Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers – Exploring Rock

As I looking through top 100 lists and recommendations from friends in years past, I recognized I had a huge gap in my rock knowledge, despite defining myself as a rock guitar player. This list will be admittedly shameful in the sense that I hadn’t heard of these albums prior, but what better time than the present!

When I think of the term classic rock, one of the first bands that comes to mind is The Rolling Stones. As a guitar player, I’ve had to learn Gimme Shelter, Paint It Black, and Beast of Burden, but I never got into their discography. I remember my roommate from college, Rob, had shown me his dad’s record collection and I saw Sticky Fingers in there. In honor of that day, I checked out Sticky Fingers.

One of the things I really like about this album was the looseness of it all. It felt like they were having fun recording this. Some of the tracks I really enjoyed were “Sway” and “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking?”. The former had some really great guitar solos, done by Mick Taylor and Keith Richards, and the latter had some really interesting vibe changes. What really fascinated me about this album were how some tracks were almost eight minutes long, while others were two minutes. I honestly didn’t think the Stones would be so daring to try an 8 minute track in 1971. Sister Morphine was also another high point. I can trace a line from this song down to music that Elliot Smith made, lyrically, if Elliot was bluesier.

What I didn’t like about the album were tracks like Wild Horses, tracks that I felt repeated far too long and outstayed their welcome. I also really didn’t like the slow speed of I Got The Blues, especially coming off of the energy of Bitch. The tremolo soaked guitar in I Got The Blues is definitely great to listen to though, I will say.

While I don’t think this album is one I will return to often, there are definitely some standout tracks in here that showed me a few links to the past. I don’t listen to the Stones often, this album has a few standout tracks to learn from. I can also definitely see how some of my favorite contemporary artists drew inspiration from artists like the Rolling Stones, or artists that they were inspired by.