Dez's 5 Star Records: The R's, part 2

If you have been reading this list all along, you now know my personal answer to the age old question: Beatles or The Stones? The Beatles were the most important rock and roll band, I know that. But I think that The Rolling Stones were/are the Greatest (although not my favorite). From the beginning, they embodied the danger and decadence that makes rock and roll so seductive. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are absolutely ruthless in so many ways. Keith did more drugs and harder drugs than anybody. Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin…you can list all of the casualties of the era, but Keith outlasts them all with a sheepish grin on his face. Gram Parsons had a Stones fixation and partied hard with Keith, but Gram didn’t make it. Anyone who works with The Glimmer Twins understands the hierarchy. Keith and Mick may hate each other, but they stand united against anyone else. It may have started out as Brian Jones’s band, but Keith and Mick took control because they could write the songs. When Mick Taylor rightfully demanded writing credit on the songs he contributed to during the Stones’s peak period, the best guitarist the Stones ever had met the Jagger/Richards brick wall and had to leave. Keith Richards is the coolest, baddest cat in all of rock and roll because above all he has survived while he has been on everyone’s Death Watch shortlist since the 60’s. Mick Jagger is one of the most iconic rock stars, yet nobody can really give you any insight into who he really is (as Keith once said, “Mick doesn’t have any real friends”). Who that guy is underneath the prancing, preening cock of the walk is a complete mystery to fans, critics, bandmates and ex-wives. Keith and Mick are more rock and roll than anyone before or since, mostly because they are absolutely f***ing ruthless.

The Replacements – Let It Be (1984): I place Paul Westerberg and his band on the same level as Big Star in many ways (“Alex Chilton” was a hero of Westerberg’s), a band that remained a cult act during its existence but whose reputation has justifiably grown and grown as the years go by; Westerberg’s weary voice would not win on American Idol, but expresses more than any of those pop tarts could possibly comprehend.

The Replacements – Don’t Tell a Soul (1989): The ‘Mats faithful see this album as the point where everything started to go wrong, but if you listen to much of Westerberg’s solo career, this more carefully crafted pop sound seems to be really where his heart is, and I love the slicker pop tunes with his contrasting rugged voice still slicing through them.

Robbie Robertson – Robbie Robertson (1987): What I admire most about Robbie’s solo career is that although he may lyrically mine some of the same territory as his Band days, it is about as complete a break from his past musically as is possible, with carefully constructed songs featuring meticulously produced synthesizers and layered guitars more akin to Peter Gabriel or U2 (who both appear on this record, by the way) than Music From Big Pink.

The Rolling Stones – Beggar’s Banquet (1968): Where the Stones stop trying to ape the blues of others and create some of their own.

The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed (1969): Imagine an album opening with “Gimme Shelter” and closing with “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” and then the meat in between is just as tasty.

The Rolling Stones – Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out (live) (1970): A sloppy, brilliant, gritty mess from their peak period; all other live Stones albums should be used as coasters.

The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers (1971): The excess and lifestyle finally catches up to them and they sound incredibly weary here, making this the most arresting record of their career and my personal favorite of theirs.

The Rolling Stones – Exile on Main Street (1972): At a time and in an environment that should have resulted in a sprawling, unfocused, double record mess The Stones create a sprawling, unfocused, double record mess that is generally acknowledged as one of the greatest rock records ever made, while sounding like it was recorded in a gutter.

The Rolling Stones – Some Girls (1978): With Keith facing another possible jail sentence due to his continuing heroin habit, Mick takes the leadership reins and feeding off the musical energy of NYC in the late 70’s (punk, disco and New Wave), he helps the Stones take in all of those trends and creates the last great Rolling Stones record (although some good ones, like Tattoo You and Undercover, would come later).

Rush – Moving Pictures (1981): I know this is the Rush album that even non-Rush fans like, but come on, it is so great (just the opening synth/drum line of “Tom Sawyer” is iconic); I appreciate quite a bit of Rush actually (notwithstanding Geddy Lee’s vocals), but they just don’t get any better than this, where they make musical precision sound almost soulful.

ABOVE: After the prodigious amounts of drugs and fast living, one of the closest brushes with death for Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones was in 2006 when he fell out of a coconut tree in Fiji and cracked his skull.