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LuxuryStones
During the Jimmy Fallon show Mick Taylor said: "Get over it!!". Maybe that helps
The simple fact that, creatively speaking, Some Girls was their only top-of-the game album after Taylor left (not counting Tattoo You as it was mostly reworked leftovers from older sesssions) does not make it exactly easy for me to "get over it!!".
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DandelionPowderman
Beck attacked the song.
Listening to Wired as we speak, btw. Beck in his right element.
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LuxuryStones
Just kidding, I liked the refreshing breeze he blew through the Rollings sound.
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Reagan
Ran across this interview (from 2009) on the interwebs. Very interesting. A few details from the man himself that I had not heard before. Nothing earth-shaking, but interesting nonetheless.
[madchesterroadtrip.wordpress.com]
-R
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DandelionPowderman
Creatively speaking, Undercover was a far more adventurous album than Some Girls.
Whether one likes the output is another matter.
The thing with SG is that the songs are simple, but hauntingly infectious.
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DandelionPowderman
Creatively speaking, Undercover was a far more adventurous album than Some Girls.
Whether one likes the output is another matter.
The thing with SG is that the songs are simple, but hauntingly infectious.
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NaturalustQuote
Reagan
Ran across this interview (from 2009) on the interwebs. Very interesting. A few details from the man himself that I had not heard before. Nothing earth-shaking, but interesting nonetheless.
[madchesterroadtrip.wordpress.com]
-R
Nice post Reagan, thanks for that. I hadn't heard the story about Taylor being asked to sit in for Keith if his 1977 Toronto bust didn't work out....and him agreeing to do so! Amazing that Jagger had so much faith in MT that he actually thought they could tour with just Taylor and Wood, even Taylor was skeptical. That would have been a totally different Stones story...thanks to a blind girl fan we never had to find out. I do find it a bit cold that Jagger was already planning to throw Keith under the bus, so to speak. Yes I know Keith was risking the bands future by his own actions, but still......
peace
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alimenteQuote
NaturalustQuote
Reagan
Ran across this interview (from 2009) on the interwebs. Very interesting. A few details from the man himself that I had not heard before. Nothing earth-shaking, but interesting nonetheless.
[madchesterroadtrip.wordpress.com]
-R
Nice post Reagan, thanks for that. I hadn't heard the story about Taylor being asked to sit in for Keith if his 1977 Toronto bust didn't work out....and him agreeing to do so! Amazing that Jagger had so much faith in MT that he actually thought they could tour with just Taylor and Wood, even Taylor was skeptical. That would have been a totally different Stones story...thanks to a blind girl fan we never had to find out. I do find it a bit cold that Jagger was already planning to throw Keith under the bus, so to speak. Yes I know Keith was risking the bands future by his own actions, but still......
peace
I don't think that it's a "bit cold" if you're fighting for the band's survival, and who knows how much shit Mick has been through with Keith in the years before... Friendship is one thing, but there's only so much shit one can handle from any friend until one comes to the conclusion that "enough is enough".
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DandelionPowderman
Creatively speaking, Undercover was a far more adventurous album than Some Girls.
Whether one likes the output is another matter.
The thing with SG is that the songs are simple, but hauntingly infectious.
More adventurous? Not sure about that. At the time it came out Some Girls was a fairly radical departure for them. As far as the material goes there's no comparison: Undercover is wildly uneven, though I acknowledge a few here seem to like it quite a bit. I bought it the day it was released, but haven't listened to it for 20 years and I don't feel like I'm missing much.
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DandelionPowderman
Creatively speaking, Undercover was a far more adventurous album than Some Girls.
Whether one likes the output is another matter.
The thing with SG is that the songs are simple, but hauntingly infectious.
Isn't that a major ingredient of the "magic" and greatness of the Stones in general?
In my ears, Undercover may of course be "more adventurous", but there's too much stuff on it that doesn't "click" even after repeated listening. The "creatively adventurous" moments sound a bit forced (namely "Undercover OTN", "Too Much Blood", but also "Feel On Baby" which sounds great but is not a great memorable song), the more convential stuff is in the range between "good" ("Tie You Up", "She Was Hot") at best and "almost forgettable" at worst.
In a way, the album as a whole felt for me as a bit of a letdown after "Tattoo You" in the same way as "Emotional Rescue" after "Some Girls" which has definitely something to do with the quality of songwriting - that's the home of true creativity, not experiments in "modern sounds".
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kleermaker
His biggest mistake, because the so called life saving argument (the drugs issue) was of course nonsense. Not only because he replaced the one drug addict (Keith) with even a worse one (Jack Bruce), but because there were other solutions. Besides he got room from Jagger for his solo activities. A fatal and life determining decision for both Taylor himself, the band and us fans.
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DoomandGloom
TonyMo, a great creative piece of Taylor love. I agree with most everything except your critique of Exile. It is a masterwork despite the underutilized Taylor. Bobby Keys really shines on disk one of Exile, no point in having the guitar and sax duel it out. No matter Richards' motive it is a perfect album.
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kleermaker
His biggest mistake, because the so called life saving argument (the drugs issue) was of course nonsense. Not only because he replaced the one drug addict (Keith) with even a worse one (Jack Bruce), but because there were other solutions. Besides he got room from Jagger for his solo activities. A fatal and life determining decision for both Taylor himself, the band and us fans.
For me, perhaps the single most meaningful post I've ever read on this board. The stark reality of "fatal" in this context is something I wish I'd never seen, as it makes me confront the demons that have plagued me for forty one years. I find myself standing at the crossroads, and I believe I'm sinking down (the experts here will recognize that line from Mick Taylor's 'Crossroads' which is mistakenly credited to Robert Johnson)
It seems many of you dealt with the news of Mick Taylor's departure from the Rolling Stones as I did; with grief, shock, disbelief and outrage. After all he'd done, single handedly lifting them from the mire of their downward creative and musical spiral following the death of Brian Jones.
What were Mick Jagger and Keith Richards thinking? Did they not realize that not only were they the 'greatest rock n' roll band in the world' but with Mick Taylor, they now had somebody able to vie with Eric Clapton for the all important title of 'God'? Did not Mick Taylor, with his stinging slide guitar on 'Country Honk' and his indispensable rhythm guitar on 'Live With Me' elevate 'Let It Bleed' from an album on which Mick Taylor didn't play on two songs to an album where he did?
Was it not Mick Taylor's Santana-esque styling's that propelled 'Can't You Hear Me Knocking' past the restrictions placed on any superb three and half minute Rolling Stones song, and into the realm of a song that one was content to listen to in its entirety rather than get up off the couch and move the tone arm to 'You Gotta Move'? Is it not true that if Mick Taylor's solo were removed from Jagger's 'Sway' and the Jagger /Richards composition, 'Dead Flowers', the songs would've had Keith Richards solo's instead? Why, those songs would be unrecognizable had that happened! I guess they would've have to have gotten Jimmy Page to play on them. Don't even get me started on 'Moonlight Mile'. Despite the chords, words, melody and string arrangement, the main reason why that song is considered a classic is Mick Taylor.
One would've thought Mick Taylor's contribution to 'Exile On Main Street' would have been larger than it was. His lack of influence on the two record set is precisely why the album is overrated. Maybe it's because Mick Taylor was already bored with the limited musical ability he found himself surrounded by? Maybe they didn't like the way he moved onstage? Maybe Rose Taylor was the bands Yoko Ono? Still, Mick Taylor plays a crucial role in it's best songs. I'd like to have heard the mess Bill Wyman would've come up with had he played bass on 'Tumbling Dice'. Disc 1 side 1 of that double album suffers from a woeful lack of Mick Taylor's soaring melodicism. Things improve on side 2 of Disc 1, but only slightly. Mick Taylor plays the definitive acoustic guitar part on the opener, 'Sweet Virginia', then, he is mysteriously allowed to disappear for the remainder of the side. Which is why I always mostly skip Disc 1.
Disc 2, side 1 finds Mick Taylor still relegated to a minor role. Even his playing on the great 'Ventilator Blues' (the only song he'd ever be credited for) where I'd argue that he basically invented that whole style of playing a solo while the singer sings over top of the soloing is disappointing, but only because Mick Jagger won't stop asking 'What you gonna do about it?' then answering his own question. The comfort I take from knowing that 'Ventilator Blues' is by far the best song on an otherwise dismal album is not nearly enough balm for my bane.
It is not until Disc 2 side 2 that the fiendish duo of Jagger/Richards, still sick of how fat Mick Taylor was going to be one day but in dire need of a capable guitarist, finally write a song that allowed Mick Taylor to do what he did best; play slide guitar in a featured setting. Even the most dogged critics of Mick Taylor admit that he was once a damn excellent slide guitarist. I even know one personally. Had Keith Richards (or heaven forbid, Ron Wood) played on that song, its title would have been, 'A Little Bit Down The Line'. Thankfully Mick Taylor and not Billy Preston plays the solo on 'Shine A Light'. Billy Preston's solo on 'I Got The Blues' was one more than necessary in any band that employed Mick Taylor. Then we're on to another Mick Taylor song mistakenly credited to Robert Johnson (Johnson shared the Jagger/Richards penchant for denying Mick Taylor songwriting credits) 'Stop Breaking Down', by where Taylor basically invented the Stevie Ray Vaughn style of soloing.
In the wake of Exile On Street, the drug addled Keith Richards finally stepped aside thus allowing the true musical heart of the band, Mick Taylor, to step to the fore; what followed was the apex of the bands career: 'Goat's Head Soup, It's Only Rock n' Roll' and Bedspring Symphony (later to be known as Brussels Affair). By this time, The Rolling Stones had committed a lot of songs to vinyl but none as powerful as the twenty tunes that comprised those two studio albums. Subtracting the title track from the 1974 release (a David Bowie song) along with the Whitfield/Holland composition on the same album, one is left with (subtracting the Keith Richards input) 16 of the greatest songs anyone has ever heard. I defy anyone to name me any Rolling Stones' songs as good as Hide Your Love, Short And Curlies', Silver Train, Till the Next Goodbye, Dancing With Mr. D, If You Really Want To Be My Friend,Dance Little Sister and 100 Years Ago? One wishes Keith Richards would have left all of it to the new partnership of Jagger/Taylor, if only to spare us the dirge that is Angie and Coming Down Again. And dare I say, Stafucker could've used a heaping tablespoon of Mick Taylor's soaring melodocism on lead guitar, as well as the latter's inventive songwriting (perhaps Mick Taylor would have used Major7 chords on the tonic and subdominant?) It doesn't matter, I don't care for groundless speculation.
The live album, Brussels Affair, is simply the the Rolling Stones at their best. And it's mostly because of Mick Taylor. Every one of the 15 songs is better than the studio original. One wishes the Rolling Stones would have taken a couple of carton's of industrial strength benzedrine rather than heroin into Muscle Shoals and Nellecote in order to match the tempo and energy of a large portion of Brussels Affair. From Keith Richards subtle alteration of the Brown Sugar intro (followed by a pace that makes Secretariat look like a Clydesdale) to Mick Taylor's soaring melodicism on Gimme Shelter; making one forget that Merry Clayton ever existed, and later, setting the bar too high for Lisa Fisher to jump over; through Heartbreaker, featuring Mick Taylor's stunning doubling of the 'doo doo doo' chorus (which was erased off the original studio version by a jealous Keith Richards); on into a frenetic Honky Tonk Woman that finds Mick Taylor tripling the output of notes poor Keith Richards efforted on the stunningly dull studio version, begging the question 'who needs time and space in a song when you have a genius in the band?'. At this point you're asking yourself, how can this set be any more virtuosic? The question is answered by Mick Taylor in his rendering of the trance inducing solo on You Can't Always get What You Want'. Mick Taylor was so sublime he basically inventing the whole style of playing a solo using octaves. He played one motif in particular for so long, it still reverberates around Belgium. The deal closer is Mick Taylor's outro on Street Fighting Man. The only word to describe that is 'indescribable'. It's hard to believe that a capable, tasteful guitarist would ever play that way.
Now, I've reached the part of this missive that sets my soul to trembling. I'm glad this is the internet age, otherwise this would be a letter full of tears, literally. When Mick Taylor quit the The Rolling Stones I felt barren. I asked myself, if Leibniz could envision binary numeralism why couldn't I have envisioned the advent of the internet age?
It would have saved me a lot of pain to know that one day I would connect with fellow Mick Taylor admirers to ease 41 years of sorrow. A place where I could share great memories and ask important questions like 'Mick Taylor was a genius, why did that evil Mick Jagger not have him play on his solo albums? Do you think there are more or less than 5,000 people who've ever listened to Mick Taylor's lone solo album? Are people into genius, or not? How do you feel about Keith Richards (of all people) getting Mick Taylor to play on Talk Is Cheap? Should Mick Taylor have told Keith Richards 'I wrote all the ballads, go take a long walk off a short pier'.
It still isn't enough though. No matter how many fan site's and YouTube channels I dedicate to Mick Taylor, no matter my Let It Bleed poster, Exile On Main Street postcards, my Mick Taylor ticket stub from his nearly sold out show at Pat's Bluebird Cafe in East Liverpool, Ohio or my Mick Taylor Facebook and Yahoo icon's, it still can't ease my pain. Forty One Years Later, I still find Mick Taylor's decision to leave the The Rolling Stones a fatal one, for Taylor himself, the Rolling Stones, and me.
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Shawn20
If it were an Undercover or Some Girl's themed tour - I could understand no Taylor. However, if you're going to call it a Sticky Fingers themed tour - you have to have Taylor on board.
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Reagan
Ran across this interview (from 2009) on the interwebs. Very interesting. A few details from the man himself that I had not heard before. Nothing earth-shaking, but interesting nonetheless.
[madchesterroadtrip.wordpress.com]
-R
Nice post Reagan, thanks for that. I hadn't heard the story about Taylor being asked to sit in for Keith if his 1977 Toronto bust didn't work out....and him agreeing to do so! Amazing that Jagger had so much faith in MT that he actually thought they could tour with just Taylor and Wood, even Taylor was skeptical. That would have been a totally different Stones story...thanks to a blind girl fan we never had to find out. I do find it a bit cold that Jagger was already planning to throw Keith under the bus, so to speak. Yes I know Keith was risking the bands future by his own actions, but still......
peace
Yeah, it all makes perfect sense to me and I'm more than a little worried that I still am missing the joke. Starting to feel like a Kafka character.Quote
LieB
TonyMo -- that was a funny piece of sarcasm. ><
"He played one motif in particular for so long, it still reverberates around Belgium."
DoomandGloom -- you took that post seriously?
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DoomandGloomYeah, it all makes perfect sense to me and I'm more than a little worried that I still am missing the joke. Starting to feel like a Kafka character.Quote
LieB
TonyMo -- that was a funny piece of sarcasm. ><
"He played one motif in particular for so long, it still reverberates around Belgium."
DoomandGloom -- you took that post seriously?
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treaclefingers
Calling 'Short & Curlies', Silver Train, & Hide Your Love songs at the apex of the bands career is a big bitch slap.