It's easy to imagine why the Beatles might have felt like squares next to the Stones. Don't get me wrong, the Beatles were incredible, but some of the Stones' songs were just so... evil. I try to avoid using the word evil, because it feels so one-dimensional and flat, but the Stones just give me that feeling at times. Take a song like "Under My Thumb." It is definitely the coolest sounding song ever, but the lyrics are the most brutally misogynistic I've ever heard. They make gangster rap sound like "Lady in Red." The Stones never sounded like they were posing, and if they were it didn't matter, because the music was just so g*ddamn great. "Sister Morphine" is a charming little hallucinatory tale about overdosing, but the mood of the song is so dank and desperate that it never descends into parody. The combination of the acoustic guitar, Mick's weary vocals, the sinister tone of Mick Taylor's guitar, the piano, and the drums that kick in at 2:42 just gives me chills everywhere. The Exorcist on vinyl.
Exile is my favorite Stones album, cause it just feels the most cohesive. And it's loaded with classics, including the great opener "Rocks Off" and the amazing "Torn and Frayed." If I had a gun to my head, I might pick "Torn and Frayed" as my favorite Stones track. But with a gun to my head I might be really nervous and totally choke and pick a song off that really lame 80s Stones album where they're dressed in pastels on the cover.
No comments:
Post a Comment