Last year, I was talking to someone after playing a show with my band, and they asked me the eternal question, "Beatles or Stones?" and in the moment I surprised myself a little that my gut told me to go with the Rolling Stones. My mom loves the Stones, so I just heard them a lot growing up, and I still hear a lot of songs and think of Mom doing Mick Jagger dances around the house while cleaning and playing music on the weekend. The next American leg of the No Filter Tour is still up in the air thanks to COVID-19, but the Stones just released their first new original song since 2012, "Living In A Ghost Town." And they've been on my deep cuts to-do list for a long long time, so here goes.

The Rolling Stones deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):

1. Little By Little
2. I Can't Be Satisfied
3. Talkin' About You
4. I Am Waiting
5. She Smiled Sweetly
6. 2000 Man
7. Stray Cat Blues
8. No Expectations
9. Monkey Man
10. You Got The Silver
11. Sway
12. Moonlight Mile
13. Rocks Off
14. Shine A Light
15. Dancing With Mr. D.
16. If You Can't Rock Me
17. Memory Motel
18. Before They Make Me Run
19. Summer Romance
20. Worried About You

Track 1 from The Rolling Stones (1964)
Track 2 from The Rolling Stones No. 2 (1965)
Track 3 from Out Of Our Heads (1965)
Track 4 from Aftermath (1966)
Track 5 from Between The Buttons (1967)
Track 6 from Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967)
Tracks 7 and 8 from Beggars Banquet (1968)
Tracks 9 and 10 from Let It Bleed (1969)
Tracks 11 and 12 from Sticky Fingers (1971)
Tracks 13 and 14 from Exile On Main St. (1972)
Track 15 from Goats Head Soup (1973)
Track 16 from It's Only Rock 'n Roll (1974)
Track 17 from Black And Blue (1976)
Track 18 from Some Girls (1978)
Track 19 from Emotional Rescue (1980)
Track 20 from Tattoo You (1981)

I've never been big on Brian Jones-era Stones outside of the big undeniable singles, so it was fun to dig into those early UK albums. I focused on Jagger/Richards compositions even on the first 3 records that were heavy on covers. But I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the fact that the Stones' cover of the 1948 Muddy Waters b-side "I Can't Be Satisfied" came out about 5 months before they released "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."

I kept to the original UK versions of the early albums, since often in the '60s and '70s, US labels would often chop up British bands' output into shorter, more frequent albums omitting many album tracks in favor of hits that had been standalone singles in England. But as someone who has long revered how the 40-minute limitations of vinyl-era LPs required judicious editing and created more succinct, potent albums, I was kind of appalled that the Stones reduced the volume and audio quality of Aftermath to cram 54 minutes of music onto one record. It was their first album of all original songs, so I think maybe they got carried away with showing that off. It's a great album, though, even if it is longer than it needs to be.

Martin Scorsese has famously used Stones songs in many films, often famous ones ("Gimme Shelter" alone is in three of his movies). But he's also had some choice deep cut moments like "Monkey Man" in Goodfellas and "Sweet Virginia" in Casino. Plus the 2008 Stones concert film that Scorsese directed, Shine A Light, is named for an Exile track and features deep cuts like "You Got The Silver."

I've come to associate Wes Anderson movies with '60s Stones -- in 5 of his films he's used one or two songs apiece from every Stones LP from Out Of Our Heads to Beggars Banquet. Stickler to detail that Anderson is, I'm annoyed that Gwyneth Paltrow's character in Royal Tenenbaums listens to "She Smiled Sweetly" and "Ruby Tuesday" on Between The Buttons on vinyl, but those songs aren't heard back-to-back on any version of the album. I'm partial to his early films so also I included "I Am Waiting," which was in Rushmore, and "2000 Man," which was in Bottle Rocket. Plus I always like an opportunity to use the same song in different artists' deep cuts playlists, and I already had "2000 Man" in my Kiss playlist (incidentally, I used to hear a "2000 Man" cover, not by Kiss, all the time on Delaware rock radio in the '90s, and it still drives me nuts that I can't figure out who it was by).

My longtime favorites are Beggars Banquet and Sticky Fingers, and I've had plenty of lively debates about why the latter is far superior to Exile On Main Street., which I regard as a sibling of Sticky Fingers that's twice as long but half as strong. But obviously Exile has contributed some indispensable tracks to the band's songbook, "Rocks Off" is their most beloved lead track that was never a single.

Paul Buckmaster, who passed away in 2017, was responsible for a lot of the greatest string arrangements on '70s rock records, particularly Elton John and David Bowie. And "Moonlight Mile" is Buckmaster's best work with the Stones, as well as the greatest Rolling Stones track that Keith Richards isn't on at all (although it was based on a demo of his, so he still has a writing credit, he was just not in the studio the night they worked on it). And "Memory Motel," another languorous epic with the same initials as "Moonlight Mile," features Keith on co-lead vocals with Mick, but he doesn't play guitar on it. Mick Taylor was such a big part of some of the band's greatest moments, and it's sad to think that he would've stayed with the Stones longer if Jagger/Richards hadn't hoarded songwriting credits and just agreed to give him credit on stuff like "Sway" and "Moonlight Mile."

I've always been a fan of the occasional Keith Richards turns on lead vocals that have been standard on most Stones albums since Beggars Banquet but are rarely singles aside from "Happy." So I definitely wanted to include a couple of those, "You Got The Silver" and "Before They Make Me Run," that have been live staples over the decades right up through the No Filter Tour setlists.

The late great keyboard player Billy Preston became known as 'the 5th Beatle' in the '60s, but after they broke up he did a lot of his best sideman work with the Stones, playing all over their '70s albums and becoming a touring member for a few years. He's a big part of "Shine A Light," "If You Can't Rock Me," "Memory Motel," "Dancing With Mr. D." and "Worried About You," among others.

Since I decided to cover every album up to Tattoo You, that means I get to spotlight some of the less revered albums, all of which have their moments. Black And Blue has always been my go-to 'minor' Stones album, particularly "Memory Motel." But I found myself really taken with Goats Head Soup, which has a really good thick murky funky sound with lots of wah wah guitar and leslie speakers and Billy Preston on clavinet (reminds me of how I love The Royal Scam for being Steely Dan's clavinet/talkbox album). And, no disrespect to Bill Wyman, but Keith Richards's bass playing on the It's Only Rock 'N' Roll opening track "If You Can't Rock Me" sounds incredible, I kind of wish that had happened more often.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 25, 2020 at 10:03 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.