Like everybody else on this board, I'm a huge Stones fan. I love pretty much everything they did up until Tattoo You but GHS is the one album I've never 'got'.Every now and again I give it another listen and for some reason it never sticks with me. I don't mean just mean it's poor compared to the previous 'big four' albums that we all know and love- aside from Heartbreaker and Star Star it just seems like a collection of tired, uninspired rockers and bland, forgettable ballads. Songs like Angie and Dancing With Mr D -to me- sound like the band treading water.

Anyway, to those of you who love GHS (and there's got to be a lot of you on here) what am I missing?

its an atmosphere record that captures a particular time, place and feel - i listen to it a lot

Listen to winter on an icy winter day sometime.

Then time travel back to 1912 with a walkman and listen to 100 years ago while walking through the woods.

FANTASTIC RECORD.JUST DIFFERENT.

It might just be a matter of it not fitting your taste, and not a matter of you "missing something" or "not getting it". I don't know if it will change your opinion on the album as a whole or not, but since you didn't mention "100 Years Ago", I would suggest listening to that again, with some headphones on, and pay attention to the wah wah guitar. It's pretty amazing in my opinion, especially in the outro.

I bought it by mistake when I was 17 (I was looking for a song and thought it was on GHS, but wasn't) and really enjoyed it. And this was in 1997, so it wasn't that it was an album or sound of my generation. At the time Heartbreaker and Star Star were the standout tracks for me, as they appear to be for you too, and I liked Angie, but the rest of the album sort of grew on me over time. A couple tracks I can take or leave.

I don't really consider it a good "album", but I think it is a good collection of songs. Doesn't really have a lot of flow, and Mr. D is a really strange choice for an opener. It's a strange little album, but a completely necessary part of my collection.

I like mick taylor's attitude from that era. It's like he was trying to be invisible and unnoticed even with a spotlight on him onstage in the biggest band in the world. Interesting dynamic there.

I love it too. In fact, I would say I go back to it more than most of the other records after a layoff.

All the songs sound like they were recorded in one long, hazy, late night/early morning session -- hence the discussion of atmosphere.

Mick Taylor's playing is very beautiful. It's not really a rock and roll record. Tunes like Coming Down Again and Can You Hear the Music defy categorization.

Folks who were looking for the extension of Exile (or even the big 4) would have been dumbfounded at the time. To me it represents the start of an era of evolution -- GHS and IORR sound similar, but then Black and Blue is totally different from its predecessors. Then Some Girls is another change.

The band had struck musical gold with the Big 4. How many bands can say that?

Perhaps that method of playing and working had simply left them exhausted?

T@3

LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!!!!!!.....sorry for shouting...

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lunar!!!
LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!!!!!!.....sorry for shouting...

But why? why? why?

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matsumoto33

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lunar!!!
LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!!!!!!.....sorry for shouting...

But why? why? why?

"Might as well ask why is a tree good? Why is the sunset good? Why are boobs good?" - Joe Dirt

I guess it doesn't hit your ear the way it hits others. Art is subjective after all.

To preface my remarks in answer to your question, I am not one of the fans who loves everythings indiscriminately. Usually, I am only truly interested in the Big Four, plus Aftermath, a couple of earlier singles, a half of Some Girls, and some tracks on later records, especially Tatto You and Undercover.

And I LOVE GHS. I have listened to it as much as to any of the Big Ones. I find that there is a variety to it that you don't find on many Stones records, from killer ballads (Angie) to classic rockers (@#$%&) to swampy grooves (Silver Train) to junkie songs (Coming Down Again). Mick had not yet begun to phone in the lyrics or the singing, and Keith was not yet a caricature of himself. Mick Taylor was still around. I love this record. It deserves to be listened to over an over again.

I used to be a drunk. Over time, this caused me to scratch and ruin all of my favorite music cd's, or at least the ones that i listened to all the time because they were out if their cases and in stacks which i'd perpetually knock over. Yet while cleaning the house the other day, i found my cd of goats head soup and it was pristine. Which means it stayed in it's case and i never played it. It's not a favorite of mine, but i find it interesting. My favorite tune on it is 100 years ago. Something about that record overall seems sad to me. Not boo hoo weeping sad, but sort of directionless and cold. Maybe the song winter on GHS sums the overall album feel up for me. Like the stones were trudging through a dark period or something. I get a weird vibe from it.

Funny to see this thread, I've been listening to GHS the past few days. It's one of those albums that I can put away for a while then come back to it and I'm hooked for a while. No one's mentioned Hide Your Love yet, so I'll put in a plug for this one - I think it's one of their hidden gems. Simple, but it's got that great swing going.

I think you have to take into account that this LP really marks the beginning of Keith's fade, and Jagger taking more of the reins. Definitely a transition from the Stones' creative apex to the next period where they were still excellent, but but more focused on being commercial or with the trends. I'm reading "Life" right now and find it interesting that Keith barely mentions the album in passing after a good long take on the Exile period.

I know many fans in hindsight wished the boys never came out of the Nellcote Basement . But they had to and this overall was very different both in sound and feel . A Truely Great album .
To me the sound and mix varies greatly over many LP AND CD pressings. I think the Virgin collectors CD release to be amongst the Best. Like all Stones releases it does sound better played quite loud !!

A very underrated album.
Wouldn't it be fantastic if Keith played Coming Down Again at the forthcoming shows?
To the best of my memory,I don't think he has ever performed this classic song live.
Is this correct?

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king
A very underrated album.
Wouldn't it be fantastic if Keith played Coming Down Again at the forthcoming shows?
To the best of my memory,I don't think he has ever performed this classic song live.
Is this correct?

That is correct.

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matsumoto33
Like everybody else on this board, I'm a huge Stones fan. I love pretty much everything they did up until Tattoo You but GHS is the one album I've never 'got'.Every now and again I give it another listen and for some reason it never sticks with me. I don't mean just mean it's poor compared to the previous 'big four' albums that we all know and love- aside from Heartbreaker and Star Star it just seems like a collection of tired, uninspired rockers and bland, forgettable ballads. Songs like Angie and Dancing With Mr D -to me- sound like the band treading water.

Anyway, to those of you who love GHS (and there's got to be a lot of you on here) what am I missing?

The beauty.............my first Stones album..............and love it to this day.
Wish they'd play ....Silver Train, Winter, Coming down again, 100 years and Can you hear the music? live.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2012-11-18 06:14 by EddieByword.

it was a good album to get high on,weed or mushrooms

Feel The Fear
And Do It Anyway

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arthritis
I used to be a drunk. Over time, this caused me to scratch and ruin all of my favorite music cd's, or at least the ones that i listened to all the time because they were out if their cases and in stacks which i'd perpetually knock over. Yet while cleaning the house the other day, i found my cd of goats head soup and it was pristine. Which means it stayed in it's case and i never played it. It's not a favorite of mine, but i find it interesting. My favorite tune on it is 100 years ago. Something about that record overall seems sad to me. Not boo hoo weeping sad, but sort of directionless and cold. Maybe the song winter on GHS sums the overall album feel up for me. Like the stones were trudging through a dark period or something. I get a weird vibe from it.

It could be, and maybe this is just me, that it's not a very good "drinking album". As mandu mentioned, it's kind of a drug album. Or totally sober too, that works, I'm not advocating anybody snorting a few keys and smoking a bowl and listening to it (unless that's what you're into), but it's not really something I'd put on if I were drunk.

Listen to the musical representation of coming down again on "Coming Down Again". Its sheer greatness at that representation. The feeling and mood of the song.

In one approach to GOATS HEAD SOUP,take this song as the key track of the album, and listen to the album in the light of such an interpretation.

Yes, it's a transitory record, as Wry Cooter said. For me it's the expression of weariness and melancholy on songs like 100 Years and Coming Down Again that are key to the album. The lifestyle and drugs had started to take their toll. The rockers, while fine, seem almost obligatory rather than celebratory. Mick Jagger reaches and emotional depth lyrically in Winter and 100 Years Ago that he has never achieved since, imo, as does Keith in Coming Down Again. This record has less swagger perhaps, but more raw honesty. I personally think Through The Lonely Nights and Criss Cross Man would have worked very well on the record. A shame no deluxe edition seems to be planned.

>I personally think Through The Lonely Nights and Criss Cross Man would have worked very well on the record.


I agree (though it's "Criss Cross" *mind*).

I wonder if some of the outtakes reflect more of the influence of the setting (by which I mean, reggae).

You might not be missing anything that a description in words could persuade you to like. For instance, telling me that if I like x then I should enjoy y never works, and I am always baffled by people who insist that GHS (one of my favourite albums) is like IORR (which is the one that I can't get into).

I'd guess from what you say about your favourite tracks, and the criticism of the rest as bland, tired and uninspired, that you just like your rock music a bit more hard-edged and energetic, and the laid-back feel of GHS doesn't appeal. Or maybe there's the element of disappointment that it isn't quite as great as the Big Four - that emotion seems to always hang over it like a black cloud for some people. It's a rather autumnal album, and if you can't bear the thought that the summer might be over, then you won't like it. You are allowed not to.

My favourite album after Exile.

only thing that hurts the album is the artwork

..well yeah but who hurt the goat ??...



ROCKMAN

I had that goats head soup poster on my bedroom wall as a 14-year-old. It was very effective in annoying my parents, as were the Stones in general. Decades later, I took my Mom to see them in Phoenix and she had a great time...How times change.

It's the atmosphere, the mellancholic feeling all around the album, with the happy end with the Chuck Berrian Star Star.
very different from what they did before and very different from what came after it.
Sometimes far from the blues rock basis, Mick taylor played beautiful licks, solos and musical pieces that i'v never heard since then.
Of course there are rockerss and bluesy tunes, but the atmosphere is more obsucre, sad, mellancholic, beautiful beautiful beautiful..................