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The Rolling Stones' 1973 heroin-period classic.

It opens with the sinister minor-key blues riffage of Dancing With Mr. D. Like Sister Morphine before it, this is a scary comedown song. "Down in the graveyard where we have our tryst" is the first line Mick Jagger sings. The devil is not such a sympathetic figure now. He's the pusher man. He'll dance with you for a bit, then he'll get tired of you and kill you dead. "Will it be poison put in my glass? Will it be slow or will it be fast?"

A few tracks later is the mellow comedown song, titled appropriately Coming Down Again. An unusual Stones song, in that Keith Richards sings it. Mostly you get spaced-out piano and Keith singing "Coming down again" many, many times. Somehow, it works.

This is followed by Heartbreaker, an excursion into white funk, and one of the album's two "hits". One thing I might mention is the extreme lazyness of Mick Jagger's lyrics all throughout. It becomes glaringly evident in this song, where the first verse is a description of a New York City police shooting, which is more than appropriate for the Rudy Giuliani era....

The police in New York City
They chased a boy right through the park
And in a case of mistaken identity
They put a bullet through his heart

Instead of following through with this excellent beginning, Mick's second verse is a completely unrelated account of a "ten year old girl on a street corner, sticking needles in her arm". Yes, the Stones suck at social commentary. But hey, they put alot of soul into the doo doo doo doo doo's in the chorus....

Don't worry. The Stones will recover from this song, and magnificently. Angie. A beautiful, tear-jerker of a ballad that opens with Spanish-sounding guitar from Keith, that gets gradually drowned in piano and strings. "With no loving in our souls and no money in our coats, you can't say we're satisfied"....brilliantly pathetic ballad of lost love. Worth the price of the entire record, easily.

Then a couple of blues numbers, the energetic Silver Train (supposedly written for Johnny Winter), and the restrained piano-driven Hide Your Love. Then another ballad, Winter, notable for some gorgeous guitar work, and more lazy lyrics. The closer is Star Star, also known as Starfucker. This one is alot of fun. It comes in on a Chuck Berry-ish riff. Some scary groupie chick with two-tongue kisses, cans of foam, tricks with fruit, and her plan is to screw John Wayne before he dies!!


Track List:
1. Dancing With Mr. D
2. 100 Years Ago
3. Coming Down Again
4. Heartbreaker
5. Angie
6. Silver Train
7. Hide Your Love
8. Winter
9. Can You Hear The Music?
10. Star Star

Musicians:
Mick Jagger--Vocals, Harmonica, Rhythm Guitar, Piano
Keith Richards--Guitar, Bass, Vocals
Mick Taylor--Guitar, Bass
Bill Wyman--Bass
Charlie Watts--Drums
with:
Nicky Hopkins, Billy Preston, Ian Stewart, Bobby Keys, Jim Horn, Chuck Finley, Jimmy Miller, and the percussion team of Pascal and Rebop.


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