My relationship with the Stones has always been an on again off again type of affair. At different points in my life I have loved them and hated them. Sometimes I would think these guys are just copycats that never had an origianl idea and just copied whatever was big at the time. Other times I would marvel at their ability to play so loose that they almost fell apart, but never did. I thought there was sheer genius going on their. Maybe I was right both times, but couldn't get past the surface of it. Just listen to it and decide if it's good or not. I thnk a big part of my problem was that I always considered them to be a singles band. Because they had sooo many of them. I never really listened to an albom from start to finish. This changed all of that. When I got Sticky Fingers and listen to it from beginning to end (and then the rest of the peroid albums) It became quite aparent that they weren't copy cats at all. Sure they tried to stay current and their trailblazing was really limited to their drug and sex refrences (of which there are plenty). What the Stones were, was students of music. They took it all in and played it back with their own Stonsey sound to it. That loose, herion fueled blusey swagger. There is simply no one else ever that sounds like the stones. Even when people cover the them, no one comes close to that sound. This album is the quintesential 70s Stones album. The one that sums up what they were about during this (the richest) period of their career. Exile had more depth and was darker, but this is more concise and accessable. They also pushed the envelope of what can be played on the radio. Songs like Brown Sugar which probably couldn't even get released today, much less become a hit and Sister Morphine and Bitch. They still get airplay today because they are part of our culture and history. Also people have heard them so often, they probably don't even listen to the words. Crazy stuff.
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