Quote:
Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower
So I saw the Stones Wednesday night for the first time in about 26 years. It was pretty fun. I guess in a very different way than, say, Mos Def was fun, but still a good time. Anyway, it got me thinking about the Sebastian horns in rock thing. This has probably been discussed, but are not the Stones a conclusive and irrebuttable counter-argument to Sebastian's proposition? Rocks Off. Bitch. All Down the Line. I mean, srsly.
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There are loads of exceptions to that proposition.
Exile has many tunes on it where the horns blend nicely with guitars. Perhaps it's the mastering, or maybe the arrangement, but yes -- the horns work there. They also work on
Stick Fingers' "Brown Sugar" and, of course, "Bitch."
Where horns very much do not work is in concert, when the Stones add them to classics like "Satisfaction" or "Jumping Jack Flash." It's bad enough Ronnie and Keith overlap so much (Taylor was a much better compliment to Keith, and the band in general). The last thing they need is superfluous horns coming in all over the place.
I just bought the Allmans' Fillmore East five disc box. Among all the other recordings from the closing week of that theatre are cuts in which horns are added ("In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" and a couple other classics). It sounds unnecessary. It reminds me of Marsalis playing with the Dead. Just because you can add a horn doesn't mean you should.
Guitar, particularly Keith's guitar, played raggedly, almost always sounds so much better on its own. If you doubt that, dust off
Get Yer Ya Yas Out, and imagine a horn section in the background.
No offense to Bobby Keys (pouring a 40).
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