It was 10 years ago today that Ry Cooder’s album ‘Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down’ was released on Nonesuch Records. Uncut magazine called it “one of his best albums ever … an impassioned portrait of 21st century America and its injustices” in which Cooder is “remade as a modern-day Woody Guthrie, fearless and funny, for like Guthrie he nails his targets with droll humour while empathising with society’s underdogs.” The BBC calls it “essential listening.”
When Ry Cooder recorded his first two albums, collections of songs by the likes of Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie that evoked the desperate times of the Great Depression, he could scarcely have imagined that 40 years later he’d be singing of the same old problems, but relating them to modern times.
In the intervening years since that eponymous 1970 debut and the following year’s Into the Purple Valley, Cooder has learned to trust his own song writing rather than relying on his encyclopaedic folk and blues knowledge, and few of his nearly 30 albums and soundtracks have been as strong as this.
His last album, I, Flathead was in 2008, He told the story of beatnik salt flats racer Kash Buk, and although one theme similarly emerges from “Pull Up Some Dust” here Cooder delivers numerous desperate, broken, bloodied and disenfranchised folk left to rot by those who put greed before humanity. Individually they are studies in blues, country, dustbowl folk and boogie, but collectively they add up to a powerful state of the nation address.
After completing his epic California Trilogy, with its stories of life in his home state in the 40s and 50s, Ry Cooder returns with a solo project that is as refreshing, brave and original as his early recordings in the 70s. This time round there are no elaborate narratives, but there is a common theme: these are songs of a broken, divided society and the gap between rich and poor, but with the anger matched against humour. He’s a master at setting bleak or thoughtful lyrics against jaunty melodies.
Bleak humour streaks most of “Pull Up Some Dust”, whether it’s the hard-done-by financiers dragging up the ladders on No Banker Left Behind, maimed soldiers returning home in the anti-war polka Christmas Time This Year, or his hilarious impersonation on John Lee Hooker for President, which imagines The Hook’s manifesto for the White House (“Everyone gets one bourbon, one scotch, one beer / Three times a day if they stay cool / And little chill’uns get milk, cream and alcohol / Two times a day if they stay involved in school”).
Elsewhere, Jesse James contemplates returning from Heaven to visit some Old West justice on Wall Street in the Tennessee waltzing El Corrido de Jesse James, the pleasures of an uncomplicated life are extolled in Tex-Mex ballad Simple Tools and The Almighty is lambasted for His negligence in If There’s a God. In the end, however, on parting shot No Hard Feelings Cooder dismisses the rich and powerful as ripples in history welcome to go their way if they let him travel his own path.
Good luck with that, Ry, but this is about as good and sustained a riposte to the grubby, grabbing times we live in as any artist has mustered, which makes it essential listening.
Kristian Matsson, aka The Tallest Man On Earth, is a Dylan successor if there ever was one. In fact, some music writers and fans may even feel his voice is a little too reminiscent of Dylan’s. His tendency to write music that’s more raw and stripped-down paired with his strained, gruff vocals make the comparison almost too obvious. But, then again, Matsson’s music is still something singular. Across five LPs and three EPs, the Swedish singer/songwriter and fingerpicker extraordinaire has charmed his way through folk circles and indie rock strongholds alike, positioning himself as one of the finest roots musicians working. Last year, he veered away from the strictly rustic style of his first four LPs in exchange for a more elaborate setup on I Love You. It’s A Fever Dream.: horn sections, electronic blips, atmospheric effects. But at the core of all his music is Matsson’s introspective song-writing sensibilities and his banjo (or guitar, depending on the song). In honour of one of the best artists in the world of indie folk, Matsson has a broad fanbase, but The Wild Hunt in particular has steadily acquired new fans and has aged especially gracefully over the last decade. Here are 10 of our favourite songs from his catalogue.
“Sagres”
While 2015’s Dark Bird Is Home is by and large a bit of a dark spot on Matsson’s otherwise untarnished discography, there are a few moments of reprieve within it. One of those is “Sagres,” a jangly folk-pop number that pays respect to Cape Sagres, a headland in the southwest of Portugal that’s nicknamed the “end of the road.” In the song, however, Matsson toils in the end of a relationship and starts to question everything, lamenting “It’s just all this fucking doubt,” at one exasperated point in the song.
“It Will Follow The Rain”
Matsson leans fully into his folklorist side on this cut from his self-titled debut EP. Mentioning mountains, valleys and lightning strikes, this song was just the tip of iceberg when it comes to TheTallest Man On Earth’s obsession with the natural world. Some of his best work references our Mother Earth, and this song in particular contains a hopeful, pastoral energy as Matsson compares life to the fleeting nature of a rainstorm.
“Little River”
His 2010 EP Sometimes The Blues Is Just A Passing Bird contains some of Matsson’s best work, not least among it being “Little River.” If it weren’t for a rolling, quickened under-beat and a rather morose conclusion (“You just sing about your own death in your closet / You stumble out into the pitch-black hallway,” he sings at one point), it’d make the perfect lullaby.
“1904”
“1904” is undoubtedly one of the jammier songs across Matsson’s eight projects, benefitting greatly from an electric guitar groove. Apparently the song references a devastating earthquake that rocked Sweden and Norway in the titular year, but you needn’t have any knowledge of natural disasters to make sense of this pleasant folk-rock tune.
“Shallow Grave”
In all honesty, there isn’t much dispute among fans about which of the Tallest Man On Earth’s albums are best: 2008’s Shallow Grave and the proceeding The Wild Hunt (2010) are almost always going to come out on top. The title track from the former contains all the elements that make this pair of albums so interesting and listenable: a relentless banjo lick, existential ramblings and Matsson’s inimitable scratchy-throated cry. The narrator here is down-on-his-luck, and Matsson finds the most lyrically beautiful ways to convey this unrest: “I found the darkness in my neighbour / I found the fire in the frost / I found the season once claimed healthy / Oh, I need the guidance of the lost.” Following his debut album Shallow Grave in 2008, Matsson was invited to tour with indie-folk lord Bon Iver.
“Troubles Will Be Gone”
The human condition is one of constant searching and exhaustion. We have no assurance that things will be “OK,” as friends and family so often try to convince us. But, at the same time, their dedication to helping us believe everything will turn out alright is in itself proof that no matter what happens, life goes on, because we have loved ones around to see us through it. Matsson infuses a near-perfect banjo melody with this promise on “Troubles Will Be Gone”: “Well the day is never done / But there’s a light on where you’re sleeping / So I hope somewhere that troubles will be gone.” The Wild Hunt, his sophomore LP released on April 13th, 2010, Matsson makes the acoustic guitar sound like an orchestra on “You’re Going Back” and the banjo like a full-throttled band on “Troubles Will Be Gone,” a song about goodwill written in the verbal style of Robert Frost. The entire album is full of these tiny orchestras and miniature choirs—a sound few of Matsson’s contemporaries were able to recreate. But many folk artists who’ve arrived in years after The Wild Hunt have seemingly been taking notes. The like-minded Joan Shelley treats her acoustic guitar with a similar reverence, instrumental artist and former Silver Jews musician William Tyler probably learned a thing or two about pacing and rhythm from Matsson and Hiss Golden Messenger’s M.C. Taylor carries on the legacy of curving his sultry, lilting vocals into a style resembling Dylan, as do Kevin Morby and Waxahatchee, who share that same distinct vocal formula. The Wild Hunt gave proceeding indie-folk artists something to aspire to in terms of both authenticity and craft.
“I Won’t Be Found”
This is, technically speaking, a lovely display of Matsson’s talents. The cascade of banjo is enough to convince anyone to be on his side. But the lyrics, too, help you root for Matsson, as he projects plans for the future before realizing that, if he’s not focusing on the present, he might as well be asleep. “Well if I ever get that slumber / I’ll be that mole deep in the ground,” he sings. “And I won’t be found.”
“Burden of Tomorrow”
Who among us hasn’t fretted over what tomorrow will bring? Here, Matsson promises a partner he’ll be one less thing to worry about, while also acknowledging that while we can think about the future all we want, we truly have no clue what it will bring. We just have to meet it when it comes: “Oh but hell I’m just a blind man on the plains,” he sings over pristine guitar. “I drink my water when it rains / And live by chance among the lightning strikes.” Stylistically, The Wild Hunt isn’t all that different from the mystical, lean and perhaps even more lyrically forthright Shallow Grave. The Wild Hunt is only four minutes longer than Shallow Grave’s half-hour runtime, and like its predecessor, it only features a handful of instruments—never drums—and little to no production effects. Where Bon Iver may flirt with the occasional droning feedback and Marcus Mumford a thundering electric guitar solo, Matsson was strictly acoustic and, usually, strictly analogue. While he has a knack for layered wordplay in the vein of Dylan, rusticity was—and remains—his greatest strength. Kristian Matsson injected light and love into a form of music-making that was half-a-century old at this point, and he made it into something new, singular and sustainable. The Wild Hunt remains an aspirational album in that regard—few roots artists have managed to finesse such an act since.
“Love Is All”
“Love Is All” is The Tallest Man On Earth’s “hit”—and for good reason. It’s the perfect entry point into his catalogue and a damn good folk song in its own right. He recounts the dreadful end of a relationship, and, from the point of the listener, it sounds like he’s brusied beyond repair (“Love is all, from what I’ve heard, but my heart’s learned to kill”). But instead of dwelling on the lost “future” of this couplehood, he releases his regret: “Here come the tears / But like always, I let them go / Just let them go.” Further perfecting his tilted, Dylan-esque vocal delivery, Matsson (who, miraculously, learned English as his second language) spends the bulk of The Wild Hunt spitting out sturdy metaphors and basking in a pastoral wonderland. The album’s high points—including the back-to-back pair “King of Spain” and “Love is All,” easily two of his most popular singles to date—are the closest things you’ll ever hear to pop songs in The Tallest Man On Earth’s catalogue. The former expresses desire to pack up and start life over at a lover’s side on Spanish shores, while the latter is a kind of all-encompassing epic poem about the beauties and dangers of love. That may sound like a grandiose description, but Matsson has a way of making even the shortest folk song into something almost biblical. “Like a house made from spider webs and the clouds rolling in / I bet this mighty river’s both my saviour and my sin,” he sings on the spritely “Love is All.”
“The Gardener”
The Tallest Man on Earth’s “The Gardener” is a metaphorical story of hiding one’s ugliness to better be the apple of a lover’s eye. The verses are patterned a certain way, each a distinct scene recounting a figurative body buried, with the sort of subtle variations that keep you grasping always for the next lyric, imagining the garden you have made.
Woods have released a new collection called “Reflections Volume 1” (Bumble Bee Crown King). It includes rare and unreleased tracks from 2009-2013. The band plans to release some vinyl editions of the collection next year. Find selections below and buy “Reflections Volume 1” at Bandcamp.
“With no touring this year, and possibly next, we decided to take a deep dive into our archives and put together the first volume of our much discussed archival series, Reflections,” Woods said in a statement. “Our hope is that it plays like a ‘lost record’ from an extremely strange and fruitful period in Woods history.”
Featuring rare and unreleased recordings from 2009 – 2013, Including a ghost town desert jam off the side of the highway, our first live performance in Big Sur, the first recorded version of Bend Beyond and some shelved diamonds in the rough that were finished up during quarantine. Our hope is that it plays like a “lost record” from an extremely strange and fruitful period in Woods history.
Track notes:
1. Bumble Bee Crown King – Recorded to cassette tape just off the highway in Arizona, on tour in 2009 after we passed a sign that read “Bumble Bee Crown King.” As a bunch of native New Yorkers, we were surprised to find nothing but endless desert when we pulled off of i17. Unaware of Bumblebee’s ghost town history we set up drums and a battery powered amp and began to bang away. Driving in the desert for so long can have a crazy affect on you. It’s both inspiring and anxiety producing. This session was our way of exercising the demons and getting that crazy energy out. Overdubs added in August of 2020 when it was finally mixed.
2. Midnight Moment – Recorded April 16th, 2013 at Buttermilk Falls in Warwick, NY during the writing of With Light and With Love. Bass and piano added during quarantine 2020.
3. Be Kind My Love – Recorded April 11th, 2013 at Buttermilk Falls in Warwick, NY during the writing of With Light andWith Love. We spent a good amount of time working on a version in the studio, but we couldn’t recapture the magic of the demo. It was our first time in a proper recording studio and a couple of good songs got shelved because we didn’t know how to translate that feeling from our home recordings into the studio yet. Bass, wurlitzer and organ added during quarantine 2020 when it was finally finished and mixed.
4. Skull – Recorded at Buttermilk Falls, Warwick NY. with additional recording & mixing at Rear House June, 2011. This has, what might be the best drum take ever featured on a Woods recording. Is it just one long fill?! Remixed August, 2020. Originally appeared on a split 7″ with Kurt Vile for our 2011 tour together.
5. Party In The Pines – Recorded live August 29, 2009 in Big Sur, CA during Mexican Summer’s Party In The Pines Festival. Though we were mostly playing for Redwood trees the title stuck and felt inappropriate to change. I remember that, being one of the only non Mexican Summer bands on the bill, we had to play first. It was probably around noon and there were just a few people in lawn chairs watching. It was Jeremy’s idea to cut a few songs and open with an improv just to stretch out and set the mood. This was our first time playing in Big Sur at the Henry MIller Library and was the impetus for our future Woodsist Festivals. A day that forever changed our lives.
6. Space and Time – Recorded February 7, 2012 at Buttermilk Falls in Warwick, NY. Bass added during quarantine 2020 when it was finally finished and mixed.
7. Ballad Of Jim Jones – Written by The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Recorded August 2, 2010 at Buttermilk Falls in Warwick, NY after watching a Jonestown documentary. Bass and Organs added in 2020.
8. Bend Beyond (First Version) – Recorded March 1st, 2011 at Buttermilk Falls in Warwick, NY. This was our first attempt at recording it and has a more laid back approach with acoustic guitar and hand percussion. After working on it, we started playing it live and over the course of a year of touring, it had turned into a loud, duelling electric guitar, epic set closer. When we revisited this version of it, we realized we had to honour what the song had turned into live. Which was a big turning point for us, turning from a recording project that then does live interpretations of these weird home recordings to a band that actually tested out songs on tour before committing to a final version.
Released October 2nd, 2020
The Band:
Jeremy Earl – vocals, guitars, drums, percussion, Mellotron Jarvis Taveniere – bass, guitar, organ G Lucas Crane – percussion (track 1), tapes/ percussion (track 5) Kevin Morby – percussion (track 1), Bass (track 5) Kyle Forester – piano (track 2), organ (track 7)
Recorded by Jeremy Earl and jarvis Taveniere. Mixed by Jarvis Taveniere
This past May, Woods released their new album “Strange To Explain”.
Generating thick layers of sound that twist and turn through a complex labyrinth of reverb and echo, Holy Wave is an experimental dream-pop band originally from El Paso, Texas who upholds the Lone Star State’s long-standing reputation for top-notch lysergic sounds.
Since making the move to Austin in 2008, they have cemented themselves as a staple force in the international psychedelic rock scene receiving critical acclaim from Pitchfork, Consequence of Sound, Paste Magazine and giving performances at Levitation, Desert Daze, and Levitation France. They toured the world, shared festival stages with acts such as Slowdive, Spiritualized, Froth, Kevin Morby and in 2020 they are prepared to release their latest body of work.
‘Interloper’ [in-ter-lop-er] noun – “a person who becomes involved in a place or situation where they are not wanted or are considered not to belong.” What happens when the world beneath your feet changes so much that you feel like a stranger in your own shoes? This is the premise for the latest full-length record from Holy Wave. “Interloper” sees the band adding new layers to their lush and mesmerizing song writing style. Written about the duality between life at home and life on the road, it sees the band expanding on their most esoteric and thought-provoking themes.
“I’m Not Living in the Past Anymore” is a self-assuring mantra that intends to break the cycle of the mundane. “Escapism” is a dream-like meditation that serves a reminder of how to stay grounded and “Interloper” serves as the center-piece for this self-expanding record. It carries the ominous uncertainty of helplessly watching your environment become less and less like the place you used to know. With “Interloper” Holy Wave weaves together a contemplative psychedelic tapestry that serves as a guidebook for the diffident.
Kevin Morby has announced a new demo album titled “A Night At The Little Los Angeles“, the album is comprised of 4-track demo recordings that led to his 2020 release “Sundowner”. The tracks were recorded in the back shed of Morby’s home which he calls “Little Los Angeles.” The album is set to release October 8th.
“When I later went into a proper studio to make what would become Sundowner, my goal was to capture the essence of these initial recordings, and here you will now have access to the very essence I was chasing.” Morby said in a press release. “Many of my favourite recordings have been made inside of an artist’s home with little to no regard of the outside world, but instead deep in their own that they are building in real time,” Morby continued. “And with that – I’d like to invite you into my own little world here and now and ask you to please step inside and spend A Night At The Little Los Angeles.”
In addition to the annoucement of A Night At The Little Los Angeles, Morby has also released a single off the album titled “Campfire (4-Track Demo).”Morby will also be going on tour this fall from September 10th through November. 23rd.
“Campfire (4-Track Demo)” by Kevin Morby taken from ‘A Night At The Little Los Angeles (Sundowner 4-Track Demos)’, out October 1st on Dead OceansRecords.
A Night At The Little Los Angeles Tracklist: 1. Campfire (4-Track Demo) 2. Sundowner (4-Track Demo) 3. A Night At The Little Los Angeles (4-Track Demo) 4. Wander (4-Track Demo) 5. Velvet Highway (4-Track Demo) 6. Valley (4-Track Demo) 7. Brother, Sister (4-Track Demo) 8. Don’t Underestimate Midwest American Sun (4-Track Demo) 9. Provisions (4-Track Demo) 10. U.S. Mail (4-Track Demo)
Jesse Malin will release a new double album, “Sad and Beautiful World”, on September 24th via Wicked Cool Records. “This one is for the survivors, the dreamers, the leavers and the believers,” says Jesse. “My music has always been about rebirth and redemption. Sad and Beautiful World is for those who pick up the pieces and find beauty in the madness.”
The album is divided into two themed discs: “Root Rock” is mostly “sad eyed ballads” while “Radicals” is a little louder, but the whole thing was influenced by the last year. “The sirens, the protests, riots and the darkness outside my doorstep definitely made its way in these songs,” adds Malin. “Everything rose to a boiling point, and we found a way to get through it.
The album includes “The Way We Used To Roll” and his cover of Tom Petty’s “Crawling Back To You” and the new single is “State of the Art.”
According to Malin, the album was written and recorded in his native New York City, between 2020 and 2021 and it takes its title from the Jim Jarmusch movie, Down by Law.
Discussing the “State of the Art” video, Malin says, “The band and I reunited for the first time outside of New York City at a historic mansion in Staten Island. It was fun to go somewhere I didn’t even think existed. We went for the Kubrick, Barry Lyndon, Wes Anderson look… This is a statement about how isolated we’ve been, and getting lost in all the distractions that can be filtered into our homes while we’re overselling ourselves.”
Having already played a few shows recently since NYC opened up, Jesse Malin will be on tour this summer and fall with UK and European shows.
Jesse Malin Under Exclusive License To Wicked Cool Records Released on: 2021-07-12
John Mellencamp and Republic Records release the live album to accompany the The Good Samaritan Tour 2000 documentary. The documentary, which is narrated by Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey, chronicles Mellencamp’s historic tour in 2000 when he performed for free in public parks and common spaces across the country.
“This is not a concert. I’m just playing on the street. I’m not promoting anything. I’m not selling anything. I’m just giving back to the people who have been so good to me.”
So claims John Mellencamp on his new live album, “The Good Samaritan Tour 2000“. The remarks come after he wrapped up a decidedly down-home version of “Small Town” during one of the tour’s street corner performances. The lead-off track on this new offering (well, not so new— it was recorded more than 20 years ago), is part of a surprisingly different concert collection, one that eschews “the hits” in favour of covers (“Pink Houses” and “Key West Intermezzo” are the only other songs plucked from the Mellencamp catalogue), it’s meant as aural accompaniment for a documentary being screened on the Turner Classic Movie’s (TCM) YouTube channel. Narrated by actor MatthewMcConaughey, it details a jaunt that took Mellencamp and his band to parks and public places throughout the U.S. The performances sound somewhat extemporaneous and there’s even audible crowd noise intruding on several of the songs. That only adds to the sense of spontaneity and makes the experience that much more vivid and visceral.
It’s that setlist that makes for the most unusual element in this soundtrack of sorts. Mellencamp culls a wide variety of songs and sources—Woody Guthrie (“Oklahoma Hills”), the Rolling Stones (“The Spider and the Fly,” “Street Fighting Man”), Jimi Hendrix by way of Bob Dylan (“All Along the Watchtower”), Donovan and the Animals (“Hey Gyp”), and Rod Stewart (“Cut Across Shorty)—and yet still manages to hit the mark with his astute interpretations. What inspired him to take this unusual tack is anyone’s guess, but given the unorthodox approach to this outing in general, it seems to fit the format. So too, Mellencamp’s take on “Street Fighting Man” and “Cut Across Shorty” in particular are well attuned to his everyman persona.
The former Smiths Guitarist Johnny Marr has unveiled ‘Spirit, Power And Soul’, the first single from his upcoming new double album project. Marr described the song in a press release as “a kind of mission statement” and “an electro soul anthem.”
Marr will release a new four-track EP, ‘Fever Dreams Pt 1’, from his double-album on October 15th via BMG Records.
Meanwhile, the release date fo the full double album, ‘Fever Dreams Pts 1-4’, is to be announced. The record will be Marr’s first since 2018’s “Call The Comet”. Speaking about the new single, Marr said: “’Spirit, Power And Soul’ is a kind of mission statement. I had an idea about an electro sound with gospel feeling, in my own words… an electro soul anthem.”
In July Marr announced that he would play a run of ultra intimate shows across various venues in the U.K. this September. Whether you noticed or not, Johnny Marr has been cranking out a killer string of solo singles over the past several years, dating back to 2014’s indie dance floor crusher “Easy Money.” He found a watermark with his excellent 2018 album “Call The Comet“, and dabbled in electronics on the following year’s “Armatopia” before unleashing “The Bright Parade”.
To warm up for a huge outdoor show with the Courteeners at Manchester’s Old Trafford Ground on September 25th, the musician will perform three tiny shows in Leeds, Blackburn and London. Tickets on sale now.
It’ll be good to hear this new track as part of Marr’s growing live arsenal, and it should sound absolutely massive in those big rooms.
The 50,000 capacity Manchester show in support of Courteeners sold out in 90 minutes. Blossoms and Liverpool band Zuzu are also on the bill. Johnny Marr has also been announced as support for the US leg of The Killers 2022 arena tour dates, which begins in August.
The new EP, ‘Fever Dreams Pt 1’ out on 15th October:
When Gulfer guitarist and vocalist Vincent Ford sets out to write a song, the words often come before the music–and even then, the overarching meaning isn’t always clear until the song is complete. “Neighbours”–a frenzied and raucous one-off rife with technical flourishes–is no different. Ford says that the song was written specifically about processing his experiences with a loved one diagnosed with schizophrenia, but that he only realized when the song was done. Between its noodly, punchy transitions–a signature staple of the band’s songwriting–Ford explores what it must have been like to live with schizophrenia and not know it.
Musically, “Neighbours” speaks to this mentally debilitating experience with tact and deliberation: frantic, stop-on-a-dime passages set a punkish, animated backdrop for Ford’s ruminations, giving him an appropriate setting to unpack his and his loved one’s experiences.
the Band: Joseph Therriault – guitar Vincent Ford – guitar and vocals David Mitchell – bass Julien Daoust – drums
“Goats Head Soup” emerged from a period of deep uncertainty for the Rolling Stones. After their successful tour for Exile on Main Street, they’d splintered across the world; a few months later, in late 1972, they reconvened in Kingston, Jamaica, to cut a set of dark grooves that sounded like nothing they’d ever released. There were drony experiments (“Can You Hear the Music?”), strung-out ballads (“Coming Down Again”), and snarling rockers (“Dancing With Mr. D”).
Critics didn’t enjoy the change of direction. Atlantic Records disapproved of their choice for a lead single, wanting another ‘Brown Sugar’ instead of a ballad. It was the first in a series of misunderstandings that makes rediscovering GHS such a joy; ‘Angie’ sounds better than it ever has before in the 2020 remaster, as does everything else.
Did you know there were actually 3 different album designs proposed for Goats Head Soup – a (stuffed) goat’s head in soup (deemed too uncomfortable for some but used as an insert), the band depicted as centaurs: half-man, half-horse (mock up below – ended up being rejected) and finally the one you see today – the band enveloped in chiffon veils of various colours shot by David Bailey. Pink for Mick Jagger, black for Keith Richards, white for Charlie Watts, green for Bill Wyman and red for Mick Taylor.
The Rolling Stones have created a video for “All the Rage,” the third and final previously unavailable song from the newly released Goats Head Soup reissue.
Recorded in late 1972 during sessions in Kingston, Jamaica, “All the Rage,” embedded below, has shown up on bootlegs as “You Should Have Seen Her Ass.” But as Mick Jagger told UDiscoverMusic, he decided to pen some new words to get it ready for its first official airing.
“That’s like a very Rolling Stones rock track,” he said. “That wasn’t finished, it didn’t have a finished vocal or many lyrics, [so] I had to finish that one. But the guitar parts, I think, were all done. Might have added percussion, but that’s what you would have done anyway – [added] a bit more maracas and stuff afterwards.”
“[I]t’s in that mold,” Keith Richards added when informed of its similarity to “Brown Sugar.” “Certain songs seem to be either closely related, or cousins of one another. I’d forgotten about it until I heard it again, but yeah, it does come off to me, now you mention it, [as being] in the ‘Brown Sugar’ mold.”
The other two unearthed tracks on the Goats Head Soup reissue are “Criss Cross” and the Jimmy Page-fuelled “Scarlet.” Earlier in the week, Jagger revealed that, when the idea of including them was posed to him, he thought, “’They’re all terrible!’ That’s always my initial reaction, ‘They’re all useless!’ I mean, actually, I always liked the songs, but they weren’t finished.”
By the time he heard them cleaned up, however, the singer realized that “these three songs are all up there with the rest of the songs on this record.”
For the penultimate stop on the Rolling Stones’ 1973 European tour, they staged a pair of loose, swaggering sets in Brussels. They’d already played around 40 dates — but as showcased on Brussels Affair, a rare live album bundled in the new deluxe edition of Goats Head Soup, their energy was still at a peak.
“Toward the end of [listening to] it, I wondered what the rest of the band were on because things were really starting to rock at a ferocious pace,” guitarist Keith Richards recalled in a 2011 interview. “What’s interesting about these bootlegs is the band don’t know they’re being recorded, so they don’t give a shit, and they’re playing what they’re playing and you get a natural feel, you know?”
The LP documents the band at its scrappiest: Richards sounds like he’s on the verge of blowing out his voice during Exile on Main St.’s “Happy,” and frontman Mick Jagger is seemingly gasping for air on a brassy version of “Brown Sugar.” Throughout, including then-recently issued songs like “Angie” and “Dancing With Mr. D,”the Stones push forward with the relentless of a teenage garage band.
“We were hitting some very fast tempos,” Richards noted in the 2011 interview. “Mick was doing an incredible job. It didn’t faze him.”
It’s far from the Rolling Stones at their smoothest or most pristine, but the backing band — including keyboardist BillyPreston and a full horn section — offers a cinematic wrinkle to tracks like “Star Star” and “Street Fighting Man.”
With the “Goats Head Soup” reissue, the show is finally available in a (somewhat) more accessible physical format. The album was first released digitally in 2011 through Google Play Music and the Rolling Stones Archive website, followed in 2012 by limited-edition vinyl box sets (which cost at least $750) and a 2015 Japanese CD.
“Brussels Affair” is included on Goats Head Soup’s four-disc CD and vinyl box sets, along with rarities and alternate mixes. And if you trust Richards, the live set is essential listening. “I was impressed very much with the Brussels [show],” he said in 2011. “I’ve rarely heard the Stones that early on playing live and that well recorded.”
Goats Head Soup 2020 released Friday September 4th.
The Fat Angel Sings 