Rolling Stones: Classic or Dud

the Stones gave it everything they had: these old pros, crippled by age and by dissipation, but still holding the flag high

That hoary old journalistic chestnut from '78!

This one is notable as the cover looks like a Pavement album.

Wow! Yeah it does

The funny thing is that all of the Stones--bar Wyman--were in their mid-30s at the time!

yeah he specifically cites Jagger as 34 in the same para

There's some Lester Bangs pieces declaring the Stones were past it that ran as early as '73.

From that article:

The Stones hit the stage at Will Rogers Auditorium at 10:58 p.m. to a sustained ovation.

Fuuuuuck that. What, did each opener get a full hour to play?

It was Doug Kershaw and Peter Tosh, so...maybe?

Fwiw, it was a summer night in the central time zone, and if you scored a ticket at face value, it was like $5 for the Stones in a 2500 seater.

Mick with guitar will never not look awkward as all hell.

― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee),

tbf he plays and holds it much better now

I'm not the first to argue that Mick playing guitar in part made Some Girls so damn good, and I can hear it on the studio and live "When the Whip Comes Down."

Isn’t Mick playing guitar on Heaven? Cos that sounds great.

Yup.

A second rhythm guitar on most Stones singles and album tracks after 1978. He's essential to "Respectable," "Lies," "Miss You," "Hang Fire," "Mixed Emotions," and those are just the agreed-on classics, I guess.

Earlier than that period, he plays electric rhythm on "Sway" when Keith wasn't around, and no one will argue with THAT part

I love Mixed Emotions, it's got such an idiosyncratic, perfectly Stonesy momentum.

Isn't also playing acoustic on "Moonlight Mile"?

Yep!

I’m not sure Taylor remembers the sway session that well. That rhythm part sounds a lot like Keith to me, down to the sus4 flourishes and the open G tuning. I guess mick was playing as much inna “Keith” style as he could.

If Keith teaches you guitar things like that are gonna happen.

Jagger gave Taylor credit for writing "Sway" in that '95 RS interview without calling his lawyer about it.

He still looks goofy holding it.

I mean in that concert footage. Haven't paid much attention to his contemporary guitar use.

(Y)ou... need two guitars (to play that song) , 'cause you need one guitar in open tuning to play the dah-dum-dah-da. In fact it was Mick Jagger that played rhythm guitar on that track.

- Mick Taylor, 1995

I added my solo to Sway, but it's very much Mick's song. I don't think Keith's on it. It had a great, loose feel. Mick played rhythm guitar on that. He's a great rhythm player. My theory is he has a natural feel and that's also why he's such a great dancer.

- Mick Taylor, 2011

is it actually a nasty habit to take tea at three?

depends what you mean by "tea" (rolls a dovetail joint)

either way, healthy calming rituals of self care and not at all nasty

Can’t be too careful, lot of tea leaves about

hanging up meat for a week is also a good idea if you want your steaks to be tender

You know what's an overlooked and great Stones song? High Wire

Almost

Some prime Mick Taylor slide guitar work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryRDcE2sB2A

Underappreciated film. Stones fan know about it, but it rarely gets mentioned anywhere else. It's a set of great performances from one of their greatest tours, and the film is seamlessly and unobtrusively done.

What name/names does the complete film go by?

I think it’s Ladies and Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones

Thanks

Yeah, it’s great footage! Is that the film they put out instead of Frank’s cocksucker blues?

Yes. It's taken from a few shows in Texas (Dallas & Houston, IIRC). As opposed to the Frank film, it's a straight-up concert film with no backstage shenanigans.

What <is> Barbara Walters Trying To Prove?

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f4/f9/95/f4f9952c66f880ad5d20b3bd632720dc.jpg

"Doodoo Lounge," LMAO
https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/doodoo-lounge/Content?oid=885084

God bless alternative weeklies, imagine if the editor had tried that at the Tribune or Sun-Times

The same Bill Wyman later wrote this:

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/11/imagine-if-mick-jagger-responded-to-keith-richards-about-his-new-autobiography.html

"I was not 30 and had lost us a historic treasure." LMAO again

I love that Wyman reponse to the Keef bio

He makes an excellent point about Keith's ballads. They may not have had a single decent album in 35 or 40 years (depending on how you feel about Dirty Work which has strong defenders), but each of those disappointments typically have one good ballad written and sung by Keith.

much excitement in this stones community about a 3cd set of remarkably finished-sounding outtakes from throughout their career that just, um, emerged.

https://iorr.org/talk/read.php?2,2805669

https://iorr.org/talk/read.php?2,2805935

I'm listening to this in the background (softly so I don't wake my better half), but this is some GOOD shit. I love the Stones, they're one of my favorites, but I've barely spent any time on iorr.org even though I've known about it for a long time. (I think I've spent maybe five minutes browsing a few topics on there over the last two years.) Is it worth exploring that forum more?

i've found it invaluable during tour time for tips on how to acquire "lucky dip" tickets (basically a pair of seats for 75 bucks or so, but you don't know where you'll be sitting until you get there -- wound up with pairs of lucky dips for both giants stadium shows on the most recent tour, really nice seats both times, an insane savings over the regular ticket prices). and for the general level of insane nerditude when it comes to rare / bootleg / oddball releases (different mixes, bonus cuts, whatever). the guy who runs the site seems to get inside info on the band, or has some kind of psychological bond with them that enables him to magically sense when and where things will happen. but like every other message board you have to take the good with the bad, there's the inevitable mick-taylor-do-or-die contingent, infighting, etc.

but its european english-as-a-second-language bent and general fanishness make it less of a "gimme a break" experience than, say, the hoffman forum.

omg this is fucking great

This isn't on YouTube – it appears to be, but I promise you it isn't the original. This is the original. And it's one of the best things I've ever seen. EVER. The Stones on Frost on Sunday 1968 performing Sympathy for the Devil. Mick is unreal https://t.co/AVc6kP2Qxe

— Dorian Cope (@OnThisDeity) May 3, 2019

amazing. the polite applause from the studio audience is hilarious to me for some reason

Did they overdub those background vocals on the live performance audio?

pretty sure they're miming to the original backing track, just Jagger's vocals are live.