Graphic by Shawn Bird
ALBUMS:
A. England’s Newest Hitmakers, ’64
B. 12 X 5, ’64
C. The Rolling Stones, Now!, '65
0. Out of our Heads, ’65
E. December’s Children, ’65
F. Aftermath, ’66
G. Got Live If You Want It!, ’66
H. Between The Buttons, ’67
1. Flowers, ’67
J. Their Satanic Majesties Request, ’67
K. Beggars Banquet, ’66
L. Let It Bleed. '69
M. Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out, ’70
N. Sticky Fingers, '71
O. Exile On Main St., '72
P. Goats Head Soup, ’73
Q. It’s Only Rock N’ Roll, ’74
R. Metamorphosis, ’75
S. Black and Blue, '76
T. Love You Live, ’77
U. Some Girls, ’78
V. Emotional Rescue, ’80
W. Tattoo You, ’81
X. Still Life, ’82
Y. Undercover, '83
Stones roll out 20 years of albums
In May, 1964, The Rolling Stones' first
U.S. LP, England's Newest Hit Makers —
The Rolling Stones, was released. Twenty
years and 24 albums later — excluding
seven domestic greatest hit compila
tions — The Stones continue to crank
out new records at about one a year.
The following is a retrospective of
The Stones album history. The Emerald
takes a look at its ups and downs.
The Stones' first five albums chronicle
the slow progression of the band from
blues and R&B toward rock'n'roll and
include many of the early hits. The
songs fluctuate in quality, but Mick Jag
ger's voice improves with each album,
as does his and Keith Richards'
songwriting.
Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass),
particularly the British import version
(with three additional songs), captures
the best of the early albums, providing
an attractive alternative to their
unevenness.
Aftermath is the first Stones' disc (ex
cluding Big Hits) that functions as a ful
ly realized and enjoyable whole. For the
first time, all of the cuts are by Jagger
and Richards, and the writing has
matured. The tracks cover a wide varie
ty of relevant topics including death
("Flight 505"); misogyny ("Stupid Girl");
brutality ("Under My Thumb"); depres
sion ("Paint It, Black"); defiance ("Don
cha Bother Me"); rejection ("It's Not
Easy"); and, naturally, love ("Lady
Jane").
Got Live if you Want It! and all of
their live releases are sloppy excuses
for albums that fail to advance their
music at all.
Between the Buttons is probably the
band's least recognized record. Lush
and apocalyptic, it transcends the fron
tiers established by Aftermath in a haze
of suggestion and giggling hysteria. The
players seem, at times, to be satyrs dan
cing in a pagan ritual, delivering fren
zied bursts of musical virtuosity as they
play for their very souls.
High points are "Connection," "Cool,
Calm, and Collected," "Miss Amanda
Jones" and "Something Happened To
Me Yesterday," a naive account of a
young man's first acid trip told in both
the first and the third person.
Flowers is a collection of post-Big Hits
singles (most of which appear on After
math or Between The Buttons) and
previously unreleased material.
Their Satanic Majesties Request is un
doubtedly The Rolling Stones' most
underrated and ridiculed album. It's
generally dismissed as a feeble attempt
to imitate the success of The Beatles'
Sgt. Pepper, and while there is a direct
influence, it stands on its own as a
highly innovative work. It represents a
radical departure from their previous
music, and it sets the stage for their
best work, which is to come over the
next five years.
Beggars Banquet has the group return
ing to bare bones rock'n'roll and
creating their finest album. The LP
opens with "Sympathy For The Devil,"
a compelling, brilliant anthem, featur
ing one of rock's great original
drumbeats as its backbone. The song
builds in intensity as it recounts various
dark moments in history as witnessed
by "a man of wealth and taste,” and
ends with his exposure and the
message that "you're to blame."
The rest of the record is gently
devastating with understated ballads
and searing, if subdued, sexual blues.
Each song touches something that lies
at the core of human existence and
renders it in well crafted and achingly
beautiful terms.
Let It Bleed is a continuation of, and
elaboration on, the themes and genres
of Beggars Banquet. There is country,
country rock, concept rock, hard, sex
rock, a soft sex ballad, slice-your-guts
rock ("Midnight Rambler" — featuring
Mick Jagger's best harmonica work),
fun rock, and message oriented ballad
rock. Despite the wide variety of styles,
the album flows well and the songs are
of a very high caliber.
Sticky Fingers is a patchier LP than its
predecessor. Keith Richards is going
through his first serious bout with
heroin addiction (and enjoying it, I
might add), but he still manages to lay
down intriguing riffs and write good
songs. Mick Taylor (Brian Jones'
replacement) provides some dazzling
lead guitar runs on "Brown Sugar" and
"Can't You Hear Me Knocking," but
the disc's best number is the exquisite,
shimmering "Moonlight Mile."
Exile On Main St. glorifies the
decadence of the Stones' lives in a col
lection of "rock-noir" tracks shrouded
in paranoia. Richards is still strung out,
yet the album is their greatest post
sixties achievement due to the
coherence and the strength of its
songs.
Goats Head Soup and It's Only
Rock'n'Roll are the other two under
rated Rolling Stones albums. Although
not as good as Exile, they have some
surprisingly well executed cuts, such as
"Can You Hear The Music" and "Star
Star" on the former, and "Luxury" and
"Fingerprint File" on the latter.
Metamorphosis is a lame pastiche of
'60s demos and outtakes released, over
the objections of Jagger and Richards,
to fulfill a contractual obligation.
Black And Blue signals the beginning
of Ron Wood's tenure with the band
(replacing Mick Taylor) and the end of
The Rolling Stones as real innovators in
rock music. Their work since then has
been consistently slick and decent, but
lacking in creative merit.
Some Girls looks like it might be a
move in the right direction, but Emo
tional Rescue is a directionless mess.
The group's aesthetic nadir is reached
in the title cut, a disco abomination
featuring Mick Jagger doing his Leo
Sayer impression.
Tattoo You and Undercover signify a
return to the straightforward (translate
"uninspired") rock'n'roll that seems to
be their forte this decade.
Perhaps their next album should be
commemorative of this 20 year anniver
sary. They could even go back and use
the title of their first album, with a
slight alteration, but somehow I don't
think they'd go for it. England's Oldest
Hitmakers — The Rolling Stones.
Kevin Frank
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Section B, Page 5