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Goats Head Soup Cover

I think of it as Mick Taylor's and Mick Jagger's album. I love how they got rhapsodic and ballady on this one. 100 Years Ago is interesting because it's a new kind of song the Stones start doing, one with sort of no real groove but very melodic.

There's some beautiful music on this LP.
 
My personal take I've had on that album cover since the first time I saw it years and years ago....

Think about the pronounced V shape... and the dark hair, and the color of the background, along with the way the shadows are next to the face..

I always thought that was a peculiar way to twist sex into a picture...
 
Aside from Keith, the Stones look like women in these photos. They've always messed with that. Keith looks like a matchhead going up in flames (burning out).
 
I tried to actually read through this thread but have failed :-P

Did anyone mention that the original cover art for this album was "banned" and replaced with the album cover shown in the OP?
 
I always thought that GHS and It’s Only Rock n Roll were a fantastic one-two punch. They often get slagged as being watered-down versions of Exile, but I think they’re completely different animals. Much of the country and blues influence was gone by this point, and the band had simply moved on sonically. I think some of Mick Taylor’s most beautiful guitar work was done on those two LPs. It’s a damn shame that just as he was soaring as a guitarist, he was essentially being alienated and cut out by the Glimmer Twins.

Man, it would be absolutely INCREDIBLE if the Stones ever reunited with Taylor. Yeah, they would never recapture the original magic—different band, different people, different attitudes—but I really think it would light a serious fire under the band that they’ve rarely had with Ronnie in the group. In short, IMO they’ve become complacent with Wood and no longer feel challenged musically. I think Taylor would bring the same thing he did in the late ‘60s: a challenging, completely DIFFERENT foil for Keith, and someone who’d add a lot of different textures and possibilities. They’re a nice, little, self-contained box with Ronnie, but the creative walls really came crumbling down with MT in the band.

Too bad a reunion is a pipe dream.
 
Quint said:
I always thought that GHS and It’s Only Rock n Roll were a fantastic one-two punch. They often get slagged as being watered-down versions of Exile, but I think they’re completely different animals. Much of the country and blues influence was gone by this point, and the band had simply moved on sonically. I think some of Mick Taylor’s most beautiful guitar work was done on those two LPs. It’s a damn shame that just as he was soaring as a guitarist, he was essentially being alienated and cut out by the Glimmer Twins.

Man, it would be absolutely INCREDIBLE if the Stones ever reunited with Taylor. Yeah, they would never recapture the original magic—different band, different people, different attitudes—but I really think it would light a serious fire under the band that they’ve rarely had with Ronnie in the group. In short, IMO they’ve become complacent with Wood and no longer feel challenged musically. I think Taylor would bring the same thing he did in the late ‘60s: a challenging, completely DIFFERENT foil for Keith, and someone who’d add a lot of different textures and possibilities. They’re a nice, little, self-contained box with Ronnie, but the creative walls really came crumbling down with MT in the band.

Too bad a reunion is a pipe dream.
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I agree with all of this!

Keith has said that Wood's personality meshes better with his. I think all that means is that Keith found someone who plays like him--and liked to party like he did.

If the Stones had been less concerned about good times and more concerned about making music, they would have hung on to Taylor.
 
gmku said:
Mick Taylor definitely helped shape the sound of the Stones back then. I think GHS is lovely.
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I agree. Mick Taylor didn't/doesn't get enough credit for his contributions. His sound was more polished, which balanced well with Keith's straight forward sound. Don't get me wrong, Richards is an amazing composer/player.

We'll never know, but I wonder what the Stones would have sounded like had Brian Jones stayed with the band and lived?
 
mhardy6647 said:
I tried to actually read through this thread but have failed :-P

Did anyone mention that the original cover art for this album was "banned" and replaced with the album cover shown in the OP?
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Is that the goat head in the pot that they added as an insert? If not, what was it? Curious...
 
I also read something somewhere about a photo session involving the Stones romping around in voodoo costumes of some kind.

Anyway... it's interesting that this LP that usually gets not very much attention is being so scrutinized here.

I really like this album. I remember it was panned when it came out back in 1973 and then I heard a guy in the dorm where I was living say that it has "a lot of beautiful music," and it occured to me that he might be right. I went back to my room and had another listen and fell in love with it.
 
Just some facts to muddy the Mick Taylor/Ronnie Wood waters:

Mick Taylor was not exactly kicked out of the Stones. The Stones expected him to be on "Black and Blue." Instead, he was jamming with Jack Bruce and was thinking about going in a jazz fusion direction. Perhaps, like Bill Wyman, he never felt a full "Stone." If anything, Taylor and the Stones drifted apart. Unlike Brian Jones (wasted and a girlfriend beater) - whom the Stones could not wait to boot from the band.

Ronnie wrote and then "loaned" Jagger/Richards the tune, "It's Only Rock and Roll." With the Faces falling apart, the timing was perfect for Ronnie to jump in with his friends. These days, with Ronnie on and off the wagon, it might make sense for the Stones to call up Mr. Taylor for another tour.

Ken
 
KeninDC said:
Just some facts to muddy the Mick Taylor/Ronnie Wood waters:

Mick Taylor was not exactly kicked out of the Stones. The Stones expected him to be on "Black and Blue." Instead, he was jamming with Jack Bruce and was thinking about going in a jazz fusion direction. Perhaps, like Bill Wyman, he never felt a full "Stone." If anything, Taylor and the Stones drifted apart. Unlike Brian Jones (wasted and a girlfriend beater) - whom the Stones could not wait to boot from the band.

Ronnie wrote and then "loaned" Jagger/Richards the tune, "It's Only Rock and Roll." With the Faces falling apart, the timing was perfect for Ronnie to jump in with his friends. These days, with Ronnie on and off the wagon, it might make sense for the Stones to call up Mr. Taylor for another tour.

Ken
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This is exactly right..I've always said all they have to do to recapture the magic is move Ronnie over to Bass and get MT back on the Les Paul. :music:
 
Yep, this is true. Taylor's departure from the band was more of a drifting apart. I also suspect however (and I think I've read rumors) that Richards was somewhat envious of Taylor's prowess, and he's remarked on Taylor's supposed humorlessness.

I wonder if Keith and Jagger are aware that many fans miss Taylor's work with the band?
 
gmku said:
Yep, this is true. Taylor's departure from the band was more of a drifting apart. I also suspect however (and I think I've read rumors) that Richards was somewhat envious of Taylor's prowess, and he's remarked on Taylor's supposed humorlessness.

I wonder if Keith and Jagger are aware that many fans miss Taylor's work with the band?
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It’s possible they are, but I doubt they care much. They’ve expressed satisfaction (no pun intended) with most of their stuff with Ronnie, and I doubt they want to disrupt the camaraderie and rhythmic precision they now have with him.

I’ve always felt that having Taylor back in the band would REALLY light a fire under the Stones—a fire that IMO hasn’t been there since Some Girls (or possibly as late as the incredibly underrated Voodoo Lounge). But it’s doubtful that Mick T. would even be interested in rejoining the circus. There was tension and resentment toward the end of his tenure in the band, and he seems pretty content to do his own thing and maintain his artistic independence and credibility. Gotta respect that.
 
131east23 said:
Here's some more info, right from the horses, er uh.. goats mouth...

http://www.rollingstones.com/album/goats-head-soup
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That was a very good, insightful assessment. IMO the only way the album suffered was in comparison to perhaps the greatest streak of masterpieces in rock history (including the Beatles in there is obvious as well). Most bands would sacrifice an . . . ahem . . . goat for such a great album. I don’t think there’s a bad song on it. I do think it’s starting to be recognized as a terrific effort, though—and a sorely underrated one.
 
GHS - what a great overlooked album. Fantastic songwriting and guitar...and one the Stones best hidden gems - 100 years ago.

Peace,

Tejas
 
tejas said:
GHS - what a great overlooked album. Fantastic songwriting and guitar...and one the Stones best hidden gems - 100 years ago.

Peace,

Tejas
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I'm replaying this today, third time in the past couple of days. I forgot just how much I freaking enjoy this LP!

Strange thought/question: Given that Mick often mimics other singers, it seems to me he's doing somebody in Winter but I can't place it. Van Morrison?

By the way, for my home tape of the LP, I edited Can You Hear the Music? so I could get all of Starf*cker in the 45 minute side. Often find CYHTM overly long and silly anyway.
 
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