In Praise Of... Mick Taylor

That's bullshit

how is this even possible? that is a sad story...

Taylor's retracting the original story: http://www.nme.com/news/the-rolling-stones/47326

The Daily Mail tell fibs? Shocking.

Can you imagine joining the biggest band in the world at the time, at age 20?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ1CRKiwdho

ffwd to the epic outro (~2:30): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ1CRKiwdho

Keith is in open-G capo 4 (open B) and Mick is in standard but listen to (aside from a few throwaway lead lines 2:58-3:16, looks like Keith tells him to stop) how absolutely locked in he is with Keith & the rhythm section, you get nice video at 3:33-3:39.

So I am dumb and don't know anything at all about music or instruments. Would it be possible to explain to me, in words I could understand, what I'm hearing here and which part Mick Taylor is playing? I ask because I love the outro to Tumbling Dice and I've been wondering for years what exactly is happening in it that makes it sound so good.

The outro is a simple repetitive riff by Keith who is the heart of this song, he really drives every aspect of it. Mick Taylor is just a kid, fresh out of Mayall's Blues band (he replaced Peter Green who replaced Eric Clapton), so he has a tendency to want to do these wanky leads which are just unnecessary, but Keith is like: "Just surrender to this groove man" and when they are in-step/sync, it's just about heaven.

The more complicated way to describe what's happening is that Keith plays a very particular tuning that was not common outside of blues & some folk (he only uses 5-strings in open-G but capo'd on the 4th fret = BF#BD#F#) whereas Mick Taylor is playing standard (EADGBE) but despite the different tunings, they are playing the exact same notes for most of the outro. Some strings Keith plays ring open at times, and most of the time Mick's playing gives more depth & body to the repetitive groove. It's the stylistic differences of the two of them being forced to do the same thing that is rather magical to my ears. And not to discount the rest of the band, the keys & the brass is also great. But sometimes I hear why Mick Taylor was such a key figure in this era of the Stones and I try to put my finger on it.

Beautifully put. And it's enlightening to catch Keith playing boss/bandleader (maybe a bit territorial?) in that clip. Never noticed it before.

Always enjoy trying to parse the lyrics to TD. I seem to hear “fever in the pork house, now” when it goes to the fourth and fifth

Thank you, that's a great explanation.

Big Taylor fan, but in hindsight he was a really weird choice for the Stones. I mean those guys could barely play…

I don't know if I would say he ever overplayed on the studio albums, though. Maybe on "Time Waits For No-One".

KR: "Mick Taylor is a great guitarist, but he found out the hard way that that's all he is"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuzC_3ai1ek

I mean wasn't Mick Taylor stuffed by the Stones for songwriting royalties or am I misremembering something?

Yeah. He legit wrote the music for "Moonlight Mile" and "Sway," for example.

upthread there's a claimed update to the gold-records story, where taylor apparently told NME that actually the daily mail version of the story was scurrilously exaggerated gossip and that he was still on good terms with the band

Taylor's retracting the original story: http://www.nme.com/news/the-rolling-stones/47326

― dad a, Wednesday, 16 September 2009 02:55 (twelve years ago) bookmarkflaglink

unfortunately linkrot and the NME's usual digital incompetence means the story isn't there any more so who knows where things stand (daily mail never a good source tho)

Yeah. He legit wrote the music for "Moonlight Mile" and "Sway," for example.

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, August 15, 2022 5:00 PM (forty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

two of the best Stones songs imo

also "time waits for no one"

That one absolute leapt out at me on a recent replay of the IORNR LP

two of the best Stones songs imo

― politics is about vibes and the vibes are off (stevie

top tem for me

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