Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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119 of 129 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Most Underrated Stones Album, September 24, 2002
Goat's Head Soup was originally released Aug 31, 1973 and went to #1 in both the US and the UK. I have found it quite rewarding that over the years this one has gained respect and continues to appear in many rankings of greatest rock albums. Personally, I've always like this one a lot. It's got the usual megahits; Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker), Angie, and Star#$!@% (a hit as a single in Europe and Japan), an incredible jam in Can You Hear The Music, great intro in 100 Years Ago, part 2 of the voodoo chronicles in Dancing With Mr. D., solid rocker Silver Train, and oh yeah, Winter and Hide Your Love too. Most people know the music, so in my reviews I try to give you data on the sessions and interesting facts connected with the songs and the album. Here we go:There were 23 songs recorded during the Goat's Head Soup sessions between Nov 25-30 and Dec 6-21, 1972 at Dynamic Sound Studios in Kingston, Jamaica. Only 8 of them made it onto Goat's Head Soup. Keith had made strong connections with the Jamaican reggae musicians and had recently bought a house in Jamaica, so he was the driving force behind the sessions. The band included Mick Taylor, Nicky Hopkins (piano), Billy Preston (organ), Bobby Keys (sax), Chuck Finley (trumpet), Jim Horn (horn), and of course Ian Stewart on piano. Sonny Rollins played sax on Waiting On A Friend. Final mixes were done at Island Recording in London May 28 - Jun 20, 1973. Hide Your Love was recorded in separate sessions on May 23 & 26 at Olympic Studios in London. Silver Train was recorded during the mixing at Island in London. Interesting notes include:
.....The UK version of the album had one verse censored and deleted from Star#$!@% (which appears as Star Star in text on the album) while the US version had the line "I bet you keep your pussy clean" deleted. Both record distributors (US and UK) refused to allow the line "giving head to Steve McQueen" until the Stones got McQueen to sign a release (he said he appreciated the publicity). (The entire song with all the censored lyrics are on this release, or at least they are on my copy.)
.....Short And Curlies was not released until 1974 on the album It's Only Rock `n' Roll.
.....Tops and Waiting On A Friend were not released until 1981 on the album Tattoo You, after which Waiting On A Friend was also released as a single.
.....there are still 12 tracks from these sessions that have not been released (although some have been bootlegged) They are Criss Cross (Save Me), Separately, You Should Have Seen Her Ass, Four And In, Give Us A Break, First Thing, Miami, Man-Eating Woman, Brown Leaves, After Muddy & Charlie, Jamaica I, and Zabadoo.
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63 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An acquired taste, January 8, 2003
This album has one of the strangest titles of a major band's releases I've ever heard. Where does the title come from? Perhaps the notion that it's something at first you wouldn't want and wouldn't like, but that after a while, you might decide, it's great. That's how this album is for me. Back in the 70s, I gave this album a few listens and dismissed it as so vastly inferior to the great streak of Stones albums that preceded it (Beggar's Banquet-Let it Bleed-Sticky Fingers-Exile on Main Street) that it wasn't worth my time. Part of the problem is, the first song misleads listeners as to what the album is about. "Dancing with Mr. D" sounds like a parody of "Sympathy for the Devil" and to this day remains an annoying, clumsy song. But pretty much everything after that is, on repeated listenings, wonderful--soulful--reflective. "Coming Down Again" is exquisite, delicately depicting a waning high. "Winter" evokes loneliness and despair in a beautiful way. "Star Star" struts unabashedly. "Angie" has a vocal track that is surprisingly effective while totally eccentric, and a musical arrangement that's a tour de force. "Heartbreaker," "100 Years Ago" and "Silver Train" rock hard and convincingly. "Goat's Head Soup" is a subtle masterpiece that doesn't yield the kind of immediate pleasures of its classic predecessors, but it sticks with you just as long. One key to the Stones success during this period, it's quite clear now, was producer Jimmy Miller. His association with the Stones began with the awesome single Jumpin' Jack Flash/Child of the Moon. He produced everything they did through this album. He created the space for Charlie Watts to earn recognition as the greatest drummer in rock. He allowed Mick Taylor to establish himself as the virtuoso soloist who could somehow fit into this rough-hewn band. He rescued Jagger's vocals from the murk of Andrew Loog Oldham's foggy production, and allowed him to try on the range of styles we now take for granted. He brought the best out of Mick and Keith as songwriters. He introduced the use of horns to underscore their gospel and urban blues roots. Jimmy Miller was an unsung hero, and to get everything he did, you have to get this album.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Most Underrated Stones Album, July 19, 2004
Goat's Head Soup was originally released Aug 31, 1973 and went to #1 in both the US and the UK. I have found it quite rewarding that over the years this one has gained respect and continues to appear in many rankings of greatest rock albums. Personally, I've always like this one a lot. It's got the usual megahits; Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker), Angie, and Star#$!@% (a hit as a single in Europe and Japan), an incredible jam in Hide Your Love, great intro in 100 Years Ago, part 2 of the voodoo chronicles in Dancing With Mr. D., solid rocker Silver Train, and oh yeah, Winter, Coming Down Again, and Can You Hear The Music too. Most people know the music, so in my reviews I try to give you data on the sessions and interesting facts connected with the songs and the album. Here we go:There were 23 songs recorded during the Goat's Head Soup sessions between Nov 25-30 and Dec 6-21, 1972 at Dynamic Sound Studios in Kingston, Jamaica. Only 8 of them made it onto Goat's Head Soup. Keith had made strong connections with the Jamaican reggae musicians and had recently bought a house in Jamaica, so he was the driving force behind the sessions. The band included Mick Taylor, Nicky Hopkins (piano), Billy Preston (organ), Bobby Keys (sax), Chuck Finley (trumpet), Jim Horn (horn), and of course Ian Stewart on piano. Sonny Rollins played sax on Waiting On A Friend. Final mixes were done at Island Recording in London May 28 - Jun 20, 1973. Hide Your Love was recorded in separate sessions on May 23 & 26 at Olympic Studios in London. Silver Train was recorded during the mixing at Island in London. Interesting notes include:
.....The UK version of the album had one verse censored and deleted from Star#$!@% (which appears as Star Star in text on the album) while the US version had the line "I bet you keep your pussy clean" deleted. Both record distributors (US and UK) refused to allow the line "giving head to Steve McQueen" until the Stones got McQueen to sign a release (he said he appreciated the publicity). (The entire song with all the censored lyrics are on this release, or at least they are on my copy.)
.....Short And Curlies was not released until 1974 on the album It's Only Rock `n' Roll.
.....Tops and Waiting On A Friend were not released until 1981 on the album Tattoo You, after which Waiting On A Friend was also released as a single.
.....there are still 12 tracks from these sessions that have not been released (although some have been bootlegged) They are Criss Cross (Save Me), Separately, You Should Have Seen Her Ass, Four And In, Give Us A Break, First Thing, Miami, Man-Eating Woman, Brown Leaves, After Muddy & Charlie, Jamaica I, and Zabadoo. This information comes from "It's Only Rock And Roll: The Ultimate Guide To The Rolling Stones" by Karnbach and Bernson and from my own collection, with some of the notes from Davis' "Old Gods Almost Dead." Both books are available from amazon.com.
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~ The Rolling Stones
~ The Rolling Stones
~ The Rolling Stones
~ The Rolling Stones
~ The Rolling Stones
by The Rolling Stones 
