Informed Speculation

The Austin American-Statesman ranks the essential Stones albums in preparation for Sunday’s big show at Zilker Park:   

1. ‘Exile on Main St.’ (1972). Sex, drugs, Anita Pallenberg, guitars, drugs, French basements, dirty grooves, decadence-as-everyday-life, drugs, stolen electricity, shaking hips, back taxes, Angela Davis, mobile studios, drugs and the finest Side Three ever.

2. ‘Let It Bleed’ (1969). Opens with ‘Gimme Shelter,’ which is like starting the Bible with Revelations; ends with a choir singing ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want,’ which remains a revelation.

3. ‘Aftermath’ (1966). The first album of all Jagger-Richards compositions (‘Under My Thumb,’ ‘I Am Waiting,’ ‘Lady Jane’) and Brian Jones’ finest moments (‘Paint It Black’), it’s one of the very best records from rock’s best year.

4. ‘Sticky Fingers’ (1971). Revelations, Book 2: more drugs (‘Sister Morphine,’ ‘Sway’) always means less sex (except for ‘Brown Sugar’), more romance (‘Wild Horses,’ ‘I Got the Blues’) and the birth of alt-country (‘Dead Flowers’).

5. ‘Beggars Banquet’ (1968). An almost acoustic account of the final days of Mr. Brian Jones of Sussex, U.K. And ‘Street Fighting Man.’

Between now and Sunday, I’m putting up my own essential list, starting with #5 and working up.  My #5?  ‘Get Your Ya-Yas Out!‘, the short, sweet and, yes, essential, document of the ’69 tour which ended so badly at the Altamont Motor Speedway.  The tour was in support of the ‘Let It Bleed‘ album, so it’s not surprising that Robert Johnson’s Love In Vain and the wicked, wicked Midnight Rambler are standouts (indeed, this version of Rambler is perhaps THE live Stones song), but the inclusion of not one but two Chuck Berry covers is a nice nod to the band’s R&B origins. 

For sheer nasty rock’n'roll, however, you can’t beat the raunchy, crunching Stray Cat Blues; the Stones have never been this lascivious, and this is one of the most lascivious bands in the history of rock…”it’s no hanging matter…it’s no capital crime”…Yikes!…