Today I played it. All the way through. First time in a while (inspired by another thread on the forum).

Love it, love it, love it (still).

It was the first Stones album I ever bought back in 1973, nobody at school was into The Stones and it stayed that way as far as I know until I about 1977 when I managed to convert some people using the 6th Form record player. (Rolled Gold did the trick).

I know a lot of people don't rate it that much but I think it stands up with the best of their albums.

There isn't a dud track on it.

If The Stones released an album of this quality today people would wet themselves.

All great tracks, outstanding is 100 years ago, Heart Breaker and Winter. Mick Taylor is outstanding on nearly everything.

I know people hate "Coming Down Again", I have to say that it's a great chilling track, perfect.

I saw it described once as "a master class in laid back power". I agree.

Totally underrated.

What's not to like?

"...and I did not know her name..."

Can't get it out my head.

It is a brilliant album. If one can remove the status of The Big Four and just listen to it for what it is - an album - it's really good. I've always loved Coming Down Again, it's a beautiful song. Never cared for Angie too much though. They should've put Through The Lonely Nights on it instead.

Great album, just a shame about the flat mix

I love it. Would have been better with "Criss Cross" instead of "Can You Hear The Music". The latter track makes the album drag, imo.

I was about to make a similiar topic about Goats being the most underrated Stones-album. I love this album dearly. Theres not a single weak moment, all the tracks are great and some are really among their best:

100 Years Ago, starts as a Van Morrison-esque soul turns into an intense wah-wah solo. Wonderful.
Winter, Mick Taylor shines on this beautiful song and at the end this is one of Jaggers best performances as a singer ("Sometimes I wanna burn-a caaannnndle for ya" ). Goosebumps.
Starf*cker. The best song Chuck never wrote. Keith on solo guitar!

I just love the whole theme and mood of the album. From the David Bailey-cover art to the sound. It's trippy but not in a acid 1967 way but in a more hazy way. The influence of soul and funk, the heavy use of wah-wah. It's so good! Ofcourse it's not better than the big 4 but which albums is really? Critics demanded this record just because it was the follow up to Exile, I actually think this is a far more even album than Exile. Not better but this album runs so smoothly, I can put it on and suddenly the whole album is finnished



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011-06-11 22:10 by DiscoVolante.

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DiscoVolante
100 Years Ago, starts as a Van Morrison-esque soul turns into an intense wah-wah solo. Wonderful.

Charlie's adrenelin burst does it.

Magnificent.

Goat's Head Soup, It's Only Rock 'N' Roll and Black and Blue are all outstanding albums in their own right. They all get dissed because of the "big four" that preceded them. To diss them is to cheat yourself of some fine Stones music! GHS is the strongest of the three.

Dancing With Mr. D - I love this one great vibe for me
Winter is one of the best songs of the Taylor era

What is not to like about Coming Down Again - When Mick comes in with Sky fall down again is beautiful and haunting the sax solo is great and it seems like Keith is really relating to what he is singing!

And yes Star Star - The best Chuck Berry that Chuck never did!!

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slew
It's Only Rock 'N' Roll and Black and Blue

Great albums! Although both these got some fillers. Goats Head Soup on the other hand is imo as solid as BB, LIB, SF, EOMS & SG, but just not as good. For me, the gold era didn't end with EOMS but with this.

Love it. I started my Stones journey in late 79. SG was the order of the day, but then I delved into the history and just kept collecting the records. GHS came sometime after the early stuff, Exile, LIB, BB etc....and I remember the first time i really listened to "Winter". I was cleaning out my room and I had these huge speakers I positioned on each side of the room for a big sound. I had GHS on, and WHOOOSH...this song came on, and it was like a revelation. It sounded so different than anything else. It sounded romantic and warm......
That's what GHS is, its not Exile and it wasn't supposed to be, but it was different and special.

Criss Cross would have been a good addition.....
as well as the original version of "Waiting on a Friend"/ with Jagger's lyrics and vocals more romantic than bitter.

WIth a finished version of this, GHS would have been magnificent. This original vocal gives the song a different feel than the later version.

from 72....and the date on it seems authentically from late 72, early 73 in Jamaica... from the sonic quality in his voice and music. Jagger added the deeper country twang to the original muscial track for TY....there is an early 81 verson of the vocal, but Jagger is doing the deep country twang and the mood is totally different....it seems separate from the sonic tone you hear on this version, so the vocal is definately GHS era.
I love Jagger's faint, dreamy vocals....'There ain't nowhere wouldn't fly to...somtimes I have to call ya...but I'm waiting on a friend...'
Check it out at the 2:23 mark, with Nicky's lilting, Spanish-style piano up front.
The later version was much more bitter....this fit right into the romantic aura of GHS.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011-06-12 03:47 by stupidguy2.

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71Tele
I love it. Would have been better with "Criss Cross" instead of "Can You Hear The Music". The latter track makes the album drag, imo.

I thought that way for years. I always skipped CYHTM, but now I love it to death.
I can't picture that album without that song. Interesting guitar sounds, percussion,
kinda spacy, horns that kinda sound off-key. I like Criss Cross, too, but it sounds more like it would have fit on IORR or a B-side.

GHS was the first Stones album I bought, 1973.

LA Times music critic Robert Hilburn (chump), called GHS "punchless."

Here we go again.


If it really was a great album, there would be no need for these type of threads.




What's next? The greatest Corleone was Fredo?

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tomk
GHS was the first Stones album I bought, 1973.

LA Times music critic Robert Hilburn (chump), called GHS "punchless."

Typical of baby boomer critics at that time.
They seemed to wear their own cynicism on their sleeves....the Stones were living their lives, had families and critics seemed to want them to bleed for some lost innocence of 60s angst or some other shit.
The critics own inability to see something worthy in albums like GHS was more a reflection of their own lost dreams..they sounded like grumpy old men.
I think as a fan who came of age after the Stones heroic age, I was more able to appreciate their latter work throughout the 70s, whereas the critics, and some older fans, seemed stuck somewhere in 1968.

What's next? The greatest Corleone was Fredo?

.............Horse Head Soup



ROCKMAN

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loog droog
Here we go again.


If it really was a great album, there would be no need for these type of threads.




What's next? The greatest Corleone was Fredo?

I don't think anyone is claiming it over Exile, just appreciating what it is, a really great and different Stones.
ANd this period has been underappreciated for decades.

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loog droog
Here we go again.


If it really was a great album, there would be no need for these type of threads.




What's next? The greatest Corleone was Fredo?

Your comment would be appropriate if the thread was about DooDoo Lounge, Bridges To Nowhere or or the last one, but not GHS. Fredo? Come on!

I don't think the album is particular great overall, but I agree regarding the comments on '100 Years Ago', probably amongst my top 5 post-Decca tracks! Pity they didn't perform it live more often, though I can recall hearing a tape of at least one version from the 1973 European Tour (the opening night in Vienna I think).

I love the entire album, including "Can You Hear The Music"
Not a single track I'd leave off. If the album was mixed better/differently, I think far more people would get their ears open for what a great record it is.

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Erik_Snow
I love the entire album, including "Can You Hear The Music"
Not a single track I'd leave off. If the album was mixed better/differently, I think far more people would get their ears open for what a great record it is.

The song that always sounds out of place to me is 'Silver Train'. Somehow it doesn't fit the mood of the rest of the album (& it's too similar to 'All Down The Line').

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Sleepy City

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Erik_Snow
I love the entire album, including "Can You Hear The Music"
Not a single track I'd leave off. If the album was mixed better/differently, I think far more people would get their ears open for what a great record it is.

The song that always sounds out of place to me is 'Silver Train'. Somehow it doesn't fit the mood of the rest of the album (& it's too similar to 'All Down The Line').

Too similiar to All Down The Line, when performed live, at least!

...I think it fits well as the opener of side B, though

Weak mastering makes the album appear without balls. Songs are good, the mix in itself is alright. But tunes like "MrD", Silver Train, "Heartbreaker" and "Starfycker" - the rockers don't hit very hard because there's no bite. That main guitar in "Mr D' should come growling at you; instead it almost drags. "Heartbreaker", in theory one of the Stones' great songs in their canon - has never been done justice. Intro with clavinet is subdued, and live is has gotten worse with each passing tour. Cutting rock should not be done in Jamaica.

A great album that Dave Marsh gave one star and called the end of the Stones. It's probably one of the ones I listen to the most. I also enjoy other session material such as: Criss Cross [Outtake], Separately [Instrumental], Tops [Backing Track], Waiting on a Friend [Rehearsal], Through the Lonely Nights [B-Side]. And the alternate take of Dancing with Mr. D. that has that Mick Taylor solo is wicked. Unfortunately, I've yet to find a bootleg copy that doesn't have the audio dropout during the solo.

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Sleepy City
I don't think the album is particular great overall, but I agree regarding the comments on '100 Years Ago', probably amongst my top 5 post-Decca tracks! Pity they didn't perform it live more often, though I can recall hearing a tape of at least one version from the 1973 European Tour (the opening night in Vienna I think).

my chief was there at the time, i wasn´t even born at the time (you know these words?)

I really dig GHS.

But @#$%&, I love all of them.

Dave Marsh had it right: GHS is their worst until Steel Wheels.

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Rockman
What's next? The greatest Corleone was Fredo?

.............Horse Head Soup

Well he was. Name one actor that defines the 70s and its John Cazale. Not the greatest of all time but he defines the 70s. Name one album of the Stones that defines the 70s and you have many but Id say there is one album or at least era and that is the late 72 sessions. GHS could not have been made in 1978 or 1969 or 1975. Iorr is kinda the same. Exile is timeless like SG and almost B&B. TY has some of those tracks but they sound different on that album.

"I'm not dumb! Like everyone thinks! I can do things..." "oh Mikey, Mikey..."

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GravityBoy
Today I played it. All the way through. First time in a while (inspired by another thread on the forum).

Love it, love it, love it (still).

It was the first Stones album I ever bought back in 1973, nobody at school was into The Stones and it stayed that way as far as I know until I about 1977 when I managed to convert some people using the 6th Form record player. (Rolled Gold did the trick).

I know a lot of people don't rate it that much but I think it stands up with the best of their albums.

There isn't a dud track on it.

If The Stones released an album of this quality today people would wet themselves.

All great tracks, outstanding is 100 years ago, Heart Breaker and Winter. Mick Taylor is outstanding on nearly everything.

I know people hate "Coming Down Again", I have to say that it's a great chilling track, perfect.

I saw it described once as "a master class in laid back power". I agree.

Totally underrated.

100% agree....my first Stones album too....personally I find the 'big 4' grate a bit....my big 5 are GHS, Black and Blue, Some girls and Undercover,(& Tattoo you)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-06-12 13:36 by EddieByword.

The first disapointed record that came out back then, but I think i was a spoiled with their pervious Big 5.releases.

But I love the complete record now.

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