Let It Bleed

This is the only Rolling Stones album I had listened to before beginning this blog and to be quite honest, I’ve constructed my ranking system in accordance with how other albums measure up to this one. I have memories of flying down the 401 in the pouring rain blaring “Gimmie Shelter”, howling nights of hazy intoxication where I’ve been able to extract more meaning from “Midnight Rambler” than in any other state of mind, and sad days restricted to the confinements of social obligations where “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” brings some placid sense of hope. And I’ll let you make of it what you will, that “Love in Vain” was on my daily playlist for the first four months of this year.

“Gimmie Shelter” sends a political message, as Jagger vocalizes the need for shelter from the coming storm of worldly devastation and destruction. In his own words he put it: "That's a kind of end-of-the-world song, really. It's apocalypse; the whole record's like that." To get into a writing frame of mind I’ve listened to this album four times in the last two days and countless times in the last few weeks. Today, I dug through my meager collection of vinyl --and as I write these very words my eardrums are pulsating with pleasure from the energy rush. The airwaves in my room resonate while the needle dances through the grooves of the phenomenal composition, --and as the record revolves an injection of the soul of the band, screams: “It’s just a shot away, It’s just a shot away.”

The Stone’s “Love in Vain” is cover of a Robert Johnson tune that has a more polished sound than the original. The sad lyrics, drawn long by Jagger alongside the country blurbs from Richard’s guitar depict the epitome of a yearning and lonesome lover.

“The Midnight Rambler” was written about the Boston Strangler. It is a fast paced jam that comes to life with Richard’s dangerous guitar riffs and solos. Jagger’s sporadic bellowing into the harmonica tames the country twang of the guitar while Brian Jones’ magnificent splashes on the drums keeps tempo with the quickening bass. This tune would come to be known as a great crowd pleaser at shows as its length and style provide opportunity for instrumental solos.

The London Bach Choir is featured throughout “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” singing just those words. Skepticism often takes me over when the Stones force out a positive rainbowy tune (*cough…“She’s a rainbow”...) and although this song carries positive message it still seems like a Stones song.

Although this album prides itself on knock-out hits it doesn’t have the same fluid flowing motion of Beggars Banquet.

Beggars Banquet

After a long busy week, a slow Friday afternoon killing the hours with a few Stone’s albums and the good company of my 17 year old Yorkshire terrier really hit the spot. After forcing Their Satanic Majesties Request on myself I was a little leery about what Beggars Banquet might bring. Fortunately, with this album the Stones dropped the psychedelic-rock act and returned to a sound that’s more their forte. Although this album doesn’t exact knock-out punches with numerous rock-out hits, it steadily slugs away and the impact lands in a smooth ‘n’ cool R&B tone, emanating out of a folk sound that’s lit-up with rocking guitar solos. This album is a good listen from start to finish.

Beggars Banquet opens with “Sympathy for the Devil”. It’s kept by a primitive beat and brought to life by Jagger’s bluesy voice singing satanic lyrics from the perspective of Lucifer while back-up vocals resonate with a continual “Woo-who”. The piano seems to bring some mode of regulation to the tune, even to the untamed stinging guitar solo from Richard’s.

“Street Fighting Man" has a tinny sound induced by the use of a sitar and tambura. Jagger drags his voice through the lyrics hanging on to notes in a way that really builds the energy of the song. This is one of their most politically directed songs, featuring lyrics such as the following that form the base idea.

“Well, then what can a poor boy do
Except to sing for a rock 'n' roll band
'Cause in sleepy London town
There's no place for a street fighting man”

“Stray Cat Blues” is a jive tune kicking back with long reeling guitar riffs from Richards, and a sliding tempo that picks up and slows down and just gives the feeling that swaying back and forth is the right thing to do. It even makes the swaying of my 17 year old dog seem natural and controlled.

Much like the above album cover that was originally rejected, each of these tunes were controversial upon their release. “Sympathy for the Devil” was so because of its satanic underpinnings, “Street Fighting Man” because of the race riots in the US and political unrest in France at the time, and “Stray Cat Blues” because the lyrics pertain to a 15 year old girl as the ‘stray cat’.

Their Satanic Majesties Request

The first time I ever put my ears to this album was a couple of weeks ago. I was bustling around my room, busied in literature related nonsense and it wasn’t until the third track before confusion took me back to my computer screen --I was nearly certain by some mistake I’d dragged a lost Beatles album of B-sides onto my playlist. Curiously this wasn’t the case. By the time that I’d let the whole album run through, I’d decided that somehow the Rolling Stones had forced Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Yellow Submarine to crossbreed resulting in this defective submarinish offspring. I’ve always been fond of Sgt Pepper’s but have never been taken in by Yellow Submarine –in fact, I’ve always been agitated by the Yellow Submarine album. Later that day I browsed the internet to find out that Yellow Submarine wasn’t released until ‘69 so my crossbreeding theory went kaputz. To the relief of my confusion I found that Lennon and McCartney had been involved in the recording of this album. From what I can tell, they were responsible for backup vocals in the first track. But from the sound of the album I’d guess they had more of a hand in it than that.

The epitome of this disaster lies in the chaotic hoopla of “Sing This All Together (see what happens)”. This track nearly drags on for eight minutes mimicking jungle sounds then accelerating into a fit of screams that seemingly progresses from chaotic to erotic which is then echoed by graceless blasts from woodwind.

No doubt under the hypnotic spell of the Beatles (as I assume everyone was in ’67) “She’s a Rainbow” comes across as a catchy ditty with a bright mellotron melody, bright lyrics, and bright violin –a brightness that I wouldn’t say is typical of the Stones. This tune charted at 25^th on the Hot Billboard 100.

As this period of Rock and Roll was in the groove of a psychedelic sound many bands were out making a name for themselves with this resonance. The Doors were breaking through with the release of their first album, Jefferson Airplane were enjoying success with “Plastic Fantastic Dancer”, and “White Rabbit” and David Bowie was laughing it up with “The Laughing Gnome”....

The only song that has the Stones captured in some distorted psychedelic way is “2000 Light Years From Home”. With an eerie wavering mellotron in the distant background and the soft and mysterious vocals hanging on to every syllable like they’re Jagger’s last, this is the best the Stones ever did with a psychedelic sound.

To sum-up the sound of this album: If the Beatles were to trap the Rolling Stones in a Yellow Submarine for months while incessantly playing their Yellow Submarine album over and over and then open the port holes and slowly drowned them while demanding them to play their instruments and sing –this would be the result.

Flowers

I’m not one of those indecisive fellows who is constantly and flippantly flicking and forwarding through an album to find what he likes best at that very moment. However, this album is a compilation of tracks and it draws heavily on material that I’ve already given much time and consideration to in the past few weeks. In short, I’ve been rather guiltly of grazing through this album in search green pastures of unheard music. And through the use of these cow-like listening techniques I’m not surprised to find that I’ve found little enjoyment here. In all fairness I think in the future I might look back on this album and think it deserves higher esteem.

The music on this compilation comes from an array of different places. It contains music from U.K. albums never before released in the U.S. like “Mother’s Little Helper”, previously US releases: ‘Aftermath’ and ‘Between the Buttons’ and newly recorded covers like “My Girl”; a tune popularized by The Temptations.

“Mother’s Little Helper” was included in the UK’s release of 'Aftermath' and when it came to the US it secured 8^th position on the Billboard charts. The lyrics pertain to house-wife mothers consumed by prescription drug abuse and while Jagger’s sings them, there is this wavering and creepy riff from a twelve-string guitar that gives the tune a cold and unusual vibe.

“Ride On, Baby” opens with a spiraling zing from the harpsichord and reveals lyrics that I’d recommend to anyone fascinated with troublesome women. If there was another song that deserved honourable mention it would be “Sittin’ on a Fence”.

Otherwise, if one has time to kill there was plenty of other more ear-worthy music that was poplar at this time. The Beatles’ “All you need is Love” and The Velvet Underground’s “I’m waiting for the Man” are two fine examples.

Between The Buttons

I often find that while in the midst of a good run my thoughts and the world in general are dulled-out by the motion of my body –this is essentially why I do it. I found this to be increased tenfold when racing down riverside through the strong winds on Friday while listening to “Yesterday’s Papers” and watching a leaf of newsprint dance, caught in a whirlwind fifteen meters above the road and only being able to think: “How come my fingers can’t find the button to reduce the volume?”.

Though I mightn’t have been able to grasp the aesthetic qualities of the song in that moment and come up with something clever to muse, with clarity of mind The Stone’s experimental endeavors that comprise this album (though out of tune with their rebellious and dark mystique) are nonetheless extraordinary feats of artistic accomplishment.

It seems to me now that The Stone’s first found their voice in the release of Out of Our Heads and since then each album has been wrought with some articulation of darkness or depression. The mood of this album however does not convey this at all and despite negative acclaim from critics I’d suggest it’s an album that simply missed its time. Between the Buttons thrives with a jive jazzy swing that I’d dare to liken to the Beatles later work: The White Album –although not as perfected.

“Let’s Spend the Night Together” and “Rudy Tuesday” (screaming girls in this link...ridiculous...sorry) are the two tracks that topped the Billboard charts in the U.S. The former; a sexually charged tune, resounds with Jagger’s voice belting-out lyrics that resemble the soul music of Ray Charles while the backup vocals resonate with lively piano. The later; the album’s treasure, is a sweet melodic tune with a pleasing crooning recorder at its core. “She Smiled Sweetly” is a gentle ballad that encapsulates, along with “Ruby Tuesday”, “Miss Amanda Jones”, “Complicated” an outlook toward women that is entirely different than the previous album. “Cool Calm and Collected” is another ditty with a positive ring that is nearly able to hide its politically satirical lyrics through the use of distracting kazoo and show-time piano. I’m not entirely sure, but it sounds to me like this is Keith Richard’s doing lead vocals and maybe that gives it the sound I like. “All Sold Out” is pretty rocking track with an upbeat tempo. It gets better every time that I listen to it and probably should have made it into my selections.

The music scene at this time was relishing in the releases of legendary albums like The Beatle’s Revolver (which I’ve been listening to on vinyl for the last week and a half –an album that I had overlooked before), The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds (an old favorite of mine) and Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde (something I’ve yet to collect). The following are tunes from each of the aforementioned albums, in sequence: “Good Day Sunshine”, “Wouldn’t it Be Nice”, “Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35”.

Though I like this album it is evidently not a jogging album because while I listened to it running, with my fingers fumbling between buttons, watching the most aesthetic of yesterday’s papers I wasn’t able to see irony or beauty in it.

Aftermath

This morning I ended a strange and patriotic period of my life. Though it’s unclear to me now how it came about, for a while I’d been waking up every morning to the Canadian national anthem on my CD player alarm clock —but today, was a melancholic change to “Paint it Black” (the first song on Aftermath). What a colossal difference.

Aftermath, The Rolling Stone’s first album entirely composed of original singles was the dawn of a new experimental direction. This was established through the use of unconventional instruments most notably the dulcimer, marimba and sitar. The dulcimer is most prominent in the track: “Lady Jane”. "Lady Jane" is a pleasant and soft sounding song that has lyrics that I’d associate with mid-seventeenth century poetry rather anything I could ever imagine spouting from Jagger’s mouth. Though, I must admit this tune does add a touch of class and gentlemanliness to The Stone’s mystic in a place that might need it.

On either side of “Lady Jane”, are the tunes “Stupid Girl” and “Under my Thumb” which contain lyrics that are arguably chauvinistic. In spite of this, and regardless of what it says about me, “Under my Thumb” in my mind, is unquestionably the most rocking song on the album. Opening with amazing marimba riffs, this energetic harmony --of not just instruments and vocals but the hearts and souls of the band members brings my stereo to life and gives a vibrant freshness to the air in this unventilated empty room every time I play it.

“Paint it Black” is perhaps not the most inspiring (or patriotic) song to wakeup to but despite its depressing lyrics it is certainly better to wake up to this song rather than not waking up at all. This song topped the Billboard single charts in both the US and UK and its easy to hear why. Heavy-heartbeat-pounding drums fraught with a stinging electric-sounding sitar alongside Jagger’s edgy vocals reciting lyrics that literally paint the world a dreary black, makes this tune coincide with darker side of the band’s disposition.

The more I listen to the tune “It’s Not Easy” the more I decide it is really not one of the best tracks on the album. But every time I walk downstairs to look into an empty fridge, spend the wee hours of the morning doing laundry, or reestablish my bottom-end’s unrequited love with porcelain due to surviving on coffee alone --I can’t help but think of this tune.

Another dimension added to this album’s experimental tone was the eleven minute track “Going Home” which was unheard of at the time. (However, if you’ve got eleven minutes to spare you’re better off listening to The Doors “The End”)

A popular release that was captivating the ears of radio listeners around the height of "Paint it Black’s" notoriety was Frank Sinatra’s “Stranger’s in the Night”.

My Thoughts...

So I’ve dragged the first five Stone albums into my life. Not really sure where I’ve wanted to take this blog --I’ve gone from a moderately interesting personal account of how their music was influencing my life, to an unfortunately academic seeming structure where I summarize their albums in a rather discouraging drawn-out fashion. Most gross and grim this is to me, as meager amusing adjectives are the sole personal flare I get to squeeze-in edgewise in these rather un-intense “intense reviews”. While I find these bombastic summaries most useful to someone who’ll never listen to these albums, I’m rather selfish and have little aspiration to satisfy others at my displeasure. The only gratification I derive from having these “intense reviews” frantically fleeing from my faculty come in the form of a contorted hope that some debilitated future-self, after escape from rehab –or some institution of brainwashing, will feel compelled to find out what some pablum previous-self was dolefully indulging in. With that said, I think it’s of utmost importance that I drag on in this way –of course, exclusively for the appeasement of others…

So after robotically tripping through a rundown of five structured album reviews I plan to let loose with a little attitude and shoot-it about how the Stone’s music is meshing with my life while injecting little tidbits of history about the band.

As the Rolling Stones produced their music it was released in the UK and the US on albums that were similar but not the same. As of this far, I have delved merely into the American releases and have neglected to reveal the intact group dynamics of the Stones.

Mick Jagger, and Keith Richards I’ve touched on extensively with their lead vocals and guitar respectively but I’ve severely underestimated the talent that Brian Jones brought to the band. He possessed the communicative talent of being able to play nearly every instrument. Bill Wyman occupied the bass guitar, and Charlie Watts hammered eloquently on the drums.

There are only so many ways to incorporate music into my life. While the majority of the masses drone through time plugged into i-pods and chattering away on cell-phones with musical ring-tones --these are things I refuse to do. The greater part of my listening takes place while I lounge around my room, looking over school readings, kickin’ it with my 17 year old dog. Beyond that, there’s always my car, my CD player alarm clock and occasionally I’ll plug in for a fast-paced jog.

The music of the Stone’s is sexier –more jive than the kind of music you’re supposed to be listening to with your decaying Yorkshire terrier. The soul that’s in Mick Jagger’s spasmic, rhythmic dancing as he sings --embodies something more demonic, anxious, vibrant and alive than reading Dickens, Aphra Behn, or the T.S. Elloit’s The Waste Land…well maybe not The Waste Land….

The Rolling Stone’s music takes on their lifestyle during that time --Jagger, Richards and Jones spending a night in the slammer for drug related charges during July of ‘67. This is the kind of music that should come alive within the city of Windsor. The City of Windsor: home of a wild and howling night-life --from the student ghetto to a thriving bar-scene. Allen Ginsberg in response to their conflict with the law stated: “The Rolling Stones are one of Britain’s major cultural assets, who should be honoured by the kingdom instead of jailed.” This is a kind of music that screams to be synonymously linked with the idea of freedom. And being fettered with five English classes this semester I cannot give this music the true listening it deserves. Nor can my Yorkshire terrier, but that’s because she’s deaf.