I grew up on The Stones. They are my father's favorite band. Among my closest family and friends, we've played and analyzed them time and time again, and I know what each of them considers to be their "favorite" Stones song. It's actually an interesting way to define a person. And everyone knows the Rolling Stones. If somebody says they flat out do not like them, I don't believe them. Their collection is far to vast and expansive for them not to have something for everyone. They started out wanting to follow in the footsteps of their R&B and Blues idols, most notably Muddy Waters. After all, they did name themselves after his song. But it became apparent rather quickly that they would not be limiting themselves to that style alone.
The Rolling Stones are as groundbreaking as a band can be. They're ranked #4 in Rolling Stones "100 Greatest Artists of All Time," but they might as well be #1. Once you get to the top 5 of that list, the rank is pretty much interchangeable between them. The impact that this group has had on the world over is tremendous. The fact that they're still playing together after nearly 50 years is mind blowing. I can't even wrap my head around what that means. Charlie Watts, an original and oldest member, is still hammering away at those drums. I would never have imagined that. He's even still touring with his solo act, playing at the Iridium here in New York in June. The drive of these musicians is astronomically high.
People have thought Keith Richards was going to die for decades now. I've been told that Richards has cost people a lot of money in these Celebrity Death Pools for years now. You'd have to be a fool to think this guy's going to die anytime soon at this point. He's as active as ever, resuming his acting career as well. It's hard to imagine a world without these guys in it, truly. They've always been there (in my lifetime), always putting out new albums both together and seperately. And granted, their new stuff may not be as good as their older work, but the fact of the matter is that these guys actually still sound good. More importantly though, their older work never gets, well, old. I can listen to Goats Head Soup or Sticky Fingers or Exile, cover to cover at any given moment and still love every second of it.
"Angie," is an emotional song about the end of a romance. It's painful and sad, but beautiful and somehow warm. The string arrangement on the studio version, is a huge contributing factor to the emotionality of the piece. Another track off of Goats Head Soup that uses a string arrangement is "Winter." Nicky Harrison did the arrangements on both tracks and Nicky Hopkins played the piano on both. These tracks are less guitar focused, and more about the sound as a whole. They're bigger, and more encompassing of all the instruments, as compared to some of the more rock and bluesy tunes that prominently feature the guitar work of Richards, Wood, Taylor, and Jones, or any combination of them. To me, its a different kind of Stones altogether, one that is less about the flash and flare, and just a bit more personal. Angie's the kind of track that you can close your eyes to, and just get wrapped up in the song itself. It's a real gem, on one of the greatest albums of all time.
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