working my way through the early rolling stones LPs (part of the motherload bill just laid on me, all the stones LPs from 1964-1982 including some bootlegs and whatnot) and it's surprising how much padding and filler there is on these. (the multiple appearances of "under the boardwalk" are pretty painful.) i'm talking about the rolling stones (known in the u.s. as england's newest hitmakers), 12 X 5, rolling stones no. 2, the rolling stones, now!, out of our heads, and december's children (and everybody's).
i'm tempted to say that the half dozen songs included from these LPs on hot rocks ("time is on my side," "heart of stone," "play with fire," "satisfaction," "as tears go by," "get off my cloud") are pretty much it, but of course that's not entirely true. there's some other good stuff that has, as is always the case, gets left off the greatest hits albums. also some fairly weird stuff too: the line "everytime i kiss you girl it tastes like pork and beans" from "down home girl," the utter insincerity of "congratulations."
big surprises also: hearing the lines from "you can't catch me" that iggy pop stole for use in the stooges' "1970" (in fact his phrasing in that whole song is essentially borrowed from jagger, a connection i never thought to make before), and the guitar riff from "hitch hike" that lou reed stole for the velvet underground's "there she goes again."
the LP immediately following these first five, aftermath, is usually taken to be the first really good stones album, and i agree but wonder too id december's children isn't at least the first consistantly decent stones album. it's the poppiest anyway, perhaps trying to compete somewhat with the beatles? cuz i hafta say, album for album i think the beatles at this point were far more consistant. i'd have to listen to those LPs too as i'm sure they have some padding and filler.
in any case, my (pretty generous) best of from the first 5 stones albums:
"route 66"
"i just want to make love to you"
"i'm a king bee"
"carol"
"tell me"
"you can make it if you try" ("mona")
"walking the dog"
"empty heart"
"time is on my side"
"good times, bad times"
"it's all over now"
"congratulations"
"grown up wrong"
"down home girl"
"you can't catch me"
"pain in my heart"
"heart of stone"
"(i can't get no) satisfaction"
"that's how strong my love is"
"play with fire"
"the under assistant west coast promotion man"
"the last time"
"as tears go by"
"blue turns to grey"
"get off of my cloud"
"gotta get away"
(ok so 26 tracks out of 70 i guess isn't all that much padding. or is it?)
2 comments:
yeah i've always thought the stones learned in public much more than the beatles. the beatles had that long time hard core every night playing together in liverpool and hamburg before they were 'discovered.' i'd be even more hard on'em and say the first REAL stones album is let it bleed tho they get better, with some detours, throughout the sixties. i think they really hit their stride when the beatles leave the stage.
On the other hand, some of those early Stones singles are truly amazing pieces of music, although the band clearly wasn't as consistent as the Beatles at that stage. Still, "Empty Heart, "Get Off Of My Cloud," "Play With Fire" and the obviously magnificent "Satisfaction" are among the GREAT rock and roll songs.
Mark
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