Rolling Stones – 50th Music Anniversaries and Other Musings

September 4 – Live Raunch from The Rolling Stones

9/4/70: The Rolling Stones – Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert

“Paint it Black, you devils!”

When the Rolling Stones began their U.S. tour in November 1969, it marked their first concert appearances here since 1966. The music landscape had changed quite a bit in that time, including live shows. For the major acts, the venues had become larger and the amplification louder. The non-stop shrill screaming of teenage girls had ceased as the crowds were now slightly older. And stoned. Enter the world’s most famous musical band of outlaws, now flaunting their badness more openly and brashly than ever. It was Mick Taylor’s first tour as a member of the band, and the last one they would embark upon as just the principal band (including Ian Stewart) without additional musicians. The joy and the horror of that month-long tour was captured for eternity on the Maysles brothers’ documentary, Gimme Shelter. The live album from those dates, Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out: The Rolling Stones in Concert, was released 50 years ago today.

The release of this album was largely a response to the bootleg recording Live’r Than You’ll Ever Be from their Oakland, CA show near the start of the tour, which is considered the first major live bootleg album. Ya-Ya’s as originally released contains 10 of the 15 songs which made up their usual set list, including two Chuck Berry covers and one by Robert Johnson. The performances were taken from their November 27th and 28th shows at Madison Square Garden, with Love in Vain from the 26th in Baltimore. Overdubbing of vocals on six tracks and guitars on two took place at Olympic Studios in January 1970. The album reached number one in the U.K., and number six in the U.S.

I should probably let it go, but if you’ve read my posts in the past you might know I tend to grumble at the self-importance of contemporary reviewers of these albums that have attained “classic” status, but the fact is that the views of scribes for publications such as Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, the L.A. Times, etc., held a lot of weight back in the day. It was no different with this live document. Lester Bangs, in his contemporary review in Rolling Stone – in which he criticized late-60’s live acts for being either too sloppy or too clinical (insert eye-roll emoji) – asked this question at the outset of his album review having seen the show himself:

Sure, the Stones put on what was almost undoubtedly the best show of the year, but did that say more about their own involvement or about the almost uniform lameness of the competition?

Their competition aside, I feel there’s everything to like about the album. I put a lot of value on overall context, and the Stones were close to the heart of arguably their wildest and most arrogant years. To my ears, their irreverence is evident from the outset when Charlie’s drumming kicks in seemingly a half beat behind on Jumpin’ Jack Flash (I mean, they could’ve fixed that in the studio if they’d wanted to, right?). Love in Vain is a highlight for me for Taylor’s solo alone (Bangs called the track a low point of the album…). The guitars of Richards and Taylor drive Midnight Rambler to heights not heard on Let it Bleed, which was released the day before Altamont (though I do prefer the studio version of Live with Me from that album over the one on Ya-Ya’s). We don’t really even need the film to visualize Mick prancing around to it, either. It’s a showstopping performance.

They kick into Sympathy for the Devil after the girl in the audience (Bangs refers to her as “an insistent chick”) shouts at the devils to play Paint it Black. It all seems funny and well timed, but it’s hard to listen to without thinking of its place in the Altamont show a few weeks in the future when Keith stops mid-song to admonish the Hell’s Angels. His playing on this one makes up for the absence of “woo-woo’s” heard on the studio version. I used to look at the Chuck Berry covers as throwaways, but now I see them as grittier takes on what were, for the late 1950’s, eyebrow raising songs. This album actually sounds better to me now than when I was younger, with or without the “bonus” tracks added in 2009. And, for what it’s worth, Lester Bangs’s answer to his own question was:

It’s still too soon to tell, but I’m beginning to think Ya-Ya’s just might be the best album they ever made. I have no doubt that it’s the best rock concert ever put on record. The Stones, alone among their generation of groups, are not about to fall by the wayside. And as long as they continue to thrive this way, the era of true rock and roll music will remain alive and kicking with them.

The Who say hi, but he wasn’t far off the mark.

Tracklist

Side One:

Jumpin’ Jack Flash
Carol
Stray Cat Blues
Love in Vain
Midnight Rambler

Side Two:

Sympathy for the Devil
Live with Me
Little Queenie
Honkey Tonk Women
Street Fighting Man

-Stephen

Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/rolling-stones-get-yer-ya-yas-out/

https://www.allmusic.com/album/get-yer-ya-yas-out%21-mw0000191518

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get_Yer_Ya-Ya%27s_Out!_The_Rolling_Stones_in_Concert

Desert Island Album Draft, Round 5: Sticky Fingers

I’m participating in an album draft with nine other bloggers, organized by Hanspostcard. There will be ten rounds, with draft order determined randomly by round. My fifth round selection is the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers.

It’s just that demon life has got me in its sway…

When it comes to filthy, gritty, living in the moment, above the law, unforgiving, unapologetic rock bands, the Rolling Stones are the original standard bearers. Within their unlikely and absurdly long life as a group – fast approaching 60 years – the stretch of albums loosely termed by many fans as the “Mick Taylor years” stand out for their return to basics, while at the same time cranking it up about 100 notches (I also include the pre-Taylor Beggars Banquet with these releases). For me, at the top of the heap, even if only by a few degrees, is Sticky Fingers. This is the one. This album represents everything I love about the Stones, Brian Jones’s unique contributions notwithstanding.

There were a couple of periods of recording beginning in early 1969, with the bulk of studio work taking place the following year, concluding in December 1970. It was released on April 23, 1971. The album, with its distinctive Andy Warhol Factory designed cover which included, on initial pressings, an actual functioning zipper, topped the charts worldwide soon after. Sticky Fingers was the band’s first album of the 1970’s, and the first on their Rolling Stones label featuring the iconic tongue and lips logo. But, as always, it’s about the MUSIC, maaaan.

And the vibe. To my ears, the vibe or tone of the album is actually set with the count in to the second track, Sway, and it never lets up. Chances are you know this album well, or are at least familiar with it, and you know what I mean. And let’s give major credit where it’s due right now: The session players on Sticky Fingers were an all-star band in themselves, and are just as important to this record as the principals. Bobby Keys and Jim Price brought crucial sax and trumpet contributions. They rocked on tracks like Bitch, and displayed soul on the Stax ballad inspired I Got the Blues along with Billy Preston on the organ. Price also added the beautiful piano part to Moonlight Mile, with only he and the two Micks on the main track.

Other major contributions include Ry Cooder’s slide guitar and Jack Nitzsche’s piano on Sister Morphine (co-credited to Marianne Faithfull), and Paul Buckmaster’s string arrangements on Sway and Moonlight Mile. Other session players included stalwarts Nicky Hopkins, Rocky Dijon, Jim Dickinson, and Ian Stewart, and though he didn’t play on the album, Sticky Fingers wouldn’t have been what it is without the influence of Gram Parsons. The evidence is on Wild Horses and Dead Flowers. If we’re to include alternate versions, Eric Clapton and Al Kooper can be heard on the looser 2015 bonus disc cut of Brown Sugar. But the core, as always, was Mick and Keith and the boys, now including Mick Taylor, and it’s Taylor’s lead guitar interacting with Richards’s and Jagger’s rhythm playing that took the band’s sound to a place it hadn’t been before his arrival and hasn’t returned to in the 46 years since his departure, with all due respect to Brian Jones and Ronnie Wood.

I don’t know why, but I’m fascinated by bands from that era that stretched and often broke the rules and not only kept it together but seemed to thrive on the chaos. Perhaps guys like Elvis, Hank, and others raised eyebrows earlier, but the Stones flaunted damn near every taboo in society’s face in these songs and said what of it, mate? These years found them defying not only the law, but the Grim Reaper as well, bless Keith’s heart (and veins), and they survived. Sticky Fingers is truly a fly on the wall album for anyone who wants to know what they were about without the visual horrors of watching the cinéma vérité documentary of their 1972 U.S. tour, Cocksucker Blues, that make one want to take a shower after viewing (just remember, I didn’t tell you to watch it). It’s not the first “sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll” album, but along with Let it Bleed, Exile on Main St. and the others, it’s about as extreme as it gets, especially considering when it came out. It’s an album that makes Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, and certainly latter day examples like the Gallagher and Robinson brothers of Oasis and the Black Crows, respectively – great rock artists that they all are – look like silly wannabes (and I like all of those bands, too). It’s a perfect rock album, and it’s on my island if you want to kayak over and listen some time.

Tracklist

Side One:

Brown Sugar
Sway
Wild Horses
Can’t You Hear Me Knocking
You Gotta Move

Side Two:

Bitch
I Got the Blues
Sister Morphine
Dead Flowers
Moonlight Mile

-Stephen

December Odds ‘n Year Ends, Pt. 2

12/11/68: Blood, Sweat & Tears – Blood, Sweat & Tears

By the time Blood, Sweat & Tears released their second album (and second of 1968), they were a considerably different band. Gone were founding members Al Kooper, Randy Brecker, and Jerry Weiss. In with the replacements was the distinctive voice of David Clayton-Thomas. The result was a very big record. It rose to the top of the US charts for several weeks and yielded the smash singles Spinning Wheel and You’ve Made Me So Very Happy. The album won a Grammy for Album of the Year in 1969.

220px-BS&T_cover.jpg

12/11/68: The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus

It was a very cool idea, and the Stones weren’t nearly as bad as they supposedly saw their performance as being. Yet it didn’t see an official release on DVD and CD until 1996. I do feel the Stones’ performance – o.k., Mick’s – was a bit contrived, but musically still solid. And, of course, it’s the last the world would see of Brian Jones, who would drown in his pool under odd circumstances a few months later. Jethro Tull is fun to watch here even though the only live parts were Ian Anderson’s vocals and flute. It took me a couple of views to realize that’s Tony Ionni fakin’ it on guitar. The Dirty Mac – now that was a supergroup! (Oh yeah, Yoko…) And of course the Who outdid everyone. I also like the dialogue between Lennon and Jagger. Anyway, the Circus is an important film link in the music scene of 1968.

81eUDGQxLAL._SX355_.jpg

12/20/68: Townes Van Zandt – For the Sake of the Song

This was Van Zandt’s debut album. Some of the more well-known tracks were later re-recorded with a stripped-down sound with arguably much better results (Tecumseh Valley, Waiting ‘Round to Die, and the title track), but his songwriting was stellar out of the gate. I began hearing and reading the name Townes Van Zandt in the early 90’s, and the Cowboy Junkies did a nice version of his To Live Is to Fly on their Black Eyed Man album from 1992. But it took moving to Texas and becoming friends with a connoisseur of music by Texas troubadour musicians to finally be initiated. I’ve been a fan ever since, and I’m looking forward to revisiting his later albums here down the road. What a talent, and what a loss.

d4fcc9d9277343e2328bd7149ac3242d.1000x1000x1.jpg

12/21/68: Apollo 8 Mission

The second manned spaceflight in the US Apollo program launched on this date 50 years ago with a three-astronaut crew of Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders. They were the first to orbit the Moon and see Earth as an entire planet.

12/21/68: Bee Gees – Single: I Started a Joke

Sorry, but the 1910 Fruitgum Company and the early works of the Bee Gees probably won’t make the cut… – Yours truly, January 1, 2018 in my inaugural post on this blog, discussing the parameters of my loosely planned content. This is now an inaccurate statement, but that’s alright. I’ve always liked this track. Richie Havens did a nice version as well.

a4402279f8e0f97255f20a82a4963fdc.736x736x1

12/26/68: Led Zeppelin make their US debut in Denver

And the Hammer of the Gods came down from the mountain…

Up next, my Year-End Top 25 Albums from 1968.

Thanks for reading!

-Stephen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood,_Sweat_%26_Tears_(Blood,_Sweat_%26_Tears_album)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rolling_Stones_Rock_and_Roll_Circus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_Sake_of_the_Song

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_8

December 6 – A Feast for Stones Fans

The Rolling Stones – Beggars Banquet

The Rolling Stones, rock ‘n’ roll’s original bad boys, did not – as it always seemed to me through more youthful eyes looking back at music history – suddenly come by their late-60’s/early-70’s reputation. It was there from the start. I know, I know, there’s the axiom that from the day the Beatles donned those collarless suits that the Stones were the Dark Side to the Fabs’ loveable mop top Bright Side.

I always thought the clothing was really the only difference in terms of their attitudes until 1968. I was unaware until my late teens that they really did possess more of an edge, even if their music didn’t seem dark to me, at least no more so than the American blues songs which they revered actually were as opposed to the Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins influence on the Beatles. But a few earlier tracks notwithstanding, Beggars Banquet – released this day fifty years ago – is really when it started happening for the Rolling Stones to my ears and eyes.

Beggar_Banquet

My perception of the Stones in ’68 is that they couldn’t shed the paisley, dayglow ick of the previous year quickly enough. And it’s no coincidence that they made a no holds barred return to their blues roots to express it. They’d had a scary legal moment with Keith and Mick’s Redlands bust in ’67, and psychedelia never really fit their image (though I do like much of Their Satanic Majesties Request). In a way, with Beggars Banquet they had their own “get back” album before that other group, and it actually instigated a new Golden Age for the group instead of its demise.

Other than the early tracks found on Hot Rocks plus a small handful of others, I’ve mostly been a fan of Stones music from 1966-onward. Beggars Banquet was the first of a string of Rolling Stones albums which is unparalleled in rock music history in my mind. Generally speaking, this new phase would be known as the “Mick Taylor years,” which lasted until his departure in ’74. But Taylor didn’t appear until the following release, while this one is the last hurrah for Brian Jones. Brian disintegrated right before the band’s and their fans’ eyes, and his lonely sounding slide guitar on No Expectations is a fitting musical representation of his personal slide.

hqdefault

I, and I think many other fans of the Stones, probably take for granted Brian Jones’s influence on this band. A great reminder of his contributions, as well as more thoughts on Beggars Banquet, can be found on fellow blogger hanspostcard’s ongoing series currently focused on the Stones’ earlier tracks.

Tracklist:

Side One:

Sympathy for the Devil
No Expectations
Dear Doctor
Parachute Woman
Jigsaw Puzzle

Side Two:

Street Fighting Man
Prodigal Son
Stray Cat Blues
Factory Girl
Salt of the Earth

-Stephen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beggars_Banquet

Stone-Faced Barbarians

WARNING: Reading about or listening to the New Barbarians may cause a context buzz.

Rock and pop music collaborations come and go. Some of them have had lasting impacts, and we might refer to them as supergroups. Cream and the Traveling Wilburys are a couple of obvious examples. Many of the ones we think of were singles releases as opposed to full albums. Queen/Bowie, Elton/Lennon, and McCartney/Jackson come to mind, among many others. There are also less heralded musical associations which are nonetheless interesting, such as Ginger Baker’s Air Force. Then we have the somewhat curious case of the blur known as the New Barbarians; curious because they never recorded a studio album yet they carried out a significant North American tour, and a blur because the group consisted of members of two of the hardest living rock bands on the planet: Faces and the Rolling Stones.

Rolling-Stones-Keith-and-Ronnie-New-barbarians-tour-4262-3-1509x1000-640x424

The seed of the New Barbarians was planted in 1974 after the release of Ronnie Wood’s solo album I’ve Got My Own Album to Do. In an effort to promote the album, Wood enlisted the help of Keith Richards, his Faces band mates Ian McLagan and Rod Stewart, plus bassist Willie Weeks and drummer Andy Newmark, for a gig at the Gaumont State Theatre, Kilburn, in northwest London. The following year, Wood joined the Stones for a stint of 43 years and counting.

Ronnie, Rod, and Keith, later known as First Barbarians, at Kilburn, 1974.

hqdefault — Ronnie in his rare role as front man.

Five years later Ronnie needed a vehicle to promote his third LP, Gimme Some Neck, so he revisited the idea of putting together a group of buddies and heading out on the road. The Rolling Stones were on hiatus, so Keith got on board. They were joined once again by McLagan, as well as Stones saxophonist Bobby Keys, fusion bassist Stanley Clarke, and drummer Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste of New Orleans group the Meters, who, as pointed out by author Rob Chapman, was not exactly a rock drummer but who joined at the recommendation of Charlie Watts (who apparently wanted nothing to do with what was sure to be another debauched musical excursion).

The New Barbarians, 1979 (L-R): Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste, Bobby Keys, Stanley Clarke, Ian McLagan, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood.

Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page were also considered, but their management made arrangements too much of a challenge for Wood. Neil Young attended a couple of their rehearsals in L.A. and almost joined the group, but had other responsibilities at the time including the birth of his son and the editing of his concert documentary Rust Never Sleeps. Neil did give the band its moniker as a parting gift though, by referring to them as a bunch of barbarians. They added “New” to the name after learning of another band with the same name; thus was born the first “pub rock super group” as writer Jeff Giles called them. Only they played basketball arenas and not Buddy’s Saloon on the outskirts of town.

The would-be Barbarians – Beck, Page, and Young in 1979 (I know which one I would’ve predicted wouldn’t have survived a tour with Keith…):

Jeff_Beck_in_Amsterdam_1979 download rs-182887-158510184

The shows would also serve a second purpose, at least initially. As part of his sentence for his 1977 heroin bust in Toronto (on my sixth birthday), Richards was ordered to perform a couple of charity shows benefiting the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. So, the first two New Barbarians shows took place in Oshawa near Toronto in April 1979 – as the support act for the Rolling Stones. From there they dropped down to the lower 48 for 18 US dates lasting into May. In order to mitigate any trouble Keith might run into in Canada, tour management booked the group into the Playboy Club in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. They would headquarter there for the Toronto and Midwestern US dates, flying in and out for each gig. (Wha-I-um-how-oh, nevermind. On with the story…)

Keith and common-law wife Anita Pallenberg heading to court in ’77.

Their sets combined rock ‘n’ roll, R&B, blues, and country, including a few Stones songs. Wood sang lead on most songs (the tour was to promote his album, after all), with Keith providing lead vocals on a few numbers. The shows have been described as “ragged,” “addled,” “sloppy,” “wired,” “half party, half rock show,” and as possessing a unique blend of “deceptively ramshackle grace” – kind of like Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame jam sessions, but much more soulful, raunchier, and with very naughty behavior taking place just off stage. Rob Chapman, in his book New Barbarians: Outlaws, Gunslingers, and Guitars, shares a funny anecdote as described by bassist Stanley Clarke: On one occasion Clarke offered Richards a health shake, to which Keith responded simply, “Stanley, Stanley…”

As with any outlaw rock band worth its salt, trouble was not far away from the New Barbarians. Rumors were instigated by Wood’s management and promoters that “special guests” would appear to add a little more excitement to a show that featured mostly Ronnie singing his original songs (again, they were tasked with filling arenas, not taverns or small clubs). But neither Mick, nor Dylan, nor Page appeared as many concertgoers had hoped. At the Mecca in Milwaukee this caused a riot and 81 arrests. (A makeup show took place the following year with a somewhat bizarre lineup which included Andy Newmark, Reggie McBride, Johnny Lee Schell, and…MacKenzie Phillips. No Clark, Modeliste, or Richards.)

barbarians-woods-richards-read-b68877e8-d769-4dde-acd7-bc366257a58b.jpg

And, of course, there was heavy consumption of various substances. Another stipulation of Richards’s drug sentence was that he attend rehabilitation counseling, but this tour was the extreme opposite. Author Stephen Davis paints a rather bleak picture in his book Old Gods Almost Dead:

Living on alcohol and cocaine, Keith assumed a particularly spectral appearance as his hair began to gray and his face caved in, and rumors of his impending demise again spread through the music industry…Keith and Woody’s brotherly bond began to strain under financial pressures (they personally funded the tour’s excesses) and Wood’s rapid ascent into drugdom’s First Division.

Yet, a splendid time seems to have been had by all. As Stanley Clarke later described it, it was his “100% rock ‘n’ roll experience.” A few months later in August of ’79, the New Barbarians took the stage one final time (other than the Milwaukee make up show), on a Knebworth bill which included Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Todd Rundgren, and Led Zeppelin. And with that, the “ramshackle grace” of the New Barbarians slipped into oblivion until 2006, when the two-disc Buried Alive: Live in Maryland was released. Two years later, the 1974 Kilburn show was released under the title The First Barbarians: Live from Kilburn.

I stumbled upon the Kilburn show when it was released ten years ago. I’d never heard of the group or tour before, but it just seemed like something I’d listened to all along. It sounds like an audience tape or a soundboard bootleg at best, and for a show such as this it’s actually a perfect representation of the group as opposed to a clean live recording which might get a final studio polishing before its release. The sound quality of the Maryland show is actually quite good by comparison. There are those days (and very late nights) when these albums just hit the spot. I was very familiar with Wood’s song Mystifies Me from Son Volt’s 1995 version which I knew and loved, but I was not aware that it was a Ronnie Wood song or that it was on that impressive list of tunes which all share the same muse.

First Barbarians in 1974, performing yet another ode to Pattie Boyd:

The full show at Kilburn, 1974:

Sloppily yet elegantly wasted – a full New Barbarians show from the 1979 tour:

51BbDVLAJsL._SX425_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg — 2017 book by Rob Chapman – New Barbarians: Outlaws, Gunslingers, and Guitars

-Stephen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Barbarians_(band)

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/new-barbarians-inside-rolling-stones-wild-seventies-spin-off-109027/

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/the-new-barbarians-history-keith-richards-ron-wood/

http://milwaukeerecord.com/music/remembering-the-new-barbarians-mecca-arena-riot-of-1979/

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/new-barbarians-mn0000516114/biography

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/keith-richards-meets-the-mounties-and-faces-the-music-98458/

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/304430.Old_Gods_Almost_Dead

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/stones-serve-out-keith-richards-sentence-191169/

May 24 – The Stones’ Return to the Nitty Gritty

The Rolling Stones – Single: Jumpin’ Jack Flash

With most of the 1960’s and 70’s bands whose hits are played on classic rock and oldies radio stations ad nauseam, I’ve grown to take much of it for granted. But there are always exceptions to the rule, and Jumpin’ Jack Flash, released as a single in the UK on this day 50 years ago (!), is one of them. Despite the song’s ubiquitous airplay and its status as the song played live the most number of times by the Stones, it is probably my favorite Rolling Stones song if I were forced to pick one. Keith Richards’ famous guitar riff is one of my favorites by any guitarist, ever.

Jumpin’ Jack Flash was the first song the band recorded at the outset of the Beggars Banquet sessions in the spring of ’68, and is another example of a powerful single released as an appetizer to the main course (though it subsequently appeared on numerous compilations). It also marked a return to their blues roots after dabbling in Baroque pop and kitschy (for them) psychedelia the previous couple of years. Regarding the aforementioned guitar riff, Bill Wyman claims to have come up with it on piano but was not given credit. The song reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart, as well as the US Cashbox Top Singles Chart. It made it to #3 on the Billboard Chart.

And the only possible way to equal the original studio recording? Add Mick Taylor on lead guitar in a live performance…

Side A: Jumpin’ Jack Flash

Side B: Child of the Moon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumpin%27_Jack_Flash

-Stephen