Hell yeah, I’ll take another bowl of “Goats Head Soup,” please! Coming off of their 1972 record, “Exile on Main Street,” The Rolling Stones regrouped in 1973, releasing one of my all-time favourite records, “Goats Head Soup.” I still remember to this day how I fell deeply in love with this record. The owner at the record shop that I’ve been frequenting since my early high school days had it on the counter, and asked me if I ever heard of it. Just the amazement coming off of his face was priceless, it was as if I was missing out on something great. AND I WAS! I was in shock after listening to it for the first time, the melodies on every track stuck to me. And this was during my Concordia university days. At the time, yeah, I was streaming music from Spotify, but I had an iPod classic of 160G. I’ve loaded this device with so much music, but no matter what the setting was or situation, I always found myself going back to “Goats Head Soup.” I mean, just the production of the record was great, you’ve got your rock and roll, and funky elements that magically incorporate itself in the music. And not to forget that Mick Jagger’s raw vocals can’t get any better. IMPOSSIBLE!
The first side kicks off with a sort of creepy tune called, “Dancing with Mr. D. ” I find that it’s a perfect tune if you’re daring enough to get into that Halloween spirit. It’s a great mysterious, funk/rock melody, kinda like giving you the impression as if you’re going down into this world of the unknown. But then, the transition becomes interesting, where we make our way to this beautiful mellow, yet funky song, “100 Years Ago.” I love it because it’s sort of a reflection within the past, and how life was much simpler then as it is now. And just for the record, listen also to the piano demo found in the deluxe edition of the album, where you only hear Mick Jagger’s vocals being accompanied with nothing, but a piano. Beautiful at its wonders!
The record can also get energetic too, I mean, you can never go wrong with “Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker).” It sort of shadows over unexpecting and shocking death, that contains two stories in one. A New York City police officer shot a young boy to death of mistaken identity, and a ten year old girl died in the alleyway from a drug overdose. Yes, it has a-bit of shocking content, but the music is just amazing! You got some vocal harmonies, a horn section, kinda like reviving that big band spirit. And I’m just in awe when it comes to how Mick Jagger expresses himself in this song. You can literally hear the guy pouring out his soul into this song. “Winter,” is my favourite song on the record. It means so much to me because it would somehow give me hope that, yeah, days can be bad where we can get heartbroken from the things we deeply love. But rest assured, that summer is coming, and we’ll all enjoy it to the maximum. The record comes to an end with a moving rock and roll piece, “Star Star.” Its melody is very moving, specifically how Charlie Watts keeps that steady drum beat kicks ass! Yet, it has some sort of a sexual content to it. Yeah, it could be shocking for some, but who really cares! To me, it’s a helluva rock and roll song.