Posts Tagged ‘bill wyman’
I’m just waiting on a friend…
It’s no secret that my older brother, Robert, was a big influence on my musical development, especially between 1975 
and about 1981/82. One of the bands that he introduced me to is The Rolling Stones. To date they are still my 2nd favorite band of all time behind Iron Maiden. He loved the Stones and subsequently so did I. He played them a lot and they became ingrained into my musical repertoire. After Wyman left I was done with them, but I love just about every album they did with him save one or 2 in the 80s.
I can remember coming home from school and listening to Tattoo You on vinyl. Typically mom and dad were at work and who knows where my brothers were. I seemed to have time to spin records before they all came home. Very influential and time well spent. Homework? Pfffft!
This album was always special to me though. It’s one of those albums that brings me back to a certain time in my life, actually to 2 different times in my life. I guess I have a lot of those types of albums and I am glad for it. Without music I don’t know how I would have ended up.
Tattoo You wasn’t a perfect album for the Stones although it had one of their biggest gits on it…Start Me Up. Sure it’s a fun tune but not one of their finest moments in my opinion. I really loved their slower tunes and this one has some great ones on it, pretty much all of side 2. Worried About You, Tops, Heaven, No Use In Crying and Waiting On A Friend. Such a smooth album side.
Side one’s highlight for me is Little T&A. When I was 19 I briefly dated a girl that this song seemed to fit so well. Typically when we went out I would play it sometime during the evening. Hang Fire is pretty good too. Pretty cool cover art as well. But all in all, side 2 rules this album.
There are many other Stones album that I like better, but this one does have that special place.
“Ain’t no use…”
All the dreams we held so close seemed to all go up in smoke
It’s no secret that I am a huge Stones fan. I practically love everything up to and including Steel Wheels (minus that horrid nightmare Dirty Work). I think that Goats Head 
Soup is one of my favorites, if not my #1 from their 70s era. The album is a bit mellow and smooth and very different from the albums before it and after it, Exile On Main Street and It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll, respectively.
Silver Train, Star Star, Hide Your Love, Dancing With Mr. D, Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) and even Angie are all great tracks.
This album has Mick taylor all over it. He was a great guitarist and arguably a better writer than Keef. My opinion of course.
I really wish I had some sort of life story to attach to this album like I do with many others from my collection, but I don’t. I will say that this is a fun album to play bass too and one of the first ones I put in to learn how to play when I started bassing in 2000. Nothing majorly difficult, just cool progressions.
Too Much Blood…alright!
My fondness for the Rolling Stones has never been much of a secret and I have always chosen them over the Beatles (blech!). They are my #2 band of all time right behind Iron Maiden. My earliest memories of hearing them are through one of my older brothers. I can remember him spinning Sticky Fingers and Some Girls on the record player. I was pretty much a fan from day 1. Maybe 1977 or 1978? Doesn’t matter. I was pretty young.
Undercover (1983) was the first one of theirs that I owned on my own. I remember buying it at Murphy’s on vinyl after hearing Undercover of the Night and She Was Hot on the radio. It was a bit of a different album for them, yet it still retained the feel of a real Stones album, unlike Dirty Work (terrible).
This album gets dissed by a lot of hardcore Stones fans, probably because of their MTV sirplay. No me importa. I love it. Even though I wouldn’t consider it their best album, it’s my #1. Songs like Too Much Blood, Pretty Beat Up, Undercover of the Night…great songs.
I love Mick’s ‘rap’ in Too Much Blood: “Did you ever see the Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Horrible, wasn’t it. You know, people ask me “is it really true where you live in Texas, is that really true what they do around there, people?” I say, “yea, every time I drive through the crossroads I get scared, there’s a bloke running round with a fucking chain saw. Oh! Oh! oh No, he’s gonna cut off, Oh no. Don’t saw off me leg, don’t saw off me arm.”
Good times.
Odd to think that this video was banned from MTV for a long time.
The Metal Files 
You must be logged in to post a comment.