Tell Me :
Talk
Wh...wh..whaaaat?
Even Taylor doesn't know why he recieved the credit!
Mathijs
I you ask any nowadays-fans of Stones that is, and especially Exile...
2 1 2 0
Nice list, pmk251, and some great tracks here. I've always had an issue with people who call Exile a rock and roll album, and the fact that 8 of the tracks on your list are from the album helps to prove my point. Although there are tracks on Exile that would certainly qualify as rock and roll, Exile is ultimately NOT a rock and roll album. It is a pastiche of American roots music, with a lot of blues, some country, some gospel, and some rock and roll thrown in for good measure. I realize that these categories are all inter-related, and that Stones' tracks rarely fall purely into one category, but to call Exile a rock and roll album is not accurate, IMO.
How many people hear Ventilator Blues and want to get up and dance? Show of hands, please...
Drew
Jagger/Richards are notorious for being overly generous with songwriting credits for the other band members...
Imagine how Taylor felt on the first pressings of Metamorphosis!
From the Brian era.
Talk about your favorite band.
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Track Talk: Ventilator Blues
Posted by:
NICOS
()
Date: January 18, 2016 11:09
Comments, input and alterations are very welcome!
_______________________________________________________________________________
Ventilator Blues
Written by: Mick Taylor, Mick Jagger & Keith Richards
Recording date: 10th July - late July and 14th October - 23rd November
Recording location: Villefranche-sur-mer, France, Villa Nellcote, basement of KR's house, Rolling Stones Mobile Studio.
Line-up:
Lead vocals: Mick Jagger
Electric guitars: Keith Richards
Lead guitar: Mick Taylor
Background vocals: Keith Richards
Bass: Bill Wyman
Drums: Charlie Watts
Piano: Nicky Hopkins
Sax: Bobby Keys
Trumpet and/or Trombone: Jim Price
Ventilator Blues
When your spine is cracking and your hands they shake
Heart is bursting and your butt's going to break
Woman's cussing, you can hear her scream
Feel like murder in the first degree
Ain't nobody slowing down no way
Everybody's stepping on their accelerator - all right
Don't matter where you are
Everybody's going to need a ventilator
When you're trapped and circled with no second chance
Code of living is your gun in hand, we can't be
Browed by beating, we can't be cowed by words
Messed by cheating, ain't going to ever learn
Everybody walking around
Everybody's trying to step on their Creator - that's (...)
No matter where you are
Everybody, everybody's going to need
Some kind of ventilator
Some kind of ventilator
Come down and get it
What you going to do about it? What you going to do?
What you going to do about it? What you going to do?
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Producer: Jimmy Miller
Sound engineers: Glyn Johns & Andy Johns
First released on: Exile On Main Street (LP)
Label: Rolling Stones Records (WEA)
U.S. Release date: May 22, 1972 COC 2-2900
U.K. Release date: May 26, 1972 COC 69100
Note: Info taken from TIOMS and NZentgraf
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2016-01-25 11:33 by NICOS.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Ventilator Blues
Written by: Mick Taylor, Mick Jagger & Keith Richards
Recording date: 10th July - late July and 14th October - 23rd November
Recording location: Villefranche-sur-mer, France, Villa Nellcote, basement of KR's house, Rolling Stones Mobile Studio.
Line-up:
Lead vocals: Mick Jagger
Electric guitars: Keith Richards
Lead guitar: Mick Taylor
Background vocals: Keith Richards
Bass: Bill Wyman
Drums: Charlie Watts
Piano: Nicky Hopkins
Sax: Bobby Keys
Trumpet and/or Trombone: Jim Price
Ventilator Blues
When your spine is cracking and your hands they shake
Heart is bursting and your butt's going to break
Woman's cussing, you can hear her scream
Feel like murder in the first degree
Ain't nobody slowing down no way
Everybody's stepping on their accelerator - all right
Don't matter where you are
Everybody's going to need a ventilator
When you're trapped and circled with no second chance
Code of living is your gun in hand, we can't be
Browed by beating, we can't be cowed by words
Messed by cheating, ain't going to ever learn
Everybody walking around
Everybody's trying to step on their Creator - that's (...)
No matter where you are
Everybody, everybody's going to need
Some kind of ventilator
Some kind of ventilator
Come down and get it
What you going to do about it? What you going to do?
What you going to do about it? What you going to do?
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Going to fight it
Producer: Jimmy Miller
Sound engineers: Glyn Johns & Andy Johns
First released on: Exile On Main Street (LP)
Label: Rolling Stones Records (WEA)
U.S. Release date: May 22, 1972 COC 2-2900
U.K. Release date: May 26, 1972 COC 69100
Note: Info taken from TIOMS and NZentgraf
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2016-01-25 11:33 by NICOS.
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues
Posted by:
matxil
()
Date: January 18, 2016 11:23
One of the magic things about Exile On Main Street is how all the songs on it seem so effortless, so simple, but at the same time, so unique and special. I would call Ventilator Blues a highlight of the album, but the truth is all songs are highlights on that album.
It sounds like "just a jam", and that's how it probably came to existence, but it's absolutely perfect, and it shows how good the Stones were at that time.
It sounds like "just a jam", and that's how it probably came to existence, but it's absolutely perfect, and it shows how good the Stones were at that time.
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues
Posted by:
Turner68
()
Date: January 18, 2016 11:37
Exile on Main Street expresses a lot of jubilation and a lot of decay in the life of a rock star in the early 70s. Ventilator blues is about neither, or rather it's about the journey of falling from descent into decay, but before you realize you're really falling, or how far down you have to go. Great song, just like the rest of the songs on the album.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-01-18 11:56 by Turner68.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-01-18 11:56 by Turner68.
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues
Posted by:
marcovandereijk
()
Date: January 18, 2016 11:46
Played on stage in Vancouver 1972.
After that heard in a couple of rehearsals (Toronto 1994, Amsterdam 1999, London 2012)
but never done in concert by the Stones.
One of those songs that have an atmosphere on the album that can never be replicated
on stage, I guess.
Just as long as the guitar plays, let it steal your heart away
After that heard in a couple of rehearsals (Toronto 1994, Amsterdam 1999, London 2012)
but never done in concert by the Stones.
One of those songs that have an atmosphere on the album that can never be replicated
on stage, I guess.
Just as long as the guitar plays, let it steal your heart away
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues
Posted by:
Come On
()
Date: January 18, 2016 11:50
A typical filler! Nowadays it's up there with Beethovens 5th...
2 1 2 0
2 1 2 0
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues
Posted by:
marcovandereijk
()
Date: January 18, 2016 12:27
In "According to the Rolling Stones" Charlie claims that Bobby Keys came up with the
rythm for the song. What made the Glimmer Twins give a writing credit to Mick Taylor
(for the first time)?
Just as long as the guitar plays, let it steal your heart away
rythm for the song. What made the Glimmer Twins give a writing credit to Mick Taylor
(for the first time)?
Just as long as the guitar plays, let it steal your heart away
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues
Posted by:
Magicandloss
()
Date: January 18, 2016 12:42
Quote
Come On
A typical filler! Nowadays it's up there with Beethovens 5th...
Wh...wh..whaaaat?
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues
Posted by:
Mathijs
()
Date: January 18, 2016 12:58
Quote
marcovandereijk
In "According to the Rolling Stones" Charlie claims that Bobby Keys came up with the
rythm for the song. What made the Glimmer Twins give a writing credit to Mick Taylor
(for the first time)?
Even Taylor doesn't know why he recieved the credit!
Mathijs
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues
Posted by:
Silver Dagger
()
Date: January 18, 2016 13:00
This song is very much part of the fabric of Exile On Main Street and an essential lubricant in greasing the album's wheels.
Some fans criticise Exile for carrying passenger songs and usually cite the three tunes after Happy on side 3 as perfect examples of filler material.
I disagree and think that these songs, which all kind of gloriously merge into each other, widen the panoramic roadtrip Americana that the album so brilliantly depicts.
From the shotgun r'n'b of Turd On The Run, the New Orleans voodoo blues vibe of Ventilator Blues to the junked out gospel of Just Wanna See His Face, these songs act as a detour on that roadtrip and take the listener on a journey into the seamier underbelly of America.
More importantly they also help create the dynamic by which the album gains its fabulous momentum with Ventilator Blues the centrepiece. It's one of the blackest sounding songs the Stones ever recorded with Jagger sounding like a southern Baptist preacher or even an aspirant Martin Luther King - "we can't be browed by beating, we can't be cowed by words". This is strong, inspirational stuff from Mick that I could imagine Ray Charles or even James Brown might have covered.
And that hypnotic lead riff from Keith, so simple yet insistant just nails the listener and doesn't let go. Ventilator Blues is an underrated classic and I wish they'd unearth it for the next tour.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-01-18 13:01 by Silver Dagger.
Some fans criticise Exile for carrying passenger songs and usually cite the three tunes after Happy on side 3 as perfect examples of filler material.
I disagree and think that these songs, which all kind of gloriously merge into each other, widen the panoramic roadtrip Americana that the album so brilliantly depicts.
From the shotgun r'n'b of Turd On The Run, the New Orleans voodoo blues vibe of Ventilator Blues to the junked out gospel of Just Wanna See His Face, these songs act as a detour on that roadtrip and take the listener on a journey into the seamier underbelly of America.
More importantly they also help create the dynamic by which the album gains its fabulous momentum with Ventilator Blues the centrepiece. It's one of the blackest sounding songs the Stones ever recorded with Jagger sounding like a southern Baptist preacher or even an aspirant Martin Luther King - "we can't be browed by beating, we can't be cowed by words". This is strong, inspirational stuff from Mick that I could imagine Ray Charles or even James Brown might have covered.
And that hypnotic lead riff from Keith, so simple yet insistant just nails the listener and doesn't let go. Ventilator Blues is an underrated classic and I wish they'd unearth it for the next tour.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-01-18 13:01 by Silver Dagger.
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues
Posted by:
drewmaster
()
Date: January 18, 2016 14:45
Ugghh, listening to this dreary track is like being trapped in a dank, windowless basement, gasping for some fresh air and sunshine. Make it stop, please.
Drew
Drew
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues
Posted by:
DandelionPowderman
()
Date: January 18, 2016 14:55
Quote
Silver Dagger
This song is very much part of the fabric of Exile On Main Street and an essential lubricant in greasing the album's wheels.
Some fans criticise Exile for carrying passenger songs and usually cite the three tunes after Happy on side 3 as perfect examples of filler material.
I disagree and think that these songs, which all kind of gloriously merge into each other, widen the panoramic roadtrip Americana that the album so brilliantly depicts.
From the shotgun r'n'b of Turd On The Run, the New Orleans voodoo blues vibe of Ventilator Blues to the junked out gospel of Just Wanna See His Face, these songs act as a detour on that roadtrip and take the listener on a journey into the seamier underbelly of America.
More importantly they also help create the dynamic by which the album gains its fabulous momentum with Ventilator Blues the centrepiece. It's one of the blackest sounding songs the Stones ever recorded with Jagger sounding like a southern Baptist preacher or even an aspirant Martin Luther King - "we can't be browed by beating, we can't be cowed by words". This is strong, inspirational stuff from Mick that I could imagine Ray Charles or even James Brown might have covered.
And that hypnotic lead riff from Keith, so simple yet insistant just nails the listener and doesn't let go. Ventilator Blues is an underrated classic and I wish they'd unearth it for the next tour.
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues
Posted by:
Come On
()
Date: January 18, 2016 15:13
Quote
MagicandlossQuote
Come On
A typical filler! Nowadays it's up there with Beethovens 5th...
Wh...wh..whaaaat?
I you ask any nowadays-fans of Stones that is, and especially Exile...
2 1 2 0
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues
Posted by:
latebloomer
()
Date: January 18, 2016 15:22
Absolutely cracking track that has a special place in my heart because it's the song that turned my son onto the Stones...play Ventilator again, Mom! Sure thing son, anytime. 
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues
Posted by:
DandelionPowderman
()
Date: January 18, 2016 15:25
It was a stand out track back when I first put on this album as a 12 year old in 1983. This one and Rocks Off.
It sounded so dark, almost scary a dangerous. When the horns kicked in it really took me places.
An absolutely magnificent album track!
It sounded so dark, almost scary a dangerous. When the horns kicked in it really took me places.
An absolutely magnificent album track!
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues (New)
Posted by:
ChrisL
()
Date: January 18, 2016 15:34
I echo DandelionPowderman. I bought it around the same time, at around the same age.
Side B and Ventilator Blues were my favorite songs and I played mostly those songs over and over.
It always annoyed me that the sleeve had no notes on players on Ventilator Blues because I just wanted to know more about it.
Side B and Ventilator Blues were my favorite songs and I played mostly those songs over and over.
It always annoyed me that the sleeve had no notes on players on Ventilator Blues because I just wanted to know more about it.
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues
Posted by:
Silver Dagger
()
Date: January 18, 2016 15:36
Quote
DandelionPowderman
It was a stand out track back when I first put on this album as a 12 year old in 1983. This one and Rocks Off.
It sounded so dark, almost scary a dangerous. When the horns kicked in it really took me places.
An absolutely magnificent album track!
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues
Posted by:
runaway
()
Date: January 18, 2016 17:59
I loved "Exile the album" as whole when it came out and still do, The track Ventilator Blues is another jewel created in Frankenstein's basement in the South of France.
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues (New)
Posted by:
Hairball
()
Date: January 18, 2016 18:19
While a part of the big picture that is Exile, it is the weak link and/or filler amongst them all imo.
Some will cite Sweet Black Angel or Just Wanna See His face as unnecessary, but no...it is the sludgy Ventilator.
_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......
Some will cite Sweet Black Angel or Just Wanna See His face as unnecessary, but no...it is the sludgy Ventilator.
_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues (New)
Posted by:
matxil
()
Date: January 18, 2016 19:12
If someone would hold a pistol against my head and force me to say what's the weakest link on Exile On Main Street, I would end up saying Turd On The Run, but I would regret it the rest of my life. Mentioning any other song, however, would be impossible. Exile on Main Street without Ventilator Blues is not Exile On Main Street anymore.
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues (New)
Posted by:
pmk251
()
Date: January 18, 2016 19:44
Some time ago now, when I used to fool around and do stuff like this, I assembled a collection of songs that I generally called Exile Blues. I know it is not all blues, but like the sound from and the songs are representative of this era. The song list goes like this:
Stop Breaking Down
Shake Your Hips
Casino Boogie
Ventilator Blues
I Ain't Lying
Bluesberry Jam
Tumbling Dice
Hide Your Love
Still A Fool
Hillside Blues
Sweet Black Angel
Jiving Sister Fanny
Good Time Women
Silver Train
Travellin' Man
Turd On The Run
Torn & Frayed
Stop Breaking Down
Shake Your Hips
Casino Boogie
Ventilator Blues
I Ain't Lying
Bluesberry Jam
Tumbling Dice
Hide Your Love
Still A Fool
Hillside Blues
Sweet Black Angel
Jiving Sister Fanny
Good Time Women
Silver Train
Travellin' Man
Turd On The Run
Torn & Frayed
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues (New)
Posted by:
stewedandkeefed
()
Date: January 18, 2016 21:14
Ventilator Blues is amazing and it all has to do with the rhythm that Charlie reputedly couldn't play and needed Bobby Keys to clap out for him as they recorded. In the extras for Stones In Exile, Jack White explains the role of the rhythm to this song. As the opening riff is being played and Charlie taps the high-hat, everything tells you that a bass drum is coming to kick off the rhythm. It never arrives. Instead Ventilator Blues careens along in a totally different sense of time than any other Stones cut. For that reason alone, it is brilliant.
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues (New)
Posted by:
drewmaster
()
Date: January 18, 2016 21:31
Quote
pmk251
Some time ago now, when I used to fool around and do stuff like this, I assembled a collection of songs that I generally called Exile Blues. I know it is not all blues, but like the sound from and the songs are representative of this era. The song list goes like this:
Stop Breaking Down
Shake Your Hips
Casino Boogie
Ventilator Blues
I Ain't Lying
Bluesberry Jam
Tumbling Dice
Hide Your Love
Still A Fool
Hillside Blues
Sweet Black Angel
Jiving Sister Fanny
Good Time Women
Silver Train
Travellin' Man
Turd On The Run
Torn & Frayed
Nice list, pmk251, and some great tracks here. I've always had an issue with people who call Exile a rock and roll album, and the fact that 8 of the tracks on your list are from the album helps to prove my point. Although there are tracks on Exile that would certainly qualify as rock and roll, Exile is ultimately NOT a rock and roll album. It is a pastiche of American roots music, with a lot of blues, some country, some gospel, and some rock and roll thrown in for good measure. I realize that these categories are all inter-related, and that Stones' tracks rarely fall purely into one category, but to call Exile a rock and roll album is not accurate, IMO.
How many people hear Ventilator Blues and want to get up and dance? Show of hands, please...
Drew
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues (New)
Posted by:
LeonidP
()
Date: January 18, 2016 22:08
Such a great tune! One of my favorites off the album (along w/ about 6 others). Fantastic mesmerizing riff and drumming, and with some of Mick's all time top vocals! His screaming build up comes in perfectly with the strong chorus, it gives me douche-chills every time!
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues (New)
Posted by:
Rosto
()
Date: January 18, 2016 22:37
For more than 40 years in my Stones top ten...
Let it rock!
Let it rock!
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues
Posted by:
Turner68
()
Date: January 19, 2016 00:31
Quote
MathijsQuote
marcovandereijk
In "According to the Rolling Stones" Charlie claims that Bobby Keys came up with the
rythm for the song. What made the Glimmer Twins give a writing credit to Mick Taylor
(for the first time)?
Even Taylor doesn't know why he recieved the credit!
Mathijs
Jagger/Richards are notorious for being overly generous with songwriting credits for the other band members...
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues
Posted by:
DandelionPowderman
()
Date: January 19, 2016 01:15
Quote
Turner68Quote
MathijsQuote
marcovandereijk
In "According to the Rolling Stones" Charlie claims that Bobby Keys came up with the
rythm for the song. What made the Glimmer Twins give a writing credit to Mick Taylor
(for the first time)?
Even Taylor doesn't know why he recieved the credit!
Mathijs
Jagger/Richards are notorious for being overly generous with songwriting credits for the other band members...
Imagine how Taylor felt on the first pressings of Metamorphosis!
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues
Posted by:
Naturalust
()
Date: January 19, 2016 02:01
Great great tune. It's got a nasty groove that explodes into a perfect chorus with awesome horn and piano embellishment throughout. Certainly one of the most Exile-ish tunes on the whole record, especially the way it evokes the hot and dank basement at Nellcote.
There is a short clip of this tune on the Stones in Exile DVD where the intro guitar lick is played slightly different from the Exile version (and even better imo). Does anyone know the source for that? Thanks.
There is a short clip of this tune on the Stones in Exile DVD where the intro guitar lick is played slightly different from the Exile version (and even better imo). Does anyone know the source for that? Thanks.
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues (New)
Posted by:
71Tele
()
Date: January 19, 2016 02:35
Back for a moment just to say how much I love this track. Like lots of great blues, it's deceptively repetitive. The complexity is not in the chord progression or riff, but in the rhythm and interplay of instruments. Charlie's drum pattern, for example: Pure genius. Mick Taylor given a writing credit(!), though apparently even he doesn't understand why he got one on this track, as opposed to others. One of the minor masterpieces that make EOMS the Stones' most enduring work, imo.
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues (New)
Posted by:
Swayed1967
()
Date: January 19, 2016 07:44
When ranking the big four (BB, LIB, SF and EXILE) I'm among the slight majority who give the nod to Exile but it wouldn't even be debatable if they had done this song right. Ventilator Blues is a powerhouse tune that should be the crown jewel in the Stones canon - at the very least the highlight of Exile. It's not though mainly because the riff on the album version is just too robotic sounding. The looser bootleg/rehearsal versions with the riff a little down in the mix are vastly superior. And for a song in which Taylor receives a writing credit he's underutilized (I'm not a Taylorite by any stretch but in the rehearsals of this song he shines).
Should've become a warhorse but it didn't work out that way...
Should've become a warhorse but it didn't work out that way...
Re: Track Talk: Ventilator Blues (New)
Posted by:
DandelionPowderman
()
Date: January 19, 2016 11:44
Quote
pmk251
Some time ago now, when I used to fool around and do stuff like this, I assembled a collection of songs that I generally called Exile Blues. I know it is not all blues, but like the sound from and the songs are representative of this era. The song list goes like this:
Stop Breaking Down
Shake Your Hips
Casino Boogie
Ventilator Blues
I Ain't Lying
Bluesberry Jam
Tumbling Dice
Hide Your Love
Still A Fool
Hillside Blues
Sweet Black Angel
Jiving Sister Fanny
Good Time Women
Silver Train
Travellin' Man
Turd On The Run
Torn & Frayed
From the Brian era.
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