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Friday, Apr 5, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* My answer to today’s question is via Greil Marcus’ original review…

“Gimmie Shelter” is a song about fear; it probably serves better than anything written this year as a passageway straight into the next few years. The band builds on the dark beauty of the finest melody Mick and Keith have ever written, slowly adding instruments and sounds until an explosively full presence of bass and drums rides on over the first crest of the song into the howls of Mick and a woman, Mary Clayton.

It’s a full-faced meeting with all the terror the mind can summon, moving fast and never breaking so that men and women have to beat that terror at the game’s own pace. When Mary Clayton sings alone, so loudly and with so much force you think her lungs are bursting, Richard’s frames her with jolting riffs that blaze past her and take it back to Mick. Their answer and their way out matches the power of the threat: “It’s just a shot away, it’s just a shot away … it’s just a kiss away, it’s just a kiss away.” The truly fearful omen of the music is that you know just a kiss won’t be enough. This song, caught up in its own momentum, says you need the other too.

I bet I’ve listened to this song ten thousand times, but it still gives me chills…

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Question of the day

Friday, Apr 5, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* These two Chicago concert dates mean I won’t be able to go. Spring session will be in full swing…

The Rolling Stones, who rocked London and New York in 2012, announced that they will kick off their “50 AND COUNTING” Tour in LA and come to Chicago on Tuesday, May 28, and Friday, May 31, 2013. […]

Tickets for The Rolling Stones “50 AND COUNTING” Tour will go on sale on Monday, April 8 at 10:00 AM at the United Center Box Office, Ticketmaster Outlets, online at Ticketmaster.com or by phone at (800) 745-3000.

Ticket Prices:
Main Floor: $600
100 level: $600
200 level: $600
300 level: $150, $250

A friend of mine went to the New York show and said it was awesome.

* Here’s the best part…

Mick Taylor, who was a member of the Rolling Stones from 1969-74, will be a special guest throughout the tour.

Yeah, baby.

Taylor was a guitar god when he came to the Stones. Turn it up…

From Sticky Fingers‘ liner notes…

A bit of advice from Jimmy M.: Maximum cycle characteristics and frequency response at high decibel level have been set according to standards suggested in the GUY STEVENS Producer Manual, chart R-357, in index, page 304. These recommended standards were compiled by the same authority having recently measured audible damage created by supersonic aircraft – if for any reason you do not agree with the standards, turn it up.

And I did. Oh, man, did I ever.

Sure, this is probably just a nostalgia tour, but Mick Taylor is worth the price of admission. Wish I could go.

* The Question: Your favorite Rolling Stones song? Explain.

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