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pmk251
Again, the key song of the '69 tour to mark the emergence of a new band. The "audacity" and drive of the arrangement to suit the guitar duo...The Taylor solos scripted in along side Keith's as the band moved east, hearing the band surge behind those solos make it clear this new ground for the band, a new era. Jagger's vocals never sounded more convincing on that song. Performances later in the band's career are IMO travesties.
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latebloomer
Aside from the song's hypnotic musical power, lyrically,it's a tour de force. I said it was as brilliant as anything Dylan wrote on a thread sometime ago and got shot down for it, but I stand by it. It is awe inspiring, in the old sense of the word, what Mick Jagger created out of his imagination and the times in which he was living. "Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name"...the devil amoung us and in us. It's a great favorite of English teachers (hope you guess my job ), it pairs so well with all kinds of texts, from Lord of the Flies to Heart of Darkness.
Conservatives love it just as much as liberals, it was included a few years ago in a list of top conservative songs, of all things...
3. "Sympathy for the Devil," by The Rolling Stones.
Don't be misled by the title; this song is "The Screwtape Letters" of rock. The devil is a tempter who leans hard on moral relativism — he will try to make you think that "every cop is a criminal / And all the sinners saints." What's more, he is the sinister inspiration for the cruelties of Bolshevism: "I stuck around St. Petersburg / When I saw it was a time for a change / Killed the czar and his ministers / Anastasia screamed in vain."
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Naturalust
Strangely, their official live version is pretty lame, imo. Ronnie's licks and fills don't fit the song well, Keith's contributions are not stellar, Mick's singing is a shadow of the original. I won't even talk about the piano....and yeah that whole verse with the Kennedy reference is missing. It has it's moments but overall it doesn't come close to the magic of the original release, imo.
peace
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Chris Fountain
Of course, populous favors Let it Bleed version, which has been a Stone's concert standard over the past three decades.
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Chris Fountain
My preference is the guitar oriented version from 1969. Of course, populous favors Let it Bleed version, which has been a Stone's concert standard over the past three decades.
It all boils downs to if one likes a guitar or percussion approach. I'll take the former. Unfortunately, they will never play our beloved GYYO style ever again.
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Witness
Apart from the amazing studio version, I especially like the live version that I have on my old vinyl "Liver Than You'll Ever Be"-boot, which is quite different from every other version I have heard (not that many from that period). I have not got a vocabulary to describe it.
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DandelionPowdermanQuote
Witness
Apart from the amazing studio version, I especially like the live version that I have on my old vinyl "Liver Than You'll Ever Be"-boot, which is quite different from every other version I have heard (not that many from that period). I have not got a vocabulary to describe it.
It's similar to the Ya Yas-version, minus the extended Taylor solos?
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WitnessQuote
DandelionPowdermanQuote
Witness
Apart from the amazing studio version, I especially like the live version that I have on my old vinyl "Liver Than You'll Ever Be"-boot, which is quite different from every other version I have heard (not that many from that period). I have not got a vocabulary to describe it.
It's similar to the Ya Yas-version, minus the extended Taylor solos?
That does not capture what for me is the difference or the magic.
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Doxa
So "Sympathy", with "Gimme Shelter" - two of their most ambitious, biggest songs ever - is a crown jewel of the 'studio era'.
- Doxa
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DandelionPowderman
They did try to be faithful to the original on Rock'n'Roll Circus, and that worked nicely. But with two guitar players in action they might have thought that leaving both of them practically "unemployed" would be a little boring for them.
As we know, they got plenty work to do
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Doxa
So "Sympathy", with "Gimme Shelter" - two of their most ambitious, biggest songs ever - is a crown jewel of the 'studio era'.
- Doxa
A couple of questions....
Is it any coincidence that these two songs both deal with violence?
And is it in relating darkness that gave the Stones their edge at this time?
In fact I'd add Midnight Rambler as the third masterpiece from this studio era and a song that fits perfectly with Sympathy and Gimme Shelter. These three songs have continued to be the Holy Trinity that many - actually, I'd say most - fans have looked forward to hearing live in concert for the last 5 decades.
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Doxa
But yeah, the violence... I guess we can only conclude that that theme inspired those guys helluva lot. in a way, it was a natural continuum from the themes they had earlier dealed with - mostly to do with negative feelings and just 'playing nasty', no matter if it only dealed with relationship to girls or mothers... The flower power and all that hippie idealism, love and peace - never seemed quite work for them (if it was not dealing sex), but then the happenings of 1968 and the whole world starting to be aggressive and violent, offered them much more suitable framework.