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We counted down the complete Beatles’ catalog, and now we take on their rivals for title of best rock band ever – The Rolling Stones. This time we’re going to break down the band’s 40+ year career in easily digestible chunks. Because Universal will be reissuing the Stones’ studio albums from the seventies, we figured that would be a great place to start. Besides, it was arguably their most fertile decade, at least in terms of variety. Their output ranged from the ragged brilliance of 1971’s Sticky Fingers to the unbridled energy of 1978’s Some Girls. In between we find the sprawling Exile on Main Street, the decadent Goats Head Soup, the fiery It’s Only Rock and Roll and the soulful Black and Blue. Keep in mind, the countdown only includes studio album cuts, no live or unreleased tracks. Check back each day for the next five songs on the list, prepare to hit the message boards to defend your favorites, and follow the countdown all the way to Number 1.

The complete list to date.

The Last Five:

40. “Dancing with Mr. D” (from Goats Head Soup)

39. “Sway” (from Sticky Fingers)

38. “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)” (from Some Girls)

37. “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)” (from Goats Head Soup)

36. “Coming Down Again” (from Goats Head Soup)

35. “Fingerprint File”

From It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll

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Considering what we later found out about the U.S. government’s preoccupation with John Lennon and their efforts to get him deported, maybe Mick Jagger wasn’t being so paranoid with “Fingerprint File,” The Rolling Stones’ closing track on 1974’s It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll. Jagger warns about “some little jerk in the FBI/Keeping papers on me six feet high.”

This would be Mick Taylor’s last performance with the Stones, and, ironically, it finds him playing bass (Bill Wyman played synthesizer). The hard-edged funk represented the direction the band would take without Taylor, and, however much you can debate the merits of that move, it’s hard to deny the itchy aggression of this track.

Taylor acquits himself well on the bass, locked in tight with Keith Richards’ wonderful wah-wah and Charlie Watts cymbal-heavy beat. Jagger puts all of his actorly skills into his performance, which is full of vocal spasms and a patter that switches from cool and on the down-low one minute to frenzied and harried the next. Like a film-noir classic, “Fingerprint File” occupies the nether region between seduction and dread.

34. “Till The Next Goodbye”

From It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll

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Once again, we’re on It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll, albeit this time with the polar opposite of “Fingerprint File.” “Till The Next Goodbye” is a tender ballad delicately played and soaked in a bittersweet sauce that’s one of the Stones’ underrated specialties, especially on the slow ones.

The acoustic guitar interplay of Richards, Taylor and Jagger is lovely here, with Nicky Hopkins’ piano filling in the gaps nicely. Jagger sings about two lovers who seem to meet sporadically and for only brief periods of time, which leads to the assumption that this is an affair.

But Jagger’s wounded voice betrays true affection for the woman in the song, although he finds consolation in the harmonies his buddies provide in the refrains. This is one of the subtler gems to be found in the group’s imposing catalog.

33. “Sweet Black Angel”

From Exile on Main St.

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If I had a nickel for every woman who thought that Mick Jagger had written a song about her, well, I’d have a lot of nickels, damn it! But, in actuality, most of the female characters in the Stones’ songs are amalgams, composites of several different women and experiences from which rock’s ultimate playboy drew inspiration.

But “Sweet Black Angel” has a definite muse: Angela Davis, a civil-rights activist who was facing murder charges at the time (of a judge, which made the case quite the media sensation). Jagger deftly manages to hint at the racial overtones that clouded the case without coming off as righteous, instead focusing on Davis’ character in the face of her ordeal (“Well de gal in danger/De gal in chains/But she keep on pushin’/Would you do the same?”)

Davis eventually did get off. (She would later run for Vice President on the American Communist Party ticket in 1980.) It’s doubtful that “Sweet Black Angel” and its understated, back-porch folk had much to do with her release. But it’s still a song that flies in the face of the notion of the Stones as hedonist rock caricatures, even if it took Mick writing a protest song as a mash note.

32. “Hand of Fate”

From Black and Blue

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There is a whole lot of stuff on Black and Blue. There’s a touch of funk, a dash of reggae, a whiff of disco. But there isn’t a whole lot that sounds like The Rolling Stones. Luckily, “Hand Of Fate” fits that bill well enough to partly compensate.

With help from Wayne Perkins on guitar, Billy Preston on piano, and Ronnie Wood on backing vocals, “Hand Of Fate” tells a Johnny Cash-like tale of a “one-horse town,” a love triangle that leads to murder, and the killer on the lam. Jagger lays the outcome out in simple terms: “He shot me once but I shot him twice.”

There is an existential feel to it all if you look deep enough; Jagger absolves himself of the blame, laying it at the feet of a personified Fate. We could go on and on about determinism and such lofty topics, but then we’d miss the important part of the song: That grinding rock groove that delves deep into the heart of darkness. On this all-over-the-map album, you can understand why fans would want to cling to any semblance of the familiar.

31. “Rip this Joint”

From Exile on Main St.

LISTEN HERE  

If you stop to breathe, you’re likely gonna miss a whole chunk of good stuff on this Exile raver. This is the Stones at their most frenetic. It makes “Good Golly Miss Molly” sound like “Feelings.”

Of course, the blistering pace on this jump-blues homage allows Jagger to slip all kinds of depravity into his mostly unintelligible lyrics. He has fun with the double-meaning of the word “joint,” insinuates that the Nixons are holding some pot for him in the White House, and makes mention of a hallowed groupie known as the Butter Queen (you can look up the reason for that appellation for yourselves, sports fans; I ain’t goin’ there.)

It’s all gloriously sophomoric, and your heart rate is sure to intensify if you go along for the ride, fueled by a busy arrangement featuring stand-up bass, down-and-dirty brass, and Charlie Watts quick-but-not-hurried beat. A cacophonous blast of exhilaration.

The complete list to date.

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