Pathe Marconi Studios, Paris 1977

[Heather Anne Peel]

This is where the Rolling Stones were re-born. Ronnie Wood officially joined on December 19, 1975, after touring the Americas with the Stones during the summer of '75. In the fall of '77, the Stones reconvened in this studio and cut their first official tracks with Ronnie as new Stone. Keith had recently kicked his decade long heroin addiction, and was playing with a new-found sense of purpose. Many of the recordings the Stones made there in 1977 ended up on their next three releases: "Some Girls", "Emotional Rescue" and "Tattoo You", and the Stones recorded at this studio into the mid '80s. I am impressed by this period of the Stones, because, much as the advent of Mick Taylor successfully carried them into the '70s, the tracks recorded here with Ronnie Wood successfully carried them into the 1980s. Gone were the horn section, elaborate keyboards and strings. In their place was a fascinating conversational interplay on the guitars between Keith and Ronnie that was every bit as vital, albeit in a subtlety, as the grand riffs and leads were during the Mick Taylor period. In the place of Gibsons played through Ampegs were Fenders, played cleanly through small early Mesa Boogie combos. "Some Girls", "Emotional Rescue", "Tattoo You", "Under Cover" and "Dirty Work" were the albums that comprise this period. "Some Girls" and "Tattoo You" were the most successful, and "Tattoo You" remains my fave from this period, even if some of it's tracks date back as far as 1972. That said, there are aspects of all of them that are great, and I find myself really drawn to "Emotional Rescue" from June 1980. It's a fun, quirky Stones album, but it's also really creative musically. Tracks like "Send It To Me" and "Down In The Hole" showed that the Stones were still able to sound fresh, at that point 20 years into it. Anyway, the Stones successfully re-invented themselves at Pathe Marconi in 1977, forging their present identity, which ensured them another generation (at least) of success. Sure, there are tracks that aren't so great, and "Under Cover", while an interesting album, is not "Exile On Main St", but more importantly I think the music recorded in the '77 sessions was crucial to the Stones' longevity. Apart from the Mick and Keith rift of 1986-88, this is when the Stones began to age with grace, something they continue to do well. Like Muddy Waters or Howlin' Wolf, I suspect they will continue until they drop. Rolling Stones, indeed!

[BritishBluesBoy]

Heather,
Nicely put... Thanks.

BBB.

[Veitchy]

Cheers for that little reflection.

[resotele]

When Keith and Ron are ON they still rock the joint like not many others, even if the stage is huge and tenthousands attend the concerts, like on the actual Bigger Bang Tour.

So for live work I agree with Heather. On stage they age with grace. But not so in the studio. After "Some Girls" (and in part "Tatoo You") they lost the creativity, they lost the emotions, they lost credibility. The "new" songs don't touch me on an emotional level, like good pop- and rocksongs should. And I think they know it themselves. Look at the setlists of their last concerts : two or three (or no) songs from their last cd, and little material from the last 20 years.

[Skully]

So for live work I agree with Heather. On stage they age with grace. But not so in the studio. After "Some Girls" (and in part "Tatoo You") they lost the creativity, they lost the emotions, they lost credibility.

I think you simply stopped listening.

[Big Tony]

Don't mean to hi-jack your thread, Heather Anne.

Just got to thinking about when I was in London for the first time in 1975. I stayed at a friends flat, in the house where Guglielmo Marconi (he won the Swedish Nobel prize in Physics in 1909) used to live. Maybe he's better known as "the inventor of the radio", even if Aleksandr Popov, and Nikola Tesla was on the same track around that time.

Anyways (as Sipowicz, in NYPD Blue, used to say)...

Pathé-Marconi was better known as HMV (His Master's Voice), named after the world famous painting, by French artist Francis Barraud, of the fox terrier "Nipper", with his ear cocked to the gramophone speaker.

In the '20s and '30s, Pathé-Marconi released some of Victor's (later RCA) country blues (and jass) recordings in Europe.

This is a Victrola:



Just rambling...

I'm a geezer, I need to take a nap now...

/ Tony

[Mr. Sparkle]

IMO, longevity is not one of the Stones better qualities. I always thought they would have done well to have hung it up after MT left. Call it blasphemy.

[fenderix]

Thank you Heather for a nice and insightful post! It so happens, that I agree with you to the fullest.

[Heather Anne Peel]

For the record, the Mick Taylor period is my fave. That said, I really have come to appreciate the way the Stones changed after his departure. Rather than try to replace him with another, similar guitarist, they chose Ronnie and in so doing, changed their sound dramatically. Much as they did when Brian Jones and the Stones parted ways.