summer album of the week: 06/27/09
the rolling stones: some girls (released june 1978).
During the summer when disco duked it out with punk, The Rolling Stones played double agents by co-opting both along with pop soul (Just My Imagination ) the band’s own boozy, riff-savvy rock ‘n roll (When the Whip Comes Down) and purposely outrageous country music (Far Away Eyes). The hits were plastered all over the airwaves, from the dance club friendly Miss You to the maggot-ridden punk picture post card of New York Shattered. The album’s original cover art work incorporated portraits of several female celebs - including, in the third row, the late Farrah Fawcett. Nearly all objected to being viewed as the Stones’ “girls.” Topping it all, the Stones played Rupp Arena that summer in their last States-side swing as a truly dangerous band.
I am a native Kentuckian and freelance journalist who has been writing about contemporary music for the Lexington Herald-Leader since 1980. I have not a lick of honest musical talent myself, just a pair of appreciative ears for jazz, folk, blues, bluegrass, Americana, soul, Celtic, Cajun, chamber, worldbeat, nearly every form of rock 'n' roll imaginable and, when pressed, the occasional tango and polka.