“I really feel close to this album, and I really put all I had into it … I guess it comes across that I’m more into the songs.”
That’s what Mick Jagger has to say in a press release about The Rolling Stones’ 1973 album Goats Head Soup, their latest title in their ongoing series of deluxe reissues. According to the press release on their site, the “deluxe 4LP & 4CD boxsets pay full homage to the original release – including the much-sought-after Brussels Affair, recorded live at the Forest National Arena in October 1973, plus a full disc of Rarities & Alternatives (including three unheard tracks). The 4CD boxset also includes a 120 page book of rare photos & essays, plus four re-produced 1973 tour posters (rolled up inside the package to avoid creasing). Goats Head Soup 2020 is also available in deluxe 2CD & 2LP packages, as well as on cassette and standard CD or LP.”
The big draw, of course, are the three unreleased tracks, which reportedly include Scarlet (featuring Jimmy Page on guitar), All the Rage and the loose, jammy rocker Cross Cross, which the band just released as a teaser single and video. You can check it out above. As for the rest of the rarities, I guess we’ll have to wait and see if they can hold a candle to album highlights like Dancing with Mr. D, Coming Down Again, Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker), Angie, Silver Train and Star Star. And as for the Brussels Affair live disc, that’s a big who cares, since it was first released nearly a decade ago. Even so, I’m kind of looking forward to this one.
But first, back to the press release: “Goats Head Soup was the 11th British and 13th American studio album from The Rolling Stones. Recorded in Jamaica, the US and UK from November 1972 to May 1973 and released on August 31st 1973 … “Jamaica was one of the few places that would let us all in!” says Keith Richards. In just four short weeks in Jamaica’s Dynamic Sound Studios the Stones had recorded 8 of the 10 songs on the album. The album wasn’t without its controversies, including disputes over Angie being the first single released, disapproval of lyrical content, changing song titles and going through three different album covers — an actual image of Goats Head Soup, the band depicted as centaurs and finally the iconic veiled images of their faces you see today, shot by David Bailey. Despite all of this the album went straight to No.1 in the UK and US and several other countries!” The set comes out Sept. 4.
