Rhinofy-Semi-Obscure Stones
I woke up with a song in my head.
Well, not exactly. I went into the kitchen to retrieve the newspaper, and sitting upon the throne I was confronted with an article about the re-release of "Some Girls", you know the one with remixes and remasters and…
Actually, I didn’t even read the article. It was hype. You know how many stories are really news in the newspaper? Maybe if someone shoots someone, if a bomb explodes, otherwise everything is a press release. Someone knows someone, they’ve got a relationship, and as a result you read this often protein-challenged article while scratching your head, wondering if anybody is truly interested.
I was interested in the original "Some Girls". Bought it and went to the show, but my favorite is no one else’s, "When The Whip Comes Down". Still, a very good album, the last great work the Stones ever did. Oh sure, you’ll get a bunch of critics pontificating about "Tattoo You", but I don’t get it. I mean I literally got it, paid for it, at this point you still needed to own Stones albums, but they stopped being vital with "Some Girls"…really, they stopped being vital when Mick Taylor made one of the stupidest moves in rock and roll and left the band. Even second-rate Taylor was better than almost anything that came after, listen to his playing on "Time Waits For No One"…WHEW! I’ll posit as nice a guy as Ronnie Wood is, as phenomenal as he was with Rod, his sound is just too close to Keef’s, and the Stones have suffered as a result.
But that does not mean they’ve done nothing great since.
They release an album for every tour. And as the years have passed, people pay less and less attention to these releases, they hope they don’t play the tracks during the show and the Stones never sold that well to begin with.
But amongst the detritus, there’s some truly stellar stuff. Not completely buried, but if you’ve ignored it, you should pay attention, that’s the point of my little essay here.
1. "Saint Of Me"
This is the only great track on 1997’s "Bridges To Babylon". Then again, how good a shot did I give that album? This was just about the time I stopped seeing the band live, it was just too creepy, old guys in leather jackets who weren’t into the Stones when they mattered and Jagger shouting more than singing, execrable…
Then again, Jagger absolutely killed in the Solomon Burke tribute at the Grammys last year…WTF?
Oh well.
But then Virgin sent a CD-PRO of this song. These are one track promos sent to radio stations, and people like me, who follow what radio stations do. And I have no idea what made me decide to play it, maybe the fact they had decided to promote it, but I got hooked. I mean really hooked. I put it in the changer in my car…remember those things? Those boxes in the trunk with six CDs? They seemed so futuristic before the iPod… And I played that thing incessantly, it made me feel so damn good.
The mix is perfect. But if you put on headphones you can hear subtleties that will just make you smile.
There’s this little guitar flourish in the intro, is that Waddy Wachtel? I think so. He played on the cut, Keef did not. Although Woody did.
And the organ is played by the one and only Billy Preston. Who’s playing so simply, but so right. It’s not about being able to play all the notes, just the right ones.
You feel like you’re in the studio. The sound is so organic.
And then Jagger comes in being nobody but himself, emoting, you can see him dancing as he’s singing.
And the whole thing builds, there’s a chorus with Woody’s signature guitar sound, and then they go all subtle again. It’s like they’re on a rock and roll train, it’s left the station, they’re in the groove, they’ve got no worries, they’re locked on, they’re starting to wail!
There’s a change in the middle, with Mick singing "I thought I heard an angel cry"…
And then they’re so tight, there are different guitar flourishes, it’s a TOUR DE FORCE!
Albeit a minor one.
First time through you’ll say no big deal.
Fifth time through you’ll be jumping around the room, infected, you’ll play it an hour straight.
I do.
2. "Hearts For Sale"
From "Steel Wheels".
This was the first tour with Michael Cohl. And if you know how he works…
He guarantees you a sum of money, you just can’t ask how he makes his. So what he does is ramp up the promotion, create such a big story that people rush to buy tickets, afraid of being left out.
The most famous Stones tour was ’72. That’s when Princess Radish went out on the private plane (Princess Lee Radziwill, Jackie O’s sister, that was the Stones’ moniker for her) along with Truman Capote, who never did write the book that was commissioned. You can get the general idea by reading "STP", Robert Greenfield’s account of the trek. But the publicity was so big, this was an international story, and the Stones lost no credibility in the process.
They were better in ’75, when they had that flower-petal stage.
The ’69 tour was more important.
And by time they got around to ’89… They were running on fumes, Cohl really had to amp it up.
And hearing the initial single, "Mixed Emotions", which was a disappointment as compared to classic album openers and singles like "Gimmie Shelter", "Sympathy For The Devil", even "Tumbling Dice", I didn’t dig deeper.
But when I did…
"Hearts For Sale" is all about the groove, and the machine gun guitar. There’s a swagger. You’re swept up by the music without thinking. And then there’s that damn guitar, just before Jagger sings "Hearts for sale", OOH!
3. "Slipping Away"
This is so magical, one of the best things Keith Richards has ever done.
His voice is rough, but the sweet overpowers the edge. It’s sentimental without being maudlin. And when the backup vocals come in, you get the magic of Motown without feeling it’s a rip-off.
It’s like your buddy came over around eight or nine and now it’s two thirty in the morning and he’s getting ready to leave, but before he does, he’s going to tell this one last story, sing this one last song.
And there’s a bridge!
But then, with about a minute left, Keith, the whole damn band, starts to SLIP AWAY!
Slipping away.
Slipping away..
Slipping away…
Slipping away….
Slipping away…..
Slipping away……
You had such a great time, you feel fully alive, you just can’t wait until he comes back.
4. "Mixed Emotions"
HUH? I thought you said this was second-rate, a loser, it turned you off to "Steel Wheels".
RIGHT!
But I got so into these other cuts, I ended up playing the album so much, which is not solid throughout, but has these incredible high points, suddenly I got "Mixed Emotions".
That’s how it is, songs sneak up on you, you don’t get ’em at first, but then they’re your FAVORITES!
By time I got into "Mixed Emotions", it was long gone from the radio. So it was just for me. And then I truly realized, IT WAS MADE FOR ME!
Button your lip baby
Button your coat
Let’s go out dancing
Go for the throat
I hate meaningless lyrics like this. Life’s a party, let’s go out and bump bodies. Maybe it’s just that I never went to Studio 54, but I don’t get this.
Let’s bury the hatchet
Wipe out the past
Make love together
Stay on the path
Okay, this works a bit more. The band had stopped feuding and had gone back on the road, this was band love.
And then there’s the less than memorable chorus and then…
This coming and going
Is driving me nuts
This to-ing and fro-ing
Is hurting my guts
Wait a second!
She’d moved out six months before. There was a booty call shortly thereafter, but sex was not enough of an attraction, she was gone.
But then she came again.
And it’s tough when you’re married. You stood up before God and relatives, you want to make it work. Are we gonna get back together or..?
I felt like I was in a washing machine. One that was only turned on intermittently, that I could not emerge from, that shook me up good and completely confused me again and again and again.
And then it stopped.
Maybe it was because I told her not to pick me up at the airport. The reconnection was gonna be too much.
But then there was radio silence, not a peep.
And in 1989, someone truly disappeared, there was no Facebook, there were no digital cookies either haunting you or allowing you to be a voyeur.
And I’m listening to "Mixed Emotions" AND SUDDENLY IT ALL MAKES SENSE!
You’re not the only one
With mixed emotions
You’re not the only ship
Adrift on this ocean
I’d escaped the craziness. She’d left me, but suddenly I could see the advantages in the disconnection.
I mean I wanted to get back together. But I wasn’t willing to sacrifice everything, the longer she was gone, the less sure I became.
"Mixed Emotions" became my anthem, my mantra.
And what I love about it is it’s upbeat. What the fuck. I’ve been through the battles, I endured the war, but I’m still standing, there are going to be good times ahead.
And there were.
And there are.
I was completely burned out, overworked and underpaid, but after seeing the "Some Girls" article in the newspaper I was jolted into a good mood. It’s like someone dropped the needle, pushed play on "Mixed Emotions", I’ve been singing it in my head all day, marveling on how fucking GREAT it is to be alive!
