“I’ve got to give it to Gimme Shelter, for the tension and release in the intro… All t’he sparks and glass and chaos all just sort of fall into place.”
Yeah, but you left out the best part - Merry Clayton’s vocals behind Jagger.
If I had to pick one… “Shine a Light”
My List:
Honky Tonk Women
Jumpin’ Jack Flash
Wild Horses
Beast of Burden
Tumbling Dice
Sympathy for the Devil
Miss You
Under my Thumb(My favorite for the longest)
I’m weird though, I actually like most of Goat’s Head Soup.
“Can I at least offer Little T&A as a contender (and honestly that was early 80s - although not as early 80s as Emotional Rescue “She’s so Cold”).”
Actually, “Little T&A” was written and nearly finished before “Emotional Rescue.” All but two songs on “Tattoo You” were written well before its release (1981). Some of the material goes back to 1972 and has Mick Taylor playing guitar.
Ditto. It’s gritty, raw, Stones, cut and dry.
I was composing my list and Lo, here it is – amazing!
Heh, no wonder that album sounds good - apparently the Stones of the 80s and later can’t even approach their earlier work of the 60s and 70s - Come on, “Undercover of the Night”, “Harlem Shuffle”, “One Hit (to the Body)”?
I guess there really is a reason my Rolling Stones CD collection peters out after Undercover…
I too cast my vote for “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking”. It’s the first one I thought of when I read the thread title. I just don’t think the Stones ever topped this particular track.
Rumor has it that it was improvised at the ending somewhere. Anybody care to venture a guess where? I think I can hear it but I’m unsure.
plnnr, glad I’m not the only one who thought “Rip This Joint.” That’s my favorite, with “Prodigal Son” as a close second.
Torn between Honky Tonk Women and Let it Bleed.
Has anyone mentioned “Waiting on a Friend”?
Man, I am all about some late 70’s/early 80’s Stones.
My Current Favorites (for a few years now…I liked the Stones’ 60’s sound much better when I was younger.):
Only Rock and Roll (but I like it) has this amazing strange time that absolutely rocks. (Charlie Watts is slapping out some seriously funky drums.) And lyricly it is Classic Stones, talking about a boy and a girl, but really nothing at all, sympathy for being under her thumb. If I could stick this pen in my heart/ bleed it all over the page… Hell yes!
Emotional Rescue has some of the best singing ever. That falsetto is sublime rock.
But really, so much of what they have done is so wonderfully good, it is hard to choose.
I’m not a Stones fan, but I’d give a tie to Gimme Shelter and Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’. Paint it Black in third, I think. Great songs.
Not in any order
Sympathy for the Devil
Paint it Black
Gimme Shelter
Bitch (for the solo)
Amanda Jones
Immediate disqualification because of its involvement with The Big Chill.
Sorry, but I simply had to quote the words of wisdom from High Fidelity. Though that statement is so true. I used to love that song until I saw The Big Chill. Now, while I still like it, I can’t listen to it without thinking of those damn selfish yuppies.
Back to the topic at hand – I think Loving Cup and Tumbling Dice are two of their best, though I’m also partial towards Start Me Up, Beast of Burden, and Miss You.
I’m partial to “Gimme Shelter”, “Brown Sugar”, “Tumblin’ Dice”, “Paint It Black”, “It’s Only Rock And Roll” and the 12" single mix of “Miss You”.
But I also really like “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)”, “Shattered”, “She’s So Cold” and “One Hit (To The Body)”.
My favorite Stones tracks are “Downtown Lucy” (aka “Downtown Suzie”) and “Family”, from what used to be the “Metamorphosis” bootleg before they issued a commercial version with remixes on it.
I’m sure I could list lots of other Stones songs that I like very much, but you see it’s also impossible to pick just one. Too many gems. How is one more brilliant than the next?
That’s not Charlie Watts on that track. That’s Kenny Jones from the FACES. It’s a Ron Wood song that the Stones “appropriated” as a Jagger-Richards song. It was done at Woody’s house for one of his solo albums (“I Got My Own Album To Do”) and Jagger dug it so much, he traded Woody a different song for it. Woody’s guitar parts were wiped in favor of Keith Richard’s playing. I think David Bowie’s background vocals survived but I could be mistaken.
Charlie Watts has made this song a sticking point in a couple of interviews because he didn’t play on this song. This and “Happy” off of Exile. That’s Jimmy Miller their producer from the glory years (68-72’).
Man, I LOVE the Stones!!!
Off the top of my head:
Paint it Black
Angie
Sister Morphine
Ruby Tuesday
Don’t Stop
Moonlight Mile
Wild Horses
SFtD
Sway
Angie
Hey, great information, Cholo! I always thought those were just layers of Mick. And it did strike me that Watts sounded different than I had ever heard before!
when the Golden Stone,Brian Jones passed away,the stones changed…
With Brian…
-
Tell Me
-
Heart of Stone
-
Play with Fire
-
Out of Time
-
The Singer not the Song
-
She Smiled Sweetly
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Going Home…The Best Long Song of all Time!
Another vote for “Can’t You Hear Me Knockin?”
I always wondered why this wasn’t on Hot Rocks.