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Nikkei
I don't spin the record as a whole but I constantly have a number of favourite tracks in rotation. More than from VL SW DW and UC actually. So my rating is a bit disjointed, I guess if I listened to the whole thing it would feel sonically exhausting because of the mix. It Won't Take Long, She Saw Me Coming, Dangerous Beauty, Laugh I Nearly Died, Under The Radar, Don't Wanna Go Home are in regular rotation, Rough Justice, Let Me Down Slow, Rain Fall Down, Back Of My Hand, Driving Too Fast are also keepers. You know what, that's all pretty solid
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Stoneage
I think Jagger said, when asked in an interview (around the 1981/82 tour), about what he considers a good album, something like: "One hit single and two tracks you can play live". I don't know if ABB stands that test...
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Nikkei
I don't spin the record as a whole but I constantly have a number of favourite tracks in rotation. More than from VL SW DW and UC actually. So my rating is a bit disjointed, I guess if I listened to the whole thing it would feel sonically exhausting because of the mix. It Won't Take Long, She Saw Me Coming, Dangerous Beauty, Laugh I Nearly Died, Under The Radar, Don't Wanna Go Home are in regular rotation, Rough Justice, Let Me Down Slow, Rain Fall Down, Back Of My Hand, Driving Too Fast are also keepers. You know what, that's all pretty solid
Good for you. I quite enjoy the songs when I listen to some of them 1 by 1. But I seem to forget about the album all the time. Actually none of the songs stands out the way that Love is strong do (for instance). Probably today I would say Let me down slow is the best track of the album...along with BoMH.
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NikkeiQuote
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Nikkei
I don't spin the record as a whole but I constantly have a number of favourite tracks in rotation. More than from VL SW DW and UC actually. So my rating is a bit disjointed, I guess if I listened to the whole thing it would feel sonically exhausting because of the mix. It Won't Take Long, She Saw Me Coming, Dangerous Beauty, Laugh I Nearly Died, Under The Radar, Don't Wanna Go Home are in regular rotation, Rough Justice, Let Me Down Slow, Rain Fall Down, Back Of My Hand, Driving Too Fast are also keepers. You know what, that's all pretty solid
Good for you. I quite enjoy the songs when I listen to some of them 1 by 1. But I seem to forget about the album all the time. Actually none of the songs stands out the way that Love is strong do (for instance). Probably today I would say Let me down slow is the best track of the album...along with BoMH.
I agree Love is Strong definitely has an energy and a sense of familiarity that is difficult to find in all of ABB. I mean the album is surprisingly coherent in its own way which is to say very in-your-face and aggressive. You can hear the very tight space they were working in physically. That's what I found interesting about the 2002 outtakes that leaked some time ago, notably You Don't Wanna (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaUypkpljxU) There you seem to have the immediate classic Stones familiarity combined with that new bare-bones modern approach. Sort of a shame that only Forty Licks came out of that.
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snoopy2
If it's on my turntable I don't shut it off, it's listenable
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SomeTorontoGirl
Hi Tiff. It’s not an album I play regularly. I would kind of like Keith to include This Place Is Empty in his set at some point though. (Likely a minority opinion.)
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tiffanyblu
So my approach, except for that I of course know the full catalogue on the back of my hand, is to work them through one by one backwards. So the time has come for ABB.
Tiff
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tiffanyblu
So my approach, except for that I of course know the full catalogue on the back of my hand, is to work them through one by one backwards. So the time has come for ABB.
Tiff
Congrats to you Tiff on being the interviewee for this project. Looks like it should be a fun opportunity. I am curious though, in counting the albums backwards, why you aren’t starting with “Blue & Lonesome”? I’m guessing it’s because there is no original material there?
As for ABB, much of it for me is hit and miss. Some of the tracks I really enjoy and will listen to them rather frequently, such as Rough Justice, Rain Fall Down, and my absolute favourite, Laugh I Nearly Died, which in my opinion stands among their all-time greatest tracks. I also enjoy This Place Is Empty, Back Of My Hand, and Biggest Mistake. But the there are several other tracks that, after only a few listens, remain completely forgettable to me.
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bakersfield
I don't agree that ABB is well produced, The drums are unimaginative. Just boom boom bang, boom boom bang, over and over. Charlie used to be able to light up a track like 'It Won't Take Long' but it's musically dull. Nothing swings. Maybe it's Mick on drum as Charlie was ill around this time; who knows? Rough Justice is great. But if you compare tracks like Driving Too Fast and Oh No not you again, with the relaxed power of their 70's output e.g. Tumbling Dice, Plundered My Soul or anything on Goat's head Soup, the ABB tracks sound forced.All rock and no roll, as Keith likes to say.
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jahisnotdead
How do you rate the early albums with a U.K. version and a U.S. version? Do you rate them separately?
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SomeTorontoGirl
Hi Tiff. It’s not an album I play regularly. I would kind of like Keith to include This Place Is Empty in his set at some point though. (Likely a minority opinion.)
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bakersfield
I don't agree that ABB is well produced, The drums are unimaginative. Just boom boom bang, boom boom bang, over and over. Charlie used to be able to light up a track like 'It Won't Take Long' but it's musically dull. Nothing swings. Maybe it's Mick on drum as Charlie was ill around this time; who knows? Rough Justice is great. But if you compare tracks like Driving Too Fast and Oh No not you again, with the relaxed power of their 70's output e.g. Tumbling Dice, Plundered My Soul or anything on Goat's head Soup, the ABB tracks sound forced.All rock and no roll, as Keith likes to say.
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ribbelchips
Hehe, I remember people were comparing it to Exile when it was just released. Classic case of wishful thinking I quess.
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GasLightStreet
In this case, EXILE being old enough that, like THE BEATLES (basically 94 minutes long) and PHYSICAL GRAFFITI (84 minutes long), time has allotted, just like those albums and a few others, to become golden.
Maybe in 40 years a bunch of younger Stones fans will think BANG is one of their best.
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GasLightStreet
In this case, EXILE being old enough that, like THE BEATLES (basically 94 minutes long) and PHYSICAL GRAFFITI (84 minutes long), time has allotted, just like those albums and a few others, to become golden.
Maybe in 40 years a bunch of younger Stones fans will think BANG is one of their best.
I just think that ABB suffered a few too many tracks, it really wasn't double-album worthy, unlike Exile.
Sure you could always cull some tracks from Exile, but no one would be able to agree which 4 or 5 tracks, and by doing so it stops become a 'magic place' and instead is relegated to just being a 'great album'.