.

Hahaha, that's so perfect.

re IORnR: i half like both "time waits for no one" and "fingerprint file", but they're both a bit dismal and overlong

"fool to cry" is the only really great song on black and blue, i shed a few tears over cutting it, but "hand of fate" and "memory motel" are at least worth a listen

I think Dance Little Sister is my favorite off that album, but even that didn't go on my ballot. Title track is pretty good for a meathead rawk anthem, but is still a meathead rawk anthem.