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Part One: The "Top Five" Rolling Stones Albums (with Steve Durant) · Hangin' Out with Bob

0:07
Okay, hello and welcome to hanging out with Bob
0:10
podcast hosted by me Bob at home Thanks for joining
0:17
us and let's get started Question what is the
0:22
greatest rock and roll band of all time? I'll
0:24
throw out five names the Beatles Led Zeppelin
0:29
Queen Pink Floyd and The Archies. No, not really.
0:39
The fifth name I wanted to throw out there was,
0:41
of course, the Rolling Stones. But the purpose
0:44
of this podcast isn't to determine which rock
0:46
and roll band is the greatest of all time. All
0:49
the bands I just listed are great, and there
0:51
are many, many other great bands that we could
0:53
add to that list. Besides, determining the greatest
0:56
rock and roll band is subjective and depends
0:58
on individual preferences. Do you base it on
1:01
the band's influence? musical innovation, commercial
1:05
success, lasting impact, all of the above. No,
1:09
we're not going to tell you which rock and roll
1:11
band is the greatest of all time. But what we
1:14
are going to do in this podcast is concentrate
1:16
on one of those great rock and roll bands, the
1:18
Rolling Stones. And that's because my guest today
1:21
is a huge Stones fan who's probably forgotten
1:24
more about the Stones than I could ever hope
1:26
to learn. That guest I'm referring to is sitting
1:30
across the table from me in the palatial recording
1:33
studio of my apartment He's Steve Durant who
1:38
like me grew up in the Minneapolis suburb of
1:41
Columbia Heights. He's from the Heights class
1:43
of 1974 Stevie welcome to hanging out with Bob.
1:47
Thanks Bobby Steve and I have known each other
1:53
since the mid -1970s Actually, Steve and my brother,
1:57
Dave, at home were friends before I met Steve.
2:00
But starting from the days when Gerald Ford was
2:02
president of the United States, and in the years
2:05
that followed, Steve and I have played softball
2:07
together, played basketball together, watched
2:11
college basketball together, especially in the
2:13
mid 70s and early 80s, watched some hilarious
2:16
movies from the 1970s together. I'm thinking
2:19
of Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Animal
2:22
House, to name just a few. and we've talked about
2:25
or listened to music together. In fact, Steve,
2:28
I just remembered that you and I, along with
2:30
my brother Dave and Toby Nord, another guy from
2:33
the Heights, we saw U2 in concert in 1987. I
2:37
remember. At the late, great St. Paul Civic Center.
2:39
Yes. Just days after the Twins won the World
2:41
Series. Remember that? I do. Yeah, yeah. And
2:43
here's a trivia question. Do you remember who
2:45
the warm -up band was that night before U2? Wow,
2:47
I do not. It was the Bodines. Oh, yeah. Out of
2:50
Waukesha, Wisconsin. Yeah. They were great, too.
2:53
In fact, Toby just recently saw the Bodines.
2:56
Oh, really? So they're still locking around.
2:59
Anyway, Steve is retired right after several
3:02
years in sales. In procurement and sales of electronics.
3:08
I know Steve, he loves to hunt and fish, follows
3:11
the twins. How does that may be these days? You're
3:15
going to say something about hunting and fishing?
3:17
I don't hunt anymore, but I do a little bit of
3:20
fishing. Okay. All right. He likes to play his
3:23
guitar. I do. He loves to play chess. And of
3:27
course listen to him talk about music and he
3:29
and his wife Teresa live in South Minneapolis.
3:32
That's right Steve No question about it. You
3:33
are a dazzling urbanite Like the way I snuck
3:37
in those references to bleeding saddles playing
3:39
chess But I'm digressing here folks because Steve
3:45
and I share a love of music because Steve is
3:48
a subject matter expert a smee if you will on
3:50
the stones We're going to let him share some
3:52
of his knowledge and expertise on what many people
3:55
call the world's greatest rock and roll band.
4:00
First, just a quick look at the Stones. They're
4:02
from the UK, of course, British. The band formed
4:05
in 1962. And Steve, if you could talk a little
4:08
bit about each of the original members of the
4:11
band, just their names and what they played.
4:13
Well, Billy Wyman on bass, Keith. obviously Keith
4:18
Richards on guitar, Mick Jagger on vocals, Charlie
4:24
Watts on drums, and I think Ian Stewart on piano.
4:29
Brian Jones, yep on many instruments. Yeah guitar
4:33
I saw one way they described him as an instrumentalist
4:37
because he could do a lot of different things
4:38
So it wasn't I don't think he ever gets enough
4:41
credit for but wasn't Mick Jagger actually a
4:42
pretty good harmonica player or a heart player
4:44
That's how Keith Richards referred to him. So
4:47
yeah, he was excellent. Yeah, okay Well, the
4:49
stones started out small playing in little blues
4:52
clubs in London But eventually they gained popularity
4:55
in the UK and internationally particularly after
4:58
the release of hits like I Can't Get No Satisfaction,
5:02
way back in 1965. The early music was, as one
5:06
writer put it, often characterized by a raw,
5:09
energetic, and rebellious sound, a contrast to
5:12
the maybe more polished image of other bands
5:14
of that era, like, for example, The Beatles.
5:17
The Stones went on to produce numerous albums
5:19
that became classics, and that's why Steve Durant
5:22
is joining me here on this podcast. He's going
5:24
to list his top five Rolling Stones albums, and
5:28
he's going to tell us why they're his top five
5:30
Stones albums. So Steve, why don't you list your
5:33
top five Stones albums and then we can go into
5:36
a deep dive in each one of them, okay? Well,
5:38
I guess four of them are studio albums all between
5:41
68 and 72 and I think that that was their their
5:46
greatest period and that would start with beggars
5:49
banquet in 68 Then you would go in to let it
5:53
bleed and I think that might have been 69 it
5:56
was and then We jump into Sticky Fingers and
6:02
then Exile on Main Street. And during that time,
6:05
they released a live album, Get Your Ya Ya's,
6:08
out in 1970, I believe. Okay, thanks, Steve.
6:12
Now, because we'll be doing a deep dive into
6:15
each of Steve Durant's top five Rolling Stones
6:17
albums, we don't want to rush through any of
6:19
them. We're going to split this podcast into
6:22
two parts. Part one, which we're recording now,
6:25
will cover three albums. Beggar's Banquet, Let
6:27
it bleed and get your yayas out. Part two in
6:31
our next podcast will cover the albums Sticky
6:34
Fingers and Exile on Main Street. So part one,
6:38
here we go. And to quote Ed Sullivan when he
6:41
introduced them for their first appearance on
6:43
The Ed Sullivan Show way back in 1964. Ladies
6:46
and gentlemen, the Rolling Stones. OK, Steve.
6:56
Let's talk about your top five Stones albums
6:59
in the order that they were released. So let's
7:01
start with what was their seventh studio album,
7:04
Beggar's Banquet, which was released, as you
7:06
said, on December 8th, 1968, just in time for
7:09
Christmas. Nice Christmas present then for all
7:12
the Stones fans, right? And for the record, no
7:15
pun intended, Beggar's Banquet was a top 10 album
7:18
in many markets, including number five in the
7:20
U .S. where it has been certified platinum, and
7:23
just to review, platinum means an album that
7:25
has sold at least one million units, and number
7:28
three in the UK. It received a highly favorable
7:32
response from many music critics upon its release
7:34
in 1968, and while the album's nine songs lacked
7:38
a major hit single at the time of the release,
7:41
songs like Sympathy for the Devil and Street
7:44
Fighting Man went on to become rock radio staples
7:48
in the decades since. Beggar's Banquet has appeared
7:51
on many lists of the greatest albums of all time,
7:54
including a list by Rolling Stone magazine and
7:56
was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in
7:58
1999. And Steve, I know you've got some notes
8:01
about this album. Why don't you just kind of
8:02
share some of your thoughts? You know, the first
8:04
time you heard the album, if and when you bought
8:08
it, and stuff like that. Oh, I can't remember
8:11
the first time I heard it, but it was many, many
8:13
years ago. It's a It's a great album, obviously.
8:18
It's interesting. It's Brian Jones' last album.
8:23
And as you and I were talking about earlier,
8:24
Brian was a big part of the Rolling Stones getting
8:28
started, but he had a lot of personal issues,
8:33
a lot of drug issues, and this was really the
8:36
last album that had his footprint on it. So did
8:41
you remember actually buying the album when it
8:43
came out or did you kind of listen to it at other
8:45
kids houses or on the radio or how did you? You
8:48
know, I don't think I bought it when it came
8:50
out. I mean, 68, I was kind of a young kid. Sure,
8:53
sure. But I remember. The Rolling Stone came
8:58
out with a list of the 100 greatest albums and
9:02
I felt like I needed to own all of those albums
9:05
and I think I do own them. But I went backwards
9:08
and ended up maybe getting Beggar's Banquet maybe
9:12
back in the 80s and learning about it in detail
9:18
then, but certainly knew the hit singles. I'm
9:22
curious, I want to mention when the album came
9:24
out, their original cover was kind of, well it
9:27
was controversial. It was supposed to be, it
9:31
was like a picture of a grimy bathroom wall.
9:33
It was a photograph and they... The record label
9:37
must have said, now we're not going to do that.
9:38
So what they did is they came out with a really
9:41
plain white cover. It looks like an invitation
9:43
card, like to a wedding or some kind of banquet.
9:46
I mean, you can see, listeners, you can Google
9:49
it too, but what a contrast in covers. Do you
9:52
remember when you bought it, did you get the
9:54
one with the white cover? The bathroom. Oh, you
9:57
did get the bathroom. Well, the CD, I don't think
9:59
I ever owned the vinyl. What I read was... Years
10:03
later, when they did some re -releases, and then
10:05
in their 40th anniversary edition, they came
10:07
out with the original cover. It was like in the
10:09
late 60s. No, we can't show that. Times have
10:13
changed. Yeah, I guess. What was your favorite
10:18
song from Beggar's Bank? Which one did you really
10:23
love, and which one has kind of stuck with you
10:24
probably the most? Well, I guess it starts with
10:26
the first song, Sympathy for the Devil, and it
10:29
might be their greatest song. I mean, Mick, he
10:33
sings in the first person narrative as the devil
10:36
and it's kind of a historical tale. Yeah. Yeah.
10:40
You know, can you guess my name? I mean, I think
10:42
it might be their greatest song. I mean, he references
10:46
Jesus, Pontus Pilate, Russian czar, St. Petersburg,
10:52
the Blitzkrieg, the Kennedys. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
10:56
And also features, you know, Keith Richards,
10:59
one of his greatest staccato. leads. Right. It's
11:02
just amazing. So yeah, it might be their greatest
11:05
song. Yep. So that's a good way to start the
11:07
album. Yeah, it was. It was. And then I guess,
11:10
you know, you go into No Expectations. And I
11:14
think that it's a really cool song and it's got
11:17
Brian Jones all over it. He plays beautiful slide
11:23
guitar. I always thought it sounded like He was
11:26
playing underwater, if you recall the song. But,
11:30
you know, that is a, you know, really, I think
11:33
it's all of Brian Jones. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting.
11:38
A really diverse album, too, like there's a one
11:40
song that's called Factory Girl. And I heard
11:43
of this guy, Rick Grutch. He was he played the
11:46
fiddle and factory girl, but he was one of the
11:49
members of blind faith But Stevie one wouldn't
11:52
ginger Baker and he was in traffic. Oh, it's
11:54
it's not surprising because the the producer
11:58
of all of these five stones records is Jimmy
12:01
Miller and Jimmy worked extensively with Stevie
12:05
Wynwood and Eric Clapton and Delaney and Bonnie
12:08
so that I didn't know that but that makes that
12:11
makes perfect sense but you know that's it's
12:14
a beautiful acoustic ballad you know kind of
12:17
a middle -class factory girl and Yeah. Yeah,
12:21
great songs. There's so many songs. I mean, we
12:23
could do a podcast on each album and still not
12:26
cover everything. But what was the other big,
12:28
huge song from that time that gets played all
12:31
the time on the rock radio? Well, I think you
12:32
mentioned it's Street Fighting Man. I mean, that's
12:35
really one of their great songs. Yeah. And it's
12:37
such a, it's kind of a controversial topic with
12:41
the student unrest. Right. So they're starting
12:43
to get in into those type of things. Well, it
12:46
came out in the late 60s. It was a lot of campus.
12:49
1968. Anti -war demonstrations. It was a turbulent
12:52
time. And it's also kind of famous because Keith
12:55
plugged his guitar into this cassette recorder
12:58
and that's why you get the funky guitar sound.
13:01
I mean think of the opening riffs of the song
13:04
and that's kind of how it came to be. Creative.
13:08
Yeah and he used it on some other songs as well
13:11
but just kind of a happy accident I think. But
13:15
you know another I think really bothers a lot
13:17
of great songs but an important song that dear
13:20
doctor it might be might be among my favorite
13:24
stone songs and mick you know pantomimes country
13:27
music and they did that a lot through their career
13:30
right Right. I mean, you think of Dead Flowers,
13:34
Country Honk, Far Away Eyes, you know, throughout
13:38
their catalog. And I think that that definitely
13:41
became, you know, part of their signature sound.
13:45
Yeah, they explore so many different types of
13:47
musical sounds, too. Like I said, there's country
13:49
flavor, the blues, rock. And Mick took it all
13:52
the way. I mean, he really hammed it up, you
13:54
know, with the, with the. I've even heard him
13:57
kind of almost try to sound Southern or country
13:59
when he sings. You can hear. his voice he does
14:02
he really hams it up but I guess you've got to
14:05
take it all the way you know you can't try to
14:08
represent what was currently popular so they
14:11
they kind of took little idiosyncrasies and really
14:14
ran with it but I think it was also they kind
14:17
of went backwards a little bit because if you
14:19
think about you know the country music of the
14:24
the 50s and the 60s with Hank Williams senior
14:29
It was kind of reminiscent of, I think, those
14:32
vocals, you know, with the yodeling. Interesting,
14:39
too, some of the all -stars that were on the
14:41
album. I was surprised to see that Dave Mason,
14:44
who also was in the group traffic, he plays a
14:46
double -readed woodwind instrument called a shinani
14:50
on Street Fighting Man. Have you ever heard that?
14:52
I have not. Next time you listen to it, you'll
14:53
hear that. oboe sounding instrument, that's Dave
14:56
Mason. I was like, wow, how did they get these
14:58
guys to, you know, Rick Retch is playing a fiddle
15:00
and just a lot of different... Again, through
15:03
Jimmy Miller. Yeah, yeah. And that song Salt
15:05
of the Earth, there's a, they're called the Watts
15:08
Street Gospel Choir. They're doing background
15:10
vocals on that. It's just, they brought in so
15:13
many different types of musicians and singers.
15:15
It's really interesting. Yeah, they did. And
15:18
then I think of Prodigal Son, which is a, you
15:21
know, Keith and Mick didn't write it as a folk
15:23
standard. Yeah. Yeah. And it's a beautiful acoustic
15:26
song. And I think I don't think Keith gets enough
15:29
credit for his acoustic guitar work. Oh, you
15:31
know, Sweet Virginia. He's got, you know, many
15:34
songs and, you know, Factor Girls, Salt of the
15:36
Earth. Yeah. You know, he was a terrific player.
15:38
Yeah. And then Stray Cat Blues, I think that's
15:42
one of one of the great. Yeah, cuts on the album
15:45
and all time. I mean, it's quintessential stones
15:49
with, you know, Mick having lust for a teenager
15:53
with Nicky Hopkins, great piano work. Yeah, I
15:55
see. Isn't he like an eight of the 10 songs or
15:59
some or most of the songs he's playing piano?
16:01
I think so. I think maybe Ian Stewart may have
16:03
came later with his piano work. But I mean, the
16:06
guitar work is amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
16:09
Good points. All of that stuff. So. I assume
16:12
Steve, you've seen the video of the Stones performing
16:15
Sympathy for the Devil from that Rock and Roll
16:17
Circus concert film. I have. That is just wild.
16:20
I was watching on YouTube as I was preparing
16:22
for this podcast. And it was just wild because
16:25
at the end of the album, you can see John Lennon
16:27
and Yoko in the crowd. Yes. Jagger gets so into
16:30
it. He's at the end of the song. What is he kept
16:32
saying? All right or something. He's on the floor
16:35
and he's got his shirt off and he's got pictures,
16:38
the tattoos all over his body. It's very mech.
16:42
That was just a wild time. But I was thinking
16:45
about how young those guys were. They were all
16:46
in their mid to late 20s at the most. And I was
16:50
like, oh god, that was so long ago. You know
16:51
what's so cool about it too, because they don't
16:55
represent the song just as they had on the album.
16:58
It's definitely got a different feel. I mean,
17:01
I kind of watch Keith, and he's playing the guitar
17:04
way different. you know on that live version
17:08
then the studio version and it's just got a you
17:10
know a different cadence to it it's got a different
17:12
feel and it's uh i think it's really great well
17:15
shows how versatile it was yeah you know as great
17:18
as this album is it's also kind of sad knowing
17:20
that As you mentioned earlier, for Brian Jones,
17:22
that was his last Stone's album that he released.
17:26
He had more issues than a newsstand in his life.
17:30
I mean, between the drugs and trouble with relationships
17:33
and so on. And you can't help but feel sorry
17:36
for him because, like I said, he kind of started
17:38
the group and they became world famous, iconic
17:42
and that. And he was only 27. Was he the charter
17:46
member of the 27 club? You know, Jimmy Hendrix
17:48
followed and James Joplin and Kirk. Cobain and
17:51
Amy Winehouse and stuff like that. He was like
17:53
the charter member it seems like. Kind of like
17:56
Sid Barrett who I think really started maybe
17:59
Pink Floyd and then they just eclipsed him. What
18:05
was it about this album just to kind of sum up
18:07
Beggars Banquet that made it one of your top
18:09
five? I mean what is it that stands out the most
18:12
to you? Well I think it's like all of the great
18:16
Stones albums in that it incorporates a lot of
18:21
different elements. You've got country music
18:24
that they probably got from Graham Parker. You've
18:27
got Delta Blues. You've got Chicago blues. You've
18:31
got rock and roll with Chuck Berry. And you take
18:36
all those things and you put it in a blender.
18:38
And they created something that wasn't there
18:41
before. But I think this album, it's got kind
18:45
of one foot in the future, one foot in the past
18:48
for them. I mean, it's definitely a Brian Jones
18:51
record. And then if you go forward, you can see
18:54
that the band is definitely starting to change.
18:57
You see a lot more. country influences. You know
19:02
you bring in Bobby Keys, Keith learns how to
19:05
play guitar and open G and their sound definitely
19:10
changes and when they get to Sticky Fingers and
19:14
Exile I mean that's the fully formed band but
19:17
you can just see the beginning of that with Beggars.
19:23
On to the second of Steve's top five favorite
19:26
Stones albums. It's called Let It Bleed. That
19:28
was the Stones eighth studio album. It was released
19:32
in late November 1969 in the US and a month later,
19:36
December 69 in the UK. For the record, Let It
19:39
Bleed was recorded during a period of some big
19:41
-time turmoil in the band, as Steve kind of referenced
19:44
earlier. Brian Jones, the band's founder and
19:47
one of the original leaders had become increasingly
19:49
unreliable in the studio due to his heavy drug
19:52
use. And during most recording sessions, he was
19:55
either absent or so out of it that he was really
19:58
unable to contribute meaningfully. He was fired,
20:01
or as they say in the UK, sacked in the midst
20:04
of recording sessions for this album and replaced
20:06
by Mick Taylor, as you mentioned, Steve. And
20:09
sadly, Jones died within a month of being sacked.
20:12
He contributed to only two songs. according to
20:14
my research, playing backing instruments. He
20:18
had drowned in his swimming pool, which is of
20:23
course the way that you and I want to go. If
20:29
you're going to be a rock star, you might as
20:30
well die as a rock star. I definitely made the
20:34
news. I remember reading about that when it happened.
20:36
I was just starting high school, but I thought,
20:37
wow, I'm one of the guys in the stone. Let It
20:41
Bleed reached number one on the UK albums chart,
20:44
where it temporarily demoted the Beatles' Abbey
20:47
Road when it first came out, and it was number
20:49
three on the Billboard Top LPs chart in the US,
20:52
where it was eventually certified double platinum
20:54
by the Recording Industry Association of America.
20:57
While no high charting singles were released
20:59
from Let It Bleed when it came out in late 1969,
21:03
Many of the album's nine songs became staples
21:06
of the Rolling Stones' live shows and on rock
21:09
radio stations, including Gimme Shelter and You
21:12
Can't Always Get What You Want, both of which
21:14
frequently appear on lists of the greatest songs
21:16
ever. In 2005, the album was inducted into the
21:20
Grammy Hall of Fame and is on various iterations
21:22
of Rolling Stone magazine's The 500 Greatest
21:25
Albums of All Time. That's got an interesting
21:28
cover too, Steve, as you look at what I... gave
21:31
you to a copy that cover and you've seen it million
21:33
times but on the front cover it's a sculpture
21:36
and listeners you can google it to see it the
21:39
front cover it consists of the actual let it
21:42
to bleed vinyl record being played on by the
21:45
tone arm of a antique looking phonograph and
21:48
then the record changer spindle itself is supporting
21:51
several items stacked on it instead of records
21:54
there's like a film canister if you look really
21:58
closely it says stones let it bleed on it there's
22:01
a clock dial you can see the clock there's a
22:05
i think it's a pizza and then there's like a
22:08
tire like a bike tire a trike tire and then on
22:11
top you got this cake with all this elaborate
22:13
icing topped on it and it's got figurines i don't
22:16
know if those are supposed to be the stones or
22:18
what but they got people on top and then on the
22:21
reverse side of the album It's got the same record
22:24
stack, but it's like in a complete state of disarray.
22:27
The album has been smashed. The cake on top has
22:31
had a piece cut from it. It just looks like a
22:35
bedlam, you know, in the back. But it was, what
22:38
I read, Stephen, maybe you knew this too, it
22:39
was inspired by the working title of the album.
22:41
Do you remember what it was originally going
22:43
to be called? I do not. The working title was
22:46
Automatic Changer. which is what you're showing
22:48
here. Remember those old stereos you could have
22:50
records on top. Like my folks had a stereo when
22:53
the first LP ended, the needle would come up
22:55
and then the record would drop down. So it was
22:58
going to be Automatic Changer, but I think Let
23:00
it Bleed is probably a better title anyway. And
23:03
then the other thing that was interesting, and
23:04
then we'll get into the album, but the cover
23:06
itself, it was among the 10 chosen by the British
23:11
Postal Service for a set of classic album cover
23:14
posted stamps that were issued in January of
23:17
2010. So how cool would that have been to get
23:19
something mailed to you and the stamp is that
23:22
cover of Let It Bleed. It's like wild, wild.
23:24
Versus a puppy. Yeah, and then in the US the
23:29
people have to be deceased. I mean they don't
23:31
you know So anyway, that's some background on
23:35
the album. But Steve, how about this album? Do
23:37
you remember again? We're going back 50 plus
23:39
years, but do you remember the first time you
23:40
started hearing songs from this album? You know,
23:42
I bought the bought the vinyl I can't remember
23:45
when but I okay. I'm sure I was probably a teenager.
23:47
Yeah, sure. Yeah, and I think it's kind of a
23:52
transitional Album because as you indicated mick
23:56
taylor this was his first album and i think that
24:00
the greatest incarnation of the stones definitely
24:04
included mick taylor is a great great guitar
24:08
player in the interplay between he and make is
24:10
amazing. And Bobby Keys, this is his first record
24:15
as well. Bobby Keys, for the benefit of our listeners,
24:19
is a great sax player, American, right? He is,
24:23
Texas guy. I assume you want to get into him
24:26
in more detail. Yeah, we will go along, but he's
24:29
in there. Yeah, that's a big part of it for sure.
24:34
There's a lot of songs in this album too that
24:35
are great, but which probably would be your favorite?
24:38
Or would you listen to or go to the most? Well
24:41
I guess there's a few. It starts out with the
24:43
the first track, Gimme Shelter. I mean it's easily
24:47
one of their their greatest songs and there's
24:51
a kind of an interesting story that goes along
24:53
with it. They were finishing up the recording
24:57
of the song and it was like two or three o 'clock
24:59
in the morning and Keith and Mick felt like they
25:02
needed to get some background vocals to finish
25:06
it and they had worked with this Mary Shelton,
25:09
an American before. So they call her up like
25:13
a two or three. Was it Shelton or Clayton? I
25:16
thought it was Shelton, but I might be wrong.
25:19
They had Clayton here. And Mary was spelled like
25:22
Merry Christmas, right? We'll go with Mary. But
25:26
you're probably right. I thought it was Shelton.
25:29
But anyway, they told her, hey, we need you to
25:31
come down here. And I think she gave them a piece
25:33
of her mind. And then they said, listen, we'll
25:38
give you $500 or something. She said I'll be
25:41
right down. So she showed up. with curlers in
25:44
her hair, in her PJs, and very, very pregnant.
25:49
But then she did the iconic rape, murder, just
25:53
a shot away, which is really, you know, I can't
25:57
imagine that song. you know without oh right
26:00
right and you can hear her in the chorus too
26:03
you know you hear her voice is very distinct
26:05
you know so yeah wow yeah so i think you know
26:08
that's certainly a really really great stone
26:10
song and then uh you know love in vain which
26:14
uh you know it's a robert johnson song yes which
26:17
i didn't know until 20 years after i bought the
26:21
bought the album right it's uh you know one of
26:23
the great blues man of all time. So yeah, I thought
26:27
it was written by Keith and Mick and I was shocked
26:29
to hear it. I learned a lot about Robert Johnson
26:33
through the Stones and Led Zeppelin and then
26:37
later found Robert Johnson. But Mick Taylor's
26:41
slide guitar work and mandolin work on that song
26:44
are amazing. But as great a song as it is, if
26:48
you listen to the live album, Get Your Yah -Yahs
26:52
Out, That version of Love in Vain is just an
26:56
amazing piece of music. And Mick Taylor really
27:00
plays beautiful slide guitar. It's kind of a
27:04
shining example of what a great player he was.
27:08
Amazing. Yeah. There's some big hitters on this
27:10
album, too. Our guest artists, I was surprised.
27:12
There's a song called Live With Me. Bobby Keys
27:15
is playing the saxophone. He is. Leon Russell.
27:18
is in that he plays a piano and he kind of handled
27:20
the horn arrangements. Oh, interesting. Yeah,
27:22
I says they got some good people on that album
27:25
to play. And Ian Stewart, whom you'd mentioned
27:28
earlier, one of the Rolling Stones who wasn't
27:30
a Rolling Stone or should have been but never
27:32
was or whatever, he plays the piano, I think,
27:35
and let it bleed, you know, the title song. So,
27:38
and then Jimmy Miller, the producer, I read where
27:40
he was actually a musician. He's a drummer. He
27:42
plays a drummer in some songs and in that song,
27:45
Gimme Shelter, which I think is a very haunting
27:47
song, especially after I saw... Give Me Shelter,
27:50
the movie about Altamont and that stuff. And
27:54
Give Me Shelter, he's the one playing that song.
27:56
I think it's an instrument called the Wii -Roe.
27:58
It sounds like you're scraping something against...
28:01
That's him doing that. He plays the maracas and
28:04
he said he played drums on some of the songs
28:06
and some of the albums too. Just a great group
28:09
of guys. You know, Country Honk is another interesting
28:13
song. Is that Honky Tonk with the country? Well,
28:16
it's Country Honk in that turn. into Honky Tonk
28:21
Women at some point. Country Honk was first?
28:24
Yes it was. In fact it's kind of interesting
28:26
Honky Tonk Woman, you know one of their most
28:28
iconic songs, is never on any of their studio
28:32
albums. It came out as a single, and that's also
28:35
true for Jumpin' Jack Flash, which is amazing.
28:37
Oh, I didn't know that. It's not on any studio
28:39
album. So, you know, two of their greatest songs.
28:43
Yeah, yeah, interesting. Oh, I did not know that.
28:45
But that country honk, I mean, it is a straight
28:47
-up, you know, pastiche of country music, and
28:52
I think it really... makes me think about Graham
28:56
Parsons, who I think introduced country music
28:59
to the Stones and especially Keith. So without
29:02
Graham Parsons, I don't think you're gonna see
29:05
country honk and that turned into country honk
29:08
or honky tonk women. So I think that was an important
29:12
piece of music. And then, yeah, Live With Me,
29:15
the great Bobby Keys sax solo, that was incredible.
29:19
And then the album finishes on a really strong
29:22
note, two dozen. That's got the song, You Can't
29:24
Always Get What You Want, which I've heard probably
29:26
a million times in my life. But it's a great
29:29
song, just the entire thing. They got that...
29:33
Choir singing it's actually the London Bach Choir
29:37
I looked that up before the before the podcast
29:41
and then you've got Al Cooper Yeah, playing the
29:43
French horn, which I thought was amazing. I love
29:46
that French horn in that song. It's when it starts
29:48
out. It's so pretty, you know, that's Al Cooper
29:51
and then you've got the the lyric talking about
29:55
mr. Jimmy and there's I don't know if you've
29:58
you've heard the story, but there's some people
30:00
that contend that Mr. Jimmy was working in the
30:06
drug store in Excelsior, Minnesota, where the
30:09
Stones played when they had their first tour
30:12
of the US. And so the reference to Mr. Jimmy,
30:15
some people believe, was some guy named Jimmy
30:18
at a drug store in Excelsior. But other people
30:21
say, no, it's Jimmy Miller, their producer. And
30:23
I don't think anybody knows the answer. But just
30:26
to think that they played it at Excelsior Amusement
30:29
Park is amazing. I know. What would that have
30:31
been, like, 63 or something like that? Yeah,
30:34
mid -60s or early 60s. Yeah, probably early 60s.
30:37
Playing in the amusement park. Wow. Isn't that
30:40
something? Yeah. Amazing. You know, another couple
30:43
songs on the album that You know, I think let
30:47
it bleed. I mean, you know, it's the title track
30:50
and that is absolutely one of My favorite songs
30:54
and one of their most iconic. I mean it just
30:57
sounds like a live recording it Sounds like they
31:03
might be in a basement sounds very Improvisational
31:06
very loose to me. It's it's absolutely one of
31:10
my one of my favorite songs Then I guess I wanted
31:14
to mention Midnight Rambler. Yes, it's a it's
31:17
a very cool song but Much like what's the other
31:22
song that I referenced that was much better.
31:24
Oh, it sounds better live Yeah, I'm get your
31:27
yas out if you listened if you like Midnight
31:30
Rambler on the studio album listen to get your
31:33
yas off version it is I think one of the greatest
31:36
pieces of music I've ever heard, all the different
31:39
tempo changes in the guitar interchange between
31:43
Mick Taylor and Keith, it's really, really great.
31:47
And we'll be bringing that up next though, get
31:48
you guys out so. You know, one other thing I
31:51
want to bring up about you can't always get what
31:53
you want, that's the first example of open G
31:56
tuning that I can recall. And what's open G tuning?
31:59
You know, it's an alternative way to tune the
32:02
guitar. And I think Ry Cooder taught it to Keith.
32:07
And it's a tuning that's been around forever.
32:09
I think you'd find it hundreds of years ago on
32:13
Hawaiian music. The old bluesmen use it to play
32:17
slide guitar. And I think that's what Ry Cooder
32:20
did with it. And he taught it to Keith. And Keith
32:23
turned it into his rock and roll superpower.
32:27
I mean from really the sticky fingers on that
32:32
became the definitive Keith Richards guitar sound
32:35
and really changed the sound of the Rolling Stones.
32:39
It can't be overstated how incredibly important
32:42
that was. Wow. So that was the first time I'd
32:45
ever heard it. Thanks for sharing that. I wasn't
32:48
aware of that. Wow. Yeah, it's, you know, not
32:51
to go down the rabbit hole, but if you take a
32:53
regular tune guitar and you strum it without
32:56
any fingering you get nothing it's a nothing
32:59
chord but if you tune it to open G and you strum
33:03
all the strings it gives you a G major chord
33:06
and you can get many of the same chords but you
33:11
have to do different fingerings so it's like
33:13
a whole different whole different language but
33:17
yeah it's really important I remember decades
33:20
and decades ago trying to learn wild horses on
33:23
the guitar, and I'd learned it. I knew what all
33:26
the chords were, and I knew it was correct because
33:29
I could play along with the record, but something
33:32
didn't sound right. I knew something was different.
33:34
And then at some point, I learned that Keith
33:37
was playing open G. tuned my guitar into open
33:41
G, and suddenly there it was. It sounded just
33:44
like Keith, and I started noodling around with
33:47
it, learning different fret techniques, and all
33:51
of these Rolling Stones songs just came pouring
33:54
out of the guitar. It's just a huge, huge part
33:57
of their sound. Well, to wrap up this one before
34:00
we get to get your yayas out, what is it about
34:03
this album, Let It Bleed, that also made it in
34:06
your top five? Well, obviously great songs. I
34:10
think, you know, Mick Taylor and again, you know,
34:14
that was their... their greatest lineup. You
34:18
know, nothing against Ronnie Woods. I love Ronnie
34:21
Woods. The stuff that he did with the faces is,
34:24
I think, amazing faces. Easily one of my one
34:27
of my favorite bands. But yeah, you put Bobby
34:31
Keys and Mick Taylor in that band. You really
34:33
got something. So that and great song. We haven't
34:36
even talked about, you know, Monkey Man. I mean,
34:39
it's going to be it's one of the great Keith
34:43
Riffs of all time. So I mean you look at some
34:47
of the songs on that album It is a it is a powerhouse.
34:50
And again, it's kind of transitional, you know
34:53
on one hand you've got the You know the earlier
34:56
albums and this certainly has changed and it's
35:00
Progresses into the next two which I think are
35:03
the two greatest stones albums by you know a
35:06
good margin Yeah, okay. Were there any other
35:09
songs you wanted to mention that you had listed?
35:12
Oh, you've got the Silver, which is iconic in
35:17
that Keith sings it, and I think that might be
35:20
maybe his first or certainly one of the first
35:23
songs that he sings. Yeah, because he's saying
35:27
unhappy but that's on exile right that came a
35:29
little bit later. It did Yeah, usually and then
35:32
Keith started getting at least one song Yeah
35:34
per record and you know, I'm you know, I love
35:36
Keith. Yeah, I love the way you sing So I think
35:39
that's got the silver. Yeah, it's a it's a great
35:41
song You know sure say that Nicky Hopkins played
35:44
the organ on that song. Oh, he did He also played
35:47
the piano and for the nine tracks to let it play.
35:49
So he's a busy busy Keyboard guy with the stones
35:53
obviously. Yeah okay great all right okay on
35:59
to the next of steve's top five of favorite stones
36:02
albums it's called get your yas out and as we
36:05
mentioned earlier this is a live album with 10
36:08
songs on the original release it was recorded
36:11
mostly from two shows at madison square garden
36:13
in new york city plus a song that's recorded
36:16
in Baltimore. Maybe Steve knows a little bit
36:18
more about that. And then they did some overdubs
36:20
from the Olympic studios in London. The album
36:23
itself was released in early September of 1970.
36:28
And for the record, Get Your Yah -Yahs Out was
36:30
a critical and commercial success, reaching number
36:34
one in the UK and number six in the US, and has
36:37
been consistently lauded as a landmark live recording.
36:40
I learned too, Steve, in my research that this
36:43
was the final Rolling Stones album released under
36:45
the DECA in London labels, DECA in the UK and
36:48
London in the US, before the band launched their
36:51
own Rolling Stones records label. The front album
36:55
cover is kind of interesting, and listeners,
36:57
you can Google this to see it as well, but it
36:59
features Charlie Watts in what appears to be
37:01
his stage clothes. He's wearing Mick Jagger's
37:05
trademark striped hat, top hat. He's holding
37:08
up a guitar in each hand. It almost looks like
37:10
he's going up for a layup. He's got that right
37:12
up in the air. And then slightly behind him,
37:16
to his right, is a donkey. The donkey is not
37:19
jumping like Charlie is. It's just standing there
37:22
and he's got a guitar and a couple of drums hanging
37:25
from his neck. Interesting album cover. And his
37:29
iconic t -shirt. Yeah, what does it say on the
37:31
t -shirt? I can't tell. It doesn't say anything.
37:33
It's a picture of women's breasts. Oh, on his
37:37
t -shirt. Okay. Okay. Well, I can believe it.
37:42
I can believe it. So now let's talk about this
37:45
because you said this is one of your top five
37:48
favorites, but it's a live album, especially
37:50
go ahead and just kind of tell us everything
37:52
you want about this album, why it means so much
37:54
to you and the songs and so on. Well, it's, it's
37:57
kind of stuck back in the let it bleed. Beggar's
38:02
banquet time period. I mean there is no open
38:05
G tuning on it and it's kind of an homage to
38:10
Chuck Berry I mean two of the songs on the album,
38:13
you know, there wasn't that many Ten songs. Yeah,
38:16
two of the ten are Chuck Berry tunes which any
38:20
are which ones that would be little Queenie.
38:23
Okay. Okay. Okay and Keith Richards like almost
38:27
every electronic guitar player was electric guitar
38:30
player was hugely influenced by You know the
38:34
great Chuck Berry I mean, yeah Chuck's about
38:37
the most important guitar player other than Jimi
38:40
Hendrix of I think of rock guitar but it's so
38:46
it's kind of a you know, rocking, blues, you've
38:50
got the great version of Jumpin Jack Flash, straight
38:54
cat blues, which is, I think, a lot better than
38:57
the studio, Love and Vain, which is better than
39:00
the studio version with Yeah, Mick Taylor's unbelievable
39:04
slide work. And then I mentioned Midnight Rambler,
39:07
which is just incredible. And they also do Sympathy
39:11
for the Devil. And for my money, it has got the
39:15
greatest guitar solo that I've ever heard. And
39:18
I think the first half of the solo, Keith does.
39:23
The second half, where it really takes off, that's
39:26
Mick Taylor. And it's a beautiful... guitar solo
39:30
and again, it's it's it's a live version, but
39:33
it's got a beginning a middle in an end and so,
39:38
you know, I've been off asked many times What's
39:40
the you know, the greatest, you know guitar solo
39:43
and I've always said the live version of the
39:46
devil. It's amazing Wow How did those two coexist?
39:50
Well first was Brian Jones But how did Keith
39:52
and Mick Taylor coexist did one play the lead
39:55
and the other was sort of a rhythm and they kind
39:56
of took turns or the both be leads at the same
39:59
song? How did that work? Keith was the consummate
40:03
rhythm player. That kind of goes back to open
40:07
G. You can't really play lead guitar when you've
40:10
got it tuned to open G. I won't go into detail
40:13
about that. But yeah, he did most of the rhythm
40:16
work, and then Mick Taylor did the leads. Keith,
40:20
he could certainly do some slide work, but that
40:23
was you know, what Mick Taylor was really known
40:26
for. OK, but yeah, there was definitely a demarcation
40:29
and you know what people's responsibility was.
40:32
And they work so so greatly together. I mean,
40:34
that's one of the amazing thing about that album.
40:37
It is I think Mick Taylor had only been with
40:40
the band for six months at this point, and they
40:43
are so tight. It's it's shocking. Here's the
40:47
perfect shit. Yeah, if anybody wants to listen
40:49
to one song, go listen to Sympathy for the Devil.
40:52
The library. Yeah, listen to the interplay. It's
40:55
just incredible. And they do a great version
40:58
of Street Fighting Man that's probably better
41:00
than the studio version. And then Honky Tonk
41:04
Woman, like I mentioned, is not on any studio
41:08
recordings, but they do a great version of it.
41:11
That is amazing. And that was the other song.
41:14
It was Honky Tonk, another one that was never
41:16
on... album they were just releases singles uh
41:20
jumping jack flash wow yeah isn't that something
41:23
yeah just releases well back in those days the
41:26
singles yeah it's a big deal well they had like
41:28
over 100 singles they've released in their 60
41:30
plus years it's like that i can see why but wow
41:33
i just don't find that fascinating that none
41:35
of the neither those are not interesting yeah
41:38
they're on different compilations i'm sure but
41:40
i mean they do show up on compilations yep so
41:43
okay but yeah it's it's an album i I think I
41:47
mentioned to you last time we got together, I
41:50
think of all the albums that I've owned in my
41:53
life or that I do own. I doubt that I've listened
41:56
to an album more than this. I mean, I kind of
41:58
learned how to play guitar listening to all of
42:01
these, all of these. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I certainly,
42:05
you know, learned how to play Chuck Berry, not
42:08
by listening to Chuck, but by by listening to
42:11
this and then love in vain. I mean, it's, you
42:14
know, the acoustic version of the taught me a
42:16
lot. So, I mean, it's a it's an album that I
42:19
just I played so much in. I didn't ask about
42:24
the other two albums either, but these albums,
42:26
you still have the actual vinyls or CDs? Sadly,
42:31
I lost almost all of my vinyls. I moved many,
42:34
many times in my misbegotten youth and ran into
42:37
some wet basements. my albums got, except for
42:43
about 50 of them, got ruined and then I just
42:46
slowly, you know, sold the 50 and then replaced
42:49
it with CDs and now replace it with Spotify.
42:53
I know, yeah, thank goodness for the platforms
42:55
like that. So, because now if I wrote in here
42:58
a song and just bring it up, I say, God, I wish
43:00
I had that album. Well, I don't really need it
43:02
anymore because I'd speak that, I'll just throw
43:04
it on the side. I remember I had a couple of
43:07
albums. that I wanted a guy to listen to, I brought
43:09
him to work. I was still in college. But he wanted
43:13
to hear him, so I let him listen to them. He
43:15
brought him back to me. And I put him in my car
43:17
that day while we went to work. Well, the car
43:19
was sitting out in the sun. It was hot out. And
43:23
it brought them home. And I remember I put, it
43:25
was like an Elton John madman across the water.
43:27
I'm going to put that on the turntable. And it
43:30
was warped. And so when you watch the needle
43:32
playing it, it was like jumping up and down.
43:35
And you don't have to worry about that anymore
43:37
when you get Spotify. You don't have to worry
43:39
about records catching, broken records, that
43:42
kind of stuff. And actually thinking about, yeah,
43:44
yes, it's kind of interesting that when you have
43:47
an album, there's going to be scratches or little
43:50
nicks. And so there's a part of the song that
43:53
you kind of wait for it. And here's the little,
43:55
now when I hear that some of these songs, I kind
43:58
of wait for that. And it's not there, but it's
44:01
just like it's indelibly. Okay, and I think you've
44:07
already said it, but I just want you to wrap
44:09
it up with this album Why is this one of your
44:11
top five? Maybe your favorite top five, but why
44:14
I just think Probably the guitar work between
44:19
Keith and Mick, you know the great guitar solo
44:22
The great version of some of their best songs
44:27
Yeah, it's just I think it's my favorite favorite
44:31
live album. I think that's really interesting
44:32
too because I guess and I normally don't think
44:35
of people you know if they get a favorite album
44:37
it's a live album but this one is so good that
44:40
it's it's just in the league of its own so yeah
44:42
I mean you think of I can't think of one song
44:46
that's yeah that doesn't belong I mean they're
44:49
they're just all fabulous yeah great great yeah
44:51
in fact I think every version is better than
44:56
the studio version of the same song. That's saying
44:58
a lot because I've heard I've heard other live
45:00
albums and it doesn't sound as good. Maybe part
45:02
of the problem is the recording itself. But you
45:05
know, maybe the voices weren't as good or something.
45:07
But oh, I totally agree that I think that's what
45:10
makes this really special. You know just how
45:12
good it is. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, the the guitar
45:15
work like again, that love in vain. Mick Taylor,
45:19
maybe his finest moment. Beautiful, beautiful.
45:22
And this is all from like three concerts, right?
45:25
A couple of Madison Square Garden. I know two
45:27
Baltimore and Madison Square Garden. What was
45:29
played in Baltimore? I don't know. Okay, that'd
45:32
be interesting because I think I read somewhere
45:34
it was like a Wikipedia thing where they said
45:36
one song came from Baltimore and the rest came
45:38
from the two concerts they played at Madison
45:40
Square Garden or something like that. But it's
45:42
interesting. I know that the warm up bands they
45:46
had on this tour, I mean, BB King was part of
45:48
it. Ike and Tina Turner were part of it. Are
45:54
those related at all to what we see in the movie
45:59
Gimmie Shelter? Are any of those concerts in
46:02
that movie as well? I mean, it seems like the
46:04
main part of Gimmie Shelter is when they're playing
46:06
at Altamont and at Speedway in California, but
46:09
I thought they showed some recordings of them
46:10
playing elsewhere. Maybe so these guys like I
46:13
can Tina were touring with the stones on their
46:16
tour. Okay. Okay. Interesting. I'll have to do
46:18
a little deeper dive on that sometime. But have
46:21
you seen Gimme Shelter? I haven't seen I have.
46:24
I have. That's I said I could do a podcast in
46:26
that movie. I just remember how upsetting that
46:28
was toward the end. All right. Well, this will
46:33
take us to the end of part one of our podcast
46:35
with my friend and guest Steve Durant. in his
46:38
list of top five Rolling Stones albums. So far
46:41
we've covered just three of those five. Beggar's
46:43
Banquet, Let It Bleed, and Get Your Yah -Yahs
46:45
Out. In part two, we'll talk about the other
46:48
two albums in Steve's list. That's Sticky Fingers
46:51
and Exile on Main Street. Steve, are you having
46:54
a good time? I'm loving this, the stuff you're
46:56
telling me. It must be fun just to talk about
46:58
your... Favorite band or music I am having it's
47:02
great. It's great Well, they deserve these their
47:05
albums are classic albums that deserve to be
47:07
talked about especially for those who aren't
47:08
familiar With that so it's it's good that you
47:11
were able to join us on this. So thanks. Thanks
47:13
for showing up And again to our listeners, thanks
47:19
for hanging out with me Bob at home and my guest
47:21
Steve Durant Be sure to catch part two of the
47:24
top five Rolling Stones albums per Steve Durant
47:27
wherever you listen to your podcasts. Until then,
47:30
bye.