For my money, Mick is the ultimate front man. Hell, he’s been recording and performing for over forty years, snarling and twisting through some of the most recognizable rock tunes the world over. Although his solo stuff will never get the same attention as what he’s done with Keith and crew, this comp does a more than decent job chronicling Mick’s output working with the likes of John Lennon, David Bowie, Bono, Peter Tosh, and a truly awesome who’s who of session musicians and producers. I mean, what self-respecting studio stud would turn down an opportunity to back Mick Jagger, even if the results could never measure up to Beggars Banquet, Exile on Main St. or even Some Girls?
On the subject of studio studs, the John Lennon produced and previously unreleased “Too Many Cooks (Spoil The Soup)” is worth the price of the album all by itself. Apparently, it was cut during the legendary “lost weekend” period when the former Beatle was spending way too much time drinking alcoholic milk shakes with one Harry Nilsson, yet still managed to produce his oddly powerful Pussy Cats album and make it to a few Sunday sessions to hang with Mick and some of LA’s most talented musicians. Mick made the most of his stellar company, ripping through this most soulful offering. It’s got everything you’d ever want from an early 70’s jam: driving bass, inspired female backing vocals, horn section, drums rolls aplenty, organ grinds, guitars, and a lyrical bent tracing the fine line between innuendo and overt sexual heat. Oh yeah, they nailed it in one take.
One of the other previously unreleased songs, “Charmed Life,” with it’s heavy production, disco flavored beats and Spanish guitar never would have made it on a Stones album. The same goes for “Just Another Night,” off 1985’s surprisingly successful She’s The Boss. Unfortunately, “Let’s Work,” from Primitive Cool doesn’t hold up beyond its overproduced 80’s sound. It’s this element, however, that makes Mick’s solo stuff intriguing. He’s willing to try out unexpected tunes that don’t fit the mold of his legacy, exploring music on his own that differs from that distinct white-boy-rocks-the-blues formula that we all know and love.
Moving on, the Rick Ruben produced numbers off of Wandering Spirit are some of Mick’s finest. The falsetto charged single, “Sweet Thing,” supplies a mad infectious, nearly hip hop groove. The country ballad “Wedding Gown,” is stripped of any irony, and might convince all of us for just a moment that our English lad could have had a decent career as a Nashville crooner.
The smash David Bowie collaboration cover of “Dancing In The Streets,” sounds a little goofy after two decades, but it was curiously recorded in response to the Ethiopian famine of the time, so I’ll give it a pass. The Peter Tosh duet, “(You Got To Walk And) Don’t Look Back,” is heads and shoulders above “Joy,” with Bono, from the more recent Goddess In The Doorway.
Packed with 17 tracks, even if a handful aren’t stellar, Mick delivers what he always has: signature phrasing backed by the best in the biz. Sure, he may have started out studying to be an accountant, schooling that has definitely served him well, but he’s a lion of a singer that has roared tunes all his own that are most worthy of another go-around.
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