Re: Sway
Date: September 26, 2005 14:52
bv Wrote:
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> It is interesting to see how many people could
> perform Stones songs way better than the Stones
> themselves. As Mick Jagger don't know what album
> Sway is from and he also tend to mix up lyrics at
> times, why not simply replace him with a great
> studio singer with an excellent memory? There must
> be at least 1 million singers attending the IDOLS
> competitions who could do this way better.
>
> Wake up guys. It's the Stones. Just admit it. They
> are perfect as they are now. You can't replace the
> band members. They are the band. And we want them
> that way. But the fans can be replaced. If you
> don't like them anymore then go listening to some
> other perfect band who charge 20 dollars per
> ticket and who never mix up lyrics and never mix
> up guitar playing. Then you will be happy.
> Technically happy. But satisfied?
>
> Bjornulf
And as an extension of this point, I would like to go back to the issue of criticism levelled by someone that plays in a Stones tribute band. Such a person cannot fail to look at different renditions of their own songs that the Stones perform with quite the same perspective as the rest of us mere mortals that don't wield the axe. When I go to see a Stones tribute band; the "Rollin Stoned" that play often here in London for example, I go for the specific purpose of hearing near as dammit faithful reproductions of all those fabulous songs. And that's exactly what they give me - faithful reproductions. If you were to listen to their version of Sympathy for example, you would hear the guy that plays Keith performs the solo from the Beggar's Banquet version, and the guy that plays Mick Taylor performs some of the solos from the Get Yer Ya Yas Out version. It's pure and utter replication, and it's absolutely divine to listen to. But the Rolling Stones themselves are (a) not a tribute band, and (b) under no particular obligation to replicate anything they've recorded in a studio to any specific standard. People might wish them to replicate certain songs or solos faithfully right to the last note or slur or bend, and with "some" songs on "some" occasions they get their particular wish granted, and with other songs on other occasions they plainly don't.
So yes, the version of Sway performed in Ohio was not perhaps a faithful repro of what resides on Sticky Fingers, but can we please not overlook the fact that it wasn't played for the sake of appeasing the purists and analysts, but rather for the tens of thousands of people in attendance at the show. Can we also not overlook the fact that their giving this particular song an airing was probably brought about by feedback they got from the fans. Should we not be just even slightly grateful that they actually respond to feedback ? I certainly think we should.
For Ronnie to be lambasted in quite the manner he was in Mathijs' opening post seems to me to be quite inappropriate. The guy does not warrant to be dismissed in the context of having his ass kicked, his guitar confiscated, and to be told to F-oxtrot O-scar and drink his beer and do his stupid paintings. Mathijs could do well to reflect on the fact that his own critique of the Stones in terms of what they play and how they play it arises from a perspective that differs from the "majority" perspective, and furthermore he could perhaps also do well to temper his unecessarily offensive language and adopt a more pleasant disposition.
Finally, having been in the NYC art gallery on Friday 16th September when Ronnie himself turned up, I would have to beg to differ with the view that his paintings are stupid. Having myself placed an order for a screenprint of his painting entitled Wild Horses, and being with friends who themselves bought nearly $10,000 worth of his work, as well as being witness to hundreds of thousands worth being sold on that night and the following day, I would venture to say that there are a great many other people out there who would similarly disagree with the view that this man's paintings are stupid.