I don't understand the infatuation with Winter.

It's sort of like Moonlight Mile II with the strings and everything.

The lyrics don't add up to much.

Yes, Taylor's solo is nice, but it doesn't save what is basically a pointless song.

I suspect that--like Sway--it's appeal is based more on the fact that it isn't a warhorse.

Goats Head Soup was a real turd. From the opening sluggish constipated junkie riff Dancing With Mr. D (reeely scary he said in a Count Floyd voice) almost every song is ONE MINUTE TOO LONG!!!

Too bad Jimmy Miller was in a nod at the time, or carving swastikas in the console, because he deserved sacking after this one.

Hey, of course Angie went to #1. Who can argue with success?

I can. It just goes on too long. The mind wanders. That never happened with Lady Jane, Ruby Tuesday, or Wild Horses. When he gets to the "everywhere I look I see your eyes" part, it's like ENOUGH ALREADY!

That was the year Mick and Keith turned 30. Were they getting too old already? Was there nothing left to prove for them?

Comin' Down Again and Can You Hear the Music--these two sleep-a-thons took the place of Tops???


Heartbreaker is probably the best track on the album, and even that is lyrically under-developed. The other rockers: Silver Train--BORING!! and Star Star--like a plane that taxis around the runway and never quite takes off. If it weren't for the prefab outrage of the lyrics it would be considered a dud.

That album sounds like they were sitting down when they recorded it.

Younger fans may listen to it now and find it under-rated, or whatever. (I do like 100 Years Ago.) But overall there is no KICK on this album, nothing even close to the feeling found on the five albums that preceded it.

So now we knew: they were mortal.

HEY LOOP droog,,,WHAT YEAR IS IT ?

loopie,this is an unbelievable song,maybe micks best vocals ever,great lyrics,solo etc.i guess to each his own.

john scialfa

Star Star a dud??

You are a Crazy Mama Loop Droog, Goats Head Soup is a totaly fantastic album! Winter is fantastic, Mick is at his absolute best on this track. The whole album is just great - take the cotton wool out of your ears, this album rocks!

I think I've bust a button on my trousers....

No accounting for taste, or lack of it I guess.

its his own opinion

i dont like dirty work very much,but i like goatshead soup my fav song on that is comming down again

I remember when this album first came out. I went down to the local Venture store with my girlfriend to buy it the day it arrived. I was in my usual 'Oh man a new Stones album!' mode. (Plus I had seen them twice on the '72' tour). They were to me, without a doubt, the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world. They had it all.

I was kind of suspect from the beginning, just the cover alone gave me chills, I mean Mick looks like he's inside an Easter basket and Keith looks dead, really dead. Went home opened her up, and put it on the turntable, "Whaaa,..hmmmmm,...ok,....ya,....ba,..ba,.WHERES MY BAND MAN! Who stole the Stones from me! I was devastated, the best songs on there, couldn't touch what they had been turning out the pervious four lp's. The big hit off the album Angie was good but almost embarrasing for a real Stones fan. The fire was gone, but, where did it go? I didn't know, but, I did know that something had happened to my band.

Oh well I'm over it now and eagerly awaiting the new cd!

I ain't stupid, I'm just guitarded.

Winter (& GHS generally) is amazing, & sort of the finale in the RS' 'drug trilogy' (I know these albums are much more than that, but you can sense the mood darkening...)-Also love "Blood Red Wine" which provided a couple of lines for Winter. Indeed, a great Jagger vocal, beautiful MT guitar, just a great track...

Sorry to burst your bubble kids, but face it, GHS is DOA

There could have been a great album there...it just didn't turn out that way. (Some of the best Tattoo You tracks were GHS outtakes)

Don't you think the Stones would have kept Jimmy Miller on board if they didn't think he botched this one?

Next to Bitch or Rocks Off, Star Star is pretty flat-footed.

This is an album I've WANTED to like for years. Because at the time, I didn't want to believe the Stones had lost it! While there were moments in GHS and the albums that followed, the Golden Age where the Stones Could Do No Wrong was over.

Winter should be live. Ask BV.

I don't believe the Stones had lost it at this point - i actually love the fact they were making sounds that were a little different - who wants a formulaic band who keeps recording variations of the same songs?
It's probably a little less focused in places and a number of songs at least on the first few listens may sound like they meander without a sense of direction. I actually find this 'wasted' feel far more intoxicating than the much more lean and focused Some Girls which sounds great on the first few listens but does not sustain my interest over a period of time.
The previous album Exile On Main Street can also be accused of the same thing but because the music is more raw and less melodic it has always been more palatable to the many Stones fans.
There are some great songs on Goats Head Soup but the album is as much about 'feel' as about the uniformity of great songs. In this sense it's one of the Stones very best up there with the classics.

Ever since I bought it in 1983 GHS was my favourite stones album.
I can play it 10 times in a row, without getting bored. 100 years, heartbreaker, I could
say they are my favourites, but that isn't really true. I just love it from start to finish.

HEY LOOPDROOG ,,,SOMEGIRLS = STONES COULD DO NO WRONG ALBUM & WITHOUT TAYLOR

Chip

Can we at least admit that there have been ups and downs? My point is: from JJF through Exile it was a continuous UP.

I think that GHS was a letdown after Exile.

Then there were two more albums (which,like GHS had some highlights) that were basically also letdowns.

Then a double-live letdown.

Some Girls was a return to form--no argument there. (And a lot of credit goes to Wood!) Although I wish Phil MacDonald had engineered it because I think Black and Blue is one of the best SOUNDING Stones albums, and SG sounds thin by comparison.

Yes, when SG came out it was like, thank God! They're back!!

But there were six years in between where they hadn't been walking on air. And from that point on, it was an up and down ride.

The They Can Do Wrong period was over.

loog droog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Chip
>
> SG sounds thin by
> comparison.
>
> Yes, when SG came out it was like, thank God!
> >
>

Can't agree with you here - SG might be their acme in terms of production. It's what the Stones are meant to sound like...

GHS sounded a bit thin because it came after what is, in retrospect, perhaps the Stones' deepest and most life affirming album, & imo the greatest rock 'album'ever. Nevertheless GHS is cut from the same cloth, and very good - an "A" or A minus album, IORR was on the other hand slightly contrived, like they had to prove they could 'still' rock. On B & B they were clearly taking risks, exploring funk, reggae, slinky 20s jazz, & philly soul ballads (FTC) - & on SG it all coalesced into another great RS album.

I STILL REMEMBER THE BUZZ OVER STAR STAR HERE IN THE STATES ,EVERY HOUSE OR CAR U WENT IN HAD THIS THING PLAYIN,,IT WAS INCREDIBLE, PEOPLE THAT LISTENED TO COUNTRY OR JAZZ WERE GOING OUT & BUYIN GHS JUST TO HERE STAR STAR,,,,THAT YEAR THE NEWS YEARS EVE PARTY I WENT TO PLAYED GHS ALL NIGHT LONG ,,, I AGREE WITH JOHN R. THIS IS AN " A " OR " A- " ALBUM.......FOR GODS SAKE ITS GOT " WINTER " ON IT ...1 OF THE GREATEST GUITAR SOLOS EVER DONE..

For some reason this album has been historically bashed by critics. I never really understood that. To me it's one of their top 3 albums of all time. I love every song on it and have been enjoying it ever since it came out. Go figure.

Goats Head Soup I think is very under-rated. Personally its an album I love - there is nothing on there I dont like- Dancing with Mr D is an all-time favorite.
I think it did mark the end of the 'Golden Era' - in as much as the 5 that came before it will never be bettered. but I think the next one - IORR -is the moment when things went a bit off track.For me it runs as follows;

68 TO 72 including exile - all superb. but EXILE was not hailed as a classic at all when it first came out.
73 GHS not as good as exile/ very different production, but still a good album
74 to 76 IORR/ Black and Blue - its a drop in quality at this point - shortly to be rescued by the excellent 'some girls'.