The Rolling Stones- Goat's Head Soup song-by-song discussion!

Yes it would have been awesome at Brussels!!!!!!!!!!

 

I wish I could remember. Main Street in Flushing had two places to buy records, Korvettes (which was a small department store) and a conventional record store. I spent many hours flipping through the albums in both places. One of the things I probably miss the most from the late seventies and eighties was time spent in many NYC record stores. Tower Records in the Village was the ultimate.

 

No doubt! We would travel into the city just to go to that Tower, and spend hours there, and too much money as well.

 

Per my post above, if they had kept it in the 73 tour set list they would have been jamming that baby out by Brussels!!!!!!!

 

Damn right!

I admit I can't be bothered to look it up right now, but does anybody know how many times they did play "100 Years Ago" in '73?

We can share our thought 'cos there's nothing left to hide about "Coming Down Again" in an hour or so.

 

"Coming Down Again", from Wiki:
"Coming Down Again" is a song by The Rolling Stones featured on their 1973 album Goats Head Soup. It is sung as a duet by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger.

Credited to Jagger/Richards, "Coming Down Again" is largely the work of Richards, who went as far as to say, "Coming Down Again' is my song," at the time of its release. A slower ballad similar in mood to another track on the album, "Angie", the lyrics tell of Richards' relationship with then-girlfriend Anita Pallenberg, who had chosen to abandon her romantic liaison with his friend and bandmate Brian Jones in favour of one with Richards.

“ Share your thoughts, there's nothing you can hide; She was dying to survive;
I was caught, oh, taken for a ride; She was showing no surprise ”
“ Slipped my tongue in someone else's pie; Tasting better ev'ry time;
He turned green and tried to make me cry; Being hungry, it ain't no crime ”
The song opens with Stones recording veteran Nicky Hopkins playing keyboards front and center alongside a fluid, prominent bassline performed by Mick Taylor. Guitars are performed by Richards, who uses the wah-wah pedalfor much of the song (an effect used often on Goats Head Soup), as well as Leslie speakers. Charlie Watts performs a "trademark start-stop drum arrangement... that by now had become a familiar device." Bobby Keysperforms a saxophone solo near the middle of the song. The session guitarist Miles Miller is thought to have laid down guitar lines that didn't make it onto the final album version. Jagger gives support to Richards on backing vocals.

Recorded in Kingston's Dynamic Sound Studios in November and December, 1972, "Coming Down Again" is regarded as one of Richards' best lead vocal performances. Despite some popularity, Richards has never performed the song live on tour with the Rolling Stones.

And Keno:
COMING DOWN AGAIN

Recorded in November & December of 1972. Released on Goats Head Soup in August of 1973. Written by Keith Richards, about him taking Anita Pallenberg away from Brian Jones.
Lead Vocal: Keith Richards Vocal Harmony: Mick Jagger Electric Guitars: Keith Richards Drums:Charlie Watts Bass: Mick Taylor Piano: Nicky Hopkins Saxophones: Bobby Keys


COMING DOWN AGAIN
(M. Jagger/K. Richards)

Coming down again, coming down again
Coming down again, coming down again

Share your thoughts, there's nothing you can hide
She was dying to survive
I was caught, oh, taken for a ride
She was showing no surprise

Coming down again, coming down again
Where are all my friends, coming down again

Coming down again, coming down again
On the ground again, coming down again

Slipped my tongue in someone else's pie
Tasting better ev'ry time
He turned green and tried to make me cry
Being hungry it ain't no crime

Coming down again, coming down again
All my time's been spent, coming down again

 

"Coming Down Again" basically introduces a new 'genre' to the Stones: the Keithballad. It's slow, soulful, chock full of Keith's Leslied and wah'd guitars and a killer bassline from Mick Taylor that acts as a bit of a commentary on the song. Charlie offers a nice syncopated rhythm alongside Jimmy Miller's percussion. Mick Jagger chimes in on vocals ("Sky fall down again"). But the icing on the cake is Bobby Keys and Jim Horn's dueling sax solos- a very jazzy sounding passage that lifts the song to another level. At nearly six minutes the song may seem a little long -especially given the slow tempo and overall vibe- but it's a highlight of the album IMO. Keith offers up a frank, regret-tinged lyric generally considered to be about Anita Pallenberg (or an admission of guilt over an affair Keith may have had behind Anita's back).

Why Keith has never busted this song out live, I have no idea.

 

Love Coming Down Again! It's very affecting and sung beautifully by Keith.

 

I'm not really a fan of the Keithballads. This is probably the best one. It is interesting that this song was omitted from the original Goats Head Soup track listing as it seems to have quite a few fans. Most think the song is about Anita but while others speculate that the song is about Richards' heroin addiction. Richards just says it is a mournful song when asked and it is likely some combination of the two. Mick Taylor is on the bass guitar here. Nicky Hopkins adds some great piano and sources say that Hopkins was the only "extra" Stone that actually attended the recording sessions in Jamaica. Bobby Keys sax was overdubbed later. Pascal appears on the track and Jim Horn adds some faint flute parts during the final minute of the song according to All The Songs. The All The Songs and Rocks Off books state if you listen to the song closely using headphones, you can hear Keith chewing gum or smacking his lips during the intro to the song.

 

Firstly, I love the intro to "Coming Down Again". I don't really notice Nicky Hopkins on "100 Years Ago" but there is no mistaking him here. And to me , Nicky's piano is just one of the greatest sounds in all of rock n roll. Over the last year I've listened to a bunch of Jerry Garcia Band shows from 1975 when Nicky was in the band just so I could hear that sound. And I've always found Nicky particularly effective on Stones ballads (though even he couldn't save "Indian Girl"). The effects on the guitars just make you feel the downer mood and it's an effective, and amazingly honest, lyric and vocal. When this record came out I knew who the individual Beatles were but my knowledge of the Stones was evolving so it was probably a long time before I realized this was a Keith vocal (I was twelve). They say to write about what you know - well I'm pretty sure Keith was doing that here.

 

That is true, you can hear it plain as day...maybe Keith had drymouth or something

 

I will go back and read the previous pages on this thread. From GHS I was up to speed with the Stones. I bought my own vinyl copy shortly after the album's release. A school mate had it already and I had checked out the sleeve and heard a couple of tracks. Yes it is not as good/great as the holy quartet of Beggars, Bleed, Sticky and Exile but I have always found it a good listen (apart from Star at the end).
I like Dancing With Mr D, I can't really see why it is not regarded more highly and I did not know it was never played after 73 until 2017! Seem an ok rocker to me. Coincidence but around that time Roger Mcguinn was singing "Hey Mr D" and "Hey Mr J" on I'm So Restless which I know is Bob and Mick.

 

Hopefully Through The Lonely Nights can be included in this thread.

 

I think we discussed it in the It's Only Rock And Roll song-by-song, but if not, then we will do so here. Same for "Tops" and "Waiting On A Friend" since they date from these sessions as well.

 

We did

 

I know, I just checked I also thought it was funny that the final post in the discussion, made on September 4, was by me saying I would do the GHS discussion at some point. Well, it took almost two months but here we are! Doing the Steely Dan album by album was too good to pass up, especially given Walter Becker's passing. But that one's almost finished now...I am seriously considering tackling Emotional Rescue once this one's finished. Consider yerselves warned

 

Coming Down Again:

Ah, Coming Down Again, the Keith vocal on here.
Starts with Nicky beautifully setting the melancholy mood along with Taylor and Charlie, the latter lightly tapping on the hi hat in syncopation with Nicky, with the odd wah lick. At :22, we hear Keith and Mick harmonizing the title, and it's fantastic, it really is, and I love when Keith comes in at :51, he gives a lot of heart into his limited range, and you really get that sense of guilt and regret from his performance. And the line at 2:23, "slipped My tongue in someone else's pie, tasting better every time. He turned green and tried to make me cry, but being hungry, It Ain't no crime." An awesome line, and I definitely think of Brian when hearing that line, and how Keith will usually bury whatever sentiment he has towards Brian. It has that "**** him, he was an ass, he was this and that, and she chose me", but there's a certain desperation in that self-reassurance, like, is he convincing us or himself ? And could it also be about his current heroin addiction, trying to convince himself that he has it under control and won't go down the path Brian did and lose everything, even though all evidence is pointing that way. I mean, this album is clearly Mick's, Taylor is starting to move in, keyboardists are tying the tracks together, doing the job that Keith should be doing. And we can't forget Bobby's solo at 3:55, has such a mellow, euphoric feel to it, and it just ends fantastically with Nicky being his awesome Nicky self.
This song Rules, and you rule if you like it!

 

What happened to DW?
Also, I think we should save Tops and Waiting on a Friend for TY if we ever get around to that

 

Like I said, I can't believe Keith has never played this one live...it'd be a welcome change from tired old "Happy", "Make Me Run", "Slipping Away". Don't know how he'd handle the guitar work -Ronnie would probably do most of the heavy lifting- but I could hear Keith singing "Coming Down Again" easily. Darryl and Chuck could have some fun with it, at least.

I'll probably give Dirty Work a miss. Quite frankly the more I think about it I'm not too keen on the idea of putting time and energy into a discussion where every other post most more than likely would be along the lines of "This song/album sucks!" I'd rather take my chances with Emotional Rescue and see how that one goes...

Well...maybe. Like I said, it kind of makes sense to include them here, but we'll see.

 

My posts for Emotional Rescue with a couple of exceptions would be this album sucks.

 

Hey, they can't all be lovefests

 

Been as John's too busy to do Sticky Fingers at the mo, I'm thinking @Clanceman should do Some Girls next As far as I'm concerned we may as well do all the Stones' 70's albums, at least, possibly Bleed and Banquet as well. Beats hell out of 8000 post Beatles discussions about absolutely nothing

 

I'll do LIB as my next Stones one, and then one of the Brian albums.
And I can't believe there hasn't been one of these for the Beatles yet. You'd think with all the Beatles threads there would've been a SBS for the Beatles

 

I would suggest Aftermath at some point. It is my fifth favorite Stones studio album.

 

Sure, I could do that. There would be plenty of material to cover, for sure. Although I should note I will primarily go by the US tracklist. That said, of course the U.K. tracks will be covered