The Rolling Stones (favourite songs, thoughts...)

I always considered them more of a great singles band than an album band to be honest. Some of their B-sides were quite good actually, especially the great "Jumpin' Jack Flash" B-side "Child of the Moon". Pretty much at the very tail end of their psychedelic era, it's a cool compliment to the classic A-side, a single which introduced a grittier sound while still bearing some trippiness.

I do like a couple of their albums, basically Beggars Banquet & Let It Bleed, although there are certainly gems on their other full-lengths. I prefer the US version of Aftermath thanks to the addition of "Paint It Black", although I wish they kept "Mother's Little Helper" in there too. Same with Between The Buttons regarding the US release...more entertaining with a couple of big hits thrown in.

I've never actually listened to much of Exile On Main Street, which many critics seem to adore these days but wasn't highly received upon release. I need to spend time with it someday.

Intruder wrote: I lived on a heavy diet of Stones music as a kid, went thru phases of listening to their different incarnations, but now when I put the Stones on, which isn't very often, I turn to Aftermath, Goat's Head and Black and Blue more often than not....transitional stuff that shows them working harder than usual, if not as sucessfully on the charts.  I've worn out copies of albums like Exile, Bleed, Banquet, etc.  Now I like to settle in with albums that dig deeper.....and I don't overlook Emotional Rescue.  Some saw it as a revisiting of the smash Some Girls, but I think it's their last relevant album in that they really succeeded in putting down two sides full of music that was popular at the time.  No retro, sitting on their laurels stuff.

I bought their early singles on 45 along with the Beatles, Kinks, Dave Clark 5, etc.....so I go back to the beginning with the Stones. But I think their best work were the early years from 64-75.....after that they seemed to wander into the disco/soul /funk area which never really interested me. There were certainly some good tracks on those lp's you mentioned but it seemed to me that Jagger was trying to reach an even larger audience and wasn't playing what they were best at. The sig tune It's Only Rock and Roll summed up who they were imho and was their last 'great' lp.

Angie is my favorite stones track.

Its simple but i love that song.

My fave has always been Get Yer Ya Ya's Out. Mick Taylor is in top form on that - and so is Charlie. I've seen him catch a lot of flack, but I think he was the perfect drummer for The Stones. On this live release he shows why.

Guldbamsen wrote: My fave has always been Get Yer Ya Ya's Out. Mick Taylor is in top form on that - and so is Charlie. I've seen him catch a lot of flack, but I think he was the perfect drummer for The Stones. On this live release he shows why. I may have to get it on vinyl one of these days. Just feels like a record that needs to be played on the turntable Fave Stones song today would be Stray Cat Blues.

Not certain here, but I recall reading something along the lines that for many of the later 60's/early 70's recordings, Bill Wyman played a bass where he removed the frets himself, making him one of the first to play a fretless electric bass ???

dr wu23 wrote: To me Exiles is basically a reworking of the blues rock on those 2 lp's. It has those 'twangy blues/soul'  songs  with some classic rockers. Almost the same format as the 2 earlier lp's.

I can live with that.

Prog Sothoth wrote: dr wu23 wrote: To me Exiles is basically a reworking of the blues rock on those 2 lp's. It has those 'twangy blues/soul'  songs  with some classic rockers. Almost the same format as the 2 earlier lp's. I can live with that.   Since this thread popped up, I've been revisiting some of the old Stones records, particularly the interesting era of Between The Buttons and Their Satanic Majesties Request., with the weird single "We Love You" inbetween.   The former album is really odd for the band, very brit-pop stuff...a real mixed bag but "She Smiled Sweetly" is quite the pretty number. Prefer the US version of the album. "Let's Spend The Night Together" is euphoric and "Ruby Tuesday" is great too, although a little sloppier than I remembered, but the UK version has "Back Street Girl" which is nice as well if not at the same level. "Communication" was another decent number.   Their Satanic Majesties Request is even odder. Some of these tunes like "The Lantern" could have been pretty good slow-burn bluesy folk-rock tunes if the terrible production and deliberate 'weirdness' thrown in were omitted. "She's A Rainbow" is awesome though...a perfect mix of the brit-pop they were aiming for on the last album with the psychodelic stuff of this album. "2000 Light Years From Home" is the most pure 'Stonesy' sounding song they had done IMO since Aftermath, even with all the trippiness. There's a mean and creepy groove underneath all that. "Citadel" is also killer acid rock. Everything else on it is either just passable to terrible experimentation.   Then they sort of found themselves after that, with "Child Of The Moon" being their last psychedelic-like number.

The.Crimson.King wrote: Another great song released at that time is the B-side to "We Love You"..."Dandelion"

Yeah, I dig "Dandelion" a lot. Funny how it's pure catchy trippy-pop yet played in that loose bordeline sloppy Stones manner, giving the tune an almost sinister undercurrent. Then again, even when trying to sound sincere, Mick always had a bit of 'sneer' to his voice.

Edited by Prog Sothoth - October 18 2013 at 13:36