I've recently been listening to Ronnie's I've Got My Own Album To Do and it's really impressive. Is that his best album? I know Mick, Keith and Mick Taylor contributed to the album.I'm sure its Mick singing lead on the opening track - it certainly sounds like him.
What are Ronnie's other albums like?

now look is a good album

Gimme some neck is also great. Charlie is on it.

1234 is his best. Highly underrated, too. Not a bum tune or note on it. Unfortunately, hard to find OOP on CD.

I only have the two first ones. And they're great. I prefer the first though. And also "Not For Beginners" is very good IMO.

JumpingKentFlash

Mahoney's Last Stand (1976) is the most like the Faces (or Lane era Faces) - dobros, acoustics, slides, 'Factory Girl' type violin from Rick Grech, lots of instrumental, & a classic song ("Just For A Moment") -Great soundtrack. I agree Now Look may be slightly better than the first - Bobby Womack is a great collaborator/guitarist, it has "I Can Say She She's Alright' & imo Mick T's best track with RW, "It's Unholy." "Not For Beginners is a bit ragged, w/ RW's husk of a voice, but very organic, quite different from 'Slide On This"-- haunting melodies, older & more bittersweet feel, I like it very much esap. late at night.

Don't forget Slide On This. Sounds a bit slick, but it's really good. Not for beginners is also great.

Slide On This, the first one and Gimme Some Neck are his best IMHO.

Seems like all his albums are good! I have only Got my own Album to Do, Slide on this Live, and Not for Beginners. I like them all.

Another one worth mentioning is Live at the Ritz, together with Bo Diddley (the man without whom we wouldn't be here)

I rank them this way, for what it's worth!

1. I've Got My Own... - Superb! Great band, Great songs! One of the best Stones solo albums (if it counts since he wasn't officially a stone at the time!)
2. Now Look - Great jams, tight band w/MT & Keef
3. Slide On Live - Good set, well played
4. Gimme Some Neck - Good album, bad recording.
5. Slide On This - Some really standout tracks (Breathe On Me" remake) Overall tedious
6. 1234 - Fairly lame. Nice moments but overall a dropoff from his previous albums.
7. Not For Beginners - See above!

I love Mahoney's Last Stand also, but I consider it a collaboration with the late, great Ronnie Lane.

Insert "IMHO" disclaimer here!

Ross

1 Now Look - imo his best, Bobby Womack contributes great guitar (a la his work on Sly's 'Riot') & songs, & it's 50 minutes, w/great moments from Keith & Mick T - soulfully rocking, w/the debut of Breathe On Me (classic), & I Can Say She's All Right, I Got A Feeling, Cant Stand the Rain - not a weak cut really.
2 Mahoney's Last Stand - Wood/Lane, very listenable, great ambience, slides & dobros & fiddles, & Ian Stewart countrified boogie-woogie.
3 My Own Album - good allstar debut, could do w/out some of the female bv's, & the occasional synth, but mostly excellent - Cancel Everything, Far East Man, Act Together, I Can Feel The Fire (Ron, Mick, Rod singing), (as w/ IORR, the mix is slightly dull)
4 Not For Beginners - I prefer it to IGMOATD, but his voice is shot. Very un-slick, personal, haunting, vulnerable- lots of acoustics, standup bass, 4 or 5 songs stuck in my head after the 2nd play, I love 'R U Behaving Yourself', Whaddya Think,' 'Be Beautiful' (recalls Big Star's '3rd'), Bob D's on 2 inc a nice Dylan/Wood guitar duet, plus Scotty & DJ, Ian M, Willy W & Andy N.
5 Slide On This - Bernard is a good collaborator (RW works best with collaborators, be it Rod, Lane, Keith, Mick, Womack, Beck, etc) & "Testify" is a great funk cover - 4 or 5 other gems, but a few tracks miss the mark.
re 1,2,3,4 - when I first hear this I hated it - LA/rockstar/major-coke vibe, & his worst vocals. But it has a few gems, esp 'Redeyes' & 'Wind Howling Through' which is better than anything on Gimme Some Neck, which rocks despite some formulaic songs, overall ok but RT Baker is not the most sympathetic producer. The live one w/Bo is fun & inebriated, for fans only. The other 2 live ones (92-93 tour) are better, tighter.




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-01-09 20:05 by john r.

Can't believe folks don't like 1234 - have you guys actually listened to it recently or are you going on longterm memory? It's the only RW that I play with regularity....

It's been awhile - I'll give it another spin soon Stones Tod

i like 1234

i also i love the song i can feel the fire

love to hear your reaction, JR - I hadn't heard it for 10-15 years until I rediscovered it on CD a couple of years ago - have played it maybe 10x since. Very underrated...

IMHO, 1234 is not even near the quality of Now Look and IGMOATD. Even though "Outlaws" and "Fountain" are OK songs. Gimme some neck has great songs, but the sound/production/recording is totally amateurish - it is so bad that I can't listen to it. When I want to hear GSN-songs, I have to put on "Buried Alive" by The New Barbarians instead...

I wouldn't call it "amateurish" - I mean they brought in a top-notch producer for it. But, I agree that it doesn't really fit Ronnie's style - sort of like the production values of Steel Wheels.

I'd rank Ronnie's solo efforts thusly:

1234 (again, they are ALL classics on this album, IMO).
IGMOATD (good songs, but RW lean's heavily on support cast here)
Gimme Some Neck (despite production woes, some classic, killer tunes here)
Now Look (kind of an "unfinished" sounding album...kinda like KR's Main Offender)
Slide on This (unfortunately, this one hasn't aged so well, IMO)
Beginners (this one grows on you, but Ronnie's chops have clearly eroded noticeably here)