Re: BEST SOLO TUNE BY A STONE
Date: December 18, 2004 21:43
Ron Wood - Pre-Stones/Faces/Creation/Jeff Beck Group, he wrote most of The Birds' material, & all of their singles & intended album cuts were collected on a 1999 Deram cd. Classic Who/Small Faces mod/r'n'b/rave-ups like 'Next In Line,' 'You're On My Mind,' 'Say Those Magic Words'& the proto-psych 'Daddy Daddy' & an unissued verion of the Who's 'Run Run Run' are all essential. Solo stuff:'Breathe On Me' (Now Look version)is a beaut & the whole Now Look album is great rock/funk/soul. "Mahoney's Last Stand" tres cool soundtrack, some fine instrumentals w/Ronnie Lane, Stu, Bobby Keys, Townshend etc & the best song is 'Just For A Moment' (woulda been a Faces classic a la Ooh La La). 2001's "Not For Beginners")- I love the ballads, esp 'R U Behaving Yourself?' (hauntingly beautiful), the lilting Dylan closer 'King of Kings' & Ron's update on his '65 Birds single 'Leaving Here'. Ragged, melancholy, sometimes bittersweet, a great late night album. Lest I forget 'Far East Man' & 'Cancel Everything' from his solo debut. And his collaboration w/ Bo Diddley from '96 'I Can't Stand It' is diddleyfied 'Hey Negrita."
Bill: Monkey Grip is a funky little album, depite its rep, w/lots of great musicians like Lowell George, Dr John & the Miami T.K. crew. Stone Alone has some amusing ('Peanut Butter Time') & funky tunes too. Never liked the BW ('82) or "Stuff" - too synthetic & bland.
Mick: I like parts of Shes the Boss, as decent dance/funk/pop, esp the title track & 'Luck In Love'. I admire both Nile Rodgers & Bill Laswell as producers, but this aint a 'song' album. Skipping over Primitive Cool, Wandering Spirit is a superb album, his best. Goddess is imo very uneven, w/ some excellent songs, & some 'major label/superstar duet/pure product' (a la the Santana duet superseller). I like Old Habits & some parts of Alfie.
Keith - Obviously 'Today's Pop Symphony' is the classical classic. And since it is Christmas, 'Run Rudolf Run'/'The Harder They Come' is great, & should have been released as a Stones xmas single imo
Both solo albums excellent. Right off, side 1 of Talk is Cheap is very strong. Main Offender is more of a Winos album, than a solo album.'Talk' had lots of different guests, & I especially dig 'Big Enough' w/ Bootsy & Worrell, & Mick Taylor & Johnnie Johnson on Could Have Stood You Up. Main Offender gets better with time, (tho nothing stands out on first hearing the way "You Dont Move Me' or 'Struggle' did) & in the long run is slightly better: 999, Yap Yap, Words of Wonder, Body Talk, Wicked are all killer. Keith & co were ferocious on the '93 tour - the crunching punky version of 'Something Else,' so casual, so intoxicating. I also love the Wingless Angels album, & Keith, Charlie etc doing Mingus' 'Dont Let Them Drop That Atom Bomb On Me' back around the same time on the Mingus tribute album produced by Hal Willner.
Charlie: I like all his solo stuff, & he's steadily developed a 'solo' identity with each project. Fullham Town Hall, w/the orchestra, all covers & a nice cross-section of fine musicians, then the quintet Parker-inspired albums (both fine post-bop), the very classy ballad albums with Quintet & Bernard (wipes Rod's & the like off the map), & my favorite, "Charlie Watts/Jim Keltner Project" - sort of a spinoff of Bridges 2 Babylon & not even really jazz anymore, not ambient, just itself; Watts At Scott's may be his most original & successful jazz album.Scott Yanow, editor of the All Music Guide To Jazz, "Watts has earned his place in any guide to jazz recordings..." right on.