#The rolling stones goats head soup update#

Goats Head Soup has often fingered as the beginning of the end of their golden age. The 4CD boxed set comes with a copiously illustrated book of essays putting the bandвЂ™s time in Jamaica in some perspective, chronicling the 1973 European and Antipodean tours, and telling the story behind the albumвЂ™s striking cover art (the original, unused Hipgnosis centaur concept is eye-wateringly naff from this distance). The three Glyn Johns remixes offer only minor differences to the released versions, though the double tracking of the opening riff on вЂDancing With Mr DвЂ™ is a treat, and itвЂ™s here than one feels the gap of a missed opportunity, given that many more unfinished rockers were apparently recorded, and powerfully raucous alternative takes of вЂSilver TrainвЂ™, for instance, bedeck many a lo-fi bootleg collection. As well as these two gems, thereвЂ™s a thick, sticky, rolling take of вЂHide Your LoveвЂ™ thatвЂ™s by some distance superior to the released version, and a fine solo piano version of вЂ100 Years AgoвЂ™, with the Glimmer Twins sharing playing duties at different ends of the keyboard. вЂHeartbreakerвЂ™ is another acoustic guitar-led take, graced by sweetly jazz-tinged electric licks from Taylor, the songвЂ™s horn riff already in place, and the whole coming out as rich and deep as molasses, at once relaxed, funky and exploratory. вЂDвЂ™ sounds like an early take, running on barrel-house piano, KeithвЂ™s acoustic guitar and TaylorвЂ™s slide weaving through the current of Watts and WymanвЂ™s rhythmic flow, while Bobby KeysвЂ™ low brass lines smear an aural hot sauce over it all.

While вЂCriss Cross ManвЂ™ and вЂAll the RageвЂ™ (AKA вЂYou Should Have Seen Her AssвЂ™) are widely distributed bootlegs that many Stones fans will already know, the gems of this expanded set are the two instrumental run-throughs of вЂDancing with Mr DвЂ™ and вЂHeartbreakerвЂ™, both radically different to the released versions. TheyвЂ™re strong additions to the catalogue, with a slew of videos and remixes for 'Criss Cross' and 'Scarlet' to keep you entertained. Even the offcuts here вЂ“ вЂCriss Cross ManвЂ™, вЂAll The RageвЂ™, and the semi-detached Stones cut with Jimmy Page, вЂScarletвЂ™, are tightly wound, filthy rock n rollers that any band would give their right arm for. ItвЂ™s been a standard take for decades, and like most standard positions, itвЂ™s wide of the mark. Standard critical consensus is generally sneering of the Stones from this point on, regarding Goats Head as the beginning of a long downward slope into indulgence, mediocrity and irrelevance. All in all, the new mixes retain the original albumвЂ™s pungent atmosphere and emphasis on a dark glutinous whole rather than any chilly separation of parts. The bass and drums sound more in focus and upfront, as do the vocals.

#The rolling stones goats head soup update#

MartinвЂ™s update doesnвЂ™t sound overly compressed. On my cassette version from the Seventies, the albumвЂ™s soupiness and murk rose like vapours from steaming head of said goat, submerged in a vat of slurred vocals, wah-wah, slide, funky brass and unmistakable Stones riffery.

The new mixes retain the original albumвЂ™s pungent atmosphereThis freshly revived Goat, at least on the digital stream distributed to reviewers, does have a clarity that the original didnвЂ™t trouble itself with. The Brussels AffairвЂ™s included in the 4CD boxed set, while the 2CD edition has an extra disc of demos, unreleased gems and alternative mixes from Glyn Johns, and the single disc gets you the original album, newly mixed by Giles Martin. Since The Brussels Affair, weвЂ™ve had vault releases ranging from the Marquee Club in 1971 to the Phoenix Club in 2005, acclaimed expansions of Exile on Main Street, Some Girls and Sticky Fingers, and now the sticky, gooey, charred-edged rock n roll balladry of Goats Head Soup joins the pack. But together on stage, they blew the roof off and the doors out, embodying the very definition of rock n roll music at a time when the decadent and dissolute were equally ascendant with a richly seasoned dedication to deliver. And this at a period when it is hard to ascertain exactly how many times Keith Richards was arrested, crashed his car, set his place on fire, or had his blood changed.