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Oceanside Pier, thirty seconds

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Midnight Rambler



The Rolling Stones played in London the other night to commence their 50 and counting tour. Joined by the great Mick Taylor. I was lucky enough to be at the Mick birthday show at the Garden in 1972 and saw the band several times afterwards, the Mick Taylor era was arguably the most musically satisfying, at least for me.

Here is a song from the show the other night. Taylor puts psychedelic blues back into the Stones mix. About time. Ron Wood stands around with his schmeckel in hand and Keith asks for the number of the freight train that just hit him. Stones haven't sounded this good since well, since Mick Taylor left the band.

I called Garn in New York and told him he would have to snag a ticket. I guess Wyman won't come, hates planes, but I heard on the radio that Taylor will supposedly play. He texted back that a single ticket is $750 $800 not to mention a $61 dollar service fee. I think not.

My favorite radio dj is ex stones producer Andrew Loog Oldham on Sirius's Garage #21 every morning. Bloody brilliant and ridiculously witty! Guy discovered the Small Faces too.

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The Rolling Stones own website has some snarky things to say about Taylor, or at least Keith does.

Mick Taylor brought The Rolling Stones something new. Where Brian Jones and Keith Richards had jammed together, playing off the harmonies and chord structures and sharing rhythm duties as they wove a fabric for Mick Jagger’s melody to bounce off, Mick followed the singer and worked the wires to make his guitar a thing of tunes, not tones.
The sound was different. Did it work? Mick Taylor plays on the albums many Stones fans consider to be the greatest of the band’s career, with the possible exception of A Bigger Bang.

On the other hand, to quote the senior guitarist in The Rolling Stones, the originator and keeper of the band’s sound:

Mick Taylor wasn’t good for the Stones. It was a sterile period for us ’cause there were things we had to force through. Maybe it’s just me. It was a period we had to go through. Also, Mick is such a LEAD guitarist, which completely destroyed the whole concept of the Stones…”

You mean having somebody there that knew how to play guitar, Keith?


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