Some Girls (1978)


 


  1.Miss You
  2.When The Whip Comes Down
  3.Just My Imagination (Runnin' Away With Me)
  4.Some Girls
  5.Lies
  6.Far Away Eyes
  7.Respectable
  8.Before They Make Me Run
  9.Beast of Burden
 10.Shattered

 

One of the band's very best, and some will argue the last "classic" album they've released to date. Odd that it came out in 1978 since many classic groups hit a bump when they tried to replicate "popular" music of the time (this would have been punk and disco). The Stones manage to do a great job of incorporating those two styles, yet staying true enough to their original sound to not only not embarrass themselves, but to produce songs that were way above anyone's expectations. Ron Wood was now an "official" member, so all of the cuts here feature the new band in it's entirety (he didn't play on all of the songs on the last studio album Black and Blue).

When it comes to dance/disco, witness Miss You, one of the best singles the band has ever released and featuring one of the most memorable hooks of all time in the history of rock 'n roll - with Jagger, Richard and Wood crooning the chorus in memorable falsetto fashion. Contrary to the reputation, this is not a disco/dance album. After this cut, they basically retort to "themselves", yet the songs are so catchy, so memorable, that the "style" of this album is basically irrelevant.

The nastiness factor is featured in full swing. A song like When the Whip Comes Down doesn't leave much to the imagination, and the title cut, Some Girls, manages to be both misogynist and racist at the same time. This song would have never made the cut several years later in the era of political correctness (although Jesse Jackson did stage a protest when it was released). Although some would disagree, I found Shattered to have a bit of punk feel to it, but like every other style this band tackles, they manage to make the sound their own while making the track a classic.

Speaking of different styles of music, they feature their best tongue in cheek song probably ever with the country-ish Faraway Eyes. It seems the band would usually try for a country song on many albums, some serious, some outright hilarious. This one is a lot of fun to croon along to while listening. They even manage to give us, what I think is the best cover song they've done, The Temptations' Just My Imagination (Runnin' Away with Me). It's done in a fashion that they manage to uniquely mold into their own style.

Keith Richards would begin to have a lead vocal credit or two on each album starting with this one. Ironic, because of the Jaggar-Richards songwriting team, Keith was always the one to maintain that the group remain rooted in their original style, yet his tunes seem to be the most atypical sounding contributions to the groups effort. As he does here, with Before they Make Me Run, it's irrelevant because the song is welcome. Still, though, the biggest irony is the quality of the album, just when many people probably gave up on them as "has beens".


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