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Site friend, Dave Kohl, blew The Fat Guys away(and that takes some blowin'), recently when he shared with us that he had seen the Rolling Stones, in concert, SIXTY-TWO times.
We asked him to share some of his love and expertise regarding "The World's Greatest Rock-N-Roll Band". Thanks, Dave. The Fat Guys still like the Beatles, better, but we loved your work.
For all the hours and hours and hours I have enjoyed music throughout my life,
my music collection continues to have 2 categories. Rolling Stones and “other”.
Sure, I love The Beatles and other groups and solo artists to the point of
having huge collections of released and bootleg material, but it’s the Stones
that are literally the soundtrack of my life. From first hearing them in 5th
grade to seeing them live again in my 50’s. Over the past 23 years (since I
realized this), I can literally think of only 3 days of my life in which I
haven’t heard at least one Stones song. No matter what.
Many vacation days from work (and a few “sick” days as well) have been spent
traveling to see the Stones at every chance possible. Even though I was foolish
enough to wait until the 1978 tour before seeing them live for the first time, I
have seen them 62 times. From Boston to Los Angeles, Minneapolis to Miami, and
many points in between. Not to mention sound checks, part of a rehearsal, and
solo tours by Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood over the years.
The Fat Guys asked me to list my personal top ten Stones songs of all-time, and
that was too much fun of an opportunity to pass up. Just one man’s opinion, but
here are my top 10, at least as it stands during the summer of 2010:
10 – If You Can’t Rock Me – opening track of the It’s Only Rock & Roll LP
9 – Crazy Mama – powerful mid-tempo rocker from Black & Blue LP
8 – Star Star – the concert version on “Love You Live”
7 - Jiving Sister Fanny – underrated obscure track from the Metamorphasis LP
6 – Get Off Of My Cloud – the single that followed Satisfaction and for me put
the Stones on top of the favorite artist list to stay
5 – Little Queenie – Never recorded. This cover of a Chuck Berry song (the only
tune on this list not a Jagger-Richards composition) appears on “Get Your
Ya-Ya’s Out” from the 1969 tour, but actually never happened. The overdubbing of
vocals on the “Go – go – go Little Queenie” chorus took place in the studio
adding on to the live recordings. Obviously, it worked!
4 – When The Whip Comes Down – The “Some Girls” LP from 1978 produced 2 of my
all-time Stones favorites as back to back tracks. The Stones were clearly
“running this town” and every other one when they recorded this rocker.
3 – Gimme Shelter – First recorded, but not released, with Keith on vocals, the
original released version was always among my top 5 Stones songs over the 40+
years since. The live version released on No Security remains my favorite
version, even though it never happened that way either. That version was mixed
between 2 live performances from the 1999 tour, one of which I was at in person.
2 – Miss You (EP version) – Even the “Some Girls” LP version is worthy of this
level, but the 8 ½ minute EP version of this song runs a very close second
all-time. The intensity, the driving hard rock, and the line “Girls will come
and go – they’re just like street cars!” is a total killer, along with many of
the live versions of this done during the 1978 tour, just after this amazing
song was released. The only unfortunate note about this song is that many music
fans have never had the great fortune of hearing the EP version.
1 – Brown Sugar – Lyrically this song didn’t reshape the globe, but the power
guitar riff and the burning sax solo combined with great sing-along vocals did –
at least for me. I still tell the story about how on April 13, 1971 I was
driving to a family function when WLS played “the brand new Rolling Stones song”
for the first time. Before the song was finished, I had turned around and headed
to the record store where the guy at the counter had just put out a few copies.
I bought their first copy, immediately drove home to spin it on my turntable –
and then arrived late to the family function to get what I considered to be a
worthwhile scolding. No other song had that strong of a first impression, and it
still hasn’t dropped. Nearly 40 years later, I still say “ya, ya,
ya…….woooooooooooooo”.
Honorable mention:
Honest Man – An unreleased track from the Voodoo Lounge sessions that ranks
right up there with their best. Hopefully it will surface on an official release
at some point.
I Can’t No Satisfaction (Live 1969 version) – The version from the movie “Gimme
Shelter” remains the greatest version of this classic song I have ever heard.
Changed into a gritty and driving blues rocker, this version has to be how the
Stones would have preferred it to sound if they had it to do all over again.
Sympathy For The Devil (Live 1989 versions) – The version released on the
Flashpoint LP of the Steel Wheels tour doesn’t compare with many of the versions
I witnessed in person and have heard on bootlegs of their U.S. tour stretch. If
any of those had been released, this song would have easily been in my top 5 of
all time. An awesome experience live - on any tour.
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