Category Archives: history

What I’ve Been Listening To Lately: Between The Buttons

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In 1967 I turned 11, and my aunt Dottie’s present was a copy of The Rolling Stones Between the Buttons.

It may be my greatest present ever, though I’m sure that’s a reckless statement. I’ve been gifted a lot, thank you totally.

The thing about Between the Buttons is it is not a Rolling Stones blues record. Though the blues are played, for sure. I’m terrible at these historical things, but the record seems to represent the apotheosis of Brian Jones. His influence is everywhere, and the music benefits from odd instrumentation and challenging harmonies.

It’s not like the 12×5 Stones were underachievers, but in many ways the Between the Buttons cuts are wilder and more creative than the more extravagant Beatles experiments at the same time. The Stones didn’t ever, I think, get totally absurd in their posture (even considering Gomper), while the Beatles got pretty mental in their days. In any case, Between the Buttons is an album of pop songs, some influenced by psychedelic experiences and styles of the time.

When I decided to write about this I had an “neglected elpee” angle, but everybody gives it five stars. Everyone considers Between the Button a masterpiece. So what I have to share are some clips, in case you didn’t know about masterpiece it is (it wasn’t really conceived as an album).

 

My two cents. These Stones are Brian Jones Stones. This is incredible music, orchestration, songs. The Stones went from great bluesimitators to pop meisters like the Beatles and the Kinks. Brian Jones was in charge of that.

We always think of Jagger and Richard, but this was a band that was led by Brian Jones, in the first part, and Mick Taylor in the classic part. And when Ron Wood came in the live magic didn’t end, but the songwriting and arrangements did.

Between the Buttons may be the high mark of the Brian Jones era. It’s a high mark indeed.

 

 

 

 

Weird Rolling Stones, Blow With Ry

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What I didn’t know when I bought this sort-of Rolling Stones record a long time ago was that it was put out by an a-hole named Allen Klein, who had been the manager of the Stones, capitalizing on tapes he owned the rights to after they broke up.

What I did know when I bought this disk was that it was a pile of awfully good jamming by some awfully good musicians, even if it wasn’t at all polished or shaped. This, I thought, was musicians I liked playing what they wanted, and it sure was sweet.

I posted about It Hurts Me Too, that old Elmore James song, a few years ago, but tonight I found myself back here and this long jam is awfully good. Blow with Ry, because Keith was mad about having a great slide player come in. Okay.

LINK: Beatles/Stones Cage Match, Refereed by Michael Salfino

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Michael is a friend of Remnants, and has categorically decided who is greater, the Beatles or the Stones.

A fun read.

Michael and I went to a show with Mike Meyers, the Spy Who Shagged Me, at the NY Public Library a few years ago, that tried to answer the same question.

Michael’s approach here is a little more data driven than Mike’s (and his brother’s), and at the same time just as arbitrary as everyone else’s. The problem, I think, are the categories. Deriving anything from the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame is bound to get you in trouble.

What are the right categories? Off the top of my head?

Best Album

Best Run of Albums

Live Performance

Influence

Innovation

Songs

I don’t know. It’s hard not to shape the questions to fit the answer you want to give, though I think the answer is the Beatles, even though the Stones are my more favorite band.

Try going with my categories and Michaels and see if you can up with different answers?

It could easily be a tie.

 

Boomtown Rats, I Don’t Like Mondays

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When I first heard this song it was way more punk rock than most punk rock, thematically if not sonically.

When I was in high school I fantasized about blowing the whole place up. Didn’t we all?

This is the conceit of the movie Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, isn’t it?

But the Boomtown Rats endure, and are important and their initial joust doesn’t say much about gun violence, but it sure does crank on the dynamics of mental health and violence and our lives.

Isley Brothers, Summer Breeze

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I was in a bar tonight with my friend Herrick. The bar is new, it’s called Bierwax. Bad name, right? Here’s a link to their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/BierWax-269076593218456/.

What they do is sell 12 draft beers from local breweries you can’t get anywhere else. That’s the bier part. Plus a couple of handfuls of bottles, cans, and big bottles of craft beers.

They also have thousands of vinyl elpees on the wall behind the bar, and two DJ turntables on the back shelf. That’s the wax part.

No requests, it says plainly on the shelves of vinyl, and you can’t see what they have. So, you could say, Counting Crows please? And they would mock you.

Or rather, they would be as nice as they are, and they wouldn’t play any Counting Crows.

In any case, this tune came on at some point, and we were talking and didn’t hear the intro and the rather signature guitar line. Catching up in the middle, four plus minutes in, it gets wild enough you hope Seals and Crofts never heard it.