Rolling Stones: Classic or Dud

it's clear Mick Taylor wrote the music to "Moonlight Mile." Mick is singing along to Taylor's riff and Keef ain't credited with anything
keith doesn't play on it, but apparently it's keith's riff that taylor is working with (at least that opening thing) on that song.

i didn't know until i read Life that Keith is the only Rolling Stone who plays on "Happy"

More info on Wilbury serendipity: http://books.google.com/books?id=gnohXYuTDwoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=conversations+with+tom+petty&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Oh8ZUcDbComi8gSsrYFI&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

i didn't know until i read Life that Keith is the only Rolling Stone who plays on "Happy"

wait what you can totally hear Mick singing on that (granted Keith sings lead)

Mick may have overdubbed vox later, but the track was done with keith on guitar, miller on drums, keys & someone else on horns, then keith went back and overdubbed bass after

charlie watts has to be the most mellow classic rock band drummer -- he was always like, "oh whatever, jimmy can do it better, i'm going home."

I think there are few songs on "Exile" that feature all the Stones at once.

Ha I think it may have been more like ”keith said he had to go to the bathroom six hours ago and and now it's 3am I'm going home”

Nice story about Petty writing "Insider" for Stevie Nicks but deciding it was too good to surrender.

Good call on TP's part. Stone classic imo.

scott, you should buy Wildflowers. Petty's right to feel proud: one of his best collections of songs. "Crawling Back to You" would be top five Petty for me.

It can probably be obtained very cheaply too.
My favorite wildflowers moment is probably the piano solo in "it's hard to find a friend".

was listening to Long After Dark yesterday. not really a favorite overall. a little too much Iovine generic feel but it is of course almost singlehandedly worth owning for "one story town" and "you got lucky". i like "straight into darkness" too. plus, one weird closing track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW-2s-zYmTA

plus, coming right after one of my favorite albums, Hard Promises, it really kinda suffers in comparison.

least essential petty album? if you had to choose. i really do think those first two songs make the album and everything else on it is just okay.

He's not fond of it either.

This seems as good a thread as any to make fun of the band for pricing its tickets so high that apparently sales are lagging (relatively speaking). A lot of spin going on, so hard to get the full story, but it seems sort of a fiasco all around, though I'm sure the band is still getting paid.

My understanding is that a lot of it can be put down to Watts. He despises touring, so he ups his price ridiculously every time they're about to go out, thinking no way will management be able to swing that. Problem is, the management/promoters keep meeting his price, necessitating higher ticket prices.

I just read the Stanley Booth book for the first time. An out and masterpiece. Seeing these ticket stories reminds me of Jagger telling Booth that he wanted to do the whole '69 tour for free, but logistics ruled it out. "You think you're rich, but then you try to buy a table or something, and yer accountants all 'oh no!'".

lol

i want them to make an electronic dance album where mick plays up his creepy old man schtick, whispering unspeakable things over a minimalist groove. it's the only way forward. this is my favorite band, probably, and they are too good for this retro "play the classics" touring shit they've been doing for the past 95 years or whatever

i think the reason they are still alive is because the universe wants them to make one more great album. i think this will happen, but i don't think it will sound like anything they've done before.

I think the reason they are still alive is because they collectively have a 10% share in the universe.

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/what_a_drag_it_is_getting_old_the_rolling_stones_then_and_now

This time, before there could be any serious preparations for a 50th anniversary tour – something Richards wanted to see happen – Jagger made it plain that there would have to be some sort of reckoning. The details of whatever transpired between the two men remain private, but as Wood commented, things were “tense and awkward.” There was even a rumor that Richards’ position as the Rolling Stones’ rhythm guitarist might be in peril. Some thought he was having trouble playing – that perhaps his hands were growing afflicted with arthritis or that his steady intake of alcohol affected his musical agility

was talking to a friend of mine last weekend who was taken along to their show in Oakland - he got in for free, tix were $600 and they weren't even on ground level/floor. insane.

i want them to make an electronic dance album where mick plays up his creepy old man schtick, whispering unspeakable things over a minimalist groove.

Mick beat you to it, bro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P53QNZm1U44

Yeah I've noticed keiths playing recently in clips

Shine a Light was the first time I really noticed how bad they were

can we talk about the eternal lol that is the Bridges to Babylon cover

ok, that top video in the dangerousminds link above is truly...awful

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lLRD1R8GNgY#t=85s

1:25 in. ouch.

and that's an official rolling stones promotional video! they put that in there on purpose! to highlight it!!

good lord that part where gwen stefani is barely able to sing wild horses while the rolling stones are barely able to play wild horses is BRUTAL

jenifer divine 7 hours ago

YOU- ROLLING STONES- YOU ARE JUST GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS- Keith can't even play his guitar with any proficiency whatsoever- and Mick is so horribly off-key its pathetic-

the ROLLING CLONES SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES!!!

i've heard better from cheesy lounge bands playing in crappy off-Strip Vegas casinos

Keith looks deeply bored/catatonic. Mick trying hard but he is basically a grandma.

good lord that part where gwen stefani is barely able to sing wild horses while the rolling stones are barely able to play wild horses is BRUTAL

seriously, i was barely able to watch! i stopped the video 10 seconds in, linked to it here, and closed the entire browser just to make sure

I would pay more to see Watts playing solo than to see him with the Stones at this point.

yeah that's painful to see, close your eyes and apart from mick's voice there's nothing to indicate you're not listening to some shitty anonymous bar band. not that i blame them too much for not giving much of a fuck after like six decades but it seems cruel to charge innocent ppl $600 for this.

I actually think this performance from a few years ago is quite good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vjIP7-SiX0

I've seen the band be good and the band be bad, which is a sign to me that the band at least knows the difference between being good and being bad. One bad show I saw, Ron Wood's guitar pooped out, and mid song he simply strolled to the tech and struck up a conversation while the guitar was looked at, then slung the replacement over his should and walked back to his spot. Walked. This was mid-song. (After the tour Wood would return to rehab.) Another not so awesome show of theirs, a writer next to me who was covering for MOJO was apparently left a message by Mick Jagger himself that the band would be better the next night. And apparently the band was better!

The story I'd heard is that Keith suffers from arthritis in his hands, and that getting his playing in shape was the number reason they did not tour last year. But I guess there's only so much you can do.

I feel bad kinda, the Stones were sort of uniquely ill suited to old age, they rely on that energy, whereas like Neil and Dylan were kinda already old weirdos....and like McCartney ultimately can rely on such sturdy classic pop tunes that don't really require athleticism.....probably amazing the stones persisted as long as they did....I guess The Who is in the same boat

there are some interview clips w/ keith on youtube where he's answering ppl's questions (i'm guessing they were little promotional spots for his biography) and you can very clearly see the arthritis in his fingers - big swollen joints, and not the smoking kind

Glastonbury should be interesting. its going to be live on TV over here too. live! on the tv! all 2 hours of it...

also Macca having a young band every time out helps.

plus, the recent cover story in rolling stone suggests, there may be affects from the medication keith still takes because of his "fall from a tree" (something neurological?). whatever, keith obviously lacks dexterity. but maybe there's too much of a microscope on him, people calibrating what he can do now vs what he could do then. because as i witnessed recently in newark -- from $150 seats, not $600 -- is that the push and pull of their rhythm remains unparalleled. that's why i keep going. love this band.

effects. jeez.

Keith hasn't exactly ever been the most nimble of guitarists. That's been a lot of his charm. Charlie is always solid, Ron is up and down as support, Mick is in remarkable shape, bassist has the easiest job in the world (story goes he was hired because he was the least familiar with the catalog; also, supposedly he plays most of the parts with just his thumb, to keep his fusion chops in check). The only reasons I can think for the band sucking, or at least being really erratic, are a) have't practiced enough b) arrogant enough to think they're good enough and c) don't really give a shit. Or all three.

regarding c), When was the last time they did?

Well, per my anecdote just above, they do try harder some nights than others. But there's a cool, sloppy "don't give a shit" and then there's a mercenary "really don't give a shit."

See, there's been a whole bunch about how the tickets haven't sold hugely..

I remember about 15 years ago, a colleague had bought 2 full-price tickts for Wembley Arena (fairly sure it was there), come the day another lad in the office went up on the off-chance and got 2 tickets from a tout, and ended up with better seats. Also, they were within view of the colleague who was sat further up, behind.

There's only been a modest blurt about it, I thought, about a week ago, with massive spin from the RS camp re: how soft sales have actually been. I do know the last time they played here, and end of the season football stadium date where the temp. dropped down to the low 50s, maybe lower, the stadium was supposedly half full.

also wonder if mick taylor isn't along mostly as insurance, in case keith doesn't feel up to finishing a particular gig.