With the Rolling Stones headlining Glastonbury it got me thinking about my fave Stones tracks.
In my teens back in the eighties I really got into The Beatles and have got all their albums, however for no obvious reason I gave The Stones a swerve, only really discovering how great they really are in the last ten years, and what a majestic back catalogue I discovered !!!
Here then are, in no particular order, are my favourite Stones tracks :
1. The Last Time
From 1965 and taken off the 'Out Of Our Heads' album which was their third album. By this time Jagger and Richards had finally got down to business as a writing team. The track has quite a 'Beatles' feel to it, though Keef has said when they were writing it they were thinking of The Staple Singers.
2. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
From the same album as The Last Time, this was The Stones' first real classic largely thanks to the riff cranked out by Richards through his Gibson fuzzbox. It was supposedly dreamt up by Keith in his sleep and completed beside in California whilst sat round the pool. The track brings out the desires of the ordinary man during the permissive sixties.
3. Bitch
From the 'Sticky Fingers' album. This track features Bobby Keys on sax and Jim Price on trumpet. It rattles along at 100mph with a groove that just won't quit. One of their best songs,off one of their best regular albums. The horns really make it swing. Lot of talk about whether its about women or heroin but I don't really care, just love it.
4. Brown Sugar
The opening track from 'Sticky Fingers' into which you can read two meanings of either drugs or inter-racial sex. The opening guitar piece is amazing. At the time, this song blew the dust off many a corner jukebox. Once Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman jump in with drums and bass, the song rolls along like a finely tuned American V8. Still packs a punch today.
5. Tumbling Dice
From the quality, 'Exile On Main Street' album, this smooth Memphis soul track was one of the best The Stones had produced when they made it and it still is now. They recorded this in the musty basement of the Villa Nellcote, a place Keith Richards rented in France so the band could avoid paying taxes in England. They would sleep all day and record at night with whoever showed up. Unusually for this track, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards played guitar, with Mick Taylor playing bass.
6. Not Fade Away
From the original 'Rolling Stones' album. The Stones recognised they could do a whole lot more with this track than the rather tame 1957 Buddy Holly original, and boy did they set it on fire taking it to a whole new level for their debut album.
7. Paint It Black
This 1966 track saw The Stones go all dark and brooding. Paint It Black is a song about depression, the lyric "I look inside myself and see my heart is black" makes the subject pretty unequivocal. The Beatles had made the sitar the instrument of the day, and The Stones used it to great effect on Paint It Black.
8. Miss You
From the 'Some Girls' album, this saw The Stones going all discofied, the deeply funky bassline of the Watts/Wyman rhythm section providing something different to the regular four to the floor dance groove. The spoken word bit is a classic, "I've been walking Central Park, Singing after dark, People think I'm crazy" as is one of the greatest wordless "ooh" choruses ever.
9. Under My Thumb
From 1966's 'Aftermath' album. This one has a bit of a Motown feel about it but with blatant sexist, misogynistic lyrics. According to Jagger, it was a revenge song about an overbearing ex. Under My Thumb is also notable for Brian Jones' use of marimbas and dulcimer which add so much to its sound. Despite all that its still a classic.
10. 19th Nervous Breakdown
The title came from a comment Jagger made in passing to the rest of the band at the end of an exhausting US tour. The song is self was allegedly aimed at Jagger's then girlfriend, Chrissie Shrimpton who he conceded was "a neurotic bird". Still, its another Stones classic that really rocks from start to finish.
11. Get Off My Cloud
From the 'December's Children' album, this was the follow up to 'Satisfaction', Keith Richards never rated the track claiming it was one of Andrew Loot Oldham's worst productions. It might have been rushed at the time but that gave it a certain, almost punkish edge to it. It may be sloppy but it still has attitude by the bucket load.
12. Angie
From the 'Goats Head Soup' album, this 1973 track, rare for The Stones in that it's actually an achingly beautiful ballad featuring the piano of Nicky Hopkins. The lyrics have an almost timeless appeal. It was portrayed as a love letter from Mick to Angie Bowie, though it was actually a Richards track that he wrote about the last, doomed days of his relationship with the Italian actress, Anita Pallenberg.
13. Let's Spend The Night Together
This 1967 number one caused controversy in both the UK where the BBC banned it, and in America where they were forced to change the lyrics to "Let's Spend Some Time Together" before performing it on The Ed Sullivan Show, interesting that, despite containing drug taking references, the first verse was broadcast in full. Nevertheless its still one of the biggest hits.
14. Beast of Burden
1978 track from the 'Some Girls' album. Containing a bit of a slippery, relationship dodging Jagger lyric, Beast Of Burden is a bit of a down beat tune built around a characteristic Richards riff. Although it was released when punk was sweeping through the UK you'd never have guessed it.
15. Undercover Of The Night
This was from 1983's 'Undercover' album and saw The Stones delving into foreign politics. Even though it's now 30 years old this track is probably their last truly great track. Jagger's lyrics explore the political clampdowns and sexual tensions of the time that were going on in South America.
16. Fool To Cry
From the 'Black and Blue' album, another slow track in the same vein as Angie. 1976's Fool To Cry is a truly soulful lament that instantly dissolves the Rolling Stones' hard rocking outlaw's image. It even features the word "daddy"
17. 2000 Light Years From Home
The Beatles embraced psychedelia with tracks like Tomorrow Never Knows, The Stones never really seemed to go for it though. This 1967 track from 'Their Satanic Majesties Request' album is probably their best attempt. 2000 Light Years From Home contains a looping, Bill Wyman baseline creating a real hypnotic space rock sound.
18. Gimme Shelter
Opening track on 1969's 'Let It Bleed' album, Firstly the way it comes in with a strange time signature and delay and then kicks in proper, you can't quite believe that rock can be this dark, sexy and exciting.
19. You Can't Always Get What You Want
Another 'Let It Bleed' track. You can actually feel Mick Jagger's pain in his voice when he sings this wonderfully sad song about watching your girlfriend become seriously addicted to heroin (Marianne Faithfull maybe ?). Also notable is the a cappella intro to the track by a choir.
20. Sympathy For The Devil
From the 'Beggars Banquet' album of 1968. Possibly The Stones, most unusual track in terms of both arrangement and lyrics. In the second verse, the music perfectly mirrors the anarchy portrayed in Jagger’s lyrics, as he describes the overthrow of the tzars and the blitzkrieg. At the same time, Jagger’s voice becomes less controlled, singing, shouting now, although still showing perfect enunciation on words like “stank.” All in all, a brilliant, unique track.
21. Start Me Up
Opening track which kicks off the 'Tattoo You' album in rocking good style. A riff-rocker in the tradition of "Honky Tonk Women" or "Satisfaction," a tough little rock & roll song powered by one of Keith’s trademark riffs and a solid Charlie Watts backbeat. The riff and the backbeat are so good, in fact, that it's easy to ignore the fact that, the song never actually goes anywhere: other than the repeated "You make a grown man cry" bridge, the verse is the entire song. One of the last great Rolling Stones songs though.
22. Honky Tonk Woman
Probably their last great track of the sixties. Honky Tonk Woman greatness is underwritten by Charlie Watts' funky, no-frills drumbeats, which lead off the song and ricochet throughout with great authority. Although rock & roll, there's a lot of country and blues influence, perhaps even more country than blues in this song. Just get a few drinks down yer and enjoy it.
23. Play With Fire
This was actually the ‘B’ side to 'The Last Time', and one of their more effective moody ballads. For probably the first time, the group was writing about their experience as young men in sixties London rather than aping what they thought a blues song or pop hit was supposed to be. There’s a folk-rock feel to this track, with its acoustic guitars (one played by Phil Spector) and doleful tambourine bashes. In many respects, it’s better than the ‘A’ Side.
24. Jumping Jack Flash
The lyric of this 1968 classic was inspired by Richards' gardener, Jack Dyer, who slogged past as the guitarist and Jagger were coming to the end of an all-night session. "Who's that?" Jagger asked. "Jumpin' Jack," Richards answered. The song evolved into supernatural Delta blues by way of Swinging London. The Stones first performed it at their final show with Brian Jones.
25. Champagne and Reefer
From the 'Shine A Light' live album released in 2008. Champagne and Reefer is The Stones at their blistering best, perhaps their best blues tinged song since "Little Red Rooster" they are joined by Buddy Guy, even Mick’s Harmonica gets a solo! Keef, Ron and Charlie play up a storm in the background.
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