I see that the Rolling Stones are being honoured by a series of UK Postage Stamps. That in itself seems fine – I have no opinions on that either way. What does bother me though, unless I have missed something, is that Bill Wyman, Mick Taylor and Brian Jones appear to have been ‘forgotten’ about. If I am correct then, especially in respect of Jones, I think that is quite disappointing.
Just saying……
On the compilation 40 Licks they contrived to leave off Little Red Rooster while proudly declaring on the cover “includes 7 Number 1s.”
All, of course, from the 60s with Brian through most of them like writing goes through the middle of a stick of rock (that’s rock, not rawwwkkk), why not include eight and their greatest moment!!!
I pretty much disown the Stones now and very soon I don’t intend to have in my collection too much more than the first three albums, the 3 EPs and the first seven or eight 45s.
In fact, I’ll do the necessary this week – been meaning to do it for ages.
Won’t you reconsider? I know they think highly of you, indeed have spent their career trying to come up with records you’ll find house room for, and this would be akin to being stripped of an HRH and cast out of the Palace. Mick and Keith have asked me to intercede – they are willing to do whatever is necessary for you to keep your old Stones albums.
They are old men, and I fear the severity of your judgement may well hasten their decline and demise. I beg of you to find some vestige of charity in your heart. Mick is on speakerphone right now and he’s crying.
I have had Keith on, he is distraught
Blimey, I was just thinking about you earlier today, and, poof, here you are. Better be careful who else I think of…..
(Not you, Dai.)
Not sure you can call him that these days, Retro.
I am as God made me, sir.
Well it shows he/she has a sense of humour.
*pushes hubes playfully in chest with both hands*
Back to the stamps. I have read of this elsewhere and find it unfathomable.
I watched half an hour of the documentary on BBC4 on Friday. The bit at Hyde Park and a gig in a field in America with 300000 people most of whom were out if it on acid and surrounded by Hells Angels. One guy was stabbed to death. There was Mick doing his thing in the middle of this chaos literally fearing for his life. The backstage bits I saw were just incredible. That half hour of TV got me more interested in The Rolling Stones than I’ve ever been. Not sure about the stamps. Why not I guess. Wymans absence I understand. The others just don’t know enough about
Perhaps the Stones should be your next project…. except that a lot of the albums are rubbish and nearly all of their most important stuff is on singles.
Reviews of all of the A-sides up to 1983? Go on, you know you want to.
@Moose-the-Mooche
Philately will get you everywhere
Don’t talk with your mouth full.
Not true at all.
I stand with Dai !
So do I! Er…what isn’t true?
They are on my list of potentials if I decide to do it again. Wouldn’t have a clue where to start though.
At the beginning, of course. Their debut is great, albeit dated, and twelve takes you up to It’s Only Rock And Roll.
Agreed Tigs. Make sure they are the UK version…
Compared to The Beatles not so clear cut to necessarily select UK versions, think some of the US versions are better. And you would miss some of their greatest tracks that did not appear on UK akbums
Moose where do Love In Vain , M Rambler, Cant You Hear Me Knocking et al fit in to that assessment?
My point was that listening to the first twelve Stones albums would be interesting but you would miss a lot and quite a few of the pre-Miller albums are patchy at best.
Better to listen to the first twelve Stones best ofs…
👍🏻
And there’s my problem. The Bowie thing just happened. Doing it again will feel forced. Anyway not happening this year either way….
There was another documentary on Sky Arts recently about events leading up to Altamont, with some (Mostly American) worthies giving their views. There is a tendency to see this as a watershed moment for the 60s, one critic writing off the Stones post-Altamont output, implying that they had been frightened away from the previous “dark” image etc. and the rest was pap.
There is a great deal of interpreting events to fit a particular narrative, and also to blame The Stones for events that took place. I’m not sure what they could have done under the circumstances. Cutting and running, as The Dead did, was not an option. However, there was definitely a lot of misguided optimism. Post 69, The Stones actually hit their stride as a great touring band, rather than lapsing into mediocrity, as many suggest.
The footage was remarkable for many reasons. Jagger’s pleading for calm in his squeaky, South London twang as this sea of vacant faces stared back at him while regular fights broke out was something I won’t forget I a hurry.
Yes the tour that was kind of part of was groundbreaking and also produced one of the greatest live albums ever (recorded before Altamont), Let It Bleed was the current studio release followed by Sticky Fingers and Exile, their best 3 albums in my opinion and a stunning peak, not just for them but for rock music in general
Possibly because no one under the age of 60 has heard of them.
What, stamps? You may be right.
Ha, ha. Wasn’t what I had in mind, but you are right.
On a more serious note, I suspect both Royal Mail and possibly the Stones management might have harboured some concerns about a resurfacing of the Mandy Smith saga had Wyman featured. Attitudes have hardened since he left the band 30 years ago. And if you exclude Wyman it makes it easier to leave out the others.
Good point re Wyman and I suppose that Taylor was only with them for a few years.
Still a bit of a shame that Jones has been ‘forgotten’ about as, if memory serves me well, it was actually down to him that the band ever got together – I stand to be corrected however!
No, you’re right – it was essentially Brian’s band at the outset.
Not for long though
I am repeating myself here but a lady I worked with (age roughly 35 now) went to Glastonbury in 2013. She genuinely called them “Mick Jagger and his Band”.
Funnily enough, that’s what he calls them.
I read somewhere that after Bill Wyman left the band he asked not to be included on archive album covers etc.And Keith hated Brian …
@Dai
Given the appalling way, BJ treated Anita Pallenberg, he certainly
Ha good grounds for his loathing
To address the naysayers here, I remember when we went to see them at Twickenham around 15 years ago (?), and my wife was chatting to a young lady in the queue for the loos after the show. Unbelievably, she had only come to see the support act, Feeder, and hardly knew the Stones’ music at all, but had stayed on out of curiosity. She had been totally bowled over and thought they were amazing. It’s easy to underestimate just how good they are.
2003? I have seen 28 Stones shows over a more than 30 year period and that was one of the best
An American friend of mine saw the Stones at San José Civic Auditorium, California on 4 December 1965. He says they were WHITE HOT.
I noticed the absence of Wyman and Jones too – forgot about Taylor. It’s all Jagger/Richards/Wood, isn’t it? But Charlie does get a stamp all to himself, which is nice.
I have this crazy theory about the Rolling Stones that I’m almost embarrassed to mention around here, but I’m feeling bold so here it is:
“The Rolling Stones albums since Some Girls have mostly been pretty good.”
I know, I know, we’re not supposed to like them after 1978 and all that, and I’m not saying they’ve made many great albums in that time, but, yeah they’re mostly pretty good. Emotional Rescue, Steel Wheels, Tattoo You. Pretty good records.
If we’re airing our Dirty Work in public, Undercover Of The Night is one of my faves. I bought it on 12″ after Annie Nightingale played it on her Sunday evening show.
I like Steel Wheels – it’s a fine record
Tattoo You (side two) is my favourite of their albums. Emotional Rescue is a fantastic song, one of their best imho. Plus I’m a big fan of last year’s Living In A Ghost Town. Like Bowie’s Where Are We Now and Blondie’s Maria it’s an unexpected, late-in-their-career addition to my ‘best of’ playlist.
Voodoo Lounge is great but overlong. A Bigger Bang also has a decent 40 minute album in there and Blue and Lonesome was wonderful
I agree with ‘pretty good’. But, that is a very long way from ‘fucking phenomenal’ which is what they were before.
Keith’s solo albums also generally worthwhile, not really the case for Mick’s