Tuesday, August 25, 2020

ROLLING STONES: Country Honk (Early Version)



Rock bands often follow a similar story arc. They start out with great enthusiasm, hungry to grab some business and make some money. Their music is often full of energy and fun at the beginning. They turn it way up and make a beautiful, impudent mess. Then at some point, if they are "lucky," they make some money. There are many ways for the story to go after that. Very often towards caution; often enough downhill. 

The Rolling Stones stayed in the beautiful, loud, impudent period for much longer than most; they stayed there long after they had started to make money. They stayed in that period of high-quality productivity until something like the mid-1970s. That's over ten years! Almost unheard of, and still rare. Even in their later period of mostly coasting, they have remained generally interesting, with flashes of very good. 

Even though they made themselves into a great arena band, I will always think of them as one of the greatest bar-bands in history. At their best, to this day, they sound like FUN. 

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