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ajc68
I always liked the rawer outtake version that's been floating around with the Mick Taylor guitar solo that was cut. Unfortunately, I've never heard a version that doesn't have audio dropouts late in the solo.

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muffie

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ajc68
I always liked the rawer outtake version that's been floating around with the Mick Taylor guitar solo that was cut. Unfortunately, I've never heard a version that doesn't have audio dropouts late in the solo.

Thanks for the heads up. Quite a bit more going on this one. Taylors lead and Keiths rhythm make it almost sound like a country twang track.

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Doxa
A first sign of the band 'losing it'.

The song tries to reach everywhere, but leads nowhere. It is a 'dance' song: a weak, bored groove.. Tries to have riff or hook a'la 'guess what': a bored, uninspired miss... Tries to lyricwise play with their dangerous past Satanic Majestise/Sympathy For The Devil/JJ Flash-imaginery, and ends up like a sterile, bad Grimm fairytail that only gathers co-shame..

It is also the reason why GOATS HEAD SOAP will always be remained "the album that started the downhill of the 70's"- as an opener it sets the mood for the album, of which it never reaches out.

Summa summarum: (a) to be recorded over-all, and (b) to be released as an important first track, it is a clear indication that the band was really losing its direction and self-judgement. (It is funny when the Stones always get caught so easily when the 'muse' or the 'mind' or the 'heart' is not there. Just like with SATANIC MAJESTIES album before.)

It did okay in 1973 tour, but that was not due to the song, but the hotness of the band.

- Doxa

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slew
Looking through some of the old comments on this song and I usually like to read Doxa's opinions but in regards to this song and Goat's Head Soup he could not be more wrong IMO. Dancing is a really good track this slef parody stuff is a load of crap. The song has a great groove and I love the lyrics. As I have stated before GHS is a great record and suffers only because the four albums that preceded it were so good but Goat's Head Soup is a GREAT album in its own right and is not that much of a drop off in fact it's just different from Exile.

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sonomastone

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slew
Looking through some of the old comments on this song and I usually like to read Doxa's opinions but in regards to this song and Goat's Head Soup he could not be more wrong IMO. Dancing is a really good track this slef parody stuff is a load of crap. The song has a great groove and I love the lyrics. As I have stated before GHS is a great record and suffers only because the four albums that preceded it were so good but Goat's Head Soup is a GREAT album in its own right and is not that much of a drop off in fact it's just different from Exile.

i agree with doxa. it's actually one of the only, if not the only, stones albums i have that i can't listen to all the way through (i stopped at steel wheels though...)

i like angie, and coming down again is of course the best track on the album, but the rockers just don't work - they're too self-conscious, they are the stones trying to sound like the stones rather than just being themselves.

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tomcasagranda
I don't think it's a Sympathy rewrite: I think Mick had been spinning a bit of the Gris Gris era Dr John at home, and decided to come up with it. Mick had also sat in on the Sun, Moon , Herbs album by the good doctor.

I like both the GHS, and Brussels Affair versions: the difference is the keyboard guys on each version; Nicky Hopkins on the studio version, and Billy Preston on the live version.

I don't think it's a parody, but then I think GHS is a fantastic album: I don't think it's a follow-up to Exile On Main Street, but it could pass as a follow-up to Sticky Fingers.

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Doxa
A first sign of the band 'losing it'.

The song tries to reach everywhere, but leads nowhere. It is a 'dance' song: a weak, bored groove.. Tries to have riff or hook a'la 'guess what': a bored, uninspired miss... Tries to lyricwise play with their dangerous past Satanic Majestise/Sympathy For The Devil/JJ Flash-imaginery, and ends up like a sterile, bad Grimm fairytail that only gathers co-shame..

It is also the reason why GOATS HEAD SOAP will always be remained "the album that started the downhill of the 70's"- as an opener it sets the mood for the album, of which it never reaches out.

Summa summarum: (a) to be recorded over-all, and (b) to be released as an important first track, it is a clear indication that the band was really losing its direction and self-judgement. (It is funny when the Stones always get caught so easily when the 'muse' or the 'mind' or the 'heart' is not there. Just like with SATANIC MAJESTIES album before.)

It did okay in 1973 tour, but that was not due to the song, but the hotness of the band.

- Doxa

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Doxa
A first sign of the band 'losing it'.

The song tries to reach everywhere, but leads nowhere. It is a 'dance' song: a weak, bored groove.. Tries to have riff or hook a'la 'guess what': a bored, uninspired miss... Tries to lyricwise play with their dangerous past Satanic Majestise/Sympathy For The Devil/JJ Flash-imaginery, and ends up like a sterile, bad Grimm fairytail that only gathers co-shame..

It is also the reason why GOATS HEAD SOAP will always be remained "the album that started the downhill of the 70's"- as an opener it sets the mood for the album, of which it never reaches out.

Summa summarum: (a) to be recorded over-all, and (b) to be released as an important first track, it is a clear indication that the band was really losing its direction and self-judgement. (It is funny when the Stones always get caught so easily when the 'muse' or the 'mind' or the 'heart' is not there. Just like with SATANIC MAJESTIES album before.)

It did okay in 1973 tour, but that was not due to the song, but the hotness of the band.

- Doxa

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CanYouHearTheMusic

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sonomastone

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slew
Looking through some of the old comments on this song and I usually like to read Doxa's opinions but in regards to this song and Goat's Head Soup he could not be more wrong IMO. Dancing is a really good track this slef parody stuff is a load of crap. The song has a great groove and I love the lyrics. As I have stated before GHS is a great record and suffers only because the four albums that preceded it were so good but Goat's Head Soup is a GREAT album in its own right and is not that much of a drop off in fact it's just different from Exile.

i agree with doxa. it's actually one of the only, if not the only, stones albums i have that i can't listen to all the way through (i stopped at steel wheels though...)

i like angie, and coming down again is of course the best track on the album, but the rockers just don't work - they're too self-conscious, they are the stones trying to sound like the stones rather than just being themselves.

Couldn't disagree more with these comments. The rockers don't sound phoned in at all; in fact, NOTHING they had done up to this point sounded remotely like "Dancing With Mr. D," one of their most unique rockers, period, as nothing has really sounded like it since, either. "Silver Train" wouldn't be out of place on side 4 of Exile and "Star Star" is campy fun, but then again, so is half (if not more!) of Some Girls so who says it was too soon to inject their/Mick's sense of humor into the mix? Song's great. Opinions are entirely subjective of course, but for me the first "Stones trying to sound like the Stones" song is, quite blatantly, "If You Can't Rock Me." Even though I actually like that song, it sounds quite ridiculous--it's singing about the band being on stage, it's kinda just singing about their rock lifestyle in general. "D" wasn't either a rewrite of "Sympathy" or a "pushing the 'satan' envelope BS" bit of songcraft as Pink Floyd The Barber asserts after these comments; the "d" stands for drugs, not death. No groove or riff Keith had written up to that point sounded *that* thoroughly soaked in heroin and honestly no other album up to or after this point did, either. It's a very midtempo album and therefore not everyone's cup of tea but I 110% disagree that it was a dramatic drop-off in quality after the so-called classic 4 (they should be called the classic 5 and include this one--the ENTIRE Jimmy Miller run is the best!), it was just a bold stylistic shift. Quite a different mood than Exile, but then again, Exile was quite different from Sticky Fingers. GHS and "D" are tops for me.

As for the Steel Wheels aside, weird one to stop with since the follow-ups were all better. Even then, all four of those so-called Vegas-era records aren't worth mentioning alongside their classic 1963-81 material.