The Stones

I've been around long enough to have had favorite bands that I listened to so goddam much that hearing them actually made me physically ill. I'm talking Led Zep, The Beatles, The Stones. I listened to The Beatles daily for years--after a decade off I'm now able to hear some of their albums again without puking. Led Zep I can handle now and again after a similar hiatus, but I proceed with caution. The Stones I started craving about six months ago, but all I have is on vinyl and I have no working turntable. I'd not really listened to them since I saw the Steel Wheels tour at RFK--after Keith came out and blew the soundsystem with the opening chord of Start Me Up there was a two-hour delay before the World's Largest Sing-along; once the concert ended I was just done with the Stones, and I was done with them for fifteen years. I wore that shit out. So which album does one buy on CD to get a little Glimmer Twins groove on after time off? There's so many tasty choices.

It may piss off the purists, but I decided on Some Girls. I mean, come on, this album has it all--the slithering sexy disco of Miss You, the irresistably rough cover of Imagination, the countrified corn of Far Away Eyes, my favorite Keith tune Before They Make Me Run, the awesome soul ballad Beast of Burden--and topping things off is the tune that really paved the way for rap in the Top 40 (sorry, Blondie--Mick was into the street music in NYC long before your name-dropping Rapture hit the charts)-- Shattered.

I love this album. I rocked out to it all afternoon while cataloging economics texts.