Some Girls Are 30 Years Old
File under Music Appreciation.
An underrated (although big selling) masterpiece celebrates its 30 Birthday today. I'm talking about the Rolling Stones' Some Girls. One of the most exciting records put on wax.
I vaguely knew who the Stones were as a tot, but really couldn't tell you about their music. They weren't popular with my generation. Until Miss You. Oh, that groove, that falsetto, that sweet harmonica and a saxophone solo. Whoo! And disco!? I didn't know better. It surely represents a lot of what I'm after musically now.
I was a Saturday Afternoon roller skating fool at United Skates of America when I first really discovered the Stones. That was the Summer of '78. My favorites to skate to included Chic, Heatwave and the Stones!
I also remember muggy nights in Michigan rolling in my Dad's big old car and Miss You (or something from Steely Dan's Aja) would pop on and I'd be in music nirvana. And I certainly didn't know what they were singing about. In fact, later in the year, when Beast of Burden was released as a single in heavy rotation, I thought Mick was singing about courtroom drama. My Mom had recently finished law school, so the lyric I heard was "They never seemed to reach the verdict." I still think that would make a killer hook for a song. So I hear by claim it for copyright. Zap!
So right now, I'm digging Some Girls. If you've seen Shine A Light, the recent Scorsese doc/concert film starring the Stones, you know that tracks from Some Girls featured prominently. Shattered still reminds me of the weekend I spent in Brooklyn at my uncle Danny's. Dunno why, but it captured everything about NYC. And I probably heard it on the radio. I know for sure that I heard Emotional Rescue on that trip. But Shattered is brilliant in it's rock and roll decadence. "They got rats on the westside, bedbugs uptown!" Although, not at Danny's.
It also had the most distinctive album cover of my youth. Garish, bold and colorful, it was a fake advertisement for women's wigs and underwear with cut out faces, the band members peering from an assortment of faux-hairdos. I remember vividly seeing it at Meijer's Thrifty Acres, a precursor to Wal-Mart, in East Lansing. About the same time I first "noticed" tabloids. And who was on the cover? Mick and Bianca.
I didn't own a copy of Some Girls until the '90s, but I certainly had the Stones' greatest hits package Rewind, which had Miss You & Beast Of Burden. Of course, most of you know that I've covered Miss You for a long time. I'll have to dust it off for my Summer shows in honor.
So here's to the Stones and 30 years of a high-water mark in LPs. The disc is chock full of hits (I rate Miss You and Beast of Burden as two of the best singles ever), genre exercises and raucous playing. Exactly all a young man could want from Mick, Ron, Keith, Bill and Charlie.
Peace & Disco Beats
An underrated (although big selling) masterpiece celebrates its 30 Birthday today. I'm talking about the Rolling Stones' Some Girls. One of the most exciting records put on wax.
I vaguely knew who the Stones were as a tot, but really couldn't tell you about their music. They weren't popular with my generation. Until Miss You. Oh, that groove, that falsetto, that sweet harmonica and a saxophone solo. Whoo! And disco!? I didn't know better. It surely represents a lot of what I'm after musically now.
I was a Saturday Afternoon roller skating fool at United Skates of America when I first really discovered the Stones. That was the Summer of '78. My favorites to skate to included Chic, Heatwave and the Stones!
I also remember muggy nights in Michigan rolling in my Dad's big old car and Miss You (or something from Steely Dan's Aja) would pop on and I'd be in music nirvana. And I certainly didn't know what they were singing about. In fact, later in the year, when Beast of Burden was released as a single in heavy rotation, I thought Mick was singing about courtroom drama. My Mom had recently finished law school, so the lyric I heard was "They never seemed to reach the verdict." I still think that would make a killer hook for a song. So I hear by claim it for copyright. Zap!
So right now, I'm digging Some Girls. If you've seen Shine A Light, the recent Scorsese doc/concert film starring the Stones, you know that tracks from Some Girls featured prominently. Shattered still reminds me of the weekend I spent in Brooklyn at my uncle Danny's. Dunno why, but it captured everything about NYC. And I probably heard it on the radio. I know for sure that I heard Emotional Rescue on that trip. But Shattered is brilliant in it's rock and roll decadence. "They got rats on the westside, bedbugs uptown!" Although, not at Danny's.
It also had the most distinctive album cover of my youth. Garish, bold and colorful, it was a fake advertisement for women's wigs and underwear with cut out faces, the band members peering from an assortment of faux-hairdos. I remember vividly seeing it at Meijer's Thrifty Acres, a precursor to Wal-Mart, in East Lansing. About the same time I first "noticed" tabloids. And who was on the cover? Mick and Bianca.
I didn't own a copy of Some Girls until the '90s, but I certainly had the Stones' greatest hits package Rewind, which had Miss You & Beast Of Burden. Of course, most of you know that I've covered Miss You for a long time. I'll have to dust it off for my Summer shows in honor.
So here's to the Stones and 30 years of a high-water mark in LPs. The disc is chock full of hits (I rate Miss You and Beast of Burden as two of the best singles ever), genre exercises and raucous playing. Exactly all a young man could want from Mick, Ron, Keith, Bill and Charlie.
Peace & Disco Beats
posted by Norman K at 8:44 PM
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