Mick Taylor's Top Studio Tracks

January 16, 2021 by Tim Robson in Rock

“Ye shall know them by their fruits”

— Matthew 7:16 (KJV)

We all know that in the Mick Taylor Years (1969 / 74) the Rolling Stones were at their live peak. He added a real lead guitar muscle to complement their riff heavy catalogue. They went from being great to being the best. Watching the Stones in this period ranks - with me anyway - alongside watching Elvis 1969-72. Yeah, two great acts at their peak at the same time. Saw neither. Thank goodness for YouTube.

Apparently Keith Richards once told Mick Taylor he was great live but shit in the studio. There's a ring of truth to this - even if it was overstated. Taylor certainly was less dominant in the Stones albums he played on. Maybe he knew he was being shafted for song writing credits. Maybe Mick and Keef overshadowed MT when it came to controlling who did what and when. They certainly bossed the mixing desk. Playing live they didn't have the same control.

But dig (not too deep) and you have some classic Mick Taylor performances committed to vinyl.

I've tried to filter out songs where he was just 'one of the band' and purposefully pick songs where it's absolutely all about Mick Taylor. Agree? Disagree? Tell me in the comments.

Mick Taylor appeared on Stones albums between 1969 and 1973*. They are Let It Bleed (just a little) and then Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street, Goat's Head Soup and It's Only Rock n Roll plus the live album Get Yer Ya Ya's Out.

To me, I'd probably rank them Sticky Fingers, Goat's Head Soup, Exile on Main Street, It's Only Rock n Roll. Which is strange as my favourite MT tracks appear on It's Only Rock n Roll.

Sway - Sticky Fingers (1971)

Keith was absent and so the two Micks fooled around in the studio together, coming up with this gem. A real guitar-heavy rocker, taken at a stately pace, it's one of those Stone tracks that should be better known but it's cult like obscurity makes me feel good I'm in the know. As does my possession of an original Andy Warhol designed jeans zip cover (framed and on my wall next to 8/9 others of similar vintage). This was, for a while, my fav Stones track. Jagger sings exceptionally on this - as demonstrated by his later, pitiful, attempt on the 2013 tour. MT's guitars are hard, the solos fluid - slide and then full on rock solo as the track ends. One to look up if you don't know it.

Winter - Goats Head Soup (1973)

Winter is one of those epic ballads the Stones seemed to just knock off in their sleep in the mid 70's (Angie, Memory Motel, Fool to Cry, Coming Down Again). Just like Sway, it features no Keith Richards. What separates this from the others is the Mick Taylor guitar solo which is both powerful and incendiary. Taylor had a way of complementing Jagger's vocal lines, adding fillers and runs throughout the song. Like he would do when the Stones played live. Many people rate this his best solo. I enjoy it but, no, it would be bettered the following year.

Can't you Hear Me Knocking - Sticky Fingers (1971)

It starts with a Keef riff and then, according to MT, when everyone was putting their instruments down at the end of the song, the groove just continued - first Bobby Keyes on sax and then, the Master Mick, the God of guitar (virtuosity be his name) started soloing. One take. Not rehearsed. As live as you can get and this is the result. The Stones should have employed this method on their recordings 69-73; just turn Mick Taylor loose. What you get is a classic and a classic because he turns the songs around and pushes it into new directions. That's one of Taylor's strength - his ability to effortlessly improvise.

All Down the Line - Exile on Main Street (1972)

Rock and rolling Stones kicking it back in the South of France, noses in bags of narcotics, dodging tax and playing some of their best music ever! Exile on Main Street was a groove, a feel, the sound of - to steal a phrase from Sir Paul - a Band on The Run. Mick Taylor adds some sharp, rocking slide guitar, taking the solo. To see how hard MT worked on this track - watch the video below.

Til the Next Goodbye - It's Only Rock n Roll (1974)

Another acoustic ballad, another slide solo. Beautiful song and for some reason completely overlooked. Why?

Honky Tonk Women - Let it Bleed (1969) / Brown Sugar - Sticky Fingers (1971)

Two songs from 1969 (Though Brown Sugar lay in the vaults over a year). Mick Taylor's introduction to the band. Honky Tonk Women - apparently MT made a small but telling contribution. He rocked up the song from the country ballad (Country Honk) to the rock classic we know now. Brown Sugar, is another group ensemble song where MT adds to mix but doesn't stand out. Recording on the sly in 1969 in Muscles Shoals, it was Mick Taylor's suggestion that they play this unreleased song at Altamont when all was falling on the Stones' heads. Didn't make the film Gimme Shelter but the audio of this first ever version is the Stones against the wall, punching back.

Time Waits for No Man - It's Only Rock n Roll (1974)

The boss. The winner. The best track Mick Taylor and the Stones studio track. So beautiful. So wistful. And that solo at the end! An artist at the top of his game in a band throwing in a good performance. In the late 80's I wrote a shit song called 'It's Raining Again' and the only good thing about it was that I grafted a sausage fingered version of this MT's solo in the middle. The song is perfect in every way - Jagger's lyrics, Keef's spine tingling riff, Wyman, Watts, Nicky Hopkins and Ray Cooper all adding to the mix. And then Mick Taylor solos like a bastard for two / three full minutes of magic. He employs Latin influenced runs up and down the fretboard. Wow! This is what the Stones could have been. This is the Stones, timeless, standing out of time, looking at us and beckoning mere mortals forward.

I'm done.

To read my other Mick Taylor pieces, click here...

* Yeah - Waiting on A Friend was reused in the 80's.

Face of Yesterday : The Curious Tale of Renaissance

December 28, 2020 by Tim Robson in Rock, Music

I knew two things about British folkie prog rock group Renaissance:

1) I loved the rollicking 1978 single Northern Lights. Annie Haslam’s soaring vocals were a great counterpoint to all the punk around at the time. I bought the single.

2) As a big Yardbirds fan at university, I knew after the group broke up, vocalist Keith Relf and drummer Jim McCarty formed Renaissance with Relf’s sister Jane whilst Jimmy Page went off on his own and formed Led Zeppelin.

I’d never been curious enough to link these two facts. I knew Relf electrocuted himself in 1976 so he couldn’t have been part of the Northern Lights set up. And that’s where things stood until Christmas.

Occasionally YouTube throws something interesting at you. I was probably down a Yardbirds wormhole a few days ago and then YouTube threw ‘Kings and Queens’ from Renaissance’s first album at me. It shows a hippy-ish Keith Relf playing guitar, with his sister singing, Jim McCarty whacking the skins, some prominent piano work on a long prog-rock type song. Interesting but not really my scene.

Later, whilst I was in the bath, I asked Amazon to shuffle songs by Renaissance. Again, diverting but not really my scene. Until one song came on - Face of Yesterday - which I thought was interesting enough to put on a playlist. A playlist I listened to whilst walking up Wolstonbury Hill. Yes, this confirmed it, Face of Yesterday was my new favourite song!

It’s a dreamy ballad with classical influences and some excellent scat vocalism

And this is where things get a little murky.

The album Illusion. One group created it, another toured it and then disappeared to be replaced by another group with the same name. Confused?

Face of Yesterday was recorded in 1970 for the album Illusion. It’s Jane Relf singing. But YouTube threw another curve ball at me; the video of the band shows quite a different lady singing the song. She has a completely different voice - lower, maybe more timorous but compelling nethertheless. And this lady is an absolute stunner! And also, she’s not Annie Haslam. A third female vocalist…

Well, it appears the vocalist on the video is Binky Cullom. And the band? They’re all new guys too and none of the original five appear in the video. How’s that even possible? Well, it seems that Relf, Relf, McCarty et al one by one dropped out during 1970 during the recording of Illusion. Relf and McCarty remained interested enough to recruit new musicians to replace them. And they did. Five times.

So, the six members of Renaissance on the video of 1970 touring the Illusion album are not the original five. Clear?

Not finished yet.

Over the next year, next month for Binky, five of the six also left. New members, came and went until 1972/1973 when the Renaissance that I knew, the Northern Lights Renaissance with Annie Haslam, came into being. This lineup was stable and lasted for years and produced a certain sound built around Annie’s vocals. But it was different sound. And a different group.

Final plot twist, four of the original five, minus Keith Relf, as he was dead, got together again in 1977. But as another group had the Renaissance name, they called themselves Illusion, yes, after that chaotic second album where they all walked out first time.

And what Renaissance song did Illusion re-record? Face of Yesterday!

Time Waits For No One - Mick Taylor's Greatest Stones Song

November 24, 2019 by Tim Robson in Rock

“Time can tear down a building or destroy a woman’s face
Hours are like diamonds, don’t let them waste
Time waits for no one, no favours has he
Time waits for no one, and he won’t wait for me”

— Time Waits for No One - Rolling Stones 1974

In the late 80's I wrote a song called 'It's Raining Again'. I used to play it loudly in my rented flat on Montpelier Road, Brighton. It was shit. The only good thing about the song was in the instrumental break where I grafted a sausage fingered version of Mick Taylor’s solo from Time Waits for No One.

Ah, Time Waits for No One. This is the Stones, timeless, standing out of time, looking back at us and beckoning us mere mortals forward. Yes, this is the best track Mick Taylor and the Stones ever recorded. So beautiful. So wistful. And that solo at the end! It was Mick Taylor’s swan song with the band, at once both a calling card and an elongated - but elegant - adieu.

The song’s brilliance however comes from all the players in the group - it’s not just an excuse for Taylor to let rip. That’s the beauty of MT’s time in the Stones, he took them to another level but, without him, the starting point was pretty damn high anyway.

So, credits? Jagger's thoughtful lyrics echo Chaucer (time and tide wait for no man) as the singer muses about the transitory nature of life. Keef's adds the recurring spine tingling riff. Wyman, Watts, the ever ready, ever steady back line, all present and correct. Nicky Hopkins adds his characteristically dramatic piano flourishes whereas Ray Cooper contributes the pervasive metronomic backing that tick-tocks the track into immortality.

And then Mick Taylor solos like a bastard for two / three full minutes of magic. He employs Latin influenced runs up and down the fretboard (influenced by a recent trip down the Amazon). Like all the best Mick Taylor solos, this one is fluid and melodic and probably pretty spontaneous. You get the impression that if he were to play it again, do another a take, he’d do it in a completely different - but equally good - fashion.

Each crescendo on the guitar, proceeded by the supporting buttresses of melodic scales, is a highlight. As Mick works his way up the fretboard (though delightfully at one point he reverses) he carries the listener effortlessly to the stars. I believe many die-hard Stones fans request this track to be played at their funeral. It certainly has an ethereal beauty, at once balancing the beauty of life, music, art, nature, love with the fragility of those very qualities.

Listen below if you’ve never heard this track. The Stones could have gone this way. Mick Taylor though was not destined to be with them for long. In Time Waits for No One he’s playing his own exit music and damn fine it is too.

Want to know more? The five greatest Mick Taylor Stones studio recordings?

Oasis: Twenty Minute Setlist

December 18, 2018 by Tim Robson in 20 Minute Setlist, Rock

This is a 20 minute set list I’d love to see!

When Oasis were emerging in 1994 / 95, they could take on any other band live. Loud overdriven guitars, pulsing beat, great songs, sing-a-long choruses and a singer who had both charisma and talent. They continued and concluded the Holy Trinity of Manchester bands (Smiths, Stone Roses, Oasis).

I was a Blur fan but even I was swept away in the winter of 1994 as the band appeared on an Xmas show and played their new single ‘Whatever’ in all its Beatle-esque glory before tearing into a full scale toe to toe with the Fab Four, delivering a supreme I Am Walrus. Audacious bastards! They just went for the balls and powered out Lennon’s anthem with maximum swagger and sneering. (see video below)

I never saw Oasis live though I remember them coming to the Brighton Centre December 1994. Looking at the setlist that night is feels like it was a massive night, a first album homage. And I think, in retrospect, looking at YouTube videos, Oasis were at their best when they were climbing the mountain, not when they were on top and definitely not on their way down. Although the crowds kept coming, they weren’t as hungry, as urgent and - like most Oasis fans - I think the 1994 line up was the best.

So here it is, my fantasy Oasis playlist delivered by them as they were in 1994!

Rock n Roll Star

Fade Away

Bring it on Down

Slide Away

I Am Walrus

20 Minute Playlists - The Queen at Live Aid Test

April 20, 2018 by Tim Robson in Rock, 20 Minute Setlist

Queen’s 20 minutes at Live Aid are often cited as the greatest rock concert ever (as now shown in the film Bohemian Rhapsody). I remember watching Live Aid on the day and I also remember Queen kicking ass and taking names. So much so that I stopped watching the concert, stop my video recording, rewound the tape and watched Queen again. Sorry David Bowie! What set Queen apart from the rest was good songs, great musicianship, obvious practice and, of course, Freddie.

Who can forget the thousands of synchronised arm thrusts during Radio Gaga or Freddie’s a-cappella call and response? For me, the set builds and builds until finishing with the awesome one-two punch of We Will Rock You and We are the Champions. This was anthemic all the way up to 11.

So I came up with a clever concept; take what Queen did at Live Aid in 1985 – produce 20 minutes of distilled brilliance from your back catalogue – and then apply that concept to other bands.

What would be the dream 20 minute setlist of your favourite band? The hits maybe. But which hits? Album tracks? Live favourites? So many choices.

Well, I’ll be posting some of my fantasy twenty minute sets from my favourite bands over the next few blog posts. I’ll be explaining my choices.

Let me know if you agree with them.

In no particular order, I’ll be writing set lists for :-

The Beatles

Elvis

The Stones

Led Zeppelin

The Who

So far, so obvious...

The Smiths

The Byrds

The Stone Roses

Abba

Oasis

Blur

Queen (I would probably drop Crazy Little Thing Called Love and Radio Gaga from their Live Aid setlist and add Don’t Stop Me Now and Another One Bites the Dust)

Sounds a good game, eh?

AC/DC

April 02, 2018 by Tim Robson in Rock

We know the formula...

- A guitar riff

- Band joins in

- Singer screeches a verse of smutty lyrics

- The big chorus

- Another verse and chorus.

- Angus whacks out a solo, familiar and yet always different

- Double chorus. Fade.

And that powers a great career. Simple but effective.

Anyone who grew up when I did basically had a choice - for contemporary heavy metal - of Motorhead, Iron Maiden or AC/DC. They dominated teenage boys' lives and denim jackets. Gathered in bedrooms, we'd play these records and discuss their meaning. Well, with AC/DC there only ever was one meaning!

Bon Scott / Brian Johnson. Both great in different ways. Angus and Malcolm powering their way through, a steady beat, a boogie. A great rock n roll band!

I had the opportunity to see AC/DC in 1991 at the Wembley Arena touring The Razor's Edge. They played their new stuff - which was excellent - plus all the greats! I bought a tour poster of ANgus Young and put it up in my bedsit. Hello ladies. It didn't last long!

Top Ten AC/DC moments

- Highway to Hell

- Thunderstruck

- Satellite Blues

- Problem Child

- Back in Black

- Downpayment Blues

- For Those About To Rock - We Salute You

- Whole Lotta Rosie

- Touch Too Much

- Hell's Bells

Anyway, here's a great video...

Top Mick Taylor Studio Tracks

February 10, 2018 by Tim Robson in Rock

“Ye shall know them by their fruits”

— Matthew 7:16 (KJV)

But dig (not too deep) and you have some classic Mick Taylor performances committed to vinyl.

I've tried to filter out songs where he was just 'one of the band' and purposefully pick songs where it's absolutely all about Mick Taylor. Agree? Disagree? Tell me in the comments.

To me, I'd probably rank them Sticky Fingers, Goat's Head Soup, Exile on Main Street, It's Only Rock n Roll. Which is strange as my favourite MT tracks appear on It's Only Rock n Roll.

Sway - Sticky Fingers (1971)

Winter - Goats Head Soup (1973)

Can't you Hear Me Knocking - Sticky Fingers (1971)

All Down the Line - Exile on Main Street (1972)

Til the Next Goodbye - It's Only Rock n Roll (1974)

Another acoustic ballad, another slide solo. Beautiful song and for some reason completely overlooked. Why?

Honky Tonk Women - Let it Bleed (1969) / Brown Sugar - Sticky Fingers (1971)

Two songs from 1969 (Though Brown Sugar lay in the vaults over a year). Mick Taylor's introduction to the band. Honky Tonk Women - apparently MT made a small but telling contribution. He rocked up the song from the country ballad (Country Honk) to the rock classic we know now. Brown Sugar, is another group ensemble song where MT adds to mix but doesn't stand out. Recording on the sly in 1969 in Muscles Shoals, it was Mick Taylor's suggestion that they play this unreleased song at Altamont when all was falling on the Stones' heads/ Didn't make the film Gimme Shelter but the audio of this first ever version is the Stones against the wall, punching back.

Time Waits for No Man - It's Only Rock n Roll (1974)

The boss. The winner. The best track Mick Taylor and the Stones studio track. So beautiful. So wistful. And that solo at the end! A fucking artist at the top of his game in a band at throwing in a good performance. In the late 80's I wrote a shot song called 'It's Raining Again' and the only good thing about it was that I grafted a sausage fingered version of this MT's solo in the middle. The song is perfect in every way -Jagger's lyrics, Keef's spine tingling riff, Wyman, Watts, Nicky Hopkins and Ray Cooper all adding to the mix. And then Mick Taylor solos like a bastard for two / three full minutes of magic. he employs Latin influenced runs up and down the fretboard. Wow! This is what the Stones could have been. This is the Stones, timeless, standing out of time, looking at us and beckoning mere mortals forward.

I'm done.

To read my other Mick Taylor pieces, click here...

* Yeah - Waiting on A Friend was reused in the 80's.

Tom Petty and the death of Gene Clark

October 09, 2017 by Tim Robson in Music, Obituary, Rock

Consulting this website's Future Book of The Dead I notice I didn’t put Tom Petty on my list of possible celebrity obituaries. And rightly so. I didn’t really dig him that much. Sure, I had his greatest hits on my iTunes (or at least the ones I liked – about 10). Some of them are okay. I play them sometimes. But it’s not urgent, if you know what I mean.

Basically, one for our American cousins. Nothing wrong with Americana - love it - but not everything travels the Atlantic.

But since he’s dead - and I think my readership is not ready for another one of my 4th Century Roman Empire jerk offs - let’s talk Tom. But only tangentially.

(A note to readers, Mick Taylor will not feature in this article. Read it anyway, guys. Broaden your perspective a little.)

I first came across Tom Petty in 1988/89 when the Travelling Wilburys came out. The others – Dylan, Orbison, Harrison, Lynne were well known to a UK audience. Tom Petty though? Who the fuck was he? And to be honest, although I had both Travelling Wilbury albums at some point, I still didn’t know who Tom Petty was. I still slept good.

The second-time Tom Petty came into my consciousness was through Gene Clark - the magnificent but doomed Byrds singer / songwriter. As is well known, Clark was often an alcoholic, often a junkie. By the late 80’s though, he was semi-clean because his records weren’t selling and he was broke.

Enter Tom Petty.

Petty seemed to have wanted to have been in the Byrds (listen to Here Comes My Girl, for instance). So, on his Full Moon Fever Album, he chose to cover the Clark/Byrds classic – I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better. A pretty faithful if uninspired cover, frankly. However, as the album was a best seller and stayed in the US charts for ever, Clark, as the unwitting songwriter of one tenth of the album, suddenly got a ton of cash. Clark did what Clark did and got off his tits with every drug he could find.

Yes, Tom Petty killed Gene Clark.

Not knowingly, of course. But the money from Petty fuelled Clark’s habits. And then he died.

So, not really a Tom Petty eulogy. More a couple of random facts about music. About my life. Anyway, listen to this from Tom - its not bad and probably a good way to remember him.