Rolling Stones mid 70s Poll (post-Exile, pre-Some Girls)

The first two albums are garbage. B&B has "Memory Motel," the fabulous "Crazy Mama" and "Hand of Fate," and "Fool to Cry." B&B wins.

Yep, easy.

Goats head soup doesn't really have too many "songs" but it sounds grand, I really like it

It's only rock and roll is pretty boring, "time waits for no one" is a beaut, though, and I think I remember the Motown cover being good

Black and Blue: features Harvey Mandel! This is a really really boring album iirc but I haven't listened in years

So.... goats head soup... it's like an album where you hear the stones dying

Fool to cry is not good but I'll try the other songs you mentioned, alfred

The Keef riff in "Hand of Fate" is the Keefest of Keef riffs, and Mandel's shit-kicking solo is one of a kind. Jagger sounds venomous.

Yes the Fate riff is great but the song goes nowhere. It's more a sketch.

Goats Head Soup is my favorite out of these.

when i was a kid my mom had a pink (or salmon?) tape of 'goats' sitting around in her stereo along with other old LPs that i never heard played, so it always seemed like a mysterious album to me - the tape deck was broken

i like goats head of these 3

but tbh i'd rather listen to anything else

GHS has some cool songs but it's just a bummer having "Dancing With Mr. D" as the opening track when you think about the way the last 4 albums started. Though it's at least not as generic as "If You Can't Rock Me."

lol i'll never forget being at a party and talking to someone and they were like "i'm more of a Goat's Head Soup kinda guy"

(in the context of a very tired & standard 'Beatles vs. Stones' conversation)

Goats Head Soup, which is also actually one of their best albums of the '70s, even if it is a minor step down from the preceding two.

Well, that was easy.

Yeah, this is GHS in a walk, for "Winter" alone. B&B is garbage; it sounds like they recorded it in their sleep.

Black and Blue woudln't make a list of my ten favorite Stones because of crap like "Hey Negrita" and "Melody," but if they recorded it in their sleep, If it's sleep, then it must have been a power nap because the guitars and vocals have emerged from the fog of the last two albums.

I don't mind "100 Years Ago" or "Winter" or "Fingerprint File."

uh cross out that second "if it's sleep"

"Winter" is lovely. My favourite song on the run of albums in question.

What do we think of Angie? I get the feeling they were trying a little too hard

GHS by some margin - if only for 100 Years Ago, Winter and Doo Doo Doo Etc.

Another thought: All three of these albums have awful covers.

Angie is a masterpiece

lol i'll never forget being at a party and talking to someone and they were like "i'm more of a Goat's Head Soup kinda guy"

Lol this is great

Voted the Brussels Affair.
seriously, GHS is overly maligned, I love side 2 of that album. viva decadence!

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GvxWZzWrQHE/UGUae2-huxI/AAAAAAAAI5A/t2Anfp9_eBo/s400/Liza+Minnelli+as+Sally+Bowles+Oscar+winner+in+Cabaret+1972.gif

Would I rather listen to any of these albums over Emotional Rescue? You fucking bet I would.

if I could melt every copy of these albums and replace them with Emotional Rescue, hell yeah.

Why would anyone want to do that!?

GHS and Emotional Rescue are on a par for me I think. Third-tier Stones albums.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!!!

This period may also mark the only time when they were eclipsed by Aerosmith, at least in America ?

TS: Aerosmith "Combination" vs Stones "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo"

aerosmith's first album didn't come out til 73 so yeah maybe a torch was passed, i don't know, wasn't there

"Doo Doo Doo..." has Charlie going 3/4 tempo during the verses and Mick's(?) rhythm gtr makes it almost funky? Also can imagine Keith in the control room making sure the wah is up in the mix

yeah this is the era when Mick started playing a lot of electric rhythm ("Fingerprint File," "Winter," "Crazy Mama").

I meant Taylor

him too!

I had It's Only Rock and Roll as a kid on an 8 track, so that is about the Stones record I have hard the most. Really any mid-70s Stones is still good, just not to the level of where they had been. I think the slow and ballad tunes, which are not bad, kinda drag these records (and side 2 of Tattoo You). I'd figure they were living so hard and fast, when they got in a room to play, they were probably just so wound/strung out, that easy going acoustic slow things felt better when writing them.

I don't know to me any SLOW tune that doesn't have some unique or crazy musical break/bridge that goes on for 5-6 minutes would be better dropping a verse and chorus. I'd say that is the issue to me on some of these tunes.

'Time Waits For No One' is the best song on any of these records... love the "ticking" drums, the subtle use of synth and Taylor's sublime guitar playing. It's also got that grimy, fucked-up vibe to it that one would expect from mid '70s Stones.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I really need to hear these albums someday.

yeah no rush

Snrub, listen to Goats Heads Soup first

i'm hearing "hand of fate" right now.. it's a great riff and mick sounds fabulous but the production sounds really off to me. too light and airy or something, not violent enough.

mandel's minimal harmonic laden solo is pretty sweet

yeah no rush

― calstars, Thursday, September 28, 2017

description of Stones recording these songs

These albums do all kinda suck.....I really like the way Charlie Watts gets them from verse to chorus on "Heartbreaker," and the completely generic unfelt social consciousness of the lyric charms me, so GHS gets my vote

Yeah, Charlie is all over the map on that one. It's almost like some free jazz shit. Also wonder if '78 Mick walking Central Park singing after dark could have been the same boy the police chased back in '74

Also no one has mentioned the causal enjoyment of "luxury!" make a million for the texan. 20 dollar me. My woman need a new dress. My daughter got to go to school.

TS: luxury vs Haitian divorce

'Luxury' is utterly terrible.

Goat's Head Soup is a fucking SLOG.

― Mr. Snrub, Wednesday, October 4, 2017 1:27 PM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you probably just weren't in the right mood, don't give up, try again in two years or something

"Angie" is by far my favorite, one of those 'last songs of the sixties'

i know, 73, i just mean that downer spirit. clemenza or somebody knows what i mean

maybe "the sixties are over" is better

but hey i'm also the guy who sometimes thinks the second side of Tattoo You is one of the better things they did.

― constitutional crises they fly at u face (will)

agreed

Another vote for Tattoo Two Side You

Man I love 'Worried About You'.

Goat's Head is where I get off the Stones bus, but even then I think there's some filler on it. The sequencing is a joke too - 'Coming Down Again' third on side 1??? I worked up an alternate version a couple months ago for listening purposes:

1. 100 Years Ago (I think by Goats they were stuck in the rut of having a typical 'stones' song open an album, and 'Mr.D' always felt really forced, whereas '100 Years Ago' sounds much more interesting/unexpected in that slot)
2. Dancing In The Light (the old bootleg instrumental version, not the Exile deluxe one. There's a definite lack of Keith on Goat's and this track helps to alleviate that)
3. Heartbreaker
4. Angie
5. Tops (released on Tattoo You but recorded in 72. The vocals weren't done until 79/80 though, but it's one of my favourite Stones songs so I cheated and used the Tattoo version here. The opening chord blends with the final chord in Angie perfectly)
6. Separately (Taylor/Keith/Hopkins instrumental ballad done during the Exile sessions)
7. Waiting On A Friend (the 73 version with rough vocals and no sax)
8. Criss-Cross Mind (Goat's outtake, more uptempo than 'Can You Hear The Music')
9. Winter
10. Leather Jacket ('Silver Train' was from the Stargroves sessions in 1970, as was this, so pilfering from a few years back didn't seem out of place. The instrumentation fits in with the Goat's Head sound and it gives Taylor some songwriting credit)
11. I Ain't Signifying (the bootleg version with 72 era Mick vocals, not the Exile Deluxe version. I could've used 'Hide Your Love' but I like this better, esp. for the "have you ever had the feeling that you've been here before?" line)
12. Coming Down Again (the only way to end things imo)

Excellent post
All that's missing is a download link

They pulled out "Dancing With Mr. D" for the obscure tracks/potty break section on early dates on the current tour.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51tT%2B9-yo9L._SY355_.jpg

i found a fair copy of The Rolling Stones "Made in the Shade" the other day for $5. it's a really great compilation of early-to-mid-70s stuff:

Side A
"Brown Sugar" 3:48
"Tumbling Dice" 3:45
"Happy" 3:04
"Dance Little Sister" 4:11
"Wild Horses" 5:42

Side B
"Angie" 4:33
"Bitch" 3:38
"It's Only Rock'n Roll (But I Like It)" 5:07
"Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)" 3:26
"Rip This Joint" 2:22

i think "Goats Head Soup" would be my choice from this poll, love "Angie" and "Heartbreaker" (and "Dancing With Mr. D").

do we have a Stones bootleg thread?

whitehallunity delivers the goods! i wanna dig out that exile bonus disc now..

Okay, so while this period of the Stones might not be everyone's favourite, but the very best of the material from this time still makes me think "fuck, I love the Stones" ... which is something I can't say of, for example, the Undercover era or Bridges to Babylon ...

Excellent post
All that's missing is a download link

― calstars, Thursday, October 5, 2017 2:29 AM (yesterday)

whitehallunity delivers the goods! i wanna dig out that exile bonus disc now..

― brimstead, Thursday, October 5, 2017 3:12 AM (yesterday)

haha, I was sorta half-worried my post would've been a little too much for the thread, glad to see it was well received. Here's a link:

https://mega.nz/#!d6AEWZwZ!0mxVGYO7gWkp__i9NrqIfYUS43G-XWA0e5nkx4VXuwQ

Also, if you haven't seen it, here's a rough sketch of the originally proposed cover by Hipgnosis:

http://blog.casafina.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/u.png

which was later re-used for this:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41rX7-oPfFL._SY300_.jpg

lol had no idea that was the backstory to the Ride a Rock Horse cover

Hahaha
Thank you and cheers

jagger crapping on mick taylor

The Daltrey cover was designed by Graham Hughes, Roger's cousin. Dunno if he worked for/with Hipgnosis. Hughes also designed/photographed the Quadrophenia and Odds and Sods covers.

def feel a certain way about that Keef horse

Let's do this!

Must dig out Goats Head Soup later for a listen. One of their finest LP's.

Memory f’in Motel

https://carnaby.therollingstonesshop.com/products/pop-art-black-and-blue-t-shirt/?

They took Bill off the cover of Black & Blue for this tee.

The ad it's based on:

https://blogintomystery.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/stones.jpg?w=640

I remember the kerfuffle around the ad for Black and Blue that featured a bound young woman who was . . . well, black and blue.

I really dig "Hand of Fate." Some nice, if basic, back and forth by Ron and Keith in that one.

They took Bill off the cover of Black & Blue for this tee.

Pretty sure they all hated Bill.

Making MIck a blond is equally rude

Too much time on black and blue

https://i.postimg.cc/L5cS30Rt/IMG-1574.jpg

bonus points if that had been taken in front of the actual Memory Motel.

i looked up whitehallunity and they haven't posted for eight months, but just wanted to express here that i'd be interested in a re-up of their alternate Goads Head mix

otm

absolutely blowing my mind that there are Tattoo You demos going back to 1972-73

Black and Blue is my favourite Stones album (which may or may not give away what sort of Stones fan I am)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aXG8GmAppw

Do it do it do it do it do it

Goat’s head soup by far.

The sequencing is a joke too - 'Coming Down Again' third on side 1???

12. Coming Down Again (the only way to end things imo)

Ending the album that way is too sentimental - the whole point is that Keith is coming down, again... and he still has to get it together for another seven subsequent songs.

Black and Blue is my favourite Stones album (which may or may not give away what sort of Stones fan I am)

― you can see me from westbury white horse, Saturday, February 22, 2025 8:12 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

only one i ever go back to outside of Exile. absolute "you secretly place it on during a mass outdoor bbq party and no one is the wiser" album

i have tried so many times with Black and Blue. i always get like 12 seconds into "Hot Stuff" and start laughing uncontrollably and need to turn it off. what on earth were they thinking

*snorting

"Black and Blue" is the kind of album where you're pleasantly surprised any time you hear a stand alone track out in the wild, like "Fool to Cry" or "Hey Negrita" (the latter very much in line with the album's vibe of "one guy likes reggae, the others don't, and the guy that loves reggae is having a hard time explaining to the other guys exactly what reggae is and how to play it"). But then you put on the whole album, and it's incoherent in the way many erroneously categorized "Exile" and "Goats."

Absolutely love 'Hand of Fate' and 'Crazy Mama.'

Count me in as another fan of Black and Blue. Not sure if it was indeed intended more as guitarist auditions rather than an attempt to make a fully-realized LP, but part of the charm for me is the looseness. It's not one of the great Stones albums, but it's still good and really enjoyable.

yeah my position has always been that Black and Blue is a good Sunday afternoon hangout album, the ballads are better than the rockers

It's their most 'stereotypically '70s' album: "Hot Stuff" is the Funk/early Disco song; "Memory Motel" is an Eagles/SoCal ballad; "Hand of Fate" is Bad Company-style outlaw hard rocker; "Crazy Mama" is basically a Thin Lizzy song; "Fool To Cry" is Philly International; "Cherry Oh Baby" the Reggae nod; "Melody" is a tip to lounge Jazz...

It's a major 'informal' album

Also, the mix is fucking great. It grooves. It doesn't sound like other period Stones albums.

i always get like 12 seconds into "Hot Stuff" and start laughing uncontrollably

cos you'd be a fool to cry