Live in El Lay, July 1975
Sometimes you can just tell it’s going to be a good week. Rocks Off heard “It’s Only Rock N Roll” – the prize of the Stones’ interregnum between Exile on Main Street and Some Girls (sorry, “Angie” fans) – on the way home last night and, sure enough, it does help ease the pain. You can almost see Keef nodding off during that extra-dirty riff, and Mick – as usual – is taking no mess: “Bet you think you’re the only woman in town.” (If anyone knows different, it’s him.)
Be that as it may, “It’s Only” makes a solid case that rock and roll will forever be the Stones’ true mistress – and for a band that hardly needed explain itself in 1974, moves the curtain aside just enough to show that Mick sticking a knife in his heart and spilling it right onstage isn’t just a metaphor.
This article appears in Feb 19-25, 2009.
