"Goats Head Soup" by THE ROLLING STONES – August 1973 UK and US LP on Rolling Stones Records - Guests Included Billy Preston, Nicky Hopkins, Ian Stewart, Rick Grech, Jimmy Page, Bobby Keys and Jim Price with Bruce Rowlands and Jim Keltner (September 2020 UK/EU Rolling Stones Records/Polydor 2CD Deluxe Edition Reissue with New Giles Martin and Greg Calbi Stereo Remixes and Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Sexy Beast..."

 

*** 2020 Remaster vs. 1994 and 2009 Versions *** 

The June 1994 Virgin Single-CD Remaster had the original uncensored version of "Star Star" - but is now long deleted. The May 2009 subsequent Remaster at the hands of Polydor added unseen insult to injury by using the censored version (naughty words clumsily edited out) without announcing it on the packaging.

 

So now in September 2020, we thankfully revert to the original line-up ("Star Star" intact as it should be) and add in a second disc in the form of a 2CD Deluxe Edition offering 10 Previously Unissued Mixes, Alternates and Updated Outtakes – one of which features Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin on Guitar (not so you'd notice mind).

 

The New 2020 Stereo Mix by GILES MARTIN (of Abbey Road fame) with Mastering from the masterful GREG CALBI (Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon and hundreds more) finally gives us the Audio Version that this notoriously muddy album has always deserved. This is without doubt the best that 'Soup' has ever sounded and that CD2 is alarmingly good too. So once more to the veils my peeps and let us wallow in some cauldron broth (on and off the menu)...

 

UK/EU released 4 September 2020 - "Goats Head Soup" by THE ROLLING STONES on Rolling Stones Records/Polydor 089 396-4 (Barcode 602508939648) is a 2CD Deluxe Edition Reissue and New 2020 Remaster that plays out as follows:

 

CD1 - New Stereo Mix - (46:48 minutes):

1. Dancing With Mr. D [Side 1]

2. 100 Years Ago

3. Coming Down Again

4. Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)

5. Angie

6. Silver Train [Side 2]

7. Hide Your Love

8. Winter

9. Can You Hear The Music

10. Star Star

Tracks 1 to 10 are the album "Goats Head Soup" by THE ROLLING STONES - released 31 August 1973 in both the USA and UK on Rolling Stones COC 59101. Produced by JIMMY MILLER - it also hit the No. 1 spot on both LP charts.

 

CD2 – Rarities & Alternative Mixes – (39:50 minutes):

1. Scarlett

2. All The Rage

3. Criss Cross

4. 100 YearsAgo (Piano Demo)

5. Dancing With Mr. D. (Instrumental)

6. Heartbreaker (Instrumental)

7. Hide Your Love (Alternate Mix)

8. Dancing with Mr. D. (Glyn Johns 1973 Mix)

9. Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) (Glyn Johns 1973 Mix)

10. Silver Train (Glyn Johns 1973 Mix)

 

THE ROLLING STONES were:

MICK JAGGER - Lead Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica and Piano

KEITH RICHARD - Lead Guitar, Bass and Vocals

MICK TAYLOR - Lead Guitar, Bass and Vocals

BILL WYMAN - Bass

CHARLIE WATTS - Drums

 

CD1 Album Guests:

NICKY HOPKINS - Piano on Tracks 1, 3, 5, 8 and 9

BILLY PRESTON - Clavinet on Track 1, 2 and Piano on Track 4

IAN STEWART - Piano on Tracks 6 and 10

BOBBY KEYS - Tenor and Baritone Saxophone

JIM HORN - Flute and Saxophone

CHUCK FINLEY - Trumpet

JIM PRICE - Horns on Track 4

NICKY HARRISON - String Arrangements on Tracks 5 and 8

PASCHAL BEBOP and JIMMY MILLER - Percussion

 

CD2 Rarities Guests:

JIMMY PAGE – Guitar on Track 1

IAN STEWART – Piano and Organ on Track 1, Piano on Tracks 2, 5 and 7 with Organ on Track 6

NICKY HOPKINS – Piano on Tracks 2, 4, 5 and 6

BILLY PRESTON – Keyboards on Track 3

BOBBY KEYS –Saxophone on Tracks 5, 6 and 7

JIM PRICE – Trumpet on Track 6

RICK GRECH – Bass on Track 1

BRUCE ROWLANDS – Drums on Track 1

JIM KELTNER - Timbales on Track 3

 

The much-lauded booklets of these 2CD Deluxe Editions is yet again another over-it in a matter of minutes ho-hum affair – 20-pages of sessions photos accompanied by 2-pages of reissue credits at the back that list the players for all tracks and bugger all else. There is no critique of the album or historical placing liner notes which is just ludicrous, but unfortunately typical of their reissues. The original duo of inserts (an inner bag in the USA) and that gatefold artwork all make their way onto the triple-fold-out card sleeve but again the artwork feels lessened somehow to me and not made better. Both GILES MARTIN and CRAIG SILVEY are listed as the bods behind the 2020 Mixes while 2020 Mastering is down to GREG CALBI and EMILY LAZAR. And that's where the real goodies lie...

 

Man does this sucker Rock. Those album cuts we've all loved for decades like the beautiful "Winter" and the trippy "Can You Hear The Music?" are shining (in as much as they can). As someone who has been listening to the dull mastering of the original LP and the definite improvements provided in 1994 and 2009 – this properly thorough Remix in 2020 is a revelation. Stuff like "Dancing With Mr. D" rocks too (a sequel to "Sympathy To The Devil" that isn't quite as great) and the largely Acoustic "Angie" can only be described as Sublime Audio - not something you say about The Rolling Stones on CD very often. Although they didn't issue it as a 45 in the UK - the USA put out "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)" as an A-side 7" single in February 1974 with "Dancing With Mr. D" on the flip - it went to No. 15.

 

The sinking into dark-eyes and rotten-teeth druginess of "Coming Down Again" has Keith taking the Lead Vocals before Mick takes over. But as Richards sings in a pleading ache "...she was dying to survive..." and later "...where are all my friends..." - you can literally feel his own spirit crying out for rescue from what was surely a suicidal and inevitable path towards Heroin. The 'case of mistaken identity' song "Heartbreaker" about cops with their trigger-happy forty-fours sounds incredible as does Billy Preston’s piano and that trio of expert brass players. And "Silver Train" rocks too - huge build of slide guitars - Mick Taylor adding so much as he always did – while Mick blows a mean Harmonica and claims he 'did not know her name' but she left with all the money anyway (yikes).

 

Like most I had not expected much from CD2, but frankly I can't stop playing the nifty sounding bugger to death. The first three are the new songs, old outtakes updated and they are excellent – kicking rockers that make me re-imagine Side 1 of the LP in my brain. The "100 Years Ago Demo" almost outdoes the finished article – Jagger clear and intimate as only Nicky Hopkins accompanies him on the old Johanna. Both the Instrumentals of "Dancing" and "Heartbreaker" are fantastic – all that muscle and riffage sneaking across your room. The remaining four are rougher but feel like a Punk Rolling Stones with their voodoo power intact. And again – I cannot stress enough how good that Instrumental of "Heartbreaker" is – crystal clear Acoustic Guitar opening – Bobby Keys and Jim Price giving in their Horns Magic throughout – Rocking and Beautiful at one and the same time. This is Rolling Stones magic.

 

There are multiple formats for this September 2020 reissue of "Goats Head Soup" – the sexy beast variant being the LP-Sized Super Deluxe Box Set with a CD3, Book, Memorabilia Repros and more.

 

The bottom line is that this 2020 version of the mucho-dismissed "Goats Head Soup" album is the best ever. And for a Stones album I've always held a candle for, I'll take this newly cooked two-horned stew all day long over the ones that went before...