Everyone knows and loves the Stones' classic hits. I've heard them all a million times and even though I'll admit that I'll often flip by "Brown Sugar" when I hear it on classic rock radio, these songs will always have a time and place in the unfolding epic that is my life...which is funny 'cuz I wasn't even around at the time these songs had a real context.
That said, one of the great things about the Stones, and I guess a lot of those British Invasion groups (i.e. the Who, Kinks, Beatles, etc.), is that their catalogs of material are serious mines of musical pleasure--the deeper you go, the more your respect and adoration for the group grows. Digging through my CD collection yesterday, I came across a Stones box set collection of their singles through 1971, the year they left Decca/London Records (Decca in England, London stateside
) and moved on to bigger, and, in my humble opinion, less impressive things. While the collection indeed features almost all of their more well-known songs (i.e. "Street Fighting Man," "Honky Tonk Women," etc.), and a fair amount of their mid-60's hits (i.e. "19th Nervous Breakdown," "Paint It Black"), the defining attraction of the box set for me is the abundance of deep cuts/rarities, mostly in the form of B-sides.
I've done the dirty work and collected them all for you here and now, so enjoy, and make sure to take a minute to revel in how cool you are after you download these guys.
All songs are off of The Rolling Stones Singles Collection: The London Years.
Rolling Stones- "Come On"
A Chuck Berry cover, this song is the first single the Stones ever released. Although short, the song packs a great early rock 'n' roll punch. Love this one.
Rolling Stones- "Stoned"
Here's a bluesy instrumental number, much in the same vein as a Booker T. & the MG's tune. The song is credited to a certain "Nanker Phelge"--a pseudonym created for all of the Stones' early original compositions.
Rolling Stones- "Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man"
Bill Wyman: "The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man was a good-natured jibe at George Sherlock, the London Records promo man who accompanied us on our first American tour. The track is based on Buster Brown's 1960 hit, Fannie Mae, which also inspired the Beach Boys' Help Me Rhonda."
Rolling Stones- "Gotta Get Away"
Along with "Come On" and "Memo From Turner" this one competes for best of the bunch.
Rolling Stones- "Memo From Turner"
This one was originally released as a Jagger solo track...and, in true Jagger form, it's got fantastic sneerin' & drawlin' vocals. Scorsese also featured the song in Goodfellas during a Ray Liotta coke binge.
Rolling Stones- "The Singer Not the Song"
Rolling Stones- "Long, Long While"
Rolling Stones- "Who's Driving Your Plane"
Rolling Stones- "Surprise, Surprise"
Rolling Stones- "Out of Time"
on
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
2 comments:
if you're in LONDON check out an exhibition of UNSEEN ROLLING STONES PHOTOS FROM 1966-1971 by Dominique Tarle and Michael Cooper.
"memo from turner", "gotta get away", and "come on" are my three favorites as well.
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