The Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers - 1971
"I'm no schoolboy but I know what I like..."
The Stones began the seventies as they would carry on through the decade - drug-addled, indulgently decadent, slightly bitter and cocksure.
This album magnificently sums all that up - they met the Devil at the crossroads and in return for staying true to their blues roots they had to promise to take lots of drugs. They do that to the max on this largely bluesy but also blatantly narcotic corker of an offering. Incidentally, this was the first album/single to use the now iconic lips and tongue logo.
Let's get bound for New Orleans....
Well, you simply cannot beat the riffy, sleazy glory of Brown Sugar, can you? Dodgy lyrics and all. It is up there as a candidate for the best Stones song of all time - the iconic opening riff, Jagger’s leery vocal, Bobby Keys’ blistering sax...
"I’m no schoolboy but I know what I like"...and I have done since I was that schoolboy.
Some have criticised the song for its more obvious commercial sound compared to the rest of the album. Sometimes some critics astound me - so it’s catchy, lively and gets you off your feet - so it should, it’s The Rolling fucking Stones. I always remember the song being performed on Top Of The Pops, with Jagger looking strangely yellow-eyed. I loved it back then and, of course, I still do. We got a colour telly in 1971, life went into colour with immediate effect and Brown Sugar came out at the same time. Jagger strutting around on that Top Of The Pops performance in a pink shiny suit and looking just so supremely decadent. The King of Knaves. They just looked the absolute business. That was that sealed for me. The Stones were here to stay. They have been here ever since. They always will. Say what you like about them going through the motions for over thirty, forty, fifty, sixty years. So what? Just listen to any Keith Richards intro. They can go through as many motions as they fucking well like, man.
Then, from the rock of Brown Sugar we are straight into the assured, confident and down ’n’ dirty blues sway of yes, Sway. What an apt title for this loose, almost lazy-sounding serving of cookin’ blues rock. Once again, it is another example of The Stones at their very best. As, of course, is the slow grandeur of Wild Horses. If Brown Sugar is one of their best rockers, then this is one of the best ballads. Building up slowly, it bursts into huge life on the chorus when Charlie Watts’ solid, steady drums kick in. It has a country feel to it, too, and indeed first appeared as a cover by The Flying Burrito Brothers.
The classics keep coming in the grinding opus, Can't You Hear Me Knocking, with its introductory vocal part followed by an intoxicating, extended instrumental workout full of rhythmic percussion, seductive sax, blaring horns and insistent guitar interjections. Four better opening tracks to a Stones album you would do well to equal - rock, blues, balladry and instrumental innovation, one after the other.
The Delta blues arrive with the authentic bottleneck guitar strains of the chunky old blues cover, You Gotta Move, that continues the Stones’ tradition of covering this sort of material since the early days. It harks back to the blues minimalism of Little Red Rooster, Love In Vain and No Expectations.You are never far from the blues on this album, though, and we return to them with the slow and dignified brassy blues of I Got The Blues, it is most powerfully enhanced by the horn section. I love the organ swathes near the end too. Thinking about it, only Brown Sugar, parts of Can’t You Hear Me Knocking and Bitch are essentially rock tracks. The rest of the album is blues-based, with a few nods to country.
One of the group’s most bleak, depressing songs is the hard-hitting and stark Sister Morphine. “Why does the doctor have no face?” asks Jagger, in drug-addled character. Not many songs makes drug taking so horrifyingly unattractive as this one does, but, despite that it is a miserable masterpiece. The guitar on it is superb - Mick Taylor, I think. His contributions throughout the album are magnificent. Stones guitar was never just Keith Richards and Taylor was truly spectacular for a few years. The song was co-written by Jagger's sixties squeeze, Marianne Faithfull.
The Stones always enjoyed delving into country, and they do so here on the enjoyable romp of Dead Flowers, with Jagger hamming up the cod-country accent, beseeching little Suzie to take him down. Hmmm. Where to, I wonder?
The album ends with Moonlight Mile, a dense, slightly Van Morrison-esque chugging ballad, a song that merges a country maudlin feeling with a slow rock muscularity to great effect. It is a pretty difficult song to analyse or pigeonhole, particularly when the sweeping, cinematic strings arrive halfway through.
Along with Let It Bleed, its predecessor, this has a strong case for being The Stones’ best album. I might just plump for the former, but only just, for this one kicked off the seventies in superb rocking, chunky blues fashion.
THE STUDIO EXTRAS
Wild Horses
Can't You Hear Me Knocking
Bitch
Dead Flowers
Brown Sugar with Eric Clapton on it is very enjoyable, Clapton's whining guitar adding something extra. While not out-doing the original it is certainly interesting. The acoustic take of Wild Horses has a stripped down beauty. Lovely acoustic guitar on it, particularly at the three minute mark. The sound is crystal clear. Up there with the original. Can't You Hear Me Knocking is largely the first part of the original without the extended percussion outro. Some nice rumbling bass on it, some riffy guitar action around 1.40 and Charlie's rough and ready drums. It has its appeal but I prefer the original. Just when you want it to continue the groove it unfortunately stops.
Bitch is extended and has a different vocal delivery from Jagger, slightly. More rambling than the original and had this been the original I would have preferred it, if you get my drift, but as I know the original so well I have to stick with it. Nice guitar interplay around 2.25. Again at 4.23. The extended bit is basically the horn riff given a longer fade out, with a great bass line right at the end, a bit like a live gig extension. Enjoyable.
Dead Flowers has the bass to the fore and a Byrds-ish jangly guitar at the beginning. The steel guitar is laid on a bit thicker. Worth it for the bass and the rough and ready feel. Rock guitar pushes its way into the country feel a bit, for the better, particularly at the end. I think I prefer this cut to the original. Feels like a first take live in the studio cut. Jagger's vocal is a little lazier too. Seems somehow lower down in the mix.
LIVE FROM THE ROUNDHOUSE
Stray Cat Blues
Love In Vain
Midnight Rambler
Honky Tonk Women
A great "live" feel on these cuts. Great sound quality without losing anything or sanitising it. Down and dirty, uncut and live.
A punchy, bass-rumbling opener in Live With Me that rocks like the a canine's nether equipment. The Stones were really on fire live in 1971. The Brussels Affair from 1973 probably betters the 1971 material, but only just. For me, the live stuff from 71-73 beats Get Your Ya-Ya's, but that's just my personal taste. most people prefer Ya-Ya's. No doubting that The Stones were cooking in this period though. Stray Cat Blues is urgent, lazily dirty and bluesy. It really doesn't get much better than this. In 1971 they could still get away with this song. Love In Vain continues the blues, of course. Great guitar and vocal. My God, Mick Taylor was good.
Midnight Rambler is as you would expect. Very clear sound though. Laid back and almost a bit jazzy as opposed to bluesy at the beginning, then the riff and harmonica takes over. Honky Tonk Women winds things up after the band introductions. I can never tire of hearing this. A great rendition of an often-played song here. Still a (relatively) new song to play live and the enthusiasm shows.
LIVE FROM LEEDS UNIVERSITY
Live With Me
Dead Flowers
Stray Cat Blues
Love In Vain
Midnight Rambler
Bitch
Honky Tonk Women
(I Can't Get No ) Satisfaction
Little Queenie
Brown Sugar
Street Fighting Man
Let It Rock
Originally recorded in mono for BBC radio broadcast, the show from the short UK tour in Spring 1971, would appear to have been excellently remastered, in stereo. Kicking off with a heavy, menacing Jumpin' Jack Flash, we get excellent versions of Live With Me, Dead Flowers, Stray Cat Blues and, as with The Roundhouse cuts, the sound quality is good, but the live feel has not been lost. You feel as if you are there. Nice to hear Little Queenie and, of course, the old Brown Sugar 'B' Side Let It Rock. The sound is slightly better on "Roundhouse" but no real matter, it is just good to get this gig remastered and official, at last.
Funnily enough, Leeds was from 13th March 1971. Roundhouse was the next day, the 14th March, yet the band sound tighter on the second gig. That one of those vagaries of touring I guess. Some nights are better than others.
