Goats Head Soup - Rolling Stones (The) (CD 1994)

Goats' Head Soup ended the Stones' amazing run of truly essential albums - what other band in history has put together a run like Beggar's Banquet, Let it Bleed, Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main Street? When released this album was panned by critics and has been forgotten by most folk but the true Stones' faithful.

This judgement is unfair. When blazing new trails you're bound to take some wrong turns. And sure the thought of "Winter," "Dancing with Mr. D." and "100 Years Ago" today probably makes the band wince and Brian Jones roll over in his grave.

However "Angie" (which set the stage for the subsequent 20 years of ballads by "power" rockers all the way up to and including Guns and Roses' "November Rain") "Heartbreaker" and "Coming Down Again" are three gems and worth the price of the CD alone. Throw in more classic Stonesy-sounding tracks like "Silver Train" and "Star Star" (a humorous romp through the world of 70s groupies) and you've got an album that puts most "classic" 70s albums to shame.