The Rolling Stones always wanted to be American musicians. After all, it was the distinctly “Yank” sounds of artists like Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf that first drew Mick Jagger and Keith Richards together. And for a time, from 1969 to 1980, the Stones were, indeed, the brightest sons of the South on the pop charts despite their birthplace.
During those years, their best albums reflected the dust of the Delta and the sizzle of soul and red clay R&B, with lyric storylines and sounds that trumpeted their adopted roots. Early on, the band mimicked the character of their influences like Waters and Wolf and Robert Johnson, but parallel to the passing of Brian Jones and the addition of Mick Taylor came a new maturity and depth that allowed the Rolling Stones to not only draw on their American musical roots, but expand on them in a way that sounded as natural as what natives like the Allman Brothers and The Band were achieving in the land where the blues began.
From ’69 to ’80 the Stones made a series of works that defined their golden era and retraced the history and development of rock ’n’ roll. Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main St., Goat’s Head Soup, It’s Only Rock ’n Roll, Black and Blue, Love You Live, Some Girls and Emotional Rescue all come from that period. The first three of those discs are sodden with the sounds and spirit of the blues. And just as blues- and folk-inspired American musicians did in the ’50s and early 1960s, Goat’s Head Soup, It’s Only Rock n’ Roll, Black and Blue and Some Girls all wrestle with different aspects of demon rock. And the decline of rock’s 1970s apex is trumpeted in Emotional Rescue’s post-disco dance music fetishism and weak songwriting. That disc also caps the Stones’ period of creative relevance.
The 1970s were also the height of the band’s Gibson years, with Mick Taylor – a die-hard Les Paul Standard player – in the fold and Richards’ first experimenting with the ES-335s that have now become his frequent companions on stage. Of course, Richards was the first Stones guitarist to notably deploy a Gibson. His 1959 Les Paul Sunburst with a Bigsby tailpiece was immortalized in the band’s T.A.M.I. Show performance and was a staple of his stage gear until he sold it to Taylor when the latter joined John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers before throwing down with the Stones.
Let’s take a look at those important albums:
Let It Bleed (1969)
From the drawl in Jagger’s voice on “Gimme Shelter” to the gospel-inspired closer “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” this is one of the Stones’ most “southern” albums, also embracing Robert Johnson’s “Love in Vain,” the Chicago blues of “Midnight Rambler,” the pre-“Honky Tonk Women” C&W of “Country Honk” and the very Chuck Berry “Live with Me.” The album also debuted Taylor with the Stones, as he played slide on “Country Honk” and electric guitar on “Live with Me” alongside Richards.
Sticky Fingers (1971)
The gentle strum of “Wild Horses” plays like a southern California rock ballad, while “I Got the Blues” and Fred McDowell’s “You Gotta Move” hit Mississippi’s hills and Delta, and “Dead Flowers” is all sawdust floors and spilled beer. And “Bitch,” “Brown Sugar” and “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” – with its epic Taylor solo featuring one of the 1958 to 1960-built Les Paul Standards he favored during this period – are all anchored on classic R&B riffs. For the record, Taylor’s tone on cuts like “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” and “Brown Sugar” is a result of the blend of his Les Paul’s humbuckers, mahogany neck, body mass with thin gauge strings – .009s for slinky bending – and Ampeg amps. To round out the American-ness of their sound, the band also brought in pianist Jim Dickinson, Billy Preston on organ and slide man Ry Cooder for sessions in Los Angeles.
Exile on Main St. (1972)
Widely regarded as the Stones’ apex, Exile is a hard-won compendium of blues, soul, honky tonk and rock woven through a drug-hazed period of recording and partying at a French chateau. Nonetheless, it rings with southern American regionalism, from the swagger of “Tumbling Dice” to the propulsion of “Rip This Joint” and, of course, Taylor’s slide on “All Down the Line” and a greasy cover of Slim Harpo’s “Shake Your Hips.” Taylor diverged from his usual Les Paul to include a Gibson ES-345 and a Gibson SG for his tracking, and Richards’ used an ES-335 for many tracks, including his six-string rumbles with Taylor on “Rocks Off” and “Tumbling Dice.”
Goat’s Head Soup (1973)
Goat’s Head Soup isn’t just a delicious alternative to chicken noodle. It’s also a divergence from the Stones blues influences to a sound anchored more in rock. “Angie” is a straight-up ballad. “Dancing with Mr. D” and “Star Star” are galloping rockers. “Silver Train” is the only notable flashback, with its slide guitar and harmonica-driven sounds.
It’s Only Rock ’n Roll (1974)
There’s still a glimmer of down-home R&B here, in a cover of the Temptations’ hit “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” and the sassy licks of “Dance Little Sister.” “Fingerprint File” is a phase shifter freak-out and a radical departure, and the title track plus “Time Waits for No One” present an ornately arranged synthesis of influences from meat-and-potatoes flat-four rock to Latin rhythms.
Black and Blue (1976)
Ron Wood replaced Taylor for this disc and more of the Stones’ Americana instincts went with him, nudged over by the reggae derivations of “Hot Stuff,” “Hey Negrita” and “Cherry Oh Baby,” and the balladry of “Memory Motel” and “Fool To Cry” – the latter two featuring Jagger’s weak-kneed soul singing, which is in juxtaposition with those songs’ L.A.-style arrangements.
Love You Live (1977)
On stage the Stones have always been a different beast than in the studio, and this double-LP set is proof that despite the drift into other musical forms on vinyl, the band was often sticking to their blues basics under the bright lights. Woods sounds thoroughly integrated here, thrashing with Richards through A-plus versions of classics like Muddy Waters’ “Mannish Boy,” Howlin’ Wolf’s “Little Red Rooster,” Chuck Berry’s “Around and Around” and McDowell’s “You Gotta Move,” plus Stones hits and obscurities from “Sympathy for the Devil” to “Happy.”
Some Girls (1978)
Once again riding cultural tides to keep their winning streak on a roll, the band nods to punk rock (“Shattered”), disco (“Miss You”), country (“Far Away Eyes”) and their conception of Tin Pan Alley (“Some Girls”) here, plus their own distillate rock formula on “Beast of Burden” and “When the Whip Comes Down.” What’s surprising is how effective all this is, largely due to the intelligence (countered only by Jagger’s misogyny) of the lyrics and the strong musicianship displayed throughout.
Emotional Rescue (1980)
The Stones spent part of this album attempting to conquer the dance floor even as disco shuddered in its death throes with the title track, “Dance (Pt. 1)” and arguably “She’s So Cold.” Oddly, some of the best material cut for this disc – “Start Me Up,” “Hang Fire,” “Little T&A” – was shelved for the next album, 1981’s Tattoo You, where the standout ballad “Waiting For a Friend,” which the band first began cutting in 1972, was brightened by Mick Taylor’s original guitar tracks and a cameo by jazz great Sonny Rollins.
No comments:
Post a Comment