Waiting on a Friend

Waiting on a Friend - Click Title To Play

Is the the last truly good Stones album? I would contend that it certainly is. Undercover? Steel Wheels? Bridges to Babylon? Come on, what songs on those albums would have ever gotten any airplay if they were released by any band of lesser magnitude than the Rolling Stones? I'm sure I'll get some irate emails from hardcore stones fans extolling the virtues of those later albums, but for me 1981 is basically when I get of the Stones' bus.

A few items of full disclosure here:

1) The above opinion still did not stop yours truly from attending the Steel Wheels tour when it stopped at JFK stadium in Washington during the Summer of 1989. But I honestly did only go there to see them play Ruby Tuesday and the like (although I also kind of remember liking that song Mixed Emotions at the time).

2) Waiting on a Friend is hardly my favorite song on this record. That illustrious spot would be reserved for either "Little T&A" or "Tops". However, at the suggestion of renowned musicologist Matt Ryan this song was selected for the acoustic treatment / dismemberment.

3) Tattoo You is hardly my favorite Stones album, Exile On Main Street is. And I'm pleased to tell you that this has been the case since way before if became en vogue to praise Exile as the quintessential sloppy, loose Stones album. Well, maybe it was always en vogue to praise Exile, but I didn't know it at the time, so does that make me a little less of a poseur? Probably not. Well anyway, somewhere on my hard drive is a nice version of Loving Cup that I'll post one day.

Regardless of whether all Stones albums since 1981 have been a disappointment and pretty much sucked, it hasn't stopped the guys from continuing to tour the world while charging some insane Yankee Stadiumesque ticket prices. But can you blame them? I mean if people will still pay to see them play, why not go out and play for them? Seems kind of odd though; when I saw Steel Wheels 20 years ago I was debating whether or not it was worth it to go out and see a bunch of old guys. What are people thinking today?