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

Don't want to talk about Jesus

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

― droit au butt (Euler), Saturday, September 30, 2017 12:15 PM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

No it isn't and stop lying.

― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Saturday, September 30, 2017

It is and he's not.

when I listed the worst Stones singles, four of them came from this period, including the #1.

It isn't and he is...

...and in no way are 'Angie' and 'Dancing With Mr. D' anywhere near this bands worst singles.

I have no investment in the band's mythos, and BTB is worse song for song than their Ford years interlude. To my ears these three albums represent the typical slump after several years of excellence. Good tunes and performances on the three, no question. But a plodding self-referential nothingness like "It's Only Rock and Roll" formed the template for "You Got Me Rocking" and every other attempt by the band to prove that it wasn't being pneumatic, and the ballads bring out the worst in Jagger's affect.

Do you mean Between the Buttons or Bridges to Babylon there?

'It's Only Rock'n'Roll' isn't a favourite of mine either - 'Time Waits For No One' and 'If You Can't Rock Me' are the highlights of that album for me.

'I Just Wanna See His Face' is the very definition of filler, and the recording is /awful/.

Ok geir

^ This is ILMspeak for "I have no response"

Bridges to Babylon.

filler - this word means nothing

Recording is awful - ok who cares

"i just wanna see his face" and "sweet black angel" are both understated masterpieces. None of the minor tracks on GHs compare xp

Treeship otm. Twaddle like "Can't You Hear The Music" strikes me as a failed attempt at recapturing the undefinable haze of "Just Wanna See His Face."

xxpost:

In that case, I agree - Bridges to Babylon isn't a favourite.

Between the Buttons is easily a top five or six Stones album for me.

Another vote for "Just Wanna See His Face," "Shake Your Hips," etc.

Twaddle like "Can't You Hear The Music" strikes me as a failed attempt at recapturing the undefinable haze of "Just Wanna See His Face."

Incorrect description of "twaddle" aside, I think this is wide of the mark... the reference point for 'Can You Hear the Music?' isn't - thankfully - 'Just Wanna See His Face, but rather psychedelic Stones as played by the '73 Stones.

Between the Buttons is easily a top five or six Stones album for me.

― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, September 30, 2017 8:53 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I agree! The UK configuration in particular is their most underrated '60s LP, IMO.

'I Just Wanna See His Face' is the very definition of filler, and the recording is awful.

Can you please find some other interest in life other than music?

Coming across it randomly on the radio, I really dug Luxury, a song It's Only Rock and Roll I had totally forgotten about.

I'm surprised you heard it on the radio - of all of the Stones' deep cuts I would have assumed 'Luxury' would be bottom-of-the-pile stuff.

It may very well have been on the Deep Tracks satellite radio channel!

Mick's reggae affectations on "Luxury" (and "Cherry Oh Baby") are pretty gross.

^^^the hardest part about this period

Also, listening to B&B for the first time in 20+ years last night, I forgot just how gruelling the second half of the record was, with Keith's guitar on "Crazy Mama" offering the only relief.

I like "Fool to Cry"!

Blech.

My least fave Stones ballad. Maybe even my least fave Stones song.

May be time for a poll: Who Did Reggae Worse - The Rolling Stones Or Led Zeppelin?

At least Keef is a True Believer.

Yeah, I agree about Mick's reggae affectations being gross, and I also love 'Fool to Cry' ... that, 'Hand of Fate' and 'Memory Motel' are my favourites from that record, although I also enjoy 'Hot Stuff' and 'Melody' when I'm in the mood for 'em.

And the one thing I can really say in favour of this era is that they were pretty good with the ballads. "Winter," as I've said multiple times here, I absolutely love, and "Coming Down Again," "Till the Next Goodbye" and "Memory Motel" are pretty enough (I'm all "Angie"'d out, though).

I was waaaayy too young to get sick of "Fool to Cry" on the radio, so it sounds fresh.

plus, I like when Jagger plays keyboards.

xxxpost:

Well, at least until Jagger starts his "AHL DE PEEPAL IN NEW YOHK CITHEY!" routine...

Worst 'reggae' attempts

You rang?

Hated "Fool To Cry" at the time, but now I like it fine.

Brian Wilson likes 'Fool to Cry', apparently.

How do you know?

'I Just Wanna See His Face' is the very definition of filler, and the recording is awful.

― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Saturday, September 30, 2017 9:07 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh hell no, this is an incredible jam. it sounds like a cosmic gospel song field recording, it's such a spooky song. I feel like Tom Waits' entire latter period career is him trying to recapture what they tossed off here.

^otm

How do you know?

― Two-Headed Shindog (Rad Tempo Player) (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, October 1, 2017 6:03 PM (thirty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

He mentioned it in some magazine article (may have been Uncut) about a decade ago...

Johnny Winter did a good version of "Silver Train", might be a bit groovier than the Stones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VojeFLos3Uc

nomar knows!!!

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.

― brimstead, Friday, 29 September 2017 01:42 (three days ago) Permalink

this is one of those things that bothers me. "too light and airy"? what were you looking for? if you wanted that dirt-sound of "ventilator blues" or "street fighting man" then i'm all for it. but if you're trying to compare the track to "brown sugar" or something similar then i get off the bus. one of those bands where the production quality always came as a bonus to the songs.

oh knock it off, it just sounds like shitty flat 70s rock. no muscle. i was looking for kicks!!!

Kinda how I look for a tune in 'I Just Wanna See His Face' ... or any kind of reason for it to exist more than "hey, we're in LA now and we still have't got quite enough to fill four sides..."

that's probably it.. you need to come to LA Turrican

*haven't

x-post:

I've heard it's a shithole.

The fact that The Blind Boys of Alabama do a pretty great version of 'I Just Wanna See His Face' indicates that there is a 'tune' there - but you know, sometimes recordings are about something other than the tune. The atmosphere on the Stones' version - a fuggy séance, a druggy act of devotion with a nice bit of irreligious ambiguity - is unique and compelling. It's one of the greatest things they ever did.

That Stones' version always makes me think of Dr. John's first album