The Rolling Stones

Here's a band that has always been in my life so to speak. The "Miss You" 12-inch got played on the family turntable a lot, "Start Me Up" fascinated me and it's similarity to Van Halen's "Unchained" which actually wasn't that similar... except for those opening guitar chords... "She Was Hot", loved the video, loved Mick's attitude. The songs were there, the hits, those tunes that seem to be everywhere. I don't think I ever considered them good, though. In 1999 I ordered Exile on Main St. from Amazon along with Fiona Apple's When the Pawn, and something else I don't remember right now. I had decided to see what the BIG DEAL was about Exile. I hated it at first listen. It wasn't like when I bought London Calling and was blown away by the amount of great songs. But I kept listening, on my bus ride between Washington DC and New York. 4 hours to let an album seep in. Long rides of any kind are still my favorite way to "road test" an album. Cooking is another. Anyway, about a week later, after getting over the sound, Mick's buried vocal, the what at first I thought was shitty production, a love for the album emerged. I think it was "Tumbling Dice" that first grabbed me and then on and on... "Sweet Virginia", "Happy", "Shine a Light", "Loving Cup", "Ventilator Blues". The songs run a gamut of styles and beats while still truly rockin'. Now, with Spotify, I find myself exploring the Stones past. I'm also reading Keef's LIFE. "She saw me coming" one of the latest Stones tunes to capture my imagination was actually from 2005 and I thought it was an old classic. There's a cool tune on the Exile reissue - "Plundered my Soul". So, as time passes by, I'm loving the Stones more, appreciative of their groove, the amount of bands who have tried to emulate their sound but don't quite get there is incredible. It probably comes down to how Keith Richards's guitar plays off of Charlie Watts's drumming. But over all, it's just a great amount of catchy tunes. And I still haven't listened to most of the Stones classic albums.
Beast of Burden