What did Keith think of Wandering Spirit?

Damn, he's finally put out a good one!

What did Keith think of it?

"Not too bad this time" according to Christopher Sandford's Keith biography.

I agree with Beelyboy. Mick has something to prove and overdoes it constantly. For instance, the Webster Hall versions of Out of Focus and Evening gown are, to me, much better than the studio ones.
(I love Sweet thing though, in an over-the-top genre, Mick's over-the-top delivery works to a t)
I like to listen to Wandering spirit as some sort of Mick master-class:
"this is rock singing, this is how you do folk (hang on to me tonight), and beware, it is not the same as country (Evening gown), now this is heavy metal (Think), not to be confused with classic rock (Wired all night), and this is gospel (Focus) and this is blues (Wandering spirit). Now this is Irish. For the sake of you pupils, I will overdo everything so you can hear the differences between each idioms".
So that makes for a fairly artificial output, but a very interesting one, and a testimony to Mick's consumate craftmanship. The songs are good in themselves too, and I suscribe to the thesis that WS+Voodoo+main offender would have been one of the ultimate stones album.
Incidentally, I think the one song that has a really good vibe is Lonely for so long. That's Mick at home and singing without thinking.

If I recall correctly, he praised it in a Gutiar world interview, few years back...

bianca Wrote:
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>
> This is one of the alltime greats, boys and
> girls...and a tragedy that it wasn't more popular.

I totally agree. Everytime I play this CD for even knowledgable rock fans they ask "which album is this" and I burn them a copy immediately. After primitive cool I think everyone had written off jagger solo work. This album really is under the radar. Even with a Saturday Night Live appearence it got no airplay and went nowhere.

THe thing is, you've got each of their solo albums showing their strengths and faults.

Jagger's a much more creative songwriter.
Keith creates much better sounds.
Jagger goes over the top or feels painfully contrived.
Keith is too understated and sounds like he's been in a rut for 20 years.

Unfortunatley the weakness found in each are the glaring faults in the letter-day Stones albums.

The best songs on Wandering Spirit could fit into a Stones album-- and even hold their own on one of the 68-72 elpees.

I don't know if the recordings could have come out any better had the Stones played on them at that time. Rick Rubin kept the performances pretty tight ("Don't Tear Me Up") and I don't know if Keith would have accepted being under that much outside control.

I see where otonneau and Beely are coming from, though it doesn't really diminish the album's appeal for me. It is still mick's "professional" mode, just with better material and a more generous palette of styles, rather than foolishly going for a nonexistent contemporary rock audience. I think this album has as much soul as one can get from latter-day mick--not negligible, but still a little sad.

dont tear is very forgotten and very good.

In don't tear me up, there is the verse:
"Life is sweet, but it's way too short, unlike a politician, it just can't be bought"
And that verse is sooooo bad, just so trite and ridiculous, the whole song is unbearable to me...

I like that whole comparison otonneau makes about the singing seminar 101 by Dr Mick Jagger. But in all fairness Jagger does that a, lot; with the Stones too. he is a mimic. The best. That lyric is pretty bad from DTMU - it sounds like something Sting would write LOL. I do not understand - Jagger used to write so wonderful, such poetry. And such great imagery, metaphors. Even without me loving the Stones I think Exile is the crown of rock lyrics. I undertsand how he needs to move, change, grow, evolve. I wish he would evolve into another direction though. I honestly hate many of the lyrics on ABB.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

Chelsea, I agree. The loss of Jagger's writing talent is really strange and disappointing. I think he writes best when (not surprisingly) he writes about what in fact concerns him - age. Waiting on a friend is great lyrics (not recent...), and the line "are you colouring your hair with some new kind of dye" from Let Me Down Slow is beautiful, as well as Evening gown. And I love the lyrics of (the song) Wandering spirit... believe it or not, I identify totally (yes I am a very vain fellow!).

Its so easy to poke fun at Jagger's missteps, and I agree that the line from Dont Tear Me Up is awful. But you cant have it both ways. Jagger's genius is in part due to the feel he puts into his singing, and of course he'll seem over the top at times. I'd prefer to concentrate on the other 98% of Wandering Spirit. And what about the title track if you want to talk masterpieces.

Okay,

This is off topic and I am in basic agreement with the Dogshit in the Doorway assessment but I just finished listening to "Blue" for the first time in a year or so. What a fantastic song.

That it turned up on a Japanese single b side just illustrates that his critical faculties are gone, gone, gone.

I think Goddess is a very good album.
It is not as coherent as WS musically, which was expectable since it takes many more risks, but the songs are much more original and, talking about lyrics, I very much like most of them - especially Too Far Gone, Brand New Set of Rules, Gun...
The singing is also much more 'authentic' (if such adjective can ever really apply to Jagger) and, all in all, I think Goddess is the most moving album of the two, and the one that adds most to the Stones' and related canon.

cbtaco19 Wrote:
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> Okay,
>
> This is off topic and I am in basic agreement with
> the Dogshit in the Doorway assessment but I just
> finished listening to "Blue" for the first time in
> a year or so. What a fantastic song.
>
> That it turned up on a Japanese single b side just
> illustrates that his critical faculties are gone,
> gone, gone.

I think it was the B-Side of God Gave Me Everything, also a great song.

No no. Goddess is better than any of keith's albums "IMO." The major reason is b/c you can tell a difference between the songs. I listen to all of Keith's and each song just blends into the next with bad lyrics and identical riffs. The effort put into their songs is definitely very drastic. At least you can hum along to Mick's songs. The only Keith melody I can barely sing along to is 'Hate It When You Leave" and maybe Wicked as it Seems. sorry fellas.

jumpinjackgreg Wrote:
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> No no. Goddess is better than any of keith's
> albums "IMO." The major reason is b/c you can tell
> a difference between the songs. I listen to all of
> Keith's and each song just blends into the next
> with bad lyrics and identical riffs. The effort
> put into their songs is definitely very drastic.
> At least you can hum along to Mick's songs. The
> only Keith melody I can barely sing along to is
> 'Hate It When You Leave" and maybe Wicked as it
> Seems. sorry fellas.


It really doesn't matter whether there is a difference in songs, that doesn't make certain songs any less shittier. I assume you are talking about Main Offender when you make those comments, and I understand, although I think it's a rather okay album. But you can't say that about Talk Is Cheap without looking like a damned fool.

well ... maybe he has limited humming abilities? :E

sorry, just joking. if being able to hum along with a vocal melody line is
someone's measure of greatness in a song, who am i to call them a "damned fool" :E

< The only Keith melody I can barely sing along to is 'Hate It When You Leave" and maybe Wicked as it Seems. sorry fellas.>

If you can't hum anything from Struggle, Make No Mistake, You Don't Move Me, Rockawhile, Locked Away etc. - you are definately tone-deaf