The Rolling Stones – Goats Head Soup [Vinyl LP]

The Rolling Stones – Goats Head Soup [180g Vinyl LP]

Details

• Format: Vinyl LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo
• Catalogue Number: 893968
• Barcode: 0602508939686
• Genre: Rock / Blues Rock / Hard Rock
• Label: Rolling Stones Records / Polydor
• Originally Released: 31 August 1973
• Reissue Released: 4 September 2020
• Pressing: 180 Gram Vinyl
• Condition: New & Sealed

Description

Goats Head Soup is the tenth studio album by The Rolling Stones — Mick Jagger (vocals, guitar, piano), Keith Richards (guitar, vocals), Mick Taylor (guitar, bass), Charlie Watts (drums) and Bill Wyman (bass) — originally released on 31 August 1973 on Rolling Stones Records. The bulk of the album was recorded in November and December 1972 at Dynamic Sounds Studio in Kingston, Jamaica, with Richards having suggested the location partly because Jamaica was one of very few places that would grant the band entry at the time. Additional recording took place at Village Recorder in Los Angeles and at Stargroves in Hampshire, Jagger's country estate. The album was produced by Jimmy Miller — his fifth and final collaboration with the Stones, closing a run that had encompassed Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St. Regular Stones collaborators featured prominently throughout: Nicky Hopkins and Billy Preston on piano, Bobby Keys on saxophone, Jim Horn on horns and Ian Stewart on piano. The album reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200 on its original release.

The mood of Goats Head Soup is markedly different from the feral energy of Exile: slower, more autumnal, more given to ballads and mid-tempo introspection. This shift was in part a product of exhaustion — the band had been on the road almost continuously — and in part a deliberate creative move towards softer textures and more intimate arrangements. The result has divided listeners and critics across five decades. At the time of release, some heard the change as a retreat; in the years since, many have come to hear it differently, as an album of considerable emotional depth and textural richness. The extraordinary ballad "Winter" — with its sweeping string arrangement and one of Jagger's most affecting vocal performances — sits alongside the hard-driving "Dancing With Mr. D", the delicate soul of "Coming Down Again" (the album's most confessional moment, sung by Richards), and the Jamaican-inflected groove of "100 Years Ago". The album's critical reputation has continued to grow significantly in recent decades.

The lead single "Angie" reached number one on both the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming one of the band's defining ballads and the album's commercial centrepiece. "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)" was released as a US single and reached number fifteen on the Hot 100. The 2020 reissue — featuring a new stereo mix by Giles Martin sourced from the original session files — returned Goats Head Soup to number one on the UK Albums Chart, nearly fifty years after its original release, a remarkable testament to the renewed interest that accompanied the project.

This 2020 reissue on Rolling Stones Records / Polydor, with new stereo mix by Giles Martin and half-speed mastering by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios, London (Room 30), presents the complete 10-track album on 180 gram vinyl in a gatefold sleeve. Made in the EU.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Dancing With Mr. D
2. 100 Years Ago
3. Coming Down Again
4. Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
5. Angie

Side B

1. Silver Train
2. Hide Your Love
3. Winter
4. Can You Hear the Music
5. Star Star

Credits

• Mick Jagger – Vocals, Guitar, Piano
• Keith Richards – Guitar, Vocals
• Mick Taylor – Guitar, Bass
• Charlie Watts – Drums, Percussion
• Bill Wyman – Bass
• Nicky Hopkins – Piano
• Billy Preston – Piano, Clavichord
• Bobby Keys – Saxophone
• Jim Horn – Horns
• Ian Stewart – Piano
• Jimmy Miller – Producer
• Giles Martin – Mix (2020 Stereo Mix)
• Miles Showell – Half-Speed Mastering, Abbey Road Studios
• David Bailey – Photography, Original Sleeve Design
• Label – Rolling Stones Records / Polydor