No more fitting of a song deserves to open the Black and Blue record than "Hot Stuff", a funky disco track with one of the most delightfully contagious, unison bass and guitar riffs in the entire Rolling Stones canon. It sets the course for the album where the band often put strict songwriting to the side in order to jam out some of their finest grooves, Mick Jagger barely bothering with any lyrics and instead just rapping in an exaggerated faux-Rastafarian accent and saying the song's title as if he is trying to melt the pants off any ready and willing lady listening. Billy Preston sprinkles in some tasty piano while singing along with Jagger, and Canned Heat's Harvey Mandel performs those fluidic solos, laying on the wah-wah pedal along with Keith Richards, while Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts make dem asses shake even more than usual.
Nothing clandestine going on here, "I Just Want to See His Face" is simply The Rolling Stones in full-on gospel mode, only done in atmospheric, steamy, and hypnotic jam fashion. No other album could have it than Exile on Main St., bleeding right out of "Ventilator Blues" and running less than three minutes with murky and spare lyrics occasionally brought in over Charlie Watts and producer Jimmy Miller's tribal percussion and Keith Richards' electric piano, (though Derick and the Dominos member Bobby Whitlock claims to have performed said electric piano part). There is further instrumentation added to the ethereal mix as well, but the trance-like groove and Clydie King, Venetta Fields, and Jerry Kirkland's vocal hooks are the major selling points. It seems more like a spiritual pleading brought on by exhaustive rock and roll decadence than a proper "song", but it only makes one wish that the band had more tracks just like it.
Emotional Rescue may not be the most consistently amazing Rolling Stones record, arriving in between two far better received ones, Some Girls and Tattoo You, respectively. That said, its opening track "Dance (Pt. 1)" and the accompanying follow-up "If I Was a Dancer (Dance Pt. 2)" which emerged shortly thereafter on the Sucking in the Seventies compilation are so aggressively catchy that they can fairly be seen as the band's most successful attempts at jumping on the disco bandwagon. Of course "Miss You" was the bigger hit in this vein and has become a household name jam, but for the deep cut equivalent, look no further than here. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ron Wood share writing credits, the latter laying down that primo bass line as well as his always steady guitar weaving with Richards. Sample worthy drum breaks, layers of percussion, and Bobby Keys absolutely killing it with one of the finest horn hooks this side of Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke", this is Stones funk of the most infectious variety.
Though the opening and closing guitar riffs are Keith Richards at his most identifiable and best, the Sticky Fingers opener "Brown Sugar" was entirely a Mick Jagger composition. It was recorded over two years before being released, making its live debut at the ill-fated free Altamont concert near the tail end of 1969 and performed regularly until it was properly put out as a single, (and beyond that). Two different female love interests of Jagger's have claimed that they were the inspiration for it, (his first baby mama Marsha Hunt and Ikette Claudia Lennear, respectively), but the lyrics are not just lewd musings on African American ladies. They are in fact just lewd across the board, referencing both men and women having sex with slaves, all in a shameless and celebratory fashion. Jagger was later embarrassed by the crass nature of the subject matter, admitting that he could never get away with it in a more enlightened climate, but this song is just too undeniably great to find any other fault with.
More unabashed gospel from Exile on Main St., "Shine a Light" is a strong contender for the pinnacle of the entire album, a solo Mick Jagger composition that dates back to 1968 when it was done with Leon Russell during the recording sessions for his self-titled debut under the title "(Can't Seem To) Get a Line on You". While this version was shelved for several years and features both Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts, the official Exile track does not, though Wyman and Mick Taylor have disputed who played bass on it, each claiming themselves. Instead, Jimmy Miller handles drums and Billy Preston is appropriately on the church organ, the latter having inspired Jagger to take several of the band's tracks around this point into the gospel direction after bringing him with to church in Los Angeles several times. This has one of the most pristine vocal melodies and choruses in the entire Stones catalog, Taylor laying down more of his exceptional leads to elevate things even further.
Dating way back to the Goats Head Soup recording sessions, what eventually became "Waiting on a Friend" was left unfinished for nearly a decade until Mick Jagger came up with a lyric and vocal melody that he liked. This was for the best since if he would have done so in the song's infancy, it easily could have just been another one about seedy sex or drug use. Instead, this is one of the band's most mature numbers from the period, Jagger spinning a tender yarn that alludes to the Rolling Stones' close personal dynamics with each other, as fraught as he and Keith Richards relationship would become during the next decade. Sony Rollins performs the exemplary sax solos, (one of three songs that he would do so on Tattoo You), providing a highlight along with the lovely and low-key arrangement. It also has that great music video, (one of the group's first for the MTV era), which was shot on the same steps featured on Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti album cover.
The best example out of many examples, ("Honky Tonk Woman" included), of Charlie Watts' undeniable grooving abilities can be found on the Tattoo You track "Slave", a song that also has one of Keith Richards most ridiculously satisfying riffs. Originally recorded in 1975 during the post-Mick Taylor Black and Blue sessions, it fits that swampy vibe where the band were often putting material together that was less conventionally song-structured and more based on loose jamming. This is the Stones doing the funk, with jazz legend Sony Rollins once again killing it on saxophone, (How could he not?), Billy Preston once again providing tasty keyboard licks, Mick Jagger barely writing any lyrics and instead occasionally rambling and singing "Don't wanna be your slave" or "Do it" over and over again, Pete Townsend randomly showing up to help out with the background vocals, and more proof that Keith could knock out some solos as good as any of the band's official lead guitarists.
A welcomed breather on the often times frantic Some Girls record, "Beast of Burden" was mostly a Keith Richards composition and remains arguably their finest chilled-out, mid-tempo single. Though Mick Jagger improvised a fair amount of the lyrics, Richards came up with some of his own, including the title which was in reference to saying thank you to his fellow band leader for soldiering on while he was recklessly indulging in heroin addiction. Both Keith and Ron Wood weave beautifully here, trading off fluid blues licks over an outstanding melody, Wood taking the more defiant solo section himself. Considering how many outside players and unofficial six members The Rolling Stones had throughout their recording career, this is a comparatively rare example of only featuring the full band on their respective instruments. Everyone lays into the groove to the best of their abilities, making such slick and soothing stuff sound effortless, which it probably was for them.
After Their Satanic Majesties Request failed to blow people's minds as much as they may have hoped, The Rolling Stones got back to driving blues rock on one of their most defining songs "Jumpin' Jack Flash". A non-album single that was recorded during the Beggars Banquet sessions, (one of the few to feature Brian Jones still on guitar), its nonsensical lyrics were allegedly inspired by Keith Richards' gardener who just happened to creep by while he and Mick Jagger were putting the song together, the famous line "I was born in a crossfire hurricane" referencing Keith's actual birth which literally happened during World War II bombing raids in 1943. At least two different guitar tunings were utilized on it, (one in open D with a capo, the other in Nashville tuning), and Bill Wyman claimed to have come up with the legendary riff though he only performed organ on the track.
To say that "Sympathy for the Devil" is a definitive Rolling Stones song may be a mute point since they have so many, but this really does belong on their Mt. Rushmore. Mick Jagger originally conceived of it as a Dylanesque folk song, but Keith Richards suggested upping the tempo which brought it in line with the samba like rhythms that Jagger was already found of and using for inspiration. The lyrics are some of the best ever written, Jagger taking ideas from authors Charles Baudelaire and Mikhail Bulgakov, as well as visiting some Candomblé rituals, thus making this a British white dude's filtered version of different cultures and writings which all come out as a deliberately provoking first person boast by Lucifer himself. The recording was famously documented in Jean-Luc Godards 1968 film of the same name, a lengthy process that took awhile to get to its final form with lots of percussion, lots of background "Whoo-whoo" vocals, and Keith Richards delivering the band's second greatest guitar solo.
That cowbell intro, that Charlie Watts groove, that exquisite open-G Keith Richards riff, Mick Jagger's line "She blew my nose and then she blew my mind"; the non-album single "Honky Tonk Women" is a solid contender to play any person living under a rock who has never heard The Rolling Stones before. This along with the previous year's "Jumpin' Jack Flash" can be seen as one of the pivotal moments for the band where they hit their stride and crystalized an electric, twangy, bluesy style that was loose, dirty, and funky as all get out, exclusively drenched in their American influences. It defines what the Stones would sound like throughout the rest of their careers, their baroque pop, psychedelic, British Invasion, and traditional 50s rock 'n roll styles mostly if not entirely abandoned from this point on. No one can blame them since this track simply smokes for just over three minutes, plus the slower and, well, countrier Let It Be reworking "Country Honk" is pretty damn great too.
A pure blues roots workout, "Prodigal Son" is a redo of the Robert Wilkins' gospel song that was originally recorded as "That's No Way to Get Along" way back in 1929. The Stones' take on it is faithful, keeping the riff and maintaining the tempo, with Brian Jones delivering those atmospheric harmonica textures in the back of the mix. The band has constantly paid respects to African American music that predates their own existence, and this is the most pristine and memorable example of such a tactic, arriving on Beggars Banquet which was the album that officially set the course for their most renowned and defining period. They may not be taking the country blues and doing anything singular with it as they were and would continue to do during their finest era, but this is actually what makes the track so superb. White British musicians were all about this kind of music during the mid-to-late 1960s, the Stones turning in the most authentic tribute out of any of them here.
One of the rare instances where Keith Richards and Mick Taylor properly "weave" together, (meaning both performing call and response leads against each other, a tactic that Keith and Ron Wood would do exclusively), "Dead Flowers" is the best overt country song in The Rolling Stones repertoire. Recorded at Olympic Studios in 1970, it is another that bares the hovering influence of Gram Parsons, a hillbilly honky tonk diddy that is played straight and pays homage to Nashville. Both the unassuming instrumentation, (those aforementioned Richards and Taylor leads beautifully fulfilling the role of what a pedal steel guitar would normally do), and Mick Jagger's pronounced southern drawl sell the point, even if the singer's dark and cynical lyrics are more aligned with rock and roll hedonism and drug use than what most conventional country singers would belt about. Though of course plenty if not all country musicians took part in such decadent shenanigans as well. Just ask David Allan Coe.
The Let It Bleed version of "Midnight Rambler" is a banger and should honestly rank just as high, but it is the nine minute workout found on the Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out live album that is the most definitive, this being The Rolling Stones' finest straight-ahead blues rock song. Benefited by Mick Taylor's always exquisite soloing, a longer jam-out, and a far superior recording of Charlie Watts' drums, (the kicks are oddly inaudible in the studio version), the track just hits so much harder live. A rare Stones track for the time in that it was played in standard tuning when Keith Richards was mostly found of his 5-string open G ones, it was a full collaboration between he and Mick Jagger. Written while the two were vacationing in Italy, Jagger draws on the Boston Strangler Albert DeSalvo for lyrical inspiration, and Richards fittingly labeled it as "blues opera" that features a lengthy breakdown in the middle of that awesome main driving riff which bookends it.
Arguably the defining Vietnam era rock song amongst several, "Gimme Shelter" kicks-off Let It Bleed with a sinister chill, the strongest opening track in The Rolling Stones' entire canon. Keith Richards recorded it on a literally falling apart Australian Maton SE777, Merry Clayton got summoned in the middle of the night while pregnant to come down and knock out the outstanding co-lead vocal in a few hours, and the whole thing reflects the times where so much civil unrest and tension was nearly palpable no matter what side of the Atlantic you resided on. Fittingly then, it was recorded both at Olympic Studios in London and at Sunset Sound and Elektra in Los Angeles, Richards nailing one of the guitar solo of his career along with his leads on "Sympathy for the Devil". This is as moody as the Stones, (or any band), can get; a dark, political, and gospel masterpiece that is wholly unique, no other band besides this one being able to conceive of or deliver it in such an intoxicating manner.
The Rolling Stones' best album closer is the one that wraps up Beggars Banquet, the gorgeous and haunting working class ballad "Salt of the Earth". This was one of the band's earliest tracks to have a pronounced gospel influence, the Watts Street Gospel Choir, (no relation to Charlie Watts), brought in to enhance the chorus and bring the roaring finish to a fittingly fevered pitch. Keith Richards sings the opening verse in his trademark wino croak, performing all of the guitars since Brian Jones was probably off tripping balls somewhere. Nicky Hopkins is another driving force, banging away on the ivories and especially so during the fade-out, with Mick Jagger's lyrics apparently inspired by John Lennon's increasingly proactive and outspoken political views. Jagger rallies up the "salt of the earth", meaning the common man while also admitting his own rock star distance from them, crafting a sophisticated and nuanced look at his subject matter which is refreshingly removed from the band's usual hedonism and misogyny.
Many artists have covered "Wild Horses" since its conception, (as they should of course), and the first was The Flying Burritos Brothers who put their version out in 1970 before the Stones even got to. This was because, (as crazy as it sounds), the band was not particularly fond of it at first, returning to it later for inclusion on Sticky Fingers where it was doubly released, (also as crazy as it sounds), as the B-side to "Sway". It has gone down as one of their most lauded ballads, beautiful from top to bottom with a chord progression for the books and Mick Jagger's outstanding vocal about being equally weary and hopelessly in love. Keith Richards' delicate leads are stunning, the acoustic guitars being in Nashville tuning to give it just enough of a country vibe. Ian Stewart sat it out on piano since he was less fond of playing minor melodies, session musician Jim Dickinson stepping in and making his only appearance on a Rolling Stones song, wonderfully so.
An argument can be made that "Angie" is the greatest break-up song of all time, but an even bigger argument can be made that its melodies are some of the most unmatched out there. The Rolling Stones were coming off of their masterwork Exile on Main St. when Mick Jagger and Keith Richards put it together, appearing as the clear highlight on Goats Head Soup and showcasing that even if that resulting album officially broke their cycle of flawless ones, they had at least one song on it to rank above nearly all of their material. Whoever the title woman is referring to, (which could be anyone from David Bowie's first wife, to Marianne Faithfull, to Keith's newborn daughter, to actor Angie Dickinson), is hardly important since the simple lyric effortlessly connects with anyone that has had a love or romance gone awry. The lush string arrangement from Nicky Harrison, Nicky Hopkins' tender piano part, Jagger's ghostly guide vocal which was left on the finished track; it all enhances such heartbreak better than nearly any song could.
Christ, what a beautiful piano intro. Nicky Hopkins once again kills it on the keys, opening up the best song on the best Rolling Stones album, Exile on Main St.'s "Loving Cup". This also deserves to be in the conversation for the finest Charlie Watts groove, a driving hi-hat pattern over a laid back beat, broken up by his all time tastiest drum fills. The ending is nearly as strong as the beginning, when Bobby Keys and Jim Price come in with their repeated horn refrain during the vamp-out, providing yet more soulful class to a record that threw all of the band's influences together, usually all at once on most tracks. Keith Richards handles all of the guitar duties, (Mick Taylor sitting it out completely), and this showcases how physics-defying his talents were at the time when he was simultaneously balls-deep in heroin addiction yet performing and concocting, (along with a comparatively more sober Mick Jagger), some of the best music anyone has ever heard.
It may be silly to rank "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" as the greatest Rolling Stones song largely because of its guitar solo but seriously, have you heard this guitar solo? Mick Taylor's work during the song's lengthy and closing Latin jam section is as astonishing as Eric Clapton's leads in "Crossroads", Jimmy Page's in "Stairway to Heaven", Allen Collins' in "Free Bird", or Don Felder and Joe Walsh's in "Hotel California", solidifying this guy's place as one of the best lead axe-slingers to ever breathe air. Really though, everything else going on here is equally deserving of the song's ranking. Keith Richards' open-G riff is a monster, Bobby Keys saxophone solo is as great as Taylor's guitar solo, Mick Jagger's vocals rip, and ridiculously, the whole song was nailed in one take with the nearly five minute finish done as an accident where no one in the band knew that the tape was still rolling and they just kept on playing. There may have been some tweaks on producer Jimmy Miller's part to make the whole thing seamless, but if there is any argument that spontaneous glory can be captured if the heavens are shining down upon you, this be your evidence.
