Rolling Stones mid 70s Poll (post-Exile, pre-Some Girls)

Why would anyone want to do that!?

GHS and Emotional Rescue are on a par for me I think. Third-tier Stones albums.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!!!

This period may also mark the only time when they were eclipsed by Aerosmith, at least in America ?

TS: Aerosmith "Combination" vs Stones "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo"

aerosmith's first album didn't come out til 73 so yeah maybe a torch was passed, i don't know, wasn't there

"Doo Doo Doo..." has Charlie going 3/4 tempo during the verses and Mick's(?) rhythm gtr makes it almost funky? Also can imagine Keith in the control room making sure the wah is up in the mix

yeah this is the era when Mick started playing a lot of electric rhythm ("Fingerprint File," "Winter," "Crazy Mama").

I meant Taylor

him too!

I had It's Only Rock and Roll as a kid on an 8 track, so that is about the Stones record I have hard the most. Really any mid-70s Stones is still good, just not to the level of where they had been. I think the slow and ballad tunes, which are not bad, kinda drag these records (and side 2 of Tattoo You). I'd figure they were living so hard and fast, when they got in a room to play, they were probably just so wound/strung out, that easy going acoustic slow things felt better when writing them.

I don't know to me any SLOW tune that doesn't have some unique or crazy musical break/bridge that goes on for 5-6 minutes would be better dropping a verse and chorus. I'd say that is the issue to me on some of these tunes.

'Time Waits For No One' is the best song on any of these records... love the "ticking" drums, the subtle use of synth and Taylor's sublime guitar playing. It's also got that grimy, fucked-up vibe to it that one would expect from mid '70s Stones.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I really need to hear these albums someday.

yeah no rush

Snrub, listen to Goats Heads Soup first

i'm hearing "hand of fate" right now.. it's a great riff and mick sounds fabulous but the production sounds really off to me. too light and airy or something, not violent enough.

mandel's minimal harmonic laden solo is pretty sweet

yeah no rush

― calstars, Thursday, September 28, 2017

description of Stones recording these songs

These albums do all kinda suck.....I really like the way Charlie Watts gets them from verse to chorus on "Heartbreaker," and the completely generic unfelt social consciousness of the lyric charms me, so GHS gets my vote

Yeah, Charlie is all over the map on that one. It's almost like some free jazz shit. Also wonder if '78 Mick walking Central Park singing after dark could have been the same boy the police chased back in '74

Also no one has mentioned the causal enjoyment of "luxury!" make a million for the texan. 20 dollar me. My woman need a new dress. My daughter got to go to school.

TS: luxury vs Haitian divorce

'Luxury' is utterly terrible.

Goats Head Soup doesn't suck either.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

What the fuck? You guys don't like Mick Taylor or something?

Sorry, I hallucinated that BAB won

What the fuck? You guys don't like Mick Taylor or something?

― calstars, Friday, September 29, 2017

I do! A lot! But his last two albums suck.

Good to see that the correct choice topped the poll!

oh thank god.

Goats Head Soup is a fantastic album. There are some hints at a slide toward banality -- some of the forced vulgarity and detachment of "Doo Doo Doo Doo" and "Star Star," which to me for some reason prefigure one of their lowest moments, "Too Much Blood" -- but still. Winter. Angie.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51KTfqMf2DL._SY355_.jpg

nah, this picture alone is better than anything on Goats Head Soup

No it isn't and stop lying.

xpost:

'Heartbreaker' and 'Star Star' are two of the best things on the album.

I really love the album art as well, although I know that I'm in the minority there.

You a stawfucka stawfucka stawfucka stawfucka staw

I thought "Star Star" (and "Short and Curlies," for that matter) were puerile when I was 15.

I think that these three albums are distinguished by solid performances but a lack of actual songs. The Stones weren't yet at the don't-give-a-shit point of their career--they were still a band coming off of Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St.--but they were clearly exhausted with the process of songwriting, and needed to produce content in order to keep the brand going (and having a reason to tour). So, at best, we get half-baked things like "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll" (the song), which actually has a provocative lyrical conceit, and is tightly performed, but which they were obviously in such a hurry to complete that they just slapped the most generically anthemic chorus possible on and called it a song.

haha i love the chorus of that song but tbh 90% of that is probably the tape-bleeding delivery on the opening IIII KNOW!!!

I think that these three albums are distinguished by solid performances but a lack of actual songs.

This applies to about half of Black and Blue and It's Only Rock'n'Roll, but there's plenty of "actual songs" on all of these albums.

Before Goats Head Soup's release, Mick Jagger advertised it as a RETURN to "songs" following the freewheeling Exile.

Goats Head Soup, which is also actually one of their best albums of the '70s, even if it is a minor step down from the preceding two.

If so then I've been right in my decision to not bother listening to any 70s Stones albums released after it.

The thing about Exile on Main St. is while it definitely has some stunning all-time moments, about a quarter of the LP isn't all that great.

xpost:

Some Girls is worth a listen.

1/4 of 2 sides is still 1 1/2 albums of juice

I can't think of a song on EOMS that wouldn't have improved GHS, though admittedly they would probably have sounded shit if actually recorded at the GHS sessions.

Aerosmith snagged the vocal delivery of "Casino" and threw it on "uncle salty"

I can think of several. Like, 'Hide Your Love' and 'Silver Train' are, to me, the two "lesser" tracks on Goats Head Soup, and stuff like 'Casino Boogie', 'Shake Your Hips', 'I Just Wanna See His Face', 'Sweet Black Angel', 'Turd On The Run' are of the same quality.

Goats Head Soup doesn't sound shit either, if anything it's far more produced than Exile On Main St. and there's a thickness to the sound that Exile doesn't have.

Another vote for Tattoo Two Side You

Man I love 'Worried About You'.

Goat's Head is where I get off the Stones bus, but even then I think there's some filler on it. The sequencing is a joke too - 'Coming Down Again' third on side 1??? I worked up an alternate version a couple months ago for listening purposes:

1. 100 Years Ago (I think by Goats they were stuck in the rut of having a typical 'stones' song open an album, and 'Mr.D' always felt really forced, whereas '100 Years Ago' sounds much more interesting/unexpected in that slot)
2. Dancing In The Light (the old bootleg instrumental version, not the Exile deluxe one. There's a definite lack of Keith on Goat's and this track helps to alleviate that)
3. Heartbreaker
4. Angie
5. Tops (released on Tattoo You but recorded in 72. The vocals weren't done until 79/80 though, but it's one of my favourite Stones songs so I cheated and used the Tattoo version here. The opening chord blends with the final chord in Angie perfectly)
6. Separately (Taylor/Keith/Hopkins instrumental ballad done during the Exile sessions)
7. Waiting On A Friend (the 73 version with rough vocals and no sax)
8. Criss-Cross Mind (Goat's outtake, more uptempo than 'Can You Hear The Music')
9. Winter
10. Leather Jacket ('Silver Train' was from the Stargroves sessions in 1970, as was this, so pilfering from a few years back didn't seem out of place. The instrumentation fits in with the Goat's Head sound and it gives Taylor some songwriting credit)
11. I Ain't Signifying (the bootleg version with 72 era Mick vocals, not the Exile Deluxe version. I could've used 'Hide Your Love' but I like this better, esp. for the "have you ever had the feeling that you've been here before?" line)
12. Coming Down Again (the only way to end things imo)

Excellent post
All that's missing is a download link

They pulled out "Dancing With Mr. D" for the obscure tracks/potty break section on early dates on the current tour.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51tT%2B9-yo9L._SY355_.jpg

i found a fair copy of The Rolling Stones "Made in the Shade" the other day for $5. it's a really great compilation of early-to-mid-70s stuff:

Side A
"Brown Sugar" 3:48
"Tumbling Dice" 3:45
"Happy" 3:04
"Dance Little Sister" 4:11
"Wild Horses" 5:42

Side B
"Angie" 4:33
"Bitch" 3:38
"It's Only Rock'n Roll (But I Like It)" 5:07
"Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)" 3:26
"Rip This Joint" 2:22

i think "Goats Head Soup" would be my choice from this poll, love "Angie" and "Heartbreaker" (and "Dancing With Mr. D").

do we have a Stones bootleg thread?

whitehallunity delivers the goods! i wanna dig out that exile bonus disc now..

Okay, so while this period of the Stones might not be everyone's favourite, but the very best of the material from this time still makes me think "fuck, I love the Stones" ... which is something I can't say of, for example, the Undercover era or Bridges to Babylon ...

Excellent post
All that's missing is a download link

― calstars, Thursday, October 5, 2017 2:29 AM (yesterday)

whitehallunity delivers the goods! i wanna dig out that exile bonus disc now..

― brimstead, Thursday, October 5, 2017 3:12 AM (yesterday)

haha, I was sorta half-worried my post would've been a little too much for the thread, glad to see it was well received. Here's a link:

https://mega.nz/#!d6AEWZwZ!0mxVGYO7gWkp__i9NrqIfYUS43G-XWA0e5nkx4VXuwQ

Also, if you haven't seen it, here's a rough sketch of the originally proposed cover by Hipgnosis:

http://blog.casafina.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/u.png

which was later re-used for this:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41rX7-oPfFL._SY300_.jpg

lol had no idea that was the backstory to the Ride a Rock Horse cover

Hahaha
Thank you and cheers

jagger crapping on mick taylor

The Daltrey cover was designed by Graham Hughes, Roger's cousin. Dunno if he worked for/with Hipgnosis. Hughes also designed/photographed the Quadrophenia and Odds and Sods covers.

def feel a certain way about that Keef horse

Let's do this!

Must dig out Goats Head Soup later for a listen. One of their finest LP's.

Memory f’in Motel

https://carnaby.therollingstonesshop.com/products/pop-art-black-and-blue-t-shirt/?

They took Bill off the cover of Black & Blue for this tee.

The ad it's based on:

https://blogintomystery.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/stones.jpg?w=640

I remember the kerfuffle around the ad for Black and Blue that featured a bound young woman who was . . . well, black and blue.

I really dig "Hand of Fate." Some nice, if basic, back and forth by Ron and Keith in that one.

They took Bill off the cover of Black & Blue for this tee.

Pretty sure they all hated Bill.

Making MIck a blond is equally rude