Top 10 Mick Taylor Rolling Stones Songs
Evening Standard, Hulton Archive, Getty Images
‘Winter’
From: ‘Goats Head Soup’ (1973)
Need proof that Taylor was undervalued by the
Stones? Look no further than this gem from the band’s troubled 1973
album ‘Goats Head Soup.’ ‘Winter’ was the first song recorded for the
LP, and Keith Richards wasn’t even around. So Taylor played all of the
guitars on the song, including the wistful slide. It’s also likely that
he co-wrote the song with Mick Jagger, even though the official credit goes to the usual Jagger-Richards combo.
‘Tumbling Dice’
From: ‘Exile on Main St.’ (1972)
Richards wasn’t the only Stone to miss recording
schedules (see No. 10 on our list of the Top 10 Mick Taylor Rolling
Stones Songs) — bassist Bill Wyman
was occasionally MIA too. During the band’s chaotic sessions in France
for 1972′s ‘Exile on Main St.,’ members would come and go as they
pleased, and music got made whenever someone was around and felt like
making it. Wyman was absent when ‘Tumbling Dice’ was recorded, so Taylor
played bass, pulling double duty on the album’s biggest single: He also
played the slide guitar you hear.
‘Brown Sugar’
From: ‘Sticky Fingers’ (1971)
Taylor played on two songs from ‘Let It Bleed,’
which also included the final tracks recorded by the late Brian Jones.
By ‘Sticky Fingers,’ he was a full-time member of the Stones, playing
electric, acoustic and slide guitars. His soft, warm and lyrical tones
balanced, and contrasted with, Richards’ more jagged style. Taylor
provided the subtle but driving rhythm for this hit single.
‘Honky Tonk Women’
Single (1969)
You can thank Taylor for ‘Honky Tonk Women.’ The
song originally sounded like ‘Country Honk,’ the twangy ‘Let It Bleed’
goof that featured one of Taylor’s first appearances on a Stones album.
Taylor added more rock muscle to the track, which became the band’s
fifth No. 1 hit. We love Charlie Watts‘ cowbell, but it wouldn’t even be there if Taylor hadn’t scruffed up the song.
‘Rocks Off’
From: ‘Exile on Main St.’ (1972)
The recording of the Stones’ classic ‘Exile on
Main St.’ album was mired in murky production, rampant drug use and MIA
members (see No. 9 on our list of the Top 10 Mick Taylor Rolling Stones
Songs). The LP’s opening cut fires like a warning, with all five Stones,
plus a few session men, splattering intentions and expectations in all
directions. Taylor’s short, sweet solo leads the song to its fade.
‘Bitch’
From: ‘Sticky Fingers’ (1971)
Taylor’s influence is all over ‘Sticky Fingers,’
the first album he made as a full-fledged member of the Stones. His
melodic guitar lines power some of the record’s greatest songs,
including this hook-filled, horn-swamped cut that opens the album’s
second side (it was also the B-side to ‘Brown Sugar’). Undoubtedly,
‘Sticky Fingers’ would have been a very different album without Taylor’s
contributions.
‘Can’t You Hear Me Knocking’
From: ‘Sticky Fingers’ (1971)
The Stones were entering one of their most
productive and all-around best eras when Taylor joined in 1969. Two
years later, he made the best music of his career on ‘Sticky Fingers’
(half of the tracks on our list of the Top 10 Mick Taylor Rolling Stones
Songs come from the No. 1 LP). This lengthy rocker features an extended
solo by Taylor that dominates the last half of the song.
‘Moonlight Mile’
From: ‘Sticky Fingers’ (1971)
Like several songs from the period, the terrific
‘Moonlight Mile’ came out of a late-night brainstorming session between
Taylor and Jagger. And once again, Taylor says he was denied songwriting
credit. Taylor built the song around a short guitar riff Richards had
written. It was also his idea to add the strings that give the track its
epic heft.
‘Time Waits for No One’
From: ‘It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll’ (1974)
Most of ‘It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll’ sinks under the
weight of the Stones’ sloppy and careless indifference to the material.
But the first song recorded for the record briefly removed them from
their comfort zone and featured a jazzy Latin rhythm picked up in Brazil
during the band’s 1973 tour. The highlight is Taylor’s great solo, the
centerpiece of an otherwise musically lazy album.
‘Sway’
From: ‘Sticky Fingers’ (1971)
Taylor was credited with co-writing only one song
during his five years with the Stones, ‘Ventilator Blues’ from ‘Exile
on Main St.’ But he was most likely responsible for sizable chunks of
other songs (see Nos. 10 and 3 on our list of the Top 10 Mick Taylor
Rolling Stones Songs). This great cut from ‘Sticky Fingers’ is his best.
He not only wrote the song with Jagger (during another one of Richards’
absences), but he also played the bluesy slide in the middle of the
song and the terrific lead at the end. Richards may have been
responsible for the Stones’ greatest riffs, but Taylor was behind their
best-ever solos.
