50 years on and her we are again, listening to the Stones, worrying at the Government, and trying to asses a pointless Greatest Hits collection. What the hell, right? It’s an excuse to write about the Great Rock and Roll band of all time. What’s not to like? Up to “Mixed Emotions (wasn’t that a Jagger solo song?) I know the lot, after that I needed to look up where they were from. Is it worth mentioning it gets worse as it gioes? OK, another pointless exercise..
1. Come On – Chuck Berry classic, the harp makes it important – Grade: A
2. Not Fade Away – Buddy Holly this time, they make it during the coda – Grade: B+
3. It’s all Over Now – Bobby Womack classic, but the Stones are completely credible mostly thanks to Bill Wyman – Grade: A
4. Little Red Rooster – The thing to note here is that the Stones could, indeed, play the blues, these is the slurry, bluesy, hot Southern summer days sexuality the band would perfect years later with “Stray Cat Blues” – Grade: A+
5. The Last Time – Have you seen “Charlie Is My Darling”. Of the live on stage portion, this was the highlight – Grade: A
6. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction – And the legend begins in earnest, a howl of frustration aimed at the squares. Oh, and that riff! – Grade: A+
7. Time Is On My Side – A blues ballad, just in case you missed their seriousness – Grade: A-
8. Get off Of My Cloud – This is to the Stones what “Eight days A Week” was to the Beatles. It is the most Stones-y song they ever recorded – Grade: A+
9. Heart Of Stone – A terrific piece of misogyny, “no matter how I try, I just can’t make her cry”! Hahahaha. The guitar break is really good as well – Grade: A
10. 19th Nervous Breakdown – DRUGS! Best opening line ever? “You’re the kind of person you meet at certain dismal dull affairs…!” – Grade: A+
11. As Tears Go By – I prefer Marianne Faithful’s cover but not by much. Written to order by the wy – Grade: A
12. Paint It Black – The sitar! – Grade: A-
13.Under My Thumb – Rank misogyny and I like it! – Grade: A+
14. Have you Seen Your Mother Baby (Standing In the Shadows) – This is all prime stuff, this run of singles is the stuff of legends – Grade: A+
15. Ruby Tuesday – Includes Jagger’s greatest aphorism: “Lose your dreams and you may lose your mind” – Grade: A+
16. Let’s Spend The Night Together – Great opening couplet by the way: “Don’t you worry about what’s on your mind, I’m in no hurry I can take my time” – Grade: A+
17. We Love You – The end of psychedelia (the flipside “Dandelion” is terrific as well) – Grade: A+
18. Jumping Jack Flash – And into the mainstream with this wild self-portrait– Grade: A+
19. Honky Tonk Woman – This is why people die from drugs… it ounds too cool – Grade: A+
20. Sympathy For The Devil – I am not sure why these songs aren’t running in order of release. I mean, they are for the most part and then they stop. – Grade: B
21. You Can’t Always Get What You Want – The problem isn’t the song, the problem is we know it too well. It sounds like a cliché when it is in fact an aphorism – Grade: A+
23. Gimme Shelter – Just about the end of the 1960s in song – Grade: A+
24. Street Fighting Man – 4th track off Let It Bleed. er actually, it's off Beggar's Banquet! Thanks Dziga, you blew my review!!! – Grade: B+
25. Wild Horses – Written for or is that by Marianne – Grade: A-
26. She’s A Rainbow – What the hell is this doing here? It should be just before “We Love You” – Grade: A
27. Brown Sugar – Around about here they nailed forever the title of Greatest rock Back In The World – Grade: A+
28. Happy – Richards glowing self portrait – Grade: A
29. Tumbling Dice – Didja ever hear Linda Ronstadt’s version? – Grade: A
30. Angie – Why is this thrown in here? Is there any thought? Rumor has it, written for Angie Bowie (David Bowie, maybe) – Grade: B+
31. Rocks Off – leads off their best album – Grade: A+
32.Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)" – The first song I had to look up, it’s off Goat’s Head Soup and it sucks – Grade: C
33. It’s Only Rock And Roll – Did you ever hear Juliana Hatfield’s cover? – Grade: A+
34. Fool To Cry – From the first (maybe second) Stones album that wasn’t great and if they were only gonna pull one song off it, why not “Memory Hotel” – Grade: A
35. Miss You – This is Jagger in New York at Studio 54 – Grade: A+
36. Respectable -The Stones respond to punk and wonder what the hell happened – Grade: A+
37. Beast Of Burden – Exactly what grr has been missing, country rock – Grade: A+
38. Emotional Rescue – Jagger gets his Mayfield on, I truly hated it at the time but if it reminds me of mayfield how bad can it be – Grade: B
39. Start Me Up – An all purpose rocker, the most Stonesy song since “Cloud” – Grade: A
40. Waiting On A Friend – Yeah, I missed them filming the video in the village back in the day. And I worked four bllocks away at the time! – Grade: A-
41. Undercover (Of The Night) – I’d claim this was a disappointment but by this stage of the (mid 80s if memory serves) it was expected – Grade: C+
42. She Was Hot – this is pretty lousy Stones by the numbers – Grade: C-
43. Streets Of Love – I had to look it up… off the lousy 2005 A bigger bang – Grade: C-
43. The Harlem Shuffle – Kudos to the rhythm department – grade: C
44. Mixed Emotions – The single off Steel wheels and not bad either – Grade: B
45. High Wire – A true rarity, written for a 1991 Greatest Hits and not bad either – Grade: B-
46. Love Is Strong – off Voodoo Lounge, the only thing of interest is Jagger’s harp playing – Grade: C
47. Anybody Seen My Baby – Another crap song off another crap album – Grade: C-
48. Don’t Stop – Whatever – grade: C
49. Doom And Gloom – Pure Stones, pure Jagger, their best song since, I dunno, “Mixed Emotions” – Grade: B+
50. One More Shot – More Keith Richards, not up to much – Grade: C+