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Redhotcarpet

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Justin
Mick on Voodoo Lounge (as quoted from the Jagger Remembers article):


WENNER:
You told me when you started to make the record that you were going to spend a lot of time on this one, making as good a record as you could possibly make, making sure you’ve got the songs written in advance. You hired a producer, which you hadn’t done for a long time. Do you feel that you’ve met that expectation?

JAGGER:
Not completely. But may be we should list the positive things rather than the negative. I think there is a really good feeling of the band on it – that the band is playing very much as a band, even though it’s got one new member [bassist Darryl Jones]. There’s a good variety of songs. It’s not overelaborate. You get a feeling of really being there, and it’s quite intimate in nature. The ballads are rather nice, and then the rock & roll numbers kick quite well and sound enthusiastic – like we’re into it. I think it’s a good frame of reference of what the Rolling Stones were about during that quite limited time in Ireland in that year.It’s very much a kind of time-and-place album. In that way I was quite pleased with the results. But there were a lot of things that we wrote for “Voodoo Lounge” that Don [Was, the record’s producer] steered us away from: groove songs, African influences and things like that. And he steered us very clear of all that. And I think it was a mistake.





When I hear outtakes like "Middle Sea"...(which is one of my favorite outtakes) it's easy to hear the African influence that Mick is suggesting. Had this been included on Voodoo Lounge...along with other more grounded grooves...could this album been much more than it was? I think if Mick went with his instincts and not listen to Don Was...and added 1 or 2 of Keith's solo acoustic performances...Cocaine probably being the obvious choice..we could've gotten quite the eclectic album.





In one of the Voodoo Brew outtakes you can hear Mick answer to the question "How many songs do you have?" with "Oh loads! Box set loads!" Could VL have been a double album? We have a whole disc of instrumentals--no vocals recorded...songs from "Alright Charlie" to a bunch of Untitled ones. Was Voodoo Lounge going to be bigger than it was?

With a deletion of a couple clunkers on the album and the inclusion of this outtake plus a few other songs...I think we could've gotten-- dare I say it...a possible late-career masterpiece?

Rubin probably saved that record from more embarrassments. It could not have been a double album, IMO. Love is strong is really the only "real" and "new" song. Maybe Rubin went thru the vaults and suggested a remake of Wicked as it seems combined with Gold painted nails.

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winter
Great general comments on the VL era, all.

Listening to the track Middle Sea (albeit only once and while doing other things). it seems disjointed and arhythmic like it was spliced together badly. I'll have to listen to it again. It does seem silly to have an album called Voodoo Lounge and to have pushed away songs with an African/carribean/groove feel, doesn't it?

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Redhotcarpet
I dont know why I wrote Rubin. I meant Was. Don Was, not Rick Rubin.

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WilliamPatrickMaynard
Maybe that's why Don Was is pushing to release some outtakes next year. Something that was also planned for 1999. It'll happen at some point.

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TheDailyBuzzherd
Even better is to take this idea and finally DEVELOP it. I think The Stones were always intrigued by Brian's idea to take them into more African / world rhythms, but of course he was too far gone to put that into action. LOTS of potential here, of course, and a good model to follow would be Fela. With Jagger jazzed with SuperHeavy, and INSPIRED lyrics ala "Beggars Banquet", The Rolling Stones could really go out with a bigger bang. It IS possible.

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slew
I like VL but I agree it could have been better. The band was playing really well and they had some great songs. I wish Middle of the Sea and The Storm were on it. New Faces and Sparks Will Fly could have been left off.

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Justin

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slew
I like VL but I agree it could have been better. The band was playing really well and they had some great songs. I wish Middle of the Sea and The Storm were on it. New Faces and Sparks Will Fly could have been left off.

Ah yes! The Storm...nice call! Forgot that one. Another song that would've pulled them in a different direction.





Love is Strong
The Storm
Honest Man
The Worst
Moon Is Up
Middle Sea
I Go Wild
I'm Gonna Drive
You Got Me Rocking
Ivy League
Moon Is Up
Brand New Car
I'm Gonna Drive
Suck On The Jugular
Jump On Top of Me
Cocaine Blues
Mean Disposition
Thru and Thru

19 songs. Can you imagine if they had done this? Talk about making a statement. The mix of rootsy blues (The Storm) with the large scale rockers (You Got Me Rocking) would have been a very challenging album to lay on fans and critics in 1994.

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big4
Nice list. The exclusion of "Honest Man" from VL is still mind boggling. I'd offer "Make It Now" and "Zip Mouth Angel" as well as "Jump On Top of Me Baby" to your tracklist replacing your second "Moon Is Up," "Juglar" and "Brand New Car."

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Justin

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slew
I like VL but I agree it could have been better. The band was playing really well and they had some great songs. I wish Middle of the Sea and The Storm were on it. New Faces and Sparks Will Fly could have been left off.

Ah yes! The Storm...nice call! Forgot that one. Another song that would've pulled them in a different direction.





Love is Strong
The Storm
Honest Man
The Worst
Moon Is Up
Middle Sea
I Go Wild
I'm Gonna Drive
You Got Me Rocking
Ivy League
Moon Is Up
Brand New Car
I'm Gonna Drive
Suck On The Jugular
Jump On Top of Me
Cocaine Blues
Mean Disposition
Thru and Thru

19 songs. Can you imagine if they had done this? Talk about making a statement. The mix of rootsy blues (The Storm) with the large scale rockers (You Got Me Rocking) would have been a very challenging album to lay on fans and critics in 1994.

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big4
Nice list. The exclusion of "Honest Man" from VL is still mind boggling. I'd offer "Make It Now" and "Zip Mouth Angel" as well as "Jump On Top of Me Baby" to your tracklist replacing your second "Moon Is Up," "Juglar" and "Brand New Car."