Today we lost the legendary drummer for the Rolling Stones, Charlie Watts. In addition to working with the band for almost 60 (!) years, he also played on many side projects, as Watts originally had started out as a jazz drummer before taking up with some scraggly blues fanatics and working in one of the longest working rock bands in history.
I will be the first to admit that I'm not a huge fan of the Stones, but there are certain eras and tunes from their catalog that I'm quite fond of. For instance, during the earliest days of CDs, the Hot Rocks set was released on two separate CDs and I found that I really warmed to that first disc, which was primarily an anthology of their earliest albums. I realize that the later albums like Let It Bleed, Beggar's Banquet, Exile on Main Street, etc. are highly regarded but outside of a track or two, I don't really find as much to enjoy on those as I do on their other albums. If anything, I'm more a fan of the anthologies than I am of the individual albums.
With that in mind, I wanted to highlight a handful of the Stones' recordings over the years, favorites of mine that all feed on the rock-steady groove supplied by the great Charlie Watts. While many today are mourning the loss of Mr. Watts, let's turn the tables and celebrate some of our favorite tunes he played on. (And please excuse me for not listing "Brown Sugar" and "Start Me Up" here--radio has overplayed both to death and ruined them for me.)
Here, in no particular order, is a selection of Stones songs I enjoy. In the comments, feel free to add your own favorites!
I will be the first to admit that I'm not a huge fan of the Stones, but there are certain eras and tunes from their catalog that I'm quite fond of. For instance, during the earliest days of CDs, the Hot Rocks set was released on two separate CDs and I found that I really warmed to that first disc, which was primarily an anthology of their earliest albums. I realize that the later albums like Let It Bleed, Beggar's Banquet, Exile on Main Street, etc. are highly regarded but outside of a track or two, I don't really find as much to enjoy on those as I do on their other albums. If anything, I'm more a fan of the anthologies than I am of the individual albums.
With that in mind, I wanted to highlight a handful of the Stones' recordings over the years, favorites of mine that all feed on the rock-steady groove supplied by the great Charlie Watts. While many today are mourning the loss of Mr. Watts, let's turn the tables and celebrate some of our favorite tunes he played on. (And please excuse me for not listing "Brown Sugar" and "Start Me Up" here--radio has overplayed both to death and ruined them for me.)
Here, in no particular order, is a selection of Stones songs I enjoy. In the comments, feel free to add your own favorites!
- "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" is the quintessential early Stones song. To that, I'll add "Paint It, Black," "Under My Thumb" and "The Last Time" as other early favorites. The tunes all have a spare and very "British" sound to them, very much of their era.
- "Sympathy for the Devil" -- Plenty of good memories associated with this one. Without fail, it always seemed to play on the radio just as my buddies and I would hop into the car for some sort of high school misadventure or another. "Jumpin' Jack Flash" is the companion tune that went along with the soundtrack of our misspent youth. Both hail from Beggar's Banquet.
- "Miss You" -- Yeah, OK, they were jumping on the bandwagon here, but that doesn't stop me from liking it, and it also didn't stop DJs from spinning it on the rock stations locally. Watts once again shows his flexibility in adapting to a four-on-the-floor beat. Some Girls, the album it hails from, also gave us "Beast of Burden" and "Shattered," two more favorites.
- "Hang Fire," "Neighbours" and "Waiting on a Friend" are my personal highlights from the Tattoo You album. Many claim that it is the last great Stones album and, given what followed, I tend to agree with that.
- "Undercover of the Night" is sort of an outlier as it was from Undercover, the 1983 follow-up album to Tattoo You. Its rhythmic complexity is what drew me into this one.
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