THE ROLLING STONES - 5 Albums (Mick Taylor Years)

When The Rolling Stones wanted to tour North America in 1969, a tour which was to be their first in three years, the problem of founding member and lead guitarist Brian Jones could not be ignored. His conviction for illicit drug usage prevented him from obtaining a work visa status that would have allowed him to perform on tour in America; this and his inability to cope in general had alienated him from the rest of the group, and this would have made touring difficult if not impossible. Jones was fired in early June 1969, and died by drowning on 3 July 1969. Jagger reportedly did not want to hold auditions to replace him, and the process by which Taylor became a Stone was significantly different from the way in which Ron Wood would five and a half years later. Jagger simply asked John Mayall from the Bluesbreakers for his advice. Mick Taylor was recommended, and Jagger invited him to a recording session. Taylor arrived at the studio thinking they wanted him to do some session work, but after a while he realized he was in fact being auditioned as a new guitarist for the band. Taylor did overdubs on two tracks, "Country Honk" and "Live With Me" from the 1969 Let It Bleed album. This impressed Richards and Jagger enough to tell him: "See you tomorrow" before he left the studio the first day. Taylor continued rehearsing and recording for the summer of 1969. The Stones were working on Stevie Wonder's "I Don't Know Why (I Love You)" when Jagger answered the telephone informing the band Jones had drowned.
Mick Taylor performing on stageAfter the 1969 tour, Jagger and Taylor developed a way of working together when Richards was "missing in action", mainly because of Richards' growing use of drugs. Jagger and Taylor wrote and recorded together songs like "Sway", "Moonlight Mile", "Winter" and "Time Waits for No One", but Taylor never received proper credits for his writing. This resulted in Taylor becoming more disgruntled the longer he worked with the band, because it became clear he would always be a junior partner. In total Taylor received four songwriting credits. "Ventilator Blues", "Stop Breaking Down" (both from Exile), "I'm Going Down" and "I Don't Know Why" (from Metamorphosis). The original credits to "Stop Breaking Down" were retracted after the Robert Johnson estate filed a lawsuit against the Stones.
Taylor with the Rolling Stones.Just before the release of the It's Only Rock 'n Roll album in October 1974, Taylor was interviewed by Nick Kent, and Taylor was talking proudly about the album, and especially about the two songs he had written with Jagger, namely "Till the next Goodbye" and Time Waits for No One. When Kent confronted Taylor with the record sleeve it was clear that Taylor had not received credits for his part. Taylor responded by saying "we'll see about that". The Stones met for a business meeting in the south of France in November 1974, and according to Bill Wyman Jagger and Taylor had a fall-out on the first day over song writing credits and the lack of recognition for Taylor’s role within the Stones, and Taylor left the meeting angry and emotional. Within a month, Taylor resigned from the Rolling Stones in December 1974, just before the Stones were to start recording a new album in Munich, West Germany. As the story goes, the Stones were at a party in London when Taylor announced he was quitting and walked out. Jagger, took the news professionally, but Richards complained about Taylor's departure as he felt that Taylor left at a very inconvenient moment.
Lack of songwriting credits wasn't the only reason he chose to leave the band. While recording Exile on Main St. in the South of France in 1971 Keith and Mick Jagger would hardly ever turn up on the same night (Jagger did this to punish Keith for not showing up after getting out of it). As a result the others (Bill, Charlie, Mick T and Stu) were forced to spend an endless amount of time waiting around, hoping Mick and Keith would turn up at the same time. This and the general madness surrounding the making of Exile (and later albums, when things got even worse) also added to Mick T's frustration.
Contrary to what Wyman wrote in Rolling with the Stones Taylor never tried heroin in the early 70's. The reason Wyman is not very well-informed when it comes to anyone's recreational habits is that he was the only one that didn't take part in "parties" (Wyman was totally anti drugs). When Richards was taking hard drugs at Nellcôte it was done behind closed doors, never openly. Andy Johns, Jimmy Miller and Bobby Keys decided to move into Bobby's apartment on the ocean where they set up a private casino and started dabbling with acid and heroin. Source: Exile on Main St by Robert Greenfield, DaCapo Press, 2006. While they were in the South of France, even Richards was not seen doing anything more serious than drink Jack Daniels and smoke joints. Source: Exile on Main St, Greenfield, page 112. Taylor divided his time between Tolstoj's house (where he lived with his young family) and Nellcôte. There are no eye-witness reports of Taylor taking heroin because he didn't take any.
After the 1973 European tour, the future for the Stones looked dim. With Keith Richards heavily strung out on drugs while Richards and Jagger at an increasing distance from each other (Jagger expressed to Taylor how he just could not cope anymore with Keith's unreliabe behaviour and the problems he was causing). While musical trends strayed away from the blues, it looked like the Stones would collapse as a band. As Taylor was considered one of the best guitarists in the world, it was expected that he could build a solo career as had Eric Clapton.
After Taylor left, the remaining Stones have always kept quite secretive and withdrawn about Taylor. Mick Jagger, in a 1995 interview with Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone magazine, nearly admits the years Taylor was a member of the band were the best musically. Jagger said Taylor never explained why he had left, and surmised that "he (Taylor) wanted to have a solo career. I think he found it difficult to get on with Keith." Charlie Watts stated "he was such a beautiful musician, far better than any of us. But he thought he could write and produce just like Mick and Keith, but nothing came out of him after he left" and Keith Richards stated that Taylor is "a beautiful guitarist, but unfortunately that's all he is". However, hard feelings dissipated over time: Taylor appears on "I Could Have Stood You Up", a song from Talk is Cheap, Richards' first solo album. On 14 December 1981, Mick Taylor appeared on stage for almost the full show at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City with the Rolling Stones; and at a Mick Taylor show in NYC (Lone Star Cafe) on 28 December 1986, Richards appeared on stage with Taylor, jamming on "Key to the Highway" and "Can't You Hear Me Knocking". The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted the Stones and Mick Taylor in 1989. Brian Jones and Ian Stewart were acknowledged during Mick Jagger's speech (and Brian Jones was posthumously inducted). Taylor also worked with Bill Wyman on Wyman's solo project The Rhythm Kings in the early 90's.
Taylor's live presence with the Stones is preserved on the Get Yer Ya-Yas Out!, a live album recorded over three concerts at the Madison Square Garden in New York on November 27 and 28, 1969. Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street, Goats Head Soup and It's Only Rock 'n Roll were the four studio albums Taylor recorded with the Stones. However, to the many fans of the Rolling Stones, the 1972 American Tour and the 1973 European Tour are the best show cases for Taylor with the Stones. The material recorded on these tours was unfortunately never released officially because the rights were owned by Allen Klein's company ABKCO. It's a tragedy for Taylor's and Stones' fans that his best live work can only be heard on obscure sound and film recordings found on bootlegs of mostly mediocre sound quality, although 21st century re-masters of these bootlegs are now becoming more readily available through internet.
After Taylor's resignation his playing can be heard on the compilation album Metamorphosis, Sucking in the Seventies, Made in the Shade as well as CD's like Rewind, Singles Collection: The London Years, Hot Rocks, More Hot Rocks, Jump Back: The Best of The Rolling Stones and Forty Licks. Two new songs on 1981's Tattoo You also feature Taylor ("Tops" and "Waiting On A Friend"). Taylor is sometimes mistakenly credited as playing on "Worried about You" from Tattoo You, but the solo on that song is performed by Wayne Perkins.
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Let It Bleed
1. Let It Bleed
2. Love In Vain
3. Midnight Rambler
4. Gimmie Shelter
5. You Got The Silver
6. You Can't Always Get What You Want
7. Live With Me
8. Monkey Man
9. Country Honk

LINK:
h!!p://www.megaupload.com/?d=G5GSC5N0




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Sicky Fingers
1. Brown Sugar
2. Sway
3. Wild Horses
4. Can't You Hear Me Knocking
5. You Gotta Move
6. Bitch
7. I Got The Blues
8. Sister Morphine
9. Dead Flowers
10. Moonlight Mile

LINK:
h!!p://www.megaupload.com/?d=71HIRIR7


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Exile On Main Street
1. Rocks Off
2. Rip This Joint
3. Shake Your Hips
4. Casino Boogie
5. Tumbling Dice
6. Sweet Virginia
7. Torn And Frayed
8. Sweet Black Angel
9. Loving Cup
10. Happy
11. Turd On The Run
12. Ventilator Blues
13. I Just Want To See His Face
14. Let It Loose
15. All Down The Line
16. Stop Breaking Down
17. Shine A Light
18. Soul Survivor

LINK:
h!!p://www.megaupload.com/?d=XNFKRWSU


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Goat`s Head Soup
1. Dancing With Mr. D.
2. 100 Years Ago
3. Coming Down Again
4. Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
5. Angie
6. Silver Train
7. Hide Your Love
8. Winter
9. Can You Hear The Music
10. Star Star

LINK:
h!!p://www.megaupload.com/?d=BKMIZLRP



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It`s Only Rock And Roll
1. If You Can't Rock Me
2. Ain't Too Proud To Beg
3. It's Only Rock 'N Roll (But I Like It)
4. Till The Next Goodbye
5. Time Waits For No One
6. Luxury
7. Dance Little Sister
8. If You Really Want To Be My Friend
9. Short And Curlies
10. Fingerprint File


LINK:
h!!p://www.megaupload.com/?d=I5UN4P0X

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