“Charlie, you were like a brother to me. In the band and in life." - Bill Wyman, August 2021

  photo by Derek Hudson

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-09-03 21:53 by exilestones.

Backstage 1982
photo Denis O'Regan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-09-05 18:28 by exilestones.

Those are two Glimmer Twins, right there, Charlie and Keef. Great photo. Keef's hair looks freshly done.

jb

Quote
jbwelda
Those are two Glimmer Twins, right there, Charlie and Keef. Great photo. Keef's hair looks freshly done.

jb

It looks like they are ready to go on stage in a little while. The hair is ready, but the stage clothes are not on yet. It must have been a little chilly backstage.

Did Charlie wear the same shirt on every date of the 1981 US tour?

Interesting read and nice photos:

"Exile on Green Street: 40 year ago, the Rolling Stones rocked Worcester's Sir Morgan’s Cove"

[amp-telegram-com.cdn.ampproject.org]

Quote
django
Interesting read and nice photos:

"Exile on Green Street: 40 years ago, the Rolling Stones rocked Worcester's Sir Morgan’s Cove"


[amp-telegram-com.cdn.ampproject.org]

Thanks for the article! We got some new information here.



In 1981, the Rolling Stones rocked a tiny club in Worcester. Here's how it happened.




CRAIG S. SEMON | TELEGRAM & GAZETTE | 4:45 pm EDT September 10, 2021

WORCESTER — Forty years ago Tuesday, this city, for one night, was the envy of the rock 'n' roll world.


And even four decades later, the story about how the Rolling Stones rolled onto Green Street and played a small-club gig at Sir Morgan’s Cove gathers no moss.

Prior to Worcester’s British Invasion of the highest order, the Cove had a reputation as a gritty rock club. On Sept. 14, 1981, it became a legendary rock club.

Holed up in their practice space at Long View Farms Studio in North Brookfield since mid-August, the Stones were itching to play live in a small club.

And Sir Morgan’s fit the bill.

“The word that Worcester would be the site of the first Rolling Stones concert in three years raced around town at a speed that rivaled Keith Richards’ ability to blister notes during a fevered guitar solo,” the front-page story on the Worcester Telegram declared the morning of Sept. 15, 1981. “Fans of all sizes and descriptions flocked to the streets in search of tickets — And wild horses wouldn’t have kept them away.”

The night Worcester got its “ya-ya’s out” started at 6:20 a.m. when WAAF 107.3 FM disc-jockey Dave Bernstein announced — from the station’s studio on the second floor of the Cocaine Reality Building at 34 Mechanic St. — that the Rolling Stones would be playing a low-key informal gig somewhere in New England.

"I couldn’t believe it, because going to school that day I had no idea I would be seeing the Rolling Stones that night. - NEIL CAVANAUGH, THEN A BURNCOT HIGH SENIOR

He added that WAAF would be on the streets in and around Worcester giving away all the tickets to people over 20 wearing a WAAF T-shirt or displaying a WAAF bumper sticker.

More: Rare, 40-year-old photos of the Rolling Stones rocking Sir Morgan’s Cove unearthed

In no time, the city streets were filled with people wearing black WAAF T-shirts or covered with WAAF bumper stickers, while others cruised the roadways in cars decorated with stickers and homemade signs, all in an effort to score free Stones tickets.



Stones agreed to 'secret' club gig

In the fall of 1981, Rob Barnett was the music director for WAAF 107.3 FM. It was Barnett who made the proposal to the Stones to play a “secret” (and free) club gig. It would be presented by the radio station. The proposal was so crazy that somehow Mick Jagger and the Stones agreed to it.

A few nights earlier, Ian “Stu” Stewart, the Rolling Stones’ road manager and pianist, arranged a meeting at the Paxton Inn to hammer out details for what would become Worcester’s proudest rock ‘n’ roll moment and “one of the best radio station promotions ever,” Barnett said.

Jagger wanted the Stones to play in a small club before they went on tour. After Stewart surveyed local venues, the backdoor leading to the stage at Sir Morgan’s Cove sealed the deal, while the Union Jack outside the building’s front didn’t hurt matters either.

In his memoirs “Diary of a Studio Owner,” the late Gil Markle, owner of Long View Farm Studio, stressed the importance of the Stones gig at Sir Morgan’s Cove to Jagger.

“Mick had good reason to be preoccupied. He needed this performance at Sir Morgan's Cove. Philadelphia and nearly 200,000 seats — all sold out — were now only 10 days away. Philadelphia was ready for the Rolling Stones, but the Stones weren't ready for Philadelphia — not ready at all,” Markle insisted. “It had been three years since the band had last played in front of a live audience, and that's a long time. You forget how to do things over a period of three years.”

Markle said the Stones needed a shared victory, a morale boost, a shot in the arm. The Stones needed the people of Worcester.

“They (The Stones) needed to be adored as a unit once again — welded by a worshipping and friendly crowd back into a band — back into the fighting, proud, rock 'n' roll group which most people felt was the best in the world,” Markle continued. “They needed to see that the old magic was still there, intact, and working. They needed the people to tell them so. There were people enough in Worcester ready to do just that — too many people, in fact.”

Markle said Jagger was calling all the shots and could cancel the Cove gig — even at the very last minute — upon the band's arrival if Green Street looked too weird or the crowd too crazy.

“Mick always had that as an option, and it was commonly accepted that the decision would be at that point his to make, and his alone. A last-ditch safety hatch,” Markle said. “Cancellation would be a disaster, too. Somehow this show had to happen. The Cockroaches had to play in Worcester tonight.”

Resembling a throwaway coat-check receipt more than a prized concert ticket, the matchbook size, laser-etched cardboard vouchers for the Stones’ Sir Morgan’s Cove gig had a red number stamped on the top and the words “THE COCKROACHES” (aka the Rolling Stones' not-so-secret, secret moniker for the evening).

The wording was all in bold, upper-case type in front of swirly blue design and followed by a silver strip (most likely to thwart off ticket forgers trying to Xerox duplicate ducats) and a red dotted line with the words “BLUE SUNDAY” (although the show was on a Monday), also uppercase, underneath.

Ticket drops included the Worcester Common, the large parking lot across from Alan Bilzerian's clothing store on Highland Street, Kurlan Music Center on West Mountain Street, Lincoln Plaza, Mechanics Hall and Webster Square.


WAAF vs. WBCN a FM radio war

As for bitter radio rivalries go, WAAF and WBCN 104.1 FM, aka “The Rock of Boston,” was the rock radio equivalent to the Red Sox and Yankees.

And ‘AAF getting the Stones to play Worcester made ‘BCN go bonkers, so much so that they did everything in their power to sabotage the show by giving out the name and location of the secret gig on air in hopes that the crowd would be too big and unruly to control — forcing the city, or the Stones, to pull the plug.

“A little Cincinnati in Worcester tonight!” WBCN (and Worcester native) disc-jockey Mark Parenteau said on the air, drawing comparisons to the crowd situation expected on Green Street to the Dec. 3, 1979, tragedy when 11 Who fans were crushed to death outside the entry doors of Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum.

As a result of WBCN’s tactics, an estimated 4,000 people lined up on both sides of Green Street waiting for the Stones’ arrival.

Bob Goodell — the regional vice president of Cumulus Media: WXLO, The Pike and NASH Icon 98.9 Worcester/Boston and WMAS and WHLL Springfield — was an account executive at WAAF in 1981.

“On ‘AAF, we never ever disclosed where the show was going to be because the fear was there would be a massive crowd and the Stones weren’t going to play,” Goodell said. “‘BCN wanted to see the show cancelled in Worcester and played in Boston. ’BCN was trying to derail it. They were stirring things up.”

Looking back, Goodell said it’s a miracle the Stones show happened.

“The night of the show, I went with a small group of people from the radio station and we parked over on Water Street somewhere and we cut across. And the closer we got, the louder the crowd got,” Goodell said. “The crowd was peaceful, but they were excited. They’re on the roofs of the buildings holding up signs and we all looked at each other and said, 'This is never going to happen.’”

Goodell said he thinks what saved the show was “an act of God.”

“Around 11:30 p.m., hail and lightning and rain pelted that crowd and people, a lot of them, got off the buildings,” Goodell said. “The crowd thinned out a little bit. They looked a little more like wet dogs than this exuberant group that they were before.”

Under age and watching the Stones

On Sept. 14, 1981, Neil Cavanaugh was an underage, baby-faced Burncoat High School senior standing 6-foot-4 and sporting a bulbous afro that made the top of his head 2 or 3 inches taller.

“I come home from school and I walk in the house and one of my sisters said, ‘Hey, they’re giving away tickets to the Rolling Stones show on Lincoln Street. All you need is an ID and a WAAF shirt on.’ So I had the shirt and I grabbed one of my older brother’s IDs and I went down to Lincoln Street,” Cavanaugh recalled. “In the parking lot of Kelly Funeral Home, they were giving away two tickets. You just had to show an ID. I got the two tickets and I was just over the moon."

When he got in the Cove, Cavanaugh said he was scared.

“You couldn’t even move. And this was shortly after the Who concert tragedy. I was thinking of that,” Cavanaugh said. “I was thinking if I fall, I’m not going to be able to get up. There’s no room. People are packed like sardines. Luckily, I’m taller than most. I wasn’t really lost in the shuffle. But I was nervous. I was really nervous.”

Cavanaugh, who was close enough to the stage to slap hands with Jagger and Richards, was also worried all night that someone would discover he was too young to be there and kick him out.

“I just went to the front of the stage and I stood there,” Cavanaugh said. “I didn’t drink. I didn’t socialize much. I didn’t want to draw attention to myself. I just wanted to behave myself, right in front of the stage. I just had my spot. And I stood there for a long while.”

“You felt like you were going back in time seeing the Stones as they once were, as when they were starting out a la the Beatles playing in Hamburg and Liverpool. - ROBERT CONNOLLY, REPORTER, WORCESER TELEGRAM

Newspaper reporters on the inside In 1981, Robert P. Connolly was a general assignment reporter for the Worcester Telegram and John Fraser was an entertainment columnist for the Evening Gazette. They were likely the only reporters inside the Cove that night.

“I don’t remember whether I was assigned, trying to get in (to see the Stones), or I just decided I was going to make it my mission,” Connolly said. “But I really did feel strongly that here you have a historic and national event occurring in the paper’s backyard and we deserve to be there as much or more than any other media outlet.”

In the case of Fraser, who died last September, he called Sir Morgan’s Cove owner Joe Faucher Jr. for a favor. He told the rock critic to be at a specific door at a specific time and, sure enough, the door opened at the designated time, a big hand grabbed Fraser by the shoulder, pulled him inside and the door slammed shut.

To get in, Connolly had to plea his case to legendary San Francisco-based rock concert promoter Bill Graham, who owned the 1981 Stones tour, and was screening people at the door.

“As soon as he opened the door, I knew who he was. And the first thing out of his mouth, of course, was, ‘sorry, no press,’” Connolly recalled.

Another reporter was also there trying to gain admittance. He began to list all of the Graham promoted concerts he has seen — Grateful Dead at Fillmore West, Allman Brothers at Fillmore East, Lou Reed and Velvet Underground.

"He was trying to be like they were best buddies,” Connolly said.

Taking a much different and desperate approach, Connolly blurted out to Graham, “This is a historic, amazing night for Worcester and I wasn’t looking to review the concert. I was just looking to extend our coverage into the actual event itself and writing about this amazing night in Worcester history — The Rolling Stones playing a tiny club on Green Street.”

Graham listened to both pitches and told the two reporters that he would come back with an answer, Connolly recalled.

Five minutes before the show started, Graham swung open the door, pointed to Connolly and said, ‘You, you’re in.” He then pointed to the other reporter and said, “You, you’re not.”

World’s greatest rock and roll band Connolly shouldered his way down to the middle of the crowd, waving his reporter's notebook around like a police badge to get closer. Connolly found his spot and began to work on Tuesday’s front-page story.

“I’m a rock music fan. I’m an amateur guitar player. It was great to see the Stones,” Connolly said. “But you also have your game face on and, technically, you’re working and thinking about what time is deadline. How much of the show can I see? And when do I have to file?”

“Mick came up to me and said, ‘Just watch my legs so the girls don’t grab them’ - PHILIP "PINKY" GIROUARD, ON CROWD CONTROL
Before the Stones were done playing, Connolly called Telegram assistant city editor Jim Fox on a pay phone in the back of the club and, after a deep breath, dictated the story off the top of his head. It was about this time that it hit him what was going on at Sir Morgan’s Cove.

“This is the world’s greatest rock and roll band playing in a little club in Worcester,” Connolly said. “You felt like you were going back in time seeing the Stones as they once were, as when they were starting out a la the Beatles playing in Hamburg and Liverpool. One of the quintessential British Invasion rock bands is playing in Worcester and this is probably a lot like when they started out when they played for 200-300 people. This was insane. The night stands on its own as a musical event and significant cultural historical event for Worcester.”

Connolly wasn’t the only one working on deadline that night.

The Stones played the Cove for free Faucher, the club's owner, not only scored the gig of a lifetime, he didn’t pay a penny even though Stewart told him, “Mick Jagger doesn’t like to play for nothing.”

The Stones finally did play for free and Faucher recalls the exchange the men had like it was yesterday.

"What would you expect for something like this?" Faucher asked Stewart.

"The last time we did this in Toronto, they gave us (receipts from) the bar," Stewart answered.

"Well, I can’t do that," Faucher said. ‘It breaks my heart to say no to the Stones but I’m a small-business man. I can’t just give you the bar. That’s how I make my living."

“OK, whatever,” Stewart shrugged.

As for up-and-coming bands playing the Cove after that immortal gig, Faucher would often ask, "I didn’t pay for the Stones, why should I pay you?"

They arrived in a Winnebago Around 11:30 p.m., a 35-foot Winnebago transporting the Stones came down Green Street and squeezed into the alley between Sir Morgan’s Cove and a neighboring garage.

Paul “Tiny” Stacy (the late co-owner of the Blue Plate Lounge in Holden) and Philip “Pinky” Girouard served as Sir Morgan’s Cove first (and only) line of defense if the crowd got out of hand inside.

Stacy stood in front of Jagger, while Girouard was off to the right, in front of Richards. Both were keeping an eye out on the crowd.

“I talked to Jagger and he said to me, ‘Look, I want to be able to get into the crowd. I want to touch them but you need somebody there so they can’t pull me down in the crowd,’ ” Faucher said. “So I put Paul there and I said to him, ‘Here’s the deal. Here’s what you got to do. You got to stop anybody from pulling Mick into the crowd but he wants them to be part of the show.’”

Despite Tiny being in front of Jagger, the frontman did have a verbal exchange with Girouard.

“Mick came up to me and said, ‘Just watch my legs so the girls don’t grab them,’ because it would trip him up because he’s not paying attention to his feet,” Girouard recalled. “I said, ‘I got it.'”

Girouard said the crowd was pushing him and Tiny against the stage.

“I remember I had some bruises around my knees and my thighs,” Girouard recalled. “It was like a couple of tons of weight just coming forward just mashing people. The little girls in front were definitely getting mashed. We pushed them back a few times so they didn’t get crushed."

The Stones did not allow cameras or sound recorders into the Cove, though Faucher said a rough-sounding tape may exist.

“Anybody who had a camera it had to be left at the door,” Faucher said. “They inspected the sound system to make sure there was no recording devices.”

One thing that did get in was a folding buck knife, opened with the blade up.

“Tiny pulled this buck knife out of a guy’s hand that was up on stage and was gonna stab Mick Jagger,” Girouard said. “The guy was just a little skinny guy who wanted to be famous."

Faucher said the rest of the crowd inside the club was great.

“Everyone was so awestruck. It was so surreal. People were almost in shock. It was incredible. They were well-behaved. They respected what was going on,” he said. “I was in that club for almost 20 years and I had some great shows. I had Joe Cocker. I had Clarence Clemons and the Red Bank Rockers. I had Muddy Waters. I had a lot of top bands in there. But I never saw anything like this.”

Outside, it was even crazier, “You had 10,000 people out there (both the Worcester Telegram and Evening Gazette reported 4,000). You had the Worcester Police tactical force in full riot gear with face shields, battle batons, marching down Green Street,” Faucher said.

He said police just wanted to keep the peace.

"There was a show of force, but they just moved the crowd back, kept everyone safe," Faucher said. "The police did a great job, great job.”

Faucher had the best idea of the night — to open the two front doors of the club so the people on Green Street could hear the Stones play.

“The police wanted to keep the doors shut," he said. "They were afraid the crowd would rush the building and I said, ‘Look, let me open the doors. They could hear the band.’

"Everybody there was just there to party and have a good time. Nobody was looking for trouble. It was a great night.”

In the end, 11 people were arrested in the vicinity of Sir Morgan’s Cove for being disorderly, disturbing the peace, drinking in public and throwing empty beer bottles. And WAAF paid the $5,000 for extra police details on Green Street.

Exciting 90-minute set At midnight, the Stones took the tiny stage at the Cove and delivered an exciting 90-minute set.

“I want to introduce the members of the regular Monday night band in Worcester — Blue Monday and the Cockroaches,” a 38-year-old Jagger said to the crowd.

Forty years later, Connolly and Fraser’s stories published in the Worcester Telegram and Evening Gazette are the best documentation of what happened inside the Cove that night.

“Watching the Rolling Stones play from a distance of 10 to 15 feet is a lot like standing over Picasso’s shoulders as he applies the finishing brush strokes to a canvas,” Connolly wrote. “From the moment the Stones took the stage at Sir Morgan’s Cove late Monday night, both the band and the audience seemed to share the feeling that this was a singular event.”

“It was a shakedown cruise, a quick one around the bay before the Rolling Stones open their first tour in three years on Sept. 25 in Philadelphia,” Fraser wrote. “It was rock ‘n’ roll at its absolute rollicking best: A bit from here and a bit from there: from the new, acclaimed 'Tattoo You' album and last year’s (1980’s) 'Emotional Rescue' all the way back to 'Under My Thumb' from 'Aftermath' and Bo Diddley’s 'Mona' from 'Now.'”

The Stones opened the set with "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love," the Solomon Burke classic the band first recorded in 1965, followed by “Mona,” before kicking into the first Stones song of the night, “Under My Thumb.”

“Some sang along with well-known numbers like 'Under My Thumb' while others chose to silently — almost reverently — mouth the words,” Connolly wrote. “It seemed as if the fans — and, at times, the band itself — couldn’t quite grasp the notion of the Rolling Stones performing in a small — and somewhat shopworn — night club.”

“The crowd was remarkably gentle and good-natured,” Fraser added. “Perhaps, because they couldn’t believe this was actually going on.”

Jagger, Richards and Ronnie Wood shook hands with fans up front. At one point, Wood handed the beer he was sipping to someone in the audience and said, “Be sure you save me some of it.”

“Mick Jagger, always, the band’s focal point and looking half his age, pranced from one side of the small stage to the other during the instrumental breaks,” Connolly wrote. “Jagger laughed and joked with the audience and reached out to grab the hands of fans that were straining to brush the arm of rock’s enfant terrible.”

Fraser also pontificated about Jagger’s remarkable stage presence — “Make no mistake, even in a sport shirt and alter a T-shirt and even alter bare-chested, the man’s a wonder. The costumes he wears in major concerts are an affectation — the charisma is his alone.


“His gestures appear grotesque when frozen in a still photograph,” Fraser said of Jagger. “But, in action, he jerks from strutting in near-spastic rooster-like fashion to a series of arm movements of Nijinsky-like grace. His cutting singing tore through the classic Richards-Wood guitar work like a ripsaw through oak as he pranced about the small stage mugging to the audience and joking between songs.”

At the Cove, the Stones would go on to play live staples that included “Miss You,” “Shattered,” “When the Whip Comes Down” and “Honky Tonk Women,” as well as playing live debuts of “Let It Bleed,” “She’s So Cold” and “Start Me Up,” the latter being one of three songs from the then three-week-old release, “Tattoo You” (with the other two songs being “Neighbours” and “Hang Fire”).

“As the band played 'Hang Fire,' Jagger, Wood and Richards exchanged knowing smiles as they ran around trying to reproduce the harmony vocal passage as it was record on the new album 'Tattoo You,'” Connolly wrote. “Between songs Jagger would run to a song list that was taped to a post at the front of the stage. Then, with a graceful pivot, he would turn his back to the audience and jokingly encourage his guitarists or shout, 'Are you ready?'”


After “Start Me Up” and “Brown Sugar,” Jagger introduced “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” which closed the set.


“Imagine: for an hour and 45 minutes at Sir Morgan’s Cove, for goodness sake, Jagger pranced and Keith Richards, the heart of the Rolling Stones, chomped through raucous boogie rhythms,” Fraser said.


"No one, probably, at that moment, could have guessed that it would be so legendary in Worcester folklore. - CLIFF GOODWIN, CONCERT ATTENDEE

Stones in their true element And those who were lucky enough to get into the Cove that night agreed with the local music critics.

“You’re seeing the Stones in their true element, which is a small club, which is where they really hailed from. That’s where they shine,” attendee Cliff Goodwin said. “It was a little bit ragtag but that’s totally legal in Stones-land.

"It had rough edges but that’s rock ‘n’ roll. The Stones epitomized that. That’s what made it so cool. No one, probably, at that moment, could have guessed that it would be so legendary in Worcester folklore.”


“Almost 40 years later, I still feel the lump in my throat from every second of that night,” Barnett added. “I still feel the intense heat of 300 bodies pressed together so close. We were all one with the band.”

“I think we can unequivocally say that it was Worcester’s proudest rock ‘n’ roll moment,” Goodell insisted. “You had Paul McCartney at the Centrum and the Who, but they didn’t play a nightclub. The Rolling Stones at Sir Morgan’s Cove, how can you top that?”


"It really was warm inside there, but it was a good gig. - MICK JAGGER, ON THE SIR MORGAN'S COVE GIG

They were off to Philadelphia Ten days after they played their “warm-up” club gig at Sir Morgan’s Cove, the Rolling Stones conducted a farewell press conference at Worcester Airport.

“It was really nice — a bit hot. It really was warm inside there, but it was a good gig,” Jagger said of performing at the Cove.


Stones' bassist Bill Wyman called the Sir Morgan’s Cove performance “a great time.”

“It was like when we first started out,” Wyman added.

In the Oct. 29, 1981, issue of Rolling Stone magazine, Richards was quoted as saying the following about the Sir Morgan’s Club gig.

“It was great,” Richards said. “Probably better than we thought, because it was our first gig, and technically it was real rough. Also it was so hot, and there was no air. But the audience was great; we all had a good time. It wasn’t a difficult gig, really. It was as if we were playing the Station Hotel in Richmond in 1963. You don’t forget those things. It was sort of like, ‘Well, we did it then, we can do it now.’“

The next day, the Stones played in front of more than 180,000 fans at the John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the first date of a 40-city U.S. stadium tour, a tour that was born in North Brookfield and nurtured in Worcester.

Minutes before the Stones flew off, Jagger bid a fond farewell to Worcester.

“We’d like to say thanks very much to the people of this area who have been so hospitable to us for the last six weeks,” Jagger said. “And, some of you people have been inviting us back, so we’ll probably come back.”


The Stones never did come back.

As the Stones have taught us, you can’t always get what you want but on Sept. 14, 1981 Worcester had what the whole world wanted in its backyard, the Rolling Stones, up close and personal, and playing in a small club.

Originally Published 5:03 am EDT September 10, 2021
Updated 4:45 pm EDT September 10, 2021

Here are some notes from Discogs about Tattoo You previously released LPs (not the upcoming release).

"SP" suffix in label matrix denotes a Specialty Records Corporation pressing.

"E A S T" is embossed around the center hole on side B.

The initials "RL" etched next to the MASTERDISK stamp in the runouts indicate that the original lacquers were cut by Bob Ludwig.

"EDP" within an oval circle stamped in runouts denotes that metalwork (plating) was done by Europadisk.

Track A6 title on rear sleeve: "Neighbors"

Issued with a heavy card stock custom-printed inner sleeve with artwork and credits.

Some copies with promotional gold stamp on back cover.

Some copies may include hype sticker, with cat. #:
"Includes the hit singles Waiting On A Friend and Start Me Up"

Artist on jacket front: "Rolling Stones"
Artist on jacket spine, labels: "The Rolling Stones"

Recorded at EMI, Paris & Nassau, Bahamas.

Another Specialty pressing without "SP" on labels is at Tattoo You.

[www.discogs.com]

Sorry. I know I’m in the minority but it’s just embarrassing to look at those pics now. It might of been cool at the time but I’d rather forget anything about the 80s. Bad music bad cars bad politics bad food.

.....Huh come back in 40 years and let
us know what ya think of the days we's livin' thru at thee moment



ROCKMAN

Mick Jagger with The Hooters outside The Who concert in Philadelphia.
September 1982


MIck Jagger's "Hard Woman" was re-recorded with The Hooters as backing band
probably in New York, early Summer 1985.
Line-up ‘Hard Woman (new version): Mick Jagger (voc) / David Uosikkinen (dr) / Eric
Bazilian (gtr) / John Milley (gtr) / Rob Miller (bass) / Rob Hyman (keyb)

HARD WOMAN (Single Version) [soundcloud.com]


LIVE AID HELPED PUSH HOOTERS INTO LIMELIGHT

In 1980, The Hooters unique blend of ska, reggae, and rock was a fresh sound in the clubs and on Philly radio.

The Hooters had been popular in Philadelphia for years. So when their hometown was chosen to host Live Aid,
their manager was insistent they be included on the bill, despite the fact they had never had a hit.

The Hooters were chosen to open the historic Live-Aid concert in Philadelphia.

The band now has three hits to its credit, All You Zombies, And We Danced and Day by Day.

Eric Bazilian and fellow Hooter Rob Hyman were already popular among rock insiders. Producer Rick Chertoff
called them in to help write and play on Cyndi Lauper's She's So Unusual LP, and he had them rework Hard Woman,
a song from Mick Jagger's solo record, shortly before Live Aid.

"It was exactly a week before Live Aid," Bazilian said, glowing at the memory of having worked with Jagger.
"It was really cool because at Live Aid, we were kind of chummy with Mick."

In July 1985, Mick Jagger re-recorded Hard Woman with The Hooters for a single. The music video was released
by Digital Productions in 1985.

Rolling Stone magazine named The Hooters the "Best New Band of the Year" in 1985.


Mick Jagger - Hard Woman (1985) (LaserDisc 1080p Rip)
[www.youtube.com]

Rolling Stones and Los Angeles 1981


To do the second show in LA, they had to work around USC Trojans football.
After the 10/9/81 Friday night show at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum,
there was a USC vs Arizona college football game. Then everything had to be
reconnected and set up for the 10/11 Sunday show.

The stage was not that low for the concerts. They have killed Prince if the stage
was really that low!




Julius Holt celebrates Arizona’s upset of No. 1 USC in Los Angeles in 1981.
USC was ranked No. 1 when it was upset by Arizona, 13-10, at the Coliseum in 1981.
Perhaps USC was distracted by the stage for the Rolling Stones concert in the background.
The Rolling Stones performed the day before and the day after the USC-Arizona game.





Tom Tunnicliffe, the sophomore quarterback, threw for 293 yards and the
winning touchdown as Arizona upset top-ranked Southern California, 13-10.

Tunnicliffe, who grew up in the Los Angeles area, completed 21 of 37 passes.
''They played very good,'' Tunnicliffe said afterward, ''but we played better.
We played the No. 1 team in the country and no one expected us to win.''







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-09-24 02:16 by exilestones.

[4SHM-CD + LP] Tattoo You 40th Anniversary Edition Super Deluxe 4CD Box Set [Limited Edition]
UICY-79756



Super deluxe 4CD box set of "Tattoo You 40th Anniversary Edition" from the Rolling Stones has 4 SHM-CDs
and a bonus picture disc (LP). Japanese edition exclusively features high-fidelity SHM-CD format and comes
with a miniature replica of the Japanese pamphlet for the 1983 film "Let's Spend the Night Together."

The contents of this release will be identical to the worldwide release, except for SHM-CD format,
a miniature replica of the Japanese pamphlet for the 1983 film "Let's Spend the Night Together,"
a description with Japanese translation. Super deluxe 4CD box set of "Tattoo You 40th Anniversary
Edition" from the Rolling Stones consists of 4 SHM-CDs and a bonus picture disc (LP).

CD1 is "Tattoo You" featuring 2021 remaster. CD2 includes nine unreleased tracks.

CD3 & 4 are "Still Life (Wembley Stadium 1982)."

Comes with a bonus picture disc (LP). Comes with a 124-page booklet.

Features lenticular art.

A lenticular is a special artwork. It changes as the viewer moves side to side,
the image resting in the balance between the viewer's left and right eyes. A
scene presented as a lenticular is never stable, but always depends on the
angle from which the image is viewed.

US $167.71 (20350yen Tax incl. in Japan)

Release Date October 22, 2021
Availability Pre-order:Usually ships by the release date

Michael Lindsay-Hoog, Keith Richards & Mick Jagger

The Rolling Stones Drop Previously Unreleased Chi-Lites Cover ‘Troubles a’ Comin’
Song appears on the upcoming 40th-anniversary editions of Tattoo You

By ALTHEA LEGASPI



The Rolling Stones have dropped their previously unreleased cover of the Chi-Lites’ “Troubles a’ Comin” via Polydor/Interscope/UMe. The song will appear on the 40th-anniversary sets for Tattoo You, which arrive on October 22nd.

The band recorded the song in Paris in 1979, and it’s one of nine of the rarities and that are housed on the remastered Tattoo You reissues’ Lost and Found bonus disc. The disc features songs that were all originally recorded while the Stones were making Tattoo You, but were recently completed and enhanced with additional vocals and guitar. “Troubles a’ Comin” follows their previously released Lost and Found track “Living in the Heart of Love.”

“It’s a funny album,” Jagger said of Tattoo You in a recent interview with longtime Rolling Stone writer David Fricke. “It’s not an album where you can say we went into X studio, we spent six months and this is the album. It’s just tracks that got recorded any time from 1972 to 1981. It wasn’t really an album. It was all over the place. It doesn’t have a kind of center.”

[www.rollingstone.com]

Hear The Rolling Stones' previously unreleased cover of Troubles A’ Comin
By Jackson Maxwell

The Rolling Stones' September 20 performance at a private party organized by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft made headlines across the music world, as it was their first concert of any kind since the death of their longtime drummer, Charlie Watts.

Buried beneath that obvious headline though, was an interesting quirk in the band's setlist that evening, a cover of a Chi-Lites song called Troubles A’ Comin.

Today, the reason why the Stones covered the somewhat obscure song live for the first time ever became clear with the band's premiere of their previously unreleased recording of the tune.

The recording is taken from the upcoming 40th anniversary deluxe reissue of the band's 1981 album, Tattoo You, which also features eight other songs that the band recorded in the months and years leading up to the album – newly completed and enhanced with additional vocals and guitar.

The Tattoo You 40th anniversary reissue is set for an October 22 release – in a number of digital and physical formats – via Polydor/Interscope/UMe, and can be preordered at The Rolling Stones' website.

For now, the Stones are continuing the latest leg of their ongoing No Filter tour with frequent Keith Richards collaborator Steve Jordan behind the drum kit. However, Watts' absence loomed large over the band's first public performance in 2021, a September 26 show at The Dome at America's Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

“This is our first tour we’ve done without him," frontman Mick Jagger said of Watts during the performance. "All the reaction from you guys, and all the things that you’ve said, have been really touching and we want to thank you all very much.

“We’ll miss Charlie so much both on the stage and off the stage.”

Rolling Stones Debut Unreleased Cover of Chi-Lites’ “Troubles A’ Comin”
as Mick Jagger Enjoys a Night Out in North Carolina
ROCK CELLAR MAGAZINE STAFF
SEPTEMBER 30, 2021


Mick shared an image of himself at a bar in North Carolina, ahead of the Stones’ No Filter tour stop in
town, which was probably pretty amazing for anybody who happened to be at the bar around that time.


The Rolling Stones are everywhere these days. From relaunching their No Filter tour dates to several tributes to late drummer Charlie Watts and beyond, they’ve been in the news quite a bit. The English rockers are also preparing to unleash a 40th anniversary edition of 1981’s Tattoo You, which will arrive on Oct. 22.

It’s been previewed in recent weeks, and the latest tease arrived on Thursday in the form of “Troubles A’ Comin,” a previously unreleased cover of the original song by the Chi-Lites. The Stones’ version was recorded in 1979 in Paris but was never officially released until now. It will be one of the tracks on the Lost & Found disc of odds and ends featured in the Tattoo You reissue.

Another previously unreleased track that surfaces on Tattoo You is “Living in the Heart of Love,” which was also debuted recently with an artsy video of its own that pays visual homage to Watts:

The Rolling Stones - Living In The Heart Of Love (Official Video)



[www.youtube.com]

In terms of bonus material, the Deluxe editions of the Tattoo You release include Lost & Found: Rarities and Still Life: Wembley Stadium 1982. More on that, per a news release:

The Lost & Found disc contains no fewer than nine songs from the period of the album’s original release, newly completed and enhanced with additional vocals and guitar by the band. Among these, “Living In The Heart Of Love” is a quintessential Stones rock workout with all of the group on top form, complete with urgent guitar licks and fine piano detail.

Other highlights of Lost & Found include a killer version of “Shame, Shame, Shame,” first recorded in 1963 by one of the band’s blues heroes, Jimmy Reed; their reading of Dobie Gray’s soul gem “Drift Away;” and a fascinating reggae-tinged version of “Start Me Up.”

Still Life: Wembley Stadium 1982 is an unmissable memento of the band’s London show in June of that year on the Tattoo You tour. The mighty 26-track set is packed with Stones mega-hits, including an opening “Under My Thumb” and all-time greats such as “Let’s Spend The Night Together,” “Honky Tonk Women” and “Brown Sugar.”The Wembley show has covers of the Temptations’ “Just My Imagination,” Eddie Cochran’s “Twenty Flight Rock,” the Miracles’ “Going To A Go Go” and early rock ‘n’ roller the Big Bopper’s “Chantilly Lace.” It also features early live workouts for tracks from the then-new Tattoo You such as “Start Me Up,” “Neighbours,” “Little T&A” and “Hang Fire.”




Mick Jagger did a live radio interview with Howard Stern today (September 29, 2021), talking about how he reluctantly allowed his parents to watch him perform in the early days, how he gets ready for a show, his dancing on stage, and of course, the loss of Charlie Watts. The interview on Stern’s SiriusXM Channel 100 was done at 1 p.m. ET, and fell three days after opening night of the 2021 edition of the Rolling Stones’ No Filter tour. (The band’s second concert is Sept. 30 in Charlotte, NC; they’ve built in many days off in between performances.)

Stern has introduced a literal Who’s Who of celebrities for his program. The pair have never met. Incredibly, it was the first time the two had even spoken and the host heaped enormous praise on his interview subject before, during and after the program. (Stern characteristically told a ribald story to the program’s longtime co-host, Robin Quivers, and of course the live audience that stuck around after the interview’s conclusion, explaining what he did to try to relax in order to take a nap in between his live morning show and the Jagger segment.)

“Of all the things you’ve done,” Stern said to Jagger, “it seems like the bravest things was to tell your father, ‘I’m dropping out of college to join a rock and roll band’.”

“It wasn’t quite as simple as that,” said Jagger. “In those days, being a rock singer wasn’t like a career. People did it for a year and maybe had a hit record.

“I enjoyed being in an academic world. [But] I was obviously very outgoing… an extrovert. I had been doing music since I was twelve and had walked on with rock bands when I was 15 or 16. But [my parents] never thought it was a serious thing. My college said if it doesn’t work out, I could always come back.”

Stern wondered if his parents came to the Stones’ early concerts. “I didn’t like [them] to come to shows that much. (laughs) Because it’s inhibiting. I would do stuff that was overly sexual.”

“Dancing on stage takes a real confidence,” said Stern. “It seems obvious now because you’re ‘Mick Jagger’.”

“If you’re the lead singer in a band,” said Jagger, “you have to be an extrovert. I started imitating James Brown, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis. They had signature moves. It’s not enough to be a singer. When I was younger, I used to do crazy things, jumping off an orchestra pit because I had seen Little Richard do it. Some of them were dangerous. But it’s fun.”

“Keith [Richards] has moves. When we started, he had certain moves and looks. We did tons of television, which was how we got known. You need to have ‘looks’.”

Stern asked Jagger if there was a drudgery to his life when the band is in tour. Jagger said that he woke up unexpectedly that morning to the sound of a street preacher outside of his hotel adding, “It’s better than a jackhammer. (laughs) If you don’t get enough sleep that can affect that night’s performance. Show day is [organized] almost from the minute you get up. There’s a timeline. Almost military. I know what I’m doing in this 15 minutes and this 15 minutes.”

Jagger estimated that he walks and runs and estimated 8-12 miles during a concert. Before the band’s starts rehearsing, he’s working on his voice, going to the gym, working on his upper body. There’s sprinting and dancing. (“That’s much more fun,” he said.”)

“I read that you guys rehearse 80 or 90 songs,” said Stern. “[How well do] you know these songs?”

“You do know them, yeah. There are maybe 30 songs we know really well. And another 50 that we know maybe half. If you’re playing in a club, the people want to hear something different. If you’re playing in a stadium, most of the time they want to hear songs they know.

“There’s a lot of songs. In a rock show, you do two ballads. That’s normally the way it goes.”

The subject turned to Charlie Watts, whom the Stones are touring without for the first time. There’s a video tribute before the Stones take the stage.

“[Charlie] was the heartbeat for the band,” said Jagger. “A steady personality. Very reliable. Not a diva. (laughs) You don’t want a diva as a drummer. (laughs) He had a very dry sense of humor. I miss Charlie because outside of the band, we used to hang out a lot. We love sport and lots of interests besides music.

“I miss Charlie so much. It’s strange being without him. [But] when he was sick, he said ‘you’ve got to carry on and do this tour’.”



[bestclassicbands.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-10-01 14:05 by exilestones.

[www.youtube.com]

The Chi-Lites - "Troubles A' Comin" 70's soul tune released on the b-side of the The Chi-Lites classic funky soul single "Are You My Woman? (Tell Me So)."

[www.youtube.com]

"Troubles a Comin (1st time live)" Rolling Stones@Bank of America Stadium Charlotte 9/30/21

Trouble's a Coming - Multicam video - Live Charlotte
September 30, 2021




[www.youtube.com]

"Multicam video of Trouble's a Coming.

I would like to thank everyone who uploaded their videos. I hope you enjoyed this first night. 2021 No Filter Tour, dedicated to Charlie Watts

Source/credits:
Audio: Mix
Video: Jim Powers, Jumping Jack, J Wags
Picture: Bjornulf Vik
Editing: EdBMusic"


"Trouble's a Comin'" is developing into a great live song! It's the song of tour for me!

Exile Stones

Troubles A’ Coming Pittsburgh 10/5/21
[www.youtube.com]




[www.youtube.com]




[www.youtube.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-10-06 08:34 by exilestones.

The Rolling Stones - Troubles A’ Comin (Lyrics)




[www.youtube.com]

Time was not on the Rolling Stones' side in late 1980. The band had already agreed to a sweeping U.S. tour set for 1981 and then another round of shows in Europe the following year. Problem was there were only so many weeks available to construct an album to tour behind, leaving the Stones with only one place left to turn: their archives.

Revisiting sessions for recent albums like Some Girls and Emotional Rescue, as well as some that went as far back as Goats Head Soup, the band selected a slew of unfinished tracks and abandoned demos to create something brand new in time for the tour.

"They’re all from different periods," Mick Jagger recalled in a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone. "Then I had to write lyrics and melodies. A lot of them didn’t have anything, which is why they weren’t used at the time – because they weren’t complete. They were just bits, or they were from early takes. And then I put them all together in an incredibly cheap fashion."

In addition to being crunched for time, the Stones had another obstacle to overcome: a lack of cooperation among members. “Tattoo You really came about because Mick and Keith [Richards] were going through a period of not getting on,” associate producer Chris Kimsey remembered in Craig Rosen's 1996 book The Billboard Book of Number One Albums. “There was a need to have an album out, and I told everyone I could make an album from what I knew was still there.”

Despite its unorthodox construction methods, Tattoo You arrived as a surprisingly cohesive album in August 1981, reaching the top of the charts - just like the previous six Rolling Stones albums, spawning some of the band's most popular songs. We take a look at these tunes and others in our track-by-track guide to Tattoo You below.


1. "Start Me Up"

"Start Me Up," Tattoo You's opening tracks and one of the Stones' most all-time popular songs, was originally recorded as a reggae-style number called "Never Stop" during the Some Girls sessions. Then the band dipped into an earlier version. "That take on Tattoo You was the only take that was a complete rock 'n' roll take," Jagger said in 1995. "And then it went to reggae completely for about 20 takes. And that’s why everyone said, 'Oh, that’s crap. We don’t want to use that.' And no one went back to take two, which was the one we used - the rock track."



2. "Hang on Fire"

Jagger and Richards, not exactly known for their subtlety, get straight to the point on "Hang Fire" — "In the sweet old country where I come from, nobody ever works, yeah, nothing gets done" — taking direct aim at England. "It serves them right for kickin’ us out," Richards said of the song in 1983, referring to the time the band left the country in 1971 as a result of a massive tax bill owed to the government. "It’s [England] coming to terms with a whole lot of problems that have been brewing for years, and the only thing it needed for these problems to come to a head was for the money to get tight." Like "Start Me Up," "Hang Fire" began life during the Some Girls sessions.



3. "Slave"

"Slave" may lack any real lyrical narrative, but it makes up for that with a great lineup of guests. The Who's Pete Townshend sings backing vocals, while saxophonist Sonny Rollins (who plays on two other album tracks) takes a solo on a song leftover from 1976's Black and Blue. The jazz great later revealed that his wife had had to convince him to accept the gig. "I didn’t relate to them, because I thought they were just derivative of black blues," he told The New York Times in 2020. "I do remember once I was in the supermarket up in Hudson, N.Y., and they were playing Top 40 records. I heard this song and thought, 'Who’s that guy?' His playing struck a chord in me. Then I said, “Wait a minute, that’s me!” It was my playing on one of those Rolling Stones records."



4. "Little T&A"

Kick-started with a classic Richards riff, "Little T&A" - an Emotional Rescue cast-off - highlights the guitarist's innate ability to write a straightforward rock 'n' roll song, complete with slap-back delay and gritty lead vocals. "That song’s just about every good time I’ve had with somebody I’d met for a night or two, and never seen again," Richards said in 1983. "And also about the shit that sometimes goes down when you just sort of bump into people unknowingly and not knowing the scene you’re walking in on, you know? You pick up a chick and end up spending the night in the tank, you know?"



5. "Black Limousine"

"Black Limousine" offers a slightly different, and more sentimental, attitude toward women than the preceding "Little T&A." The song - stemming from the Some Girls sessions - is one of the few that guitarist Ron Wood is credited on as a writer. He built the central riff around an old Texas blues style. "'Black Limousine' came about from a slide guitar riff that was inspired in part by some Hop Wilson licks from a record that I once owned," Wood said in the 2003 book According to the Rolling Stones. "I thought, 'That's really good, I'm going to apply that.'"


6. "Neighbours"

Don't expect to get a good night's sleep when living next door to a rock guitarist. In 1981, Richards and his wife Patti Hansen were evicted from their New York City apartment following noise complaints filed by fellow building-dwellers. Seemingly inspired by his bandmate's housing woes, Jagger penned lyrics to "Neighbours," whose basic template was workshopped for Emotional Rescue. The accompanying music video shows the band getting the last laugh, jamming in an apartment and singing out the window for all to hear.



7. "Worried About You"

The Stones reached back several albums to Black and Blue to piece together "Worried About You," a ballad that features a guitar solo by Wayne Perkins, who had once auditioned as a potential replacement for Mick Taylor, and Billy Preston on keyboards. "It was a bit of discovery period for me as well as being discovered," Perkins recalled in 2017. "I was thinking more like a session player, but it was becoming clear to me that these guys were serious and wanted me as their new guitar player. It was a great situation to be thrust into."


8. "Tops"

Even though he had left the band seven years earlier, Mick Taylor shows up on Tattoo You thanks to "Tops," a Goats Head Soup-era song that includes his fiery guitar solo. Pianist Nicky Hopkins also appears on the track, as does the band's old producer Jimmy Miller, who plays percussion. Taylor's distinct playing style stands out. In Richards' biography, Life, he notes that Taylor has a "melodic touch, a beautiful sustain and a way of reading a song."


9. "Heaven"

"Heaven" came together in the studio during a midnight session without Richards or Wood present. Jagger, producer Chris Kimsey, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts recorded the track without the two guitarists. "Mick started playing the chord sequence, and I sat down at the piano and started following along, and next thing I knew, it sounded really good," Kimsey recalled. "So I told the assistant to roll it, and we put some things on it and it sounded very good." "Heaven" originally started to take shape during 1980's Emotional Rescue.


10. "No Use in Crying"

"No Use in Crying" is the second of two Tattoo You tracks that boasts a Ron Wood songwriting credit (and like many of the 1981 LP's songs, it comes from the recent Emotional Rescue era). As the newest member of the band, he quickly realized that if he wanted a place on a Rolling Stones record, he needed to speak up. "One of the lessons I had to learn was that if you want to get a credit," he remembered, "it has to happen there and then in the studio, as you're recording it."



11. "Waiting on a Friend"

A charming end to a rock-filled record, "Waiting on a Friend" is a love letter from Jagger to his bandmates, originally taking form during the Goats Head Soup sessions in Jamaica. "We all liked it at the time, but it didn't have any lyrics," the singer notes in the liner notes to 1993's Jump Back collection. New overdubs include pianist Nicky Hopkins and sax player Sonny Rollins, along with Santana's Michael Carabello on percussion. "The lyric I added is very gentle and loving, about friendships in the band."



[ultimateclassicrock.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-10-09 10:56 by exilestones.

Why Side 2 of ‘Tattoo You’ Is Among the Rolling Stones’ Best Work

by Jed Gottlieb
September 1, 2021

On Aug. 24, 1981, the Rolling Stones released the second side of Tattoo You. Yes, the Stones released the first side of Tattoo You on that day, too. And Side One is great. But Side Two proved the band could still put art above entertainment. In the whole of the Stones’ catalog, there’s nothing like the five-song stretch of "Worried About You," "Tops," "Heaven," "No Use in Crying" and "Waiting on a Friend.”



The LP starts by insisting magnetic machismo, risque hubris and recycled riffs will always be enough to sustain Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' status as rock gods. Then Tattoo You makes an about face into a string of songs featuring a band actually engaging in personal reflection, all while being perfectly content with laying down dirty, relaxed and lugubrious grooves, and then wallowing in them for 22 minutes.

Heading into the ’80s, the Stones ruled rock with as much market share as ever. The band had outlasted the Beatles, minted hits all through Led Zeppelin’s run and made short work of every craze from disco to reggae. The Stones’ 1978 tour put them in packed stadiums and arenas.

Releases such as Some Girls and Emotional Rescue showed they needed only to tweak their sound to continue selling millions of records. The band had become so good at what it did, it seemed like autopilot could take the Glimmer Twins from 1981 onward.

“'I'll still be playing rock 'n' roll when I'm in a wheelchair,'' Richards said at the time. ''As long as people want to hear it.''

Side One of Tattoo You comes hard. In a couple guitar sweeps, a few tough drum hits and some Jagger grunting and preening, “Start Me Up” instantly defines the Stones at 20 — totally inconsequential and irresistibly catchy (and rightfully the band’s biggest hit in three years). That unironic paean to Jagger’s sexual fortitude rolls right into other tasty rockers: the romp "Hang Fire,” the thrust and pulse of "Slave," old school rave-up "Little T&A," Chicago blues homage "Black Limousine" and the stomping "Neighbours." Then they toss all that ego and volume aside.

The second side begins with “Worried About You” and the lyric, “Sometime I wonder why / You do these things to me / Sometime I worry girl / That you ain't in love with me.” Could the giant egos and larger libidos of the Stones be in question? Gone is the band cheering “Start Me Up,” and in its place is an introspective set of ace songwriters and musicians facing middle age and wondering about their relevance.

The song, like much of the album, was written and recorded years earlier — this one during the sessions for 1975’s Black and Blue. But the band specifically decided to resurrect it and open the album anew with its slow burn soul, Jagger singing in a wounded falsetto and Richards jumping in on the chorus to echo the song’s sentiment with harmony vocals. The whole affair is downright tender, almost sweet. Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman are in no rush to get anywhere, and Billy Preston stops by for a bit of lovely electric piano. Jagger shuts down the earnest lament with a bit of regret: “Sure as hell I'm going to find that girl someday / Until then I'm worried / Lord, I just can't seem to find my way.”

Next up is another outtake upcycled for Tattoo You, but “Tops” is barely a song. It’s more of a long vamp, a fat groove that has Jagger talking about taking a woman to the top but laying back enough that his coos outnumber his shouts. The groove basically serves as a bridge between the more traditional “Worried About You” and whatever “Heaven” is.

In the middle of Side Two, “Heaven” comes one of the Stones' oddest tracks. A fever dream put to tape, the song came together with Jagger singing and playing guitar, Watts behind the kit and Wyman doing the rest. One of only two songs crafted specifically for Tattoo You, the trio whispers and walks through a swirl of delicate noise. It riffs on psychedelia, funk and experimental music while also setting the stage for genres such as dream-pop and shoegaze.

“Heaven” evaporates into "No Use in Crying.” Like a sister song to “Worried About You,” it unfolds with similar slow, soul notes. But unlike “Worried About You,” “No Use in Crying” doesn’t wonder about life. It’s resigned: Love is gone, hope is gone, whatever was is over. Jagger sings, “Standing at the station / Gazing down the track / There ain't no train coming baby / I ain't never, never coming back” as if he were Clarence Carter writing a sadder sequel to “Slip Away.”

The album and side close with “Waiting on a Friend.” The LP began with Jagger boasting that he’s with a woman that can “make a dead man cum”; it all ends with the singer opining, “Don't need a whore, I don't need no booze / Don't need a virgin priest / But I need someone I can cry to / I need someone to protect / Making love and breaking hearts / It is a game for youth.” For a man pushing 40 at the time, the rumination has a mature honesty and a sadly sober feeling to it.

“Waiting on a Friend” might be the most adult and clear-eyed song the Stones ever recorded. The guitar line has a simplicity that makes “(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction” sound like a Bach fugue. The rhythm section powers the track and yet can barely be felt. The piano hides in the back, politely accentuating minor moments. It’s as if everyone wants to build the barest frame to show off Jagger’s insight and a saxophone solo by Sonny Rollins that drives the track toward ecstasy.

The Stones wouldn’t stall here in the morass of middle age. They wouldn’t be the Stones if they did. The next album kicked off with the single “Undercover of the Night.” The new-wave-meets-hard-rock blowup featured political lyrics with plenty of sex, sleaze and force. But Side Two of Tattoo You serves as a reminder that the Stones have it in them to do slow, smart and curious as well as they do fast, blunt and wild.

[ultimateclassicrock.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-10-09 10:57 by exilestones.

[www.youtube.com]
Worried About You (Alternate Version) 7:26