Sliding out of perhaps the greatest winning streak in rock history, the Stones slipped into decadence and rock star excess with Goats Head Soup, their sequel to Exile on Main St. This is where the Stones' image began to eclipse their accomplishments, as Mick ascended to jet-setting celebrity and Keith slowly sunk deeper into addiction, and it's possible hear them moving in both directions on Goats Head Soup, at times in the same song. As Jagger plays the devil (or, dances with Mr. D, as he likes to say), the sex and sleaze ...
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Sliding out of perhaps the greatest winning streak in rock history, the Stones slipped into decadence and rock star excess with Goats Head Soup, their sequel to Exile on Main St. This is where the Stones' image began to eclipse their accomplishments, as Mick ascended to jet-setting celebrity and Keith slowly sunk deeper into addiction, and it's possible hear them moving in both directions on Goats Head Soup, at times in the same song. As Jagger plays the devil (or, dances with Mr. D, as he likes to say), the sex and sleaze quotient is increased, all of it underpinned by some genuinely affecting heartbreak, highlighted by "Angie." This may not be as downright funky, freaky, and fantastic as Exile, but the extra layer of gloss brings out the enunciated lyrics, added strings, wah-wah guitars, explicit sex, and violence, making it all seem trippily decadent. If it doesn't seem like there's a surplus of classics here, all the songs work well, illustrating just how far they'd traveled in their songcraft, as well as their exceptional talent as a band; they make this all sound really easy and darkly alluring, even when the sex 'n' Satanism seems a little silly. To top it all of, they cap this utterly excessive album with "Star Star," a nasty Chuck Berry rip that grooves on its own mean vulgarity -- its real title is "Starf*cker," if you need any clarification, and even though they got nastier (the entirety of Undercover, for instance), they never again made something this dirty or nasty. And, it never feels more at home than it does at the end of this excessive record. [The 2020 Deluxe Edition of Goats Head Soup arrived in a variety of editions, most anchored by a disc of "Rarities and Alternative Mixes." The main attraction on this ten-track bonus disc are three unheard songs, rockers one and all. "Scarlet" is a grimy workout featuring some guest guitar from Jimmy Page; "All the Rage" is a bit more straight forward, shimmying between a boogie and a minor-key riff that pointed the way toward "Hand of Fate"; "Criss Cross" finds Keith Richards weaving one of his open-G riffs through funky rhythms. All three hit harder than a lot of the murky numbers on the proper album and would've livened up Goats Head Soup, so they're nice discoveries here. The rest of the rarities aren't as distinctive, but it's interesting to hear an austere piano demo of "100 Years Ago," and the instrumental of "Heartbreaker" is slow, nearly dreamy, until the horns kick in and the three original Glyn Johns mixes from 1973 strip away some of the haze from the finished album, but not all. The biggest Deluxe Editions -- a four-LP set or a three-CD/One-Blu-Ray affair (the latter has high-res stereo and 5.1 mixes of the album) -- also contain The Brussels Affair, which very well might be the best live album the Stones ever recorded.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi
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