There is a Rough version of ""Silver Train "" !! Much better ! I can''t stand "" Angie "" on this Album since 50 years !!! Could be a Single - B side - with Silver Train !
I bought the album in 1973. I was 15. It remains my favourite Stones album. I bought everything from Aftermath to Some Girls. It is the only record I still play regularly. Mick Taylor plays beautifully. Winter is a brilliant song. When the album was released Mick Jagger said in interviews that it was better than Exile, and I agree. The critics didn't like it, and I think Mick gave up trying to make great records. He stuck to the formula, Those clowns at Rolling Stone gave the album one star, in their 1970s Album Guide. My friends and I never took those idiots seriously.
Goat Head Soup was my first deep dive into The Stones music. At 15 years of age it was the first Stones album I ever purchased. I consider it a great Stones album. It was the follow up to Exile On Mainstreet. This is how I compare Exile to Goat Head Soup. Exile On Mainstreet is The Stones wild Saturday Night sex, drugs and Rock and Roll album. In a good way Goat Head Soup is their Sunday morning reflective hangover album. Love both albums.
A friend of mine at college in 1976 told me he had a roommate from September till December 1973 that played this album over and over and over again for about 350 times. It was the only album he played when he was in his dorm room.
I bought my fourth copy of this album last week. Needed one for the car. 2020 mix, of course! Daughter, 4, can't stop singing the closing track. I'm a proud father.
I really enjoyed your take on Goats Head Soup. I am 65 now and a die-hard Rolling Stones enthusiast going back to my early teens. They are my number one favorite musical artist. I was 15 when Goats Head Soup came out. I loved it back then, through and through, and still do today. The laid-back overall sound is so distinct, nudged between Exile and It's Only Rock and Roll. I rank Angie as one of their great ballads. Mick's vocals here are outstanding, among the best he's done in my opinion. Hide your Love is really unique in the Stones blues catalog. The driving piano and the 2 Mick Taylor solos, as well as the great vocals provided by Mick, make it a staple of my blues playlist. All in all, to me, this is a top-rated Stones album, worthy of being in the great run of albums produced by Jimmy Miller. It demonstrates how the Stones were an evolving band. They were all around 30 when this came out, considered old in those days to be doing rock and roll. Yet, it's clear with this album that there is a new maturity to their music. Add to that all the extraneous circumstances going on in their lives at the time as you so well explained, this album fits perfectly with the headspace the band was in in 1973. I commend you for your research, Abigail. You are really on top when it comes to presenting context, which is crucially important when discussing the important works of a band. While I rate Goats head Soup higher than you do, I appreciate your honest and detailed review. Thank you for your video.
Winter is an absolute gem. And I love this record so much. Exile is the holy grail. But love your review and respect for this Stones under radar classic.
Hi Abigail! Glad you discussed this album. It's underrated in my humble opinion. I love "Silver Train" ( great B-Side to "Angie"), and "Hide Your Love". "Winter" is also one of those songs that mentions Christmas, but it's not a Christmas song!
This in recent years has risen to the top as one of my favorite stones 70s albums and with songs such as dancing with Mr d, 100 years ago, doo doo doo( heartbreaker) and can you hear the music really make me appreciate this album for what it is a funky and fun rock album
@@abigaildevoe Wasn't too familiar with Tom Dowd until I just looked him up. Jesus Christ, that's what you call a resume! If he only ever produced Layla, The Allman Brothers at Fillmore East and Dusty in Memphis, he'd be an all-time great. Not as hot as Glyn Johns though ;o)
It's fascinating to me how much of an album's atmosphere only exists in the mind of the listener. It's recorded in Jamaica, and yet to me, it'll always remind me of grey, autumnal, haunted-feeling English countryside. My parents owned it and played it a lot, and not so much blues-rock tracks, but songs like Angie, Winter, Can You Hear The Music and 100 Years Ago are SO evocative of childhood in the bleakness of early 80s Lincolnshire. The music and lyrics sound cold and sad and adrift. Winter is great, but the fave rave for me has to be Can You Hear The Music - I could well imagine it on Satanic Majesties. I love how weirdly 1967 it is, with all that Leslie guitar, in 1967, and the finger bells and whatnot. I know what you mean about it sounding jagged, though, there's an awful lot of top-mid going on. It's not as hard to listen to as the properly grating Some Girls, though. Also, come back to it decades later, it boggles me how much my parents played it around me when I was a little chap. I GENUINELY thought that Star Star was about someone called Starbuck like in Battlestar Galactica. "She's a Starbuck, a Starbuck, a Starbuck." True story.
Speaking of true stories…. One day around 1978 my friend says to me, “I just heard a great new Stones song on the radio. It goes “Bought the store, bought the store, bought the store”. What’s funny is that once you hear that, it actually sounds like that is what Mick is singing. Also funny was that my friend already had the Goats album for years. But his girlfriend’s name was Angie and she had done such a number on his brian that he never listened to the album because he was so hung up on her.
Haunted, strung out...Sixties idealism (it didn't end in 1970) becoming a death trip...Glitter a new thing, Bowie, N.Y. Dolls making waves...Vietnam ending... sedatives ("ludes"), er, "All The Rage"...GHS was very much *of the times.* Must state for the record that to legions of Stones fans (no doubt the same ones driving record co. fears of "Angie" being too mellow) *Silver Train* (written for Johnny Winter?) and *Star F****er* were the l.p.'s glorious epiphanies, pure Stones, no chaser...payoff for appreciating numbers like "Hide Your Love" and "Can You Hear The Music". (Give us a kiss!) There's a great performance video of "Silver Train", also "Angie". Really appreciate your fresh insights re. this record Abby, like GHS being the 1st Stones album since "Majesties" of all original material. My first thought was *huh?* ...brows furrowed... then "by golly she's right!" Thanks grrrl, rock on ❤
The Rolling Stones is one of my favorite bands,during the 70's they have great albums,"Exile on Main street"from 1972 is a classic,but "Goat Head Soup"(1973) was another great album by the band,"Angie"is a favorite of mine.But,their are some others,one of the greatest bands of all time.Thank you Abby I enjoy it.
Excellent video as always. I remember when this LP came out, and the critics kind of slagged it off. I never liked Rolling Stone, but I was a reader of Crawdaddy, Creem and Zoo World, a newsprint mag that I thought of as being like RS if they actually knew about music and had a sense of humor. I don't remember any critics being too positive about GHS. At the time, I was in school in a small Texas town where the only place to hang out was the Dairy Queen. I'm not much of a Stones fan, largely because Jagger's voice annoys me. For a while, every time I went to that Dairy Queen, "Angie" would be played on the jukebox multiple times. It was like the British water torture. It became one of the few songs that makes me lunge for the volume knob whenever it comes on the radio. Ironically, when the next album came out ("It's Only Rock 'n' Roll"), I loved the title track enough that I bought the 45 and played it to death. Maybe it's just Jagger singing ballads that makes me want to kill myself.
Great review again. The 30 minutes seems like 5. Agree about 'Winter' absolutely love it. Its totally transcendent...would just pip 'Moonlight Mile' IMV.
Great choise! goat head soup 50th anniversary this week , for most this is remembered for "angie " there are other great songs. My favorite are " Dancing with mr D" and "Doo doo doo doo heartbreaker
Angie was one of Bob Dylan’s three choices of Stones songs he wishes he had written. Given the wreck his personal life was during that time, I guess it must have really touched him in ‘73. If Exile was like a big party that went on for two days, GHS is like the coming down from all the excesses. I don’t know what the critics were on about, I think this is a classic. It may not be as good as the previous four, but this would easily be the best album of many other great bands. The solo from Winter reminds me of what Slash would do for November Rain. Criss Cross should’ve been included. It’s crazy that they didn’t go back to it for the next album. Another one is Waiting on a Friend, whose backing track got recorded in the sessions. Mick just needed to finish it off. Silver Train is the one that I’d take off for Criss Cross, which was basically finished. I really like Hide Your Love and Star Star, but I do wish they had recorded more funky stuff to have a more cohesive album. Either that or more ballads. Regardless, this is a great classic. Another tidbit of info is that Tom Verlaine of Television loved the sound of this album, which is why Andy Johns produced Marquee Moon.
That reminds me -- I gotta frame that goat's head insert in one of those album cover picture frames. I'll put it on the wall behind my front door to scare the religious proselytizers who come calling (right now I'm using the 200 Motels movie poster). I'm glad it's not the actual album cover -- it's 50 and still in great shape.
Winter is a favorite of mine as well. I remember learning Mick Taylor's solo note-for-note because I liked it so much. Very atmospheric track. This whole album is pretty underrated, got maligned by critics (but what the F do they know?), but it's in my top 5 Stones LP's.
I never owned a copy of the original album of GOAT'S HEAD SOUP because I never paid much attention to it however,three years ago,I purchased the reissue of the record.very interesting album I love dancing with mr.D,winter,an underrated track,silver train and star star,a shuffle rocker of a tune.I liked scarlet,a calibration with JIMMY PAGE.there's criss-cross plus alternate version of hide your love that's worth checking out.I'm glad you'd like GOAT'S HEAD SOUP and so did I.
I saw the Bluesbreakers with Mick Taylor in 1969 at the Pasadena Rose Palace, one dollar to get in. Deep Purple opened the concert. Albert King, one of Mick's favorite blues players, followed. He stood like a mountain in the spotlight, wrenching every molecule of essence from single notes. Then John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers came on. They did a song from the Beano album by Mose Allison called Parchman Farm, an excellent boogie. Mick T. took a long solo (no solo on the album by Eric) on the song and he blew the proverbial roof offa da sucka. 1969, the year he moved to the Stones. Buck a star, right.
I saw Jethro Tull in 1970. Went to the ticket booth 'n was asked if I wanted the $2.50 or $3.50 seat. As I'd just spent $2.00 for a tab in the parkin' lot I opted for the $2.50 seat. Turned out not many people were there so everyone crowded in near the stage. What an amazin' concert at a bargain price! I have 2 unused tickets to The Beatles final concert in S.F...$4.50 each.@@dennismason3740
Just found your page through this post. As a die hard stones fan who knows their history very well, you did an incredible over view. I look forward to other posts. With respect to Jimmy page, you forgot to mention his relationship with Brian Jones. Brian did a movie soundtrack in 67 and Jimmy was one of the session musicians Brian hired to play on various tracks. Jimmy speaks warmly of those sessions in an interview online I also dig the “I’m a Stickey Fingers kind of girl” BTW. I beg to differ that Majesties wa style band tanking.
i’m the 14th, how’d that mars retrograde earlier this year treat you?? i felt like i wanted to fling myself off a high place every day for like 5 months haha
@@abigaildevoe the worst! Just weeks of wasted money trying to kick start anything! I got an airbrush, paints, sewing tools, tried learning Arduino code writing. I’d sit in front of the sewing machine spooling up bobbins, preparing for any needed color. Then I’d box em up and return to RU-vid binging.
Before the release, I first heard these songs in Brussels at two shows. The second show was a bit more ‘intense’. (72??) The Brussels shows were for fans who were in countries who weren’t stones ‘friendly’ Just walking on the street and a scalper asked if we wanted tickets to the concert first or second show We opted for both Small venue. There’s a great bootleg called a Brussels Affair A great live bootleg Get it if you like the Stones
No one asked me - but since Abby (14:00) brought up her favorite Stones stuff thought I'd chime in w/mine. Hands down, it's the early Andrew Oldham period of blues covers + all the good stuff from '65. Favorite cut of all time: I Wanna Be Your Man. #2 - Now I Got a Witness (the instro). That being said, I feel like the Stones were 3 distinct bands - Blues era/ transitional / fully realized. For the latter stuff, I'm typical and vote Sticky Fingers, then Exile. Thanks for letting me vent
Abigail, your review of this album was really through and detailed. It reminded me of the great reviewers of my youth like Robert Christgau or Lester Bangs. Thanks!
Abigail, as teen growing up when most of the records your reviewing were popular, I just think it's so cool to hear your take on them and frankly I learn new things in all of your episodes. BUT the freaking end all to end all's was your GETTING "WINTER" off of GHS. To me it's one of the most beautiful, emotional songs ever written or sung. I had to write you this as a response to your video. Keep it goin you are terrific.
omg im so excited for the season finale, when i saw it I gasped. it happens to be one of my favourite... albums? can it even be called that? whatever it is, its wonderful (pun intended) :)
I love it how you pay attention to the details, Abby, so inspiring. I have to listen to "Goat's Head Soup" now. And I can't wait for the "Smile" Monday!
Wow! A favourite of mine given the deluxe treatment. As a mid teen in the late '70s I bypassed most '70s stuff by diving into the '60s. Around that time, I also heard a radio documentary about The Stones which covered Soup but was dismissive of it. Youthful contrarianism burned a hole in my pocket money and I made sure it was under the Christmas tree that year. Some tracks took a while but if I listen now I don't skip at all. Side one sounded like the movies, the ones set in NYC with lots of night shooting or things like The Last Detail. Side two opened up and breathed (and, yes, Winter was an early standout). Can You Hear the Music would have been the best closer but at the time (hey, I was a fifteen year old boy) I never missed a play of Star Star. It was only four years old when I got it but that felt like a decade. Also, a good case for finding out for yourself what classics you like rather than listen to siblings or critics. Two other records with my name on them under the tree that year were Aladdin Sane and Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols. Great vid. Thanks!
I remember in 73 when this came out..every critic under the sun panned this album. It was the end of the Stones. Even Lester Bangs said so. Meanwhile, Angie and Heartbreaker goes into heavy rotation on the radio. The same for Black and Blue. I was a teenager then but I sussed out that you had to take a critics opinion with a large grain of salt. Time has been kind to this lp..rightfully so.
Thank you for singling out Winter ! It has long been a favorite Stones tune of mine since it was released . There is sooo much atmosphere to this song . I see snow covered hills cabins in the wood timeless scenes of winter struggles .. feeding the fire chopping wood . All while alone thinking of his love his regret . And special thanks for pointing out the unbelievable Mick Taylor solo . I was a huge MT fan from his John Mayall days and was surprised when he joined the stones. I loved his work with The Stones and felt he raised them up several levels . My fave Stoned songs from this era usually feature MT solos .
The sequencing is odd. It should have opened with Heartbreaker (a great riff and statement of intent) and closed with 100 Years Ago. "Don't you think it's sometimes wise not to grow up" would have been a great way to finish off the album. Also, the great songs on side one should be spread out over both sides with the lesser, groove-centered songs as sort of interludes. The whole thing is still cool though...
I personally enjoy this LP as I was 13 when it was released and bought upon its release. This LP was recorded and released during the Stones peak live high energy performances from 1972 and 1973. No matter what your position is on this LP, the Stones were at their live performance apex at this time with Mick Taylor. Find the bootlegs from this period and enjoy them, they're all on RU-vid. These shows are phenomenal, any of them...all of them. You can't go by the drug episodes because everyone was on the same drug episodes during this time period. And I do not rank albums because any studio release is only a snapshot of what the band is thinking and not the full picture. The live shows and drug usage during this period prove this. The Stones were at the top of their musical game, live. And I'm pretty sure Star Star was a contractual last song to finish the current recording contract and annoy record execs.
Hello Abigail happy belated Monday it's Tuesday another classic stones album I'll watch your podcast when I'm done drinking some 🍷 have a wonderful hump day ❤❤👍👍💋
Never knew it was was an under-rated/overlooked album... always been one of my favourites of theirs. I do agree that side 2 is a bit uneven, but overall, I've always loved it. Love "Winter"!
Classic Album Rewind: "It holds up really well on its own as a classic album in its own right ... This is a gem of deep tracks and really good ones at that ... Looking back on the career of this band I think it's definitely one of their top releases ... A top five album for me." - Sea of Tranquility
I came to know the album better some years post-'Angie' 's run on radio. Maybe less. Somehow, 'Coming Down Again' felt like it had escaped me previously, Keith's junkie lament, the gorgeous wah-wah/Leslie guitar track, a lovely filigree laid on something already pretty courtesy of the piano and sweet, soulful, aching vibe despite the gritty underpinnings at the emotional center of its subject matter. Eventually added it to my solo repertoire and meant it, man, every time I played it. Never been an opiate or intravenous user, but one gets what one gets, y'know? Yeah. Cheers, ciao for now, bella ❤ 'Winter' was also a magical, mystifying find on this album for me. 😉🤙🏼🎶🪄✨️🕊
Goats head soup isn't my favorite stones record but I still enjoyed it I enjoyed Angie heart breaker winter and dancing with mr d are good tracks great video Abby ❤❤❤ keep it up
This imo is a far better album than exile , I’ll put my tin hat on now and wait for the backlash 😂.Winter is such an excellent song, one of my top five Stones tracks.
My two favorite Stones albums are the ones the critics hate the most -- Satanic Majesties and Goats Head Soup. Go figure. (Although any of the outtakes from the album would have been a better choice than Starf***er.) Incidentally every time I buy Gravy Bones for my dogs at the grocery store, I find myself singing "Calll meee Gravy Bones."
We’re pretty much in sync on this one. My ideal GHS is truncated. I routinely skip “Angie,” “Silver Train,” Hide Your Love” and “Star Star.” I find the remaining songs very moving.
I always liked “GHS” Not quite up to the run of albums that came before but very good, nonetheless. “Dancing”, “Winter” and “Heartbreaker” were the favorites. I must admit that this was the last RS album I bought for a long time. Just moved on to other things, I guess. And, as for next weeks album…😊
Please stop me if you've heard this before, but you would have been perfect for "Almost Famous." When GHS came out, I cannot remember reading a good review. Stone, Creem (I loved Creem) and maybe even Circus were lukewarm to nasty. But, after Exile it was pretty soft. I mean Exile was like sandpaper, gutbucket Rn'R. I had to let "the goat" grow on me. Wasn't long till I realized, hey this is a pretty darn good album. Mick Taylor and Nicky Hopkins were the Stones secret weapons. Well, Abby, we'll see you on Wed. Should be a lotta fun!
Once again, I am impressed with your in-depth analysis (and your taste). Besides Angie and Heartbreaker, this is one I never gave much of a chance to. I too place Sticky Fingers above all other Stones albums. I actually would love to hear your thoughts on many 1971 releases. For now, I'll have to "borrow" my mom's copy of Goat's Head Soup and give it a deeper dive.
I bought GHS when my Stones addiction started in early 1981, together with Sticky Fingers and EOMS. But I overlooked it for a long time. And one day I started to listen closely and it grew and grew in my ears over the years. Nowadays it‘s in my Stones fave Top5 just behind the Big 4 EOMS, SF, BB and LiB. The only fail to me remains „can you hear the music“. I am sure Brian Jones would love it but to me it‘s a no direction song between hippie and world music. „Winter“ is THE masterpiece on GHS responsible for permanent goose bumps. The Chuck Berryish rocker Star Fucker is a perfect end for that masterpiece of an album.
I agree! I'll take "Satanic Majesties Request" over "Goats Head Soup" Everytime too 🤟🏼👹👺🔥💯 but my favorite Rolling Stones album from beginning to end would be "Tattoo You!" 😁💖🎶
09-03-23: Splendid! Now, rephrase it as "Sun in Gemini, Venus in Leo, and Mercury and Venus are simultaneously retrograde..." and you're good to go, or not able to get out of your own way, or...
I remember my first time hearing Angie on my little AM radio. I was just a keed. Hit impressed me. Must've been fall. I remember seeing the cover of Goat's Head Soup in the record store. I think I thought it was pretty. I had no idea it was Mick Jagger. I never picked this one up. I've been considering it for, oh, fifty years now. Still am, but because I haven't, I haven't even heard the whole thing in its entirety. I like your Stones choices, BTW. Mine might be Black And Blue, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile, and Their Satanic Majesties Request, not necessarily in that order, and with the last ranking very high.
Hi Abby, in answer to your question, I rate Goats Head Soup pretty highly. It is easier to take in than Exile, and feels more balanced somehow, than Sticky Fingers. For me it's the last in an era for The Stones, (unless we put Tattoo You in some place, it's perhaps better added in with GHS). I REALLY didn't like Black And Blue, that was a letdown imo. I do like 'Angie' more than your assessment, probably because it also has that place in time for me. Another good episode and great review, cheers. Oh - a PS.... I saw them in 74 in London and bumped into Nils Lofgren as we were both trying to get closer to the stage than our seats! I'd seen him play 2 weeks before the Stones show. He's crazy about Keith Richards' playing, even wrote a song about it.
Goats Head Soup suffers, in large part, because it came after the epic Exile on Main Street. But, if you accept that the Stones Beggars-through-Exile golden era is over, GHS is actually an enjoyable listen. Among my faves: the opener Dancing With Mr. D; 100 Years Ago; Star Star and especially Winter. But it has to be said.....GHS is the start of a slump the Stones were in until 1978's Some Girls. Great video!
The Greatest Rock and Roll Band there will ever be. GHS is held to be a "lesser" album because of the run before. Those "Big 4" albums have been used as a stick to beat them with ever since.
Abigail, another excellent show! you are super! that was an interesting list of underrated rock guitarists. when you said roy buchanan i thought you were going to say rory gallagher, another good one. actually i think Keef himself is under appreciated as a player. ok, bye for now!
Good overview and background. I love most of side one, but tend to pass side two. I was hoping you'd hand me a reason to look deeper, but sometimes confirmation helps. The whispering track on Angie tends to creep me out, like someone's watching over my shoulder. Winter is up there with Heaven, from Tattoo You. The Stones are great at creating mood and mental imagery. My favorites on this album are (Heartbreaker) , Winter, and Dancin' With Mr. D. My favorite Stones song overall would depend on the moment, but I'm sure the live Midnight Rambler, and Can't You Hear Me Knocking' would be chosen the most.
