Tag Archives: RollingStonesDeepDive

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Song of the Day #5,564: ‘Emotional Rescue’ – The Rolling Stones

Two years after top-seller Some Girls, The Rolling Stones marked the beginning of a new decade with 1980’s Emotional Rescue.

The 70s had been a strong decade for the band, despite a slump in the middle years. They started with two of their best albums and finished it with another, their biggest hit. In between were a trio of lesser releases that still had their share of memorable songs.

How would they make the transition to the 80s, a decade that proved to be a landmine for many successful 70s acts?

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Song of the Day #5,563: ‘Before They Make Me Run’ – The Rolling Stones

Fourteen years and 14 albums into their career, The Rolling Stones released their best-selling album ever. Why 1978’s Some Girls earned that honor is a bit of a mystery. It did produce two top ten hits (‘Miss You,’ which hit #1, and ‘Beast of Burden’) but otherwise doesn’t feature any songs a casual fan would know.

The album also came in the midst of a critical slump for the band, following three straight albums that failed to live up to their great work from the late 60s and early 70s. Some Girls shifted that conversation, and was hailed by many as The Stones’ best work since Exile on Main St.

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Song of the Day #5,562: ‘Hand of Fate’ – The Rolling Stones

Coming on the heels of guitarist Mick Taylor’s departure, The Rollings Stones’ 1976 album Black and Blue served as an audition for a replacement.

Guitarists featured on the album’s eight tracks include Harvey Mandel, Wayne Perkins and Ronnie Wood, though the likes of Peter Frampton and Jeff Beck also jammed with the band. Wood ultimately got the gig.

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Song of the Day #5,561: ‘Time Waits For No One’ – The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones continued their torrid pace of (at least) an album a year, dropping It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll in October of 1974. The album was produced by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards under the pseudonym “The Glimmer Twins.” The pair would go on to produce or co-produce every subsequent Stones album.

This was the band’s final release to feature Mick Taylor on guitar. He left after a dispute with Jagger over songwriting credits. All of the album’s original tracks are credited to Jagger and Richards, while Taylor maintained he made significant contributions to several songs, including today’s SOTD. Taylor is behind the mesmerizing guitar solo that closes out this epic track.

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Song of the Day #5,560: ‘Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)’ – The Rolling Stones

Doing chronological deep dives really allows me to appreciate how new material from great artists was received in context. Listening to 1973’s Goats Head Soup on its own is one thing, but hearing it as a follow-up to the four classic albums preceding it puts it in a different light.

For fans and critics expecting The Stones to build on the legacy they’d constructed over those four masterpieces, Goats Head Soup must have been a major disappointment. This isn’t a towering achievement. It’s… fine.

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