There's still a spark, if not the 'molten heart of rock n' roll'. I think the Mick Taylor years (1969-1974) were their best, especially in the studio. I keep coming back to the Rolling Stones. The sun and the moon and the Rolling Stones.
When I was on holiday with my family at Middlemarch, I heard 'Lady Jane' on my little transistor radio. I must have been 12. Since then my life has been marked by songs that bring memories of places and times - 'Paint it black',- in the 5th form; Angie', my first year in Dunedin in 1973; 'Memory Motel, Dunedin, 1976; 'Miss You', in Los Angeles in 1980 ... to the present, when I sometimes still play 'Sticky Fingers' or 'Let it bleed' in my car on the way to work. Most recently, coincidentally at lock-down, 'Living in a Ghost town'.
I like the variety of their work, including country songs, with Ron Wood on steel guitar, e.g. 'Faraway Eyes', or even, 'Bob Wills is still the king' (to a live audience in Nashville).
I've seen them in concert three times in Auckland (Western Springs, 1996 and 2006, and Mt Smart Stadium, 2014).
Ten favourite Stones' songs:
1. Wild Horses (Sticky Fingers), 2. Coming Down Again (Goat's Head Soup), 3. Winter (Goat's Head Soup), 4. Melody Motel (Black and Blue), 5. Gimme Shelter (Let it Bleed), 6. Carol (live - Get Yer Ya-Ya's out), 7. Let it Loose (Exile on Main Street), 8. Shine a light (Exile on Main Street), 9. Time Waits for Noone (It's only Rock 'n Roll), 10. Moonlight Mile (Sticky Fingers).
December 6th, 2016
Blue & Lonesome, released just a few days ago, in December, 2016. The Stones have come home to the blues. Recorded in three days apparently. I've usually prefered their ballads, rock and country songs, but this one's growing on me quickly. Covers of originals by Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Magic Sam and Little Johnny Taylor. This is great: it doesn't matter how old you are when you play the blues. 12 songs. 42 minutes.
Havana Moon - a great live Stones concert in Cuba
Main influences on the Rolling Stones: Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, T-Bone Walker, Chuck Berry, Earl Phillips, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, Elmore James, Howlin' Wolf
The Rolling Stones at Mt Smart stadium, 2014
I was thrilled to see Mick Taylor on stage. He's a melodic lead guitar player. ('Time waits for noone' has his greatest solo I think). People around me in the crowd were asking each other who this guitarist was.
June, 2019 - Time to play the Stones' ballad, Winter. From Goat's Head Soup (1973) when they had Mick Taylor on guitar.
The Stones in 2020 - Living in a Ghost Town - came out during the Covid-19 Level 3 time, end of April, 2020
Charlie Watts has died. My brother phoned me from Melbourne. Charlie Watts died at a London hospital on 24 August 2021, at the age of 80, with his family around him.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/aug/24/rolling-stones-drummer-charlie-watts-dies-aged-80
I bought Hackney Diamonds,2024.
Review: