It didn’t have as wild a story behind the making of it as Exile on Main St. And because it was surrounded by a stretch of undeniable classics, it maybe gets lumped into that larger group. But that doesn’t take away from our belief that Sticky Fingers stands as The Rolling Stones‘ finest album.
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Released in 1971, the album finds the band fully incorporating the talents of guitarist Mick Taylor, who was only a partial presence on Let It Bleed two years earlier. The Stones were at a peak, and it’s hard to pick the five best songs on an album where every track is an absolute killer. Let’s give it a try anyway.
5. “Bitch”
The Stones surrounded themselves with a core of outstanding session players who could rally at a moment’s notice to give their songs something extra. In the case of “Bitch,” saxophonist Bobby Keys and trumpeter Jim Price manage to add to the turbo-charged atmosphere. Keith Richards stepped up when he heard earlier, slower versions of the song, deciding that the tempo needed to be revved up. That makes “Bitch” an excellent choice to start off Side Two of the record with a fierce blast of energy. Angst about the opposite sex never sounded so invigorating.
4. “Wild Horses”
The Glimmer Twins (Mick Jagger and Keith Richards) were battling through all kinds of relationship drama circa the making of Sticky Fingers. It only makes sense that some of that would spill out into the songwriting. Perhaps the most notable example of Richards’ open-tuned acoustic guitar style, “Wild Horses” also builds off the influence that Gram Parsons was clearly exerting on the band around that time. Jagger gives a performance that’s both somehow both honest and showy all at once, and it’s just what’s needed to put the heartbroken melody across.
3. “Dead Flowers”
The Stones, like many other British bands, tended to approach country music with a sly sense of humor, as if they couldn’t quite accept the genre at face value. That could lead to songs that seemed a bit snotty about the whole thing (a la “Far Away Eyes” from Some Girls.) But when they nailed the balance, as on this track, their take on country could be exhilarating and irreverent. Mick Taylor’s precise guitar work would do any country picker proud, while Jagger’s decadently wasted narrator is refreshing as a kind of antihero that you don’t often experience in a tear-in-your-beer track.
2. “I Got the Blues”
One of the reasons that Sticky Fingers ranks as the Stones’ best LP is the versatility on display. From track to track, they try out practically every genre of roots music in the book, and they knock every single one of them out of the park as if each were their only area of concentration. In the case of “I Got the Blues,” they turn their attention to classic soul music, with Otis Redding’s ballads the obvious signpost. The tempo is so tantalizingly slow that at any moment you half-expect the song to just crumble from lack of momentum. That pace also creates a kind of wonderful anticipation for every luscious note played and sung.
1. “Moonlight Mile”
There have been a lot of anthems about life on the road in a rock and roll band, with most of them taking a literal approach. (The Stones have gone that route themselves on occasion, including with the brilliant “Memory Motel.”) “Moonlight Mile” tackles the topic on a kind of existential level, and as such, makes it more relatable to anyone going through some sort of personal malaise, regardless of whether they’ve stood in front of 20,000 people guitar in hand. The hypnotic music peaks with the beautiful interplay between Taylor’s guitar and Charlie Watts’ drums, while Paul Buckmaster brings the pathos with his string arrangement. Probably the most beautiful song ever recorded by the band, as well as the most underrated.
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