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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:

20. “It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll (But I Like It)” (from It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll)

19. “I Got the Blues” (from Sticky Fingers)

18. “Let it Loose” (from Exile on Main St.)

17. “Fool to Cry” (from Black and Blue)

16. “When The Whip Comes Down” (from Some Girls)

15. “Loving Cup”

From Exile on Main St.

LISTEN HERE  

“I’m the man who walks the hillside in the sweet, summer sun/I’m the man who brings you flowers when you ain’t got none.” Those pastoral images are not what you would normally associate with the Rolling Stones, but that’s part of what makes this Exile track such a breath of fresh air. It’s a kick to picture the jet-setting Mick Jagger with a muddy face, torn shirt, and a car that won’t start, and yet he never sounded more peaceful and happy than on this track.

And what a superlative track it is. The MVP would have to be pianist Nicky Hopkins, who sets the tone at the start with gospel chords but switches over to the devil’s music by the end with thrilling boogie runs. Charlie Watts is also outstanding here, peppering the refrains with fills that lift the song into another realm.

There’s a lot to love in “Loving Cup.” As I said above, Jagger really seems to relish this character, and his enjoyment spreads to the rest of the band. The arrangement is brilliant as well, the product of a band operating with utmost confidence. This would be a good time to mention the underrated contributions of producer Jimmy Miller. You could say that he was a producer in name only with the Glimmer Twins around, but I defy you to find me a track from the second half of the decade, when Mick and Keith took the duties over, as well-assembled as this.

The soulful bridge is the perfect spotlight for longtime Stones’ horn players Bobby Keys and Jim Price, and it also makes the main part that much more powerful when it kicks back in. It all wraps up with that breakdown at the end, as all the disparate parts unite in thrilling fashion. Suddenly that humble farmer transforms back into Mick Jagger, the rock singer, and he brings his band home to paydirt. The Stones produce pure, utter jubilation here.

14. “Bitch”

From Sticky Fingers

LISTEN HERE  

When you think of the Stones’ sound, there is an appealingly loose feel to it that other bands could never really replicate; it’s a simple matter of chemistry. (The entire Exile on Main St. album is this phenomenon in microcosm.) But there’s not an ounce of flab on “Bitch,” a ferocious rocker found on Sticky Fingers. It’s as tight a song as the band has ever produced.

Take three guesses who devised the riff, and the first two don’t count. Keith Richards’ creation here sounds like something from the theme song from a gritty cop show that got pulled off the air for its excessive violence and vulgarity. It’s breathless and lean, but Charlie Watts keeps the tempo without batting an eye. The horns throw left jabs throughout, softening up the body before some powerful uppercuts late finish the job.

As for Mick Jagger, no one has ever been able to match his ability to sound both flustered and menacing all at once. All his efforts to figure out the source of his particular unease only lead him to that timeless revelation: “Love…it’s a bitch.” When all else fails, he has his band to fall back on, screaming out his “hey, hey” refrain as it all goes down in flames. Let me create a new word to describe this song: Nitroglyceriffic.

13. “Beast of Burden”

From Some Girls

LISTEN HERE  

If you’ve never done it before, take a listen to this Top 10 smash with the headphones on and check out the amazingly intricate guitar interplay between Keith Richards and Ron Wood. Notice how they find endlessly inventive ways to complement both the main melody and each other. They never show off once; every little lick and chord is in the service of the song.

I think that marvelous interplay might be at the heart of the song’s enduring quality. But there’s really nothing not to like about this performance. The guitars couldn’t have been as effective without Bill Wyman’s soulful bass and Charlie Watts’ snapping drums. Meanwhile, Mick Jagger is at his most persuasive, using every trick in his vocal book to make his point: A soulful croon here, a desperate bark there, and when all else fails, the seductive falsetto is unleashed.

You can easily misread the refrain to hear the song as demeaning to women, but closer inspection actually shows that the singer is looking for a relationship on equal footing. Actually, he’s just looking for a roll in the hay to make all the other problems go away, but he’s doing it in a respectful way.

Richards wrote most of the song, with Jagger filling in the blanks on some of the lyrics. Most powerful of all are the lines toward the end: “All your sickness I can suck it up/Throw it all at me I can shrug at me.” If you choose to read the song at large as Richards’ reaffirmation to Jagger that he could once again handle the load after kicking his drug habit, then you can hear these specific lines as Jagger’s response to his pal that he can handle anything thrown his way. That fascinating tension has always been at the heart of what makes the Stones great, and it’s the subtext of this great ballad. But, of course, you can chuck all the subtext and just enjoy those guitars.

12. “Angie”

From Goats Head Soup

LISTEN HERE  

If someone drew up a blueprint of what a #1 song by the Rolling Stones might be, “Angie” wouldn’t be it. Maybe in the Bizarro world, but not in this one. It’s restrained, tender, vulnerable, even, dare I say, sensitive. And yet, somehow it ends up quintessentially Stones.

There’s been so much speculation as to the identity of the real “Angie” that it obscures what a lovely effort this is. I’m going with the story that Keith Richards wrote the music and borrowed the title from his baby daughter, then allowed Jagger to fill in the bulk of the lyrics. The inspiration will probably never be revealed, not unless Mick writes his autobiography (and what a page-turner that would be).

Better to focus your attention on that gorgeous melody, one of the band’s most memorable. Nicky Hopkins’ piano is resplendent, and the strings, arranged by Nicky Harrison, are just the right touch here.

The conversational lyrics sound like they could be uttered during that awful breakup talk that comes at the end of a worthwhile relationship that just cannot sustain. Jagger delivers these lyrics with little of the flourishes he uses to embellish other material. Instead, he sticks to the melody, pleading with his woman to see that, despite their best intentions, their love is running on fumes. It’s a mature message delivered tastefully, but not lacking emotion. The cracks in the brave façade are clear. Whoever Angie may have been, she at least got a moving send-off.

11. “Tumbling Dice”

From Some Girls

LISTEN HERE  

It starts with the riff, Keith Richards once again hooking us before we even have time to get our bearings. Charlie Watts’ drums come crashing in, followed by Mick Jagger giving a “woo-yeah” as if he was nodding approval while female backing vocalists Clydie King and Vannetta Fields soar skyward. Had “Tumbling Dice” faded out there, it likely would have achieved immortality anyway.

Of course it does go on, giving the Stones a Top 10 hit on both sides of the pond with a song that still keeps the inherent coolness of an album cut. There is no aggression or tension here, just a rollicking groove that is simply indestructible. What’s ironic is that the Stones apparently worked on the track for innumerable takes; all of that laxity was awfully hard-earned.

Here Jagger plays the role of a man harried by women at all turns, realizing that love is the greatest gamble of all. It’s impossible to deconstruct the indefinable, so the greatness of the song is somehow elusive; even Jagger felt that the mix was a mess. But time has proven otherwise, because “Tumbling Dice,” rolling to that building finish, is like a miracle card on the River: Unexpected, unforgettable, and, musically in this case, lucrative.

The complete list to date.

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