Sticky Fingers - Rolling Stones (The)

...into the studio to record Sticky Fingers, they had made enough albums to retire on. Released on their own 'Rolling Stones Records' label, in fact their first album on this label, this album was joining the long list of classic, relentless albums. Hard workers, they forever remained faithful to their original black America blues roots, but had adapted the sound to white British rock and roll. Their organic style was immediately 'cool,' and their showmanship ...
...not hold their breath for Sticky Fingers.

An album described as screamingly suggestive before the listener could even take it out of the sleeve, came from the working zip on the cover in its rightful place on the crotch of the jeans. A design from the thoughts of Andy Warhol and Craig Brown, this album was also the first to show the famous lips and tongue logo. A logo that was to be about as famous as Coca Cola. It was given to the ... more

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Brian Jones got together in London (none of the three were actually from London) and formed The Rolling Stones around the year of 1962. Up until around 1963, they had been the 'live in' band at a blues club in Richmond, south west London, called The Crawdaddy. Because of clean cut approach to music at that time in Britain and the fact that The Beatles' sharp suited image was to be blamed for the 'knicker wetting' movement of the younger female generation, it was probably thought of a rather challenging task to know how to present The Rolling Stones.

Fundamentally a rhythm and blues set up, they were hardly into 'wooing 'and 'yeahing' to middle market Merseybeat tunes. A dodgy looking manager came to their rescue and decided that The Stones should be the band for Rockers rather than Mods. Far from pin ups, they were reluctant to even smile. Miserable, which only added to their visual unattractiveness, they were well suited to play the boys who were feared by parents, loathed by authority and were generally, (so long as the public were watching) all round rebellious.

When discovered in Richmond, they had already dressed themselves as Beatles, only the Stones looked like they had been the ones who had failed the audition. This manager by the name of Mr Andrew Loog Oldham, threw out the clean image as it certainly didn't suit them, and changed them into the hardened, trouble making thugs. Perhaps, the image that the Beatles had secretly yearned for.

After a couple of flopped singles, they made a cover of the old Buddy Holly classic, 'Not Fade Away.' A song, that sounded, dare I say it, better from the Stones, than Holly. It was a wise choice and a good start for them considering they were always going to be predominately rock and roll.

By the time they went into the studio to record Sticky Fingers, they had made enough albums to retire on. Released on their own 'Rolling Stones Records' label, in fact their first album on this label, this album was joining the long list of classic, relentless albums. Hard workers, they forever remained faithful to their original black America blues roots, but had adapted the sound to white British rock and roll. Their organic style was immediately 'cool,' and their showmanship was noted and mimicked all over the world. There are comedians who owe their carers to Mick Jagger's duck like strut.

The band had settled into themselves by 1971 when this album was recorded and released. Since the death of the tragic Brian Jones in 1969, they mood had been sombre. Their reputation as bad as ever and their material somewhat disturbing. With a media rush around them for drug suspicions and wrecking hotel rooms, the world did not hold their breath for Sticky Fingers.

An album described as screamingly suggestive before the listener could even take it out of the sleeve, came from the working zip on the cover in its rightful place on the crotch of the jeans. A design from the thoughts of Andy Warhol and Craig Brown, this album was also the first to show the famous lips and tongue logo. A logo that was to be about as famous as Coca Cola. It was given to the band by John Pasche. Another first for this album was that it sat at the very top of the album charts both over here and across the pond in the States.

With all its 'awards' for being the first of everything under its belt, the world wondered about the content within. Naturally, the press went bonkers when they sat down to listen to the album. Its suggestions of drug taking and addiction, particularly mentioned in 'Sister Morphine' (hardly surprising) made Sgt. Pepper look clean and innocent, which, of course it was. For a start, the references made in Sticky Fingers were blunt and very plain. They were hardly coloured by pretty lyrics and child like words. They were hard and perfectly clear. However, putting these darker thoughts aside, as a piece of rock and roll history, from the Stones, it was actually, I thought, one of their best albums.

Using a well arranged selection of gifted musicians to add polish and perfection, this album takes on a chilled out theme. There is nothing harsh, musically surrounding the morbid lyrics. It is pleasant and unassuming. Perhaps not the Stones we know and giggle at today, but a different side to them as this was the band as young men. I know that is hard to imagine today, they haven't always been that old….

The first track is the unmistakeable 'Brown Sugar.' The general theme of this album throws little to the imagination. The other extreme, if you will to 'Sgt Pepper' where the genius was within the colourful descriptive terms used by The Beatles to only suggest perhaps the idea of what the content was supposed to be about. With 'Sticky Fingers' however, the suggestion is thrown gingerly out of the window and told in blatant terms. The theme of this track needs no introduction as a conclusion. With its distinctive guitar riff, it is a true thesis of The Stones' translation of early Seventies rock and roll. With this in mind, the sound of 'dirty' rock and roll hadn't changed in a decade. Even a sax interlude by Bobby Keyes was an echo back to the days of Bill Haley and his usage of such instruments in the mid Fifties. A track first released on the 24 April 1971, it reached number 2 and hung around for thirteen weeks. Re issued again in July 1984, it failed, the second time around to reach anything higher than number 58. The lyrics, as already talked about, were blunt, in a word. '..how come you taste so good…' and '…just like a black girl should…' should have, perhaps at the time, been frowned upon. It is a wonder why the media made such a fuss about Sgt. Pepper. The argument being, I suppose, was that these albums were 4 years apart and in different decades. A long time, and a good lot longer than 4 years difference today. A 'honky tonk', Elton John style piano ( I. Stewart) cuts in to complete this strutting anthem. Not in the least bit dated, we are still finding joy in those thumping drums, and the 'yeah, yeah, yeah, woo!' s' making it a continuous favourite on a pub jukebox.

Our second track is 'Sway,' and not unlike the hit that came two years later titled, 'Angie,' although perhaps somewhat brighter sounding. A drunken blues track with a hint of a twang of southern soul, Jaggers voice in its half cut state doesn't fail to deliver the right emotion into such droning songs. There is a hint of a mixed drum beat, slightly out of time, but it pays homage to the messy backing track including a slide guitar interval. This track would have been at home on a Cream album but it falls short of a polished Eric Clapton song as it gathers too many wails and whines in its wake. There is a noted right handed shuffle across the top of the piano keys and song strings to give the full effect of a wrist slashing, heart breaking record. A pleasant piece, although misshapen to a point, it could only be regarded as a second best to the better slower tracks of The Stones in their years after this album.

On the same wondering, cowboy theme as the last track, we had already mentioned The Stones producing better slow songs, well, this track is a fine example of this. 'Wild Horses,' is, in sound, even slower with the introduction of a 'pearly' guitar. What I mean by that is that this sound has more depth, and not so sharp on the ears. Softer, all round its approach, it is, what one might argue as three o'clock in the morning blues. With lyrics such as, '..wild horses, couldn't drag me away…' we hear a tinkering acoustic guitar, mellow, sweeping across a widened backdrop of a solitary drum in pensive mode. '…wild horse, we'll ride them someday…' the guitar cuts in again and yet fades noticeably, as if the volume knob needs adjusting. Jagger's vocal is clear and unaffected by the backing around him in comparison to previous tracks. It has a generally sombre and gentle mood with an air of reflection and calm. It is a memory of a miss spent youth when clambering up on my friends roof after the hysteria of the teenage party hade calmed down, singing this song with the help of a few other drunken friends. We too, had untuneful vocals that night. A perfect song for such moments, but perhaps not for the sober minded…

We are woken suddenly and thrown back into strutting stance again when the forth track takes shape. 'Can't You Hear Me Knocking.' Is a wonderful, truck driving, bleak highway ahead blues song. With its misbeated drum, it holds up a neat guitar riff in a early Rod Stewart style. This genius hand belonged to a young Mick Taylor. (Ronnie Wood replaced Taylor in 1975). At 7 minutes and 14 seconds long, it rambles merrily away enough to break an extended guitar riff intermission without it sounding too long. We hear the very talented Billy Preston on piano/organ. He gives tracks a gospel theme. Remembered more for probably his famous piece in The Beatles, 'Get Back,' he flies and flicks his hands up and down and around the keyboard as if his is tickling a cat. It is a track that reminds of the late Marc Bolan and the way he could carry a rock/blues track to the full. There are collective, jagged edge vocals, bongos giving it a Mediterranean theme, a sound that was to crop up in future tracks allowing a world travelled feeling, and Keyes on sultry sax. Perhaps Pink Floyd on speed it a description that could be used here. A touching blues 'note' here is that live feel where to totally extend the song, they introduce an instrumental break where each instrument hands over to the next. Puts the listener rather in mind of 'Sweet Home Chicago' in the Blues Brothers, where the record is so stretched to the extreme allowing the brothers to make an attempt at getting away! A foot tapping track good for lifting the spirits…

'You Gotta Move,' reminds the listener of Hank Williams without a doubt. Williams was a country singer, religiously and his followers took his music incredibly seriously. There is an underlying country content throughout this album. This might have had something to do with the band hanging out with the odd one of two rusty country singers. There is a strong Cajun feel here and a deep south drone where each word ends in 'ow.' this is an example of extreme slow country that's probably better played backwards. We imagine old black men sitting on verandas in rocking chairs, staring into nothing and chewing an old leaf. This track screams authenticity of the segregated deep south. If you like your country classic and well rooted then by all means, but if you don't, feel free to skip onto the next…

'Bitch;' is a quick reflection back to 'Brown Sugar.' This thankfully, is something we can recognise as The Stones. These last few tracks can leave the listener dissolution. It has that unforgettable rumbling, road train drum beat. A track featuring Jim Price on trumpet, there are suggestive lyrics, but only if you have a fine ear drum in the first place to pick them out. The vocal isn't very clear on this one. Might have to need a handful of plays before hand. Again, we are subjected to extended instrumental breaks, which are legendary in this album now and well received.

'I Got The Blues,' should pretty much speak for itself. There is a simple double guitar intro that feels thought provoking and one gets the impression that we are in for a reprise of 'Wild Horses.' In this Van Morrison style track, we find ourselves feeling a strong urge to wave our arms high in the air and sway minus a football/college scarf. This is a horizontally focused blues track and likable by any blues fan, whether or not a Stones maniac. One gets a feeling of dare I say it, Aretha Franklin soul, but perhaps just a tinge. It is the slide guitar that puts that theory to the dustbin and Billy Preston back on religious organ keyboards. We cry 'Hallelullja!' Perhaps not…but with keyboards like that, we need to exclaim something. These strangled notes are wailing out something. It echoes a Janis Joplin song, or just about anything she recorded. The typical heart tearing, brain shredding, gut bleeding blues. My grip is that the word 'baby' is not mentioned enough, and certainly nor could I find it repeated several times either…. Is probably the last of the fairly jolly and sober tracks of this album before we are plunged into the darker depths of the final chapter were we feel as if we are experiencing the scenes from Trainspotting that we weren't allowed to see….

The first of the last three tracks is the ever so depressing tale of cold turkey entitled 'Sister Morphine.' I beg to ask the question why wasn't a title like this on a Sisters Of Mercy album? Marianne (is she still with us?) Faithfull co wrote this track, and probably in a 'coming out of a bad trip' frame of mind at the time. This track is so incredibly dark and morose that I wonder what on Earth possessed them to put this on the album. Do we perhaps feel a urge for a tribute to the fairly recent passing of Brain Jones, fellow founder member of the Stones and young man found dead in suspicious circumstances? This could well be the case, but I feel that it may not be. I just think that this is an input from Marianne that shouldn't be here. '…tell me sister morphine, when are you coming round again?….' Jagger's vocal sounds almost from the grave. I wonder if the government should have produced this track as their anti drug campaign song. It would have certainly done the trick for many people…. '…the scream of an ambulance, sounding in my ear…' yes, that's don't it for me! This song about drug addiction is something I found rather disturbing to listen to, and yes, rather stoned by the end of it. It has distorted keyboards like a dissolution mind. The blurred sound denotes the bad trip. I guess any Stones fan would have their own opinion on this track. Should it have had a place here? Was it too close for comfort for the time and the era it was released in? We all have our opinion I guess… It is listenable, but not too often. If anywhere, I think this should have been the last track on the album.

'Dead Flowers,' is a light and relaxing, restful and great relief from the previous track. Our minds are sober and stoned free once again. Another countrified track which is jolly, cheeky and pleasingly tuneful. This seems like the Stones are back to reality again, whatever that was to them in the Seventies.
Morbid in an amusing style, again, it is heavily influenced by the after affects of continuous drug misuse. All about death and who was going to croak it first, these tongue in cheek theme is funny to anyone who has never been on drugs (I laughed my socks off through the entire track), with such lyrics as; '…I'll be sitting in my room with a needle and a spoon…' and who could forget…'….send my dead flowers to my wedding and I won't forget to put roses on your grave..' These are poignant and yet hard hitting lyrics that only the very clean and straight could find very funny. To me, it was about as funny as 'The Streak.'

The last track on this mixed stoned album is 'Moonlight Mile.' It starts with a entrancing guitar with soft murmurs and shimmering cymbals, ..'…with a head full of snow…' What did we say about Sgt. Pepper? It puts me in mind of early Fleetwood Mac, a tinge of 'Albatross' I do believe! Before we know it, there's ELO strings to boot! All put together to give the track about snorting the white stuff some romance and glamour. Without the lyrics, it is a fairly beautiful piece of music. I do believe it is the lyrics that fail this musically untarnished album. I guess it stops there, before I allow this altogether, enlightening album, to dissolve its worth right in front of me…

***********

The Rolling Stones. The worlds most highest earning band with more gold and platinum albums than anyone else. In 1986, they won a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement. Jagger was knighted in 2002 and were given a place in the UK hall of fame for the sixties in 2004. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, were recognised and quite rightly so, for their contribution to song writing and allowed a step into their places in the Songwriters hall of fame, known by their nickname of 'The Glimmer Twins.' Incidentally, all the tracks on this album were written by the 'glimmer twins,' apart from 'You Gotta Move' which was written by Fred McDowell and Rev. Gary Davis. Our line up has been;
Mick Jagger, vocals. Keith Richards and Mick Taylor, guitars. Charlie Watts, drums. Bill Wyman, bass. (We also heard Jack Nitzche, piano, on Sister Morphine.)

This band and they will keep going whether we like it or not deserve a place in our record collections and particularly this album. We all have our favourites and we won't all agree.

Our sleeve is Andy Warhol, but not literally I don't think. A man from the waste down in jeans. The backing sleeve, the same guy without the jeans…. It is here were we find the track listings for the album..

One thing is for sure, it is certainly the longest time I have ever stared at someone's underpants….

Bought on CD at HMV priced 6 pounds, summer 2005.
©sam1942 2006
Also on Dooyoo March 3 2006 

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