Sticky Fingers featured one of the most inventive album covers in history. There was an actual zipper that could by pulled down. Now for any of you who own the original LP, did you actually unzip it just to see what was there? And for all the trivia buffs out there, what was found? A lot had happened to the Rolling Stones since the release of Let It Bleed. Brian Jones had been found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool. His demise was termed "death by misadventure" but controversy has surrounded it for decades. The Rolling Stones performance at the Altamont Speedway in California resulted in the beating death of a fan by some Hell’s Angels who had been hired to provide security. This beating was caught on tape. Keith Richards had also begun using heroin regularly and was not available for some of the tracks on this album.
On the positive side, the Rolling Stones had started their own label and Sticky Fingers was its first release. It would also be the first of eight consecutive number one albums for the Stones and would remain on the American charts for 62 weeks.
Sticky Fingers is, in many ways, the band's most personal album. The stark textures of drug use and personal pain are clothed in some of the best rock ‘n’ roll ever produced.
The number one single, “Brown Sugar,” leads off the album. Society was changing and The Rolling Stones were changing along with it. This rocking song of interracial sex would not have received any airplay just a few years before. Bobby Keys would bring his sax virtuosity to this song and others and would be hired to tour with the band as well. He would be a strong addition to the Stones sound.
“Wild Horses” would also be released as a single but only reach number 28 on the charts. This classic slow song with beautiful lyrics and Mick Jagger’s emotional vocal deserved better.
“Can You Hear Me Knocking” should be played as loud as your stereo system and ears can handle. This song has more jamming in it than actual structure. Billy Preston on organ and Bobby Keys on sax drive the song to its conclusion.
“Sister Morphine” was co-written by Marianne Faithful and originally was issued as a single by her. Now this song became a personal cry of pain for The Rolling Stones and especially Keith Richards. It remains a chilling listening experience almost four decades later.
Mick Taylor blossomed on Sticky Fingers. Keith Richards involvement was limited by his increasing addiction and Taylor would provide most of the guitar work. This is very clear on “I Got The Blues” where Taylor goes in a jazz direction as a counterpoint to Billy Preston’s gospel oriented keyboard work.
“Moonlight Mile” ends the album on a hopeful note and provides some relaxation compared to the intensity of the rest of the disc. Mick Taylor’s almost dreamy guitar floats through the mix. This is the first Rolling Stones song where Keith Richards does not receive a playing credit.
Sticky Fingers continued the string of superb album releases by The Rolling Stones. It remains as solid and listenable today as it did in 1971.
Article comments
1 - Randyrocker
The Beatles had introduced their brand logo the 'apple,' now it was time for the stones to have one of their own, so they came out with the 'big lips and tongue image' with Warhol's amazing involvement in the art of the 'Sticky Fingers' cover. This put a stamp on the artistic product of Rolling Stones, this new message, said they would be around for a long time to come, as they had now reached a new state of ownership of their product. A major coup in those heady days of big league rock and roll profits made by the well known record companies of the day. To support this new launch, they needed the strongest and best produced album money could buy, so they hired a new producer Jimmy Miller, and set to work, creating a team of musicians, that could take them over the top, winning back their older record label fans as well as a string of new ones. This album secured their future in the recording industry, and imprinted their identity as an organization to be dealt with. From then the ball was in their court, and they owned their own bank.
Sticky Fingers was one of their greatest albums of all time, for more reasons than just it's great cuts and fabulous music. A smart decision on their part to create it, and a smarter decision on your part to go out and buy it. With deference to the Rolling Stones, in this one stroke, one can still see, the Beatles leading the way to self empowerment. The Rolling Stones were never ones to underestimate the Beatles contributions to the music industry, and with all due respect, their contribution to it's many great entertainers.
2 - Rob
If Exile is the wild King Lear of music, Sticky Fingers is the dark Hamlet.
The cover (a Warhol movie actor; not Mick) coined the phrase "Cock Rock."
Today we're oversaturated with the song Brown Sugar in the media. Try to imagine what it would have been like to hear this song for the first time; very. Surely it must have been a relevatory experience of Biblical proportions.
This album reaches heights and depths not heard from previously. This children, is the Stones firing on all proverbial cylinders.
3 - Douglas Mays
Yes, the album that produced 'Can't you hear me knockin'... Enuf said.
Warhol cover art. Those damn zippers warped every album in the box!
best,
DM
4 - Andrew
Great read. What an Album! Hair-raising and chilling songs in equal measure.