Certain Songs

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.)

Certain Songs #2075: The Rolling Stones – “Soul Survivor”

April 3, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Exile on Main St.
Year: 1972

. . .

Unlike the final songs on Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers — “Salt of The Earth,” “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and “Moonlight Mile,” for those of you keeping score at home — the final song on Exile on Main St. wasn’t a huge production. That might be because Exile on Main St. was in itself a huge production, and they didn’t need to put a huge capper on it.

Certain Songs #2074: The Rolling Stones – “Shine A Light”

April 2, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Exile on Main St.
Year: 1972

. . .

“Shine a Light” is another older song that ended up finding its final form on Exile on Main St. Other than that, all of my various sources are wildly at odds about it. It’s usually seen as a love song from Mick to his guitarist, but whether that guitarist is Brian Jones (that’s how old it is) or Keith Richards is in dispute.

It also seems like it might have been one of the songs that actually skipped Keith’s basement: an early version — called “Get a Line on You” — was recorded (but not released) in 1969 for a Leon Russell album and featured Mick singing backed by Russell, and Ringo Starr on the drums, and was basically a Mick solo track, though it wasn’t officially released until 1994.

Certain Songs #2073: The Rolling Stones – “All Down The Line”

April 1, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Exile on Main St.
Year: 1972

. . .

My favorite story about “All Down The Line” is that after they finished it in Los Angeles, Mick was sure that it was the single, and when engineer Andy Johns disagreed, they had Ian Stewart take it to a local radio station so that they could sit in a limo and listen to it over the radio.

But which station? This is the part that fascinates me, even more than the Stones had the kind of clout in 1972 to take an unheard song and get it played on the radio. Of course they did: one of the miracles of Exile was that they made it while being some of the most famous people on the entire planet.

Certain Songs #2072: The Rolling Stones – “Let It Loose”

March 31, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Exile on Main St.
Year: 1972

. . .

A big rambling gospel-soul ballad, “Let It Loose” is quite possibly the most underrated song on Exile on Main St., yet another example of the unholy alliance of the basement-recorded basic tracks recorded in France and vocal (and other) overdubs recorded later in Los Angeles.

One of the more striking things on “Let It Loose” — and the first instrument you hear — is a guitar that doesn’t really sound like a guitar, even though it attacks like a guitar. That’s Keith, of course, running his guitar through a Leslie speaker, giving it a swirling, off-kilter feeling that goes with the lyrics.