What's wrong with Goat's Head Soup?

This is the time of year the album comes to life. We've had some gloomy, rainy fall days here in Indiana.

Saw it for $1.99 on cassette at Half Price books. Should've swiped it for that but I passed.

 

I like "Mr D" now (mainly due to the bass line) but considering "Gimmie Shelter" and "Rocks Off" are two of the greatest opening tracks of all time, "Dancing With Mr D" can sorta be a "WTF?!" on first listen.

Interesting. You might just have a point, though- the keyboards certainly conjure up a Band type sound, Charlie and Keith provide a suitably loose rhythm section...I couldn't really imagine Robbie Robertson going off on the guitar the way Mick Taylor does at the end though. The lyrics seem like something Robbie could have written, I suppose (people always seem to compare Mick on Goats Head Soup to Van Morrison and for some reason I can't hear it...)

I still say "Torn And Frayed" is the Stones' greatest homage to The Band -intentional or not- but "100 Years Ago"? Yeah...I could see it.

I love the Stones, but it's not too hard for just about anyone to beat at least a couple of those albums.

 

Are u still doing the GHS song by song once your Steely Dan thread wraps up?

 

Yes I was doing the "by faint praise" thing

 

It really is the perfect fall-season album, isn't it.

 

The extended guitar coda might not be "Band-like," but the clavinet/piano arrangement is total Hudson/Manuel, and I could totally hear Rick Danko and Richard Manuel trading off the verses. "Went out walking through the wood the other day, and the world was a carpet laid out for me..." That's *so* Richard Manuel, very "King Harvest."

I can hear it so well in my head that I'm really sad it doesn't exist, actually.

 

Agreed. As a side note, I've always thought that about "If You Really Want To Be My Friend" as well.

 

Not a fan of Brown Sugar? I would put it in the category of "Rocks Off" and "Gimme Shelter"!

I agree with you on Mr D but are there any other candidates for an opener from GHS? Star****?

 

Side A

Do do do do do Heartbreaker

Silver Train

Hundred Years Ago

Hide Your Love

Angie


Side B

Dancing With Mr. D

Winter

Coming Down Again

Can You Hear The Music

Star Star

 

You've got two ballads in a row on side B.

 

Yes! I've always been a fan of it.

 

A Ballad is a song that tells a story (Ode To Billy Joe, John Barleycorn).
I would say I have two slow songs together, and to me that fits the flow better.
What would your revised order be?

 

Yes.

I sorta figured that What the hell, Goats Head Soup is an easy album to give a lot of back handed compliments to...

Yeah, it got me thinking, "Which Band member would sing '100 Years Ago'?" and naturally Richard and Rick were the first ones to come to mind. I could definitely hear Levon doing harmonies on the "lazybones" section, though.

Not really I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a good song and all, but I have heard it so many times over the years that it holds very little allure for me now...

 

I went back and bought the cassette also picked up a vinyl copy of Eagles of Death Metal "Death by Sexy"

 

GHS is the funkiest album in their catalogue. They must’ve been listening to Sly a ton before this record. I mean this as a compliment.

 

I love Goats Head Soup...great great Stones album....

When I got my first car I had 3 tapes in it that I made (had more but someone broke in and stole them!!!)

Goats Head Soup
Stephen Stills First


Grateful Dead Workingman's Dead
The Band - Music From The Big Pink

Joni Mitchell First
Joni Mitchell Clouds

Played all of them over and over till I got my next car...so these all hold a special place

 

Currently spinning the 2018 reissue

 

Nothing. Just warm it up in the microwave for about 3 minutes and it still taste good!

 

Yes, The Soup.

I used to think this was their most underrated 70s album, but no longer--it seems that this album gets its due, at least here on the forum. Its only problem is that it had the misfortune of following Exile On Main St.

I personally don't get all the complaints regarding the sound of this album. As others have mentioned, this is opioid rock--hazy, dreamlike, and foggy. I think that some people might be confusing that sonic quality for the thematic elements at play on this album--after all, this is the 3 A.M. afterhours shindig following the massive party that was the previous album. This gives the album a charm and uniqueness that can't be found on any of their other albums--furthermore, it was the first album since Between The Buttons to feature exclusively Jagger/Richards compositions, and for me, that alone gives it +1 over their other LPs.

This album is a real treat for any Tails fans--he really gets to shine on "100 Years Ago" and "Hide Your Love." In particular, I love the duel in which he engages Billy Preston during the outro to "100 Years Ago." Pure ferocity in that attack.

This album is a good example of what I call "Polished Stones"--they had access to the best personnel, and they had their own stock company of session men from which they could choose to assist them. I always like to cite "Winter" as it's one of the greatest compositions they've ever assembled--the lush string arrangements are awesome, and augment something already great; ultimately, the core members put it over the top: namely The Commander's sense of longing and Tails' fluid leads. Sure, it's not a grimy number with a ferocious down & dirty Keef solo--a la "Sympathy...", or "Rough Stones"--but that doesn't mean it isn't great.

I wouldn't change a note on the album, nor would I alter the song order. If anything, I'd add perhaps two songs (maybe three) from what was a very prolific recording session in late 72:

- "Criss Cross Mind (Save Me)"
- "Tops" [Jagger Falsetto Vocal]
- "You Should've Seen Her A$$"

Make mine reheated.

-siyt

 

Re: Soup Outtakes:



This is an unnamed instrumental--I agree with the comments about it being from late 72/Dynamic Sound. Scroll the comments, and the original poster suggests that it could be an early take on "Winter"--only instead of being guitar driven, it's a showcasing for Nicky Hopkins. Does anyone happen to know for certain what this is?

-siyt

 

i always liked it

 

It's a bit boring.

 

IMO that jam at the end of "100 Years Ago" is the high point of the album. Even if the rest of Goats Head Soup absolutely sucked, which it doesn't of course, the coda for "100 Years Ago" is still among the Stones' greatest moments period.

 

GREAT BALLADS
Winter
Coming Down Again
Angie

GREAT ROCK
Star Star
Silver Train
Dancing with Mr D
Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)

100 Years ago - fantastic midtempo song with GREAT guitar outro by Taylor

THEN...

Can you Hear the Music - mmmm, well it's "experimental" Stones and is just better than ok

Hide Your Love - an outright clunker for me. NEVER liked (and I LOVE The Stones) playing reggae!

But somehow it has never 'sounded' right to me. It's almost flat and listless production do it no favours when compared to the 4 records that came before. They all leap from the speakers. Goats just sort of walks out....

...but its a record I play often because of those first 8 tracks I mention, they're too good songs to ignore.

 

Funny you should say this. I feel the opposite: I think GHS's reputation has become very inflated in recent years. The other posters in the Facebook vinyl groups I'm in are always falling all over themselves praising it. I just think it's a boring record. The sleeve images of the band's faces wrapped in gauze says a lot about how hazy and unfocused the music is. "Dancing With Mr. D" has some nice menace to it, but otherwise the album is so dull. The ballads are all limp and drag on for way longer than they need to. Side two feels like it goes on for about a week. I guess Keith being in the depths of his heroin addiction may have had something to do with it, but the whole band sounds drained and exhausted at best, lazy at worst. And what the Hell kind of title is "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo...;" why wouldn't they just call the song "Heartbreaker?" And as much as the folks here seem to dislike the context argument, you can't tell me this thing wasn't a crushing disappointment after not only the Beggars'-Exile run, but everything that came before it as well. Among the Stones' studio albums, I rank this one right down there with 'Emotional Rescue,' 'Undercover,' and 'Dirty Work.'