Archives for April 2021

Certain Songs #2085: The Rolling Stones – “Some Girls”

April 15, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Some Girls
Year: 1978

. . .

Some Girls is a slow groove, more of a jam with lyrics than an actual song, with Ron Wood and Keith Richard trying out some watery liquid guitar tones while Sugar Blue is back on the harmonica, and Bill Wyman eschews his bass for a synth. And, apparently, it was edited down from a 23-minute jam, as you do.

It’s also yet another provocation by Mick Jagger, who basically lists some of the things he finds wrong with some of the women he’s fucked. So he starts off with all of things they give him: money, clothes, jewelry, diamonds and heart attacks. Oh, and apparently — in a break from the theme of things he’s gotten, which bugs the OCD part of me — he also complains “Some girls I give all my bread to / I don’t ever want it back.”

Certain Songs #2084: The Rolling Stones – “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)”

April 14, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Some Girls
Year: 1978

. . .

You come at the Temptations, you best not miss.

The Stones had covered the Temptations twice before: doing a too-slavish version of “My Girl” in the mid-1960s that ended up on Flowers, and a pretty good cover of “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” on It’s Only Rock And Roll.. Neither was even remotely a patch on the original though, and theoretically doing “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)” had the highest degree of difficulty of all.

Certain Songs #2083: The Rolling Stones – “When The Whip Comes Down”

April 13, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Some Girls
Year: 1978

. . .

Some Girls came out when I was 15 years old. That’s the absolutely perfect age for Some Girls to come out. At that point, my main exposure to the Rolling Stones was all of the their 70s singles and the copy of Hot Rocks that Craig from across the street had.

And so, while I wasn’t fully versed on every single one of their songs, I could tell that the rock songs on Some Girls were some of the most intense rock songs they’d ever done. How could I tell that? Because they were clearly some of the most intense rock songs I’d ever heard, especially “When The Whip Comes Down,” a filthy piece of guitar-driven fuckery.

Certain Songs #2082: The Rolling Stones – “Miss You (Special Disco Version)”

April 12, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Some Girls
Year: 1978

. . .

Alright, some housekeeping first. Currently, there are four variations of the original recording of “Miss You” out in the wild: 1) the original 7-inch single, clocking in at 3:35; 2) the lead-off track of Some Girls, clocking in at 4:48; 3) the “Dance Version” that can be found on 2005’s Rarities 1971-2003 and finally, 4) the “Special Disco Version,” which was released as a 12″ 33 1/3 single and clocks in at 8:36.

For the purposes of this post, when I discuss “Miss You” as a single, as a cultural phenomenon, or even as the lead-off track of Some Girls, I’m dealing with it in the abstract, could be any of these versions. But when I get to describing “Miss You” as an actual song, I’m going to be dealing with the “Special Disco Version,” because that’s the one I listen to. My blog, my rules.

Certain Songs #2081: The Rolling Stones – “Fool To Cry”

April 10, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Black and Blue
Year: 1976

. . .

Look, I know that it’s utterly indefensible that I don’t really like “Angie,” but I love the equally cloying “Fool To Cry.” But here we are, I guess: at the beginning of their decadent period, the Stones rockers became quite rote, and the slow ones seemed to take center stage. I’m sure it all has to do with the depths of Keith’s heroin addiction, which on one hand didn’t stop them from releasing albums at a faster pace than say, The Who, but on the other hand meant that Mick was firmly in control, proving that the Stones needed both at full capacity.

Certain Songs #2080: The Rolling Stones – “Memory Motel”

April 9, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Black and Blue
Year: 1976

. . .

Black and Blue is a very divisive Rolling Stones album. Given that it’s only eight songs, they cover a lot of ground: rock, funk, reggae, soul, even jazzy blues. Not all of it is great: both “Melody” and “Cherry Oh Baby” are utter misfires and that’s 25% of the record right there. But “Hot Stuff” and “Hey Negrita” groove convincingly, “Crazy Mama” and “Hate of Fate” are better riff rockers than anything on the previous two records, and both of the soul ballads are up there with their greatest slow ones.

That said, I’m guessing that if you don’t love all 7:09 of “Memory Motel,” then you probably don’t like Black and Blue, but I’ve always been fascinated by it, which shocks me as much of anybody.

Certain Songs #2079: The Rolling Stones – “Hand of Fate”

April 8, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Black and Blue
Year: 1976

. . .

I could have sworn that “Hand of Fate” was a single, because I absolutely remember hearing it all the time on the radio back in 1976, but while I guess it’s possible that KYNO played it, I probably heard it on Rock 96 FM, which was an important bridge for me from the AM to the FM worlds for a couple of years there. It’s definitely one of those songs I knew backwards and forwards long before I purchased any Stones albums.

Before we get into all of that, we should probably level-set. A lot was going on in the world of the Rolling Stones. For one thing, Mick Taylor gave his notice at the end of 1974, so when the Black and Blue sessions started in Munich, they were framed as almost auditions. Which must have been weird to Ron Wood, who played on the 1975 U.S. tour that happened in between the sessions, making the final choice seemingly inevitable, even if some of the auditions continued to happen in Montreux, after the tour.

Certain Songs #2078: The Rolling Stones – “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It)”

April 7, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll
Year: 1974

. . .

It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll is definitely the worst record of the Rolling Stones decadent phase, which runs roughly from 1973-1981. With genius producer Jimmy Miller succumbing to his own drugs issues (kids, don’t try to keep up with Keith Richards, it’s never gonna work), It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll was the first album produced by Mick & Keith (as the Glimmer Twins, natch), it it showd. Filled with long meandering songs, tentative forays into funk and reggae and guitar tones that I really dislike (cf. “Dance Little Sister” or “If You Can’t Rock Me”), its only real redemption is the two singles: a pretty decent take on The Temptations “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” and the title track, which was recorded in completely different circumstances from the rest of the record.

“It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It)” was recorded in Ron Wood’s home during the sessions for Wood’s first solo album, two years before he joined the Stones for their 1975 tour. Wood should probably get a bigger credit than the “inspired by,” but if they weren’t going to give Mick Taylor a songwriting credit for “Winter” or “Moonlight Mile,” there really wasn’t a chance Wood was going to get one.

Certain Songs #2077: The Rolling Stones – “Winter”

April 6, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Goats Head Soup
Year: 1973

. . .

Thanks to the obsessive record-keeping of teenaged Jim, I can report with confidence that from February 1981 through Christmas 1982, I purchased no fewer than 19 Rolling Stones albums. Even tossing out the two duff live albums (Love You Live and Still Life) and compilations (Metamorphosis and More Hot Rocks — both of which were chock full of non-album cuts), that’s still 15 albums: the vast majority of their studio output up to that point.

Certain Songs #2076: The Rolling Stones – “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)”

April 5, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Goats Head Soup
Year: 1973

. . .

And this is where I come in: 1973 was the year where I was first conscious of hearing new Rolling Stones songs on the radio. I’m sure I’d heard them my whole life, of course, but 1973 was the first year I started paying attention to what was actually on the radio, which — because it was 13 KYNO, a prototypical Top 40 station — meant that hit singles from 1973-1976 are permanently etched in my positronic pathways. And if I was going to be honest, more like 1980, because from 1977 on, I worked in a computer room where the radio was permanently tuned to 13 KYNO AM (though when I would come in on Saturday mornings to work by myself, I’d tune it to Rock 96FM.)