The Rolling Stones | Some Girls

Universal
By MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER  |  November 22, 2011
3.0 3.0 Stars

rollingstones-main

Hindsight demands each deluxe reissue of a Rolling Stones record be declared a masterpiece, despite the reality that for every flawless Let It Bleed there is a Steel Wheels stumble, with 1978's Some Girls falling somewhere in the middle of a spotty five-decade recording career. It came at a time of inner-turmoil. Keith Richards was facing jail for a Canadian heroin bust, defiantly detailed in his raucous outlaw theme "Before They Make Me Run." New styles of music were overtaking the late-'70s scene, namely punk and disco, neither of which were keen to welcome the Stones to the party. Mick Jagger crashed the latter genre, preening and posturing his way into Studio 54 with the instant mirrorball classic "Miss You." The postmodern take of "Shattered" is more camp than credible in retrospect, and "Far Away Eyes" fails at the tongue-in-cheek country that worked so well on Exile's "Sweet Virginia." Comparatively, tracks like the spirited "Respectable," the sneering "When the Whip Comes Down" and "Beast of Burden," (which runs neck and neck with "Wild Horses" as the supreme ballad by the band), are all worthy of classic distinction. "No Spare Parts," from the disc of extras, cements the period as Ronnie Wood's coming out party; on pedal-steel guitar he outshines the new vocals by Jagger, a questionable approach that nearly sabotages an otherwise solid abundance of outtakes. Much of the bonus material, like standouts "When You're Gone" and "Don't Be a Stranger," is as viable as what ended up on the original release. The sessions were wildly prolific, and the Stones mined its results for years to come, creating little else of value otherwise and entering the nostalgia-act phase of their career, effectively making Some Girls the last gasp of credible new music by the self-proclaimed World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band.
Related: Rubblebucket | Omega La La, CSS | La Liberacion, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks | Mirror Traffic, More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Music, The Rolling Stones, The Rolling Stones,  More more >
| More

Most Popular
Blogs
 More: Phlog  |  Music  |  Film  |  Books  |  Politics  |  Media  |  Election '08  |  Free Speech  |  All Blogs
CURRENT CONTESTS
 All Promotions . . .
ARTICLES BY MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   THE SOFT MOON | ZEROS  |  October 24, 2012
    Feeling disassociated, darkened, distressed, or just plain different this fall? Don't fret or suffer like the only hope out there for getting lost musically is by listening to early Depeche Mode or jumping on the Kraftwerk revival bandwagon.
  •   BAT FOR LASHES | THE HAUNTED MAN  |  October 18, 2012
    It's no myth that artists tend to struggle with the dreaded second-album slump, but less clichéd and much more real is the third-album choke — especially when previous releases are so critically acclaimed.
  •   THE WALKMEN FILL IN THE GAPS  |  October 10, 2012
    Nothing on the seventh Walkmen release is remotely as jarring as their 2004 masterpiece, "The Rat," a song that had frontman Hamilton Leithauser howling over frenetic guitars and a wildly crashing drumbeat.
  •   FRIGHTENED RABBIT READY TO EMERGE  |  October 02, 2012
    It's always annoying when a band is touted as "the next big thing," especially when they've been around pumping out great stuff for years and then suddenly everyone is talking about them like the stork dropped them off that morning — see Bon Iver winning a Best New Artist Grammy this year, five years after their debut came out.
  •   THE SOUND QUALITY OF CASPIAN  |  September 25, 2012
    Bands looking to create a BUZZ should take note of Caspian.

 See all articles by: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER

LATEST SLIDESHOWS

All Slideshows