Some Boys

Rip It Up, Issue 14, 1 August 1978, Page 12

Some Boys

Ken Williams.

The Rolling Stones Some Girls Rolling Stones Records Let’s lay it on the line. If the Rolling Stones never made another record this one would be perfect to go out on. If the RCMP hang it on Keef they'll be dancing to this in Cell Block Number Nine. The best thing since maybe Let It Bleed. Culled from a total of 42 songs, the material is stro-o-ong. “Miss You’’ is a mid-tempo Stones instant classic. The sax of Mel Collins (ex-King Crimson) and the harp of Sugar Blue (said to play in the Paris Metro) add the sauce to one of the headiest brews from the Stones in a long time. Electric piano from lan McLagan (Woody’s old Faces compadre) and Charlie's no-frills drumming push this one to the limits. In a recent Rolling Stone interview Jagger indicates that somewhere a 12 minute version featuring Sugar Blue has been released. I’d love to hear it; he’s seething as the track fades. “When the Whip Comes Down” is one of the Stones’ most insistent pieces. Just a

chorus driven into the ground. Meant to be about a gay garbage collector. Can’t decipher the lyric. Unrelenting. The Temptations’ “Just My Imagination Running Away with Me” is given a similar treatment to “Ain't Too Proud to Beg” on It's Only Rock and Roll. Jagger suggests it’s just an English band tuning up on a three chord song. He’s too modest by half. “Some Girls” is more than a passing nod in Dylan's direction, right to the “lethal dose” quote, The phrasing is straight out of Blonde on Blonde, and the lyrics seem to refer to recent Malibu marital follies as much as the Jagger soap opera. More great harp on this one. “Lies”, which closes Side One, is a Stones party song, four to the bar and a chanting chorus, more a pulse than a tune. Side Two opens with Mick Jagger reincarnating Gram Parsons (sort of) with “Far Away Eyes”. Sunday morning in Bakersfield, gospel radio and truckdrivin’ cafes. The best country music the Stones have done. Teardrop steel guitar from Woody. “Respectable” is the Stones ripping the joint. Frantic pace, jeering vocals, a wall of guitars. Then comes the oddity of the album. Keith Richards’ “Before They Make Me Run.” Is this Keith saying goodbye? "I’m gonna find

my way to Heaven/’cause I did my time in Hell." Apparently Keith’s last complete song since "Happy”, Keith's vocals are as poignant as they were on the more lyrical "You Got the Silver” from Let It Bleed. A disturbing song, more desperate than defiant. Ringing guitars evoke Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett in "Beast of Burden", perhaps the Stones’ best soul strut since “That’s How Strong My Love Is." "Shattered” is pure New York in a New York album (despite its Paris recording). Stuttering jive vocals, Sha-dooby back-up, a tight rhythm groove, occasionally shattered by squalling guitar. This album is a total success. Every song is potent and the parts sum up to a greater whole. As Jagger said: “People expect a lot more of us than they do everybody else. "I think it’s a good album and I’m not going to be too modest about it. I think it has a continuity in the characterisations. It doesn’t have the holes, it’s a bit better than the others.” Some Girls is a highpoint for the Stones. The threat of Keith's court case still hangs over the band. Did that uncertainty draw from them this superlative performance? What value surmise? This is superb. Perma styled with elasticized inner pockets.