It's taken almost 50 years, but unreleased tracks from the Mick Taylor Stones era, circa 1973, are finally getting released. As everyone knows, Mick was all about extended solos. Mick and Keith continually censored him from displaying his full chops on Stones albums, due to vinyl constraints back in the 70's. Most albums were 40 minutes maximum. Mick was often only getting warmed up at the 40 minute mark when he soloed on many tracks, including '100 years ago', 'Winter', and 'Time waits for no one.' His amazing solo journeys were always heavily edited, and it was this reason that he left the Stones in 1974.
Jack Bruce had offered him the guitar slot in his band, along with a contract that stipulated he could solo for as long as he wanted, as long as Bruce was also able to do equally long bass solos immediately after Mick was finished. Or, they could solo together, and ignore the other completely, which is commonly known as 'jazz'. This offer of artistic freedom, and playing with a studied musician like Bruce, was so tempting to Taylor, he could not refuse.
At a party in April 1974 at Benny Hill's house, Mick walked up to Jagger, who was patting the little old guy on the head, and announced, "You've destroyed my solos for the last time. I was told my 'Time waits for no one' solo would be an instrumental that would be all of side 2. Not only was it shortened to a ridiculous 2 minutes, but you had the nerve to put vocals on it, totally ruining the track. Again, you credit it to yourself and Keith, while Keith didn't even play on it. He wasn't even awake. He was in his coffin at the time. I remember that, because it was daylight. Fuck you and fuck the Stones. I quit."
Jagger looked at the little old guy, and said "Do you think he means it?" (citation needed. Some say it was Ron Wood that Mick talked to.) Jagger begged Taylor to stay, promising him the chance at a song writing credit in 1981, a wait of seven years, but this would also depend on the weather and Jagger's mood at that time. While Mick briefly considered this tempting offer, he grabbed his afro wig off Benny Hill, who was now chasing the little old guy around in fast motion, and left the party. That was the last time they ever spoke until 2015.
Of course, Jagger got his revenge when the 'sucking in the 70's' album was released in 1981 and included a shortened 'Time waits for no one', with most of Taylor's original solo chopped out. Taylor got his revenge by releasing one solo album in the next 40 years, proving he was in fact, a songwriting machine. It came out in 1979 and was called 'Mick Taylor'. Strangely enough, Mick credited all the songs to 'Jagger/Richards' and at least 1000 copies made it out before his producer caught the error. Mick later admitted he was so used to not seeing his name on songs he wrote for the Stones, he couldn't even put his name on songs he wrote for his own solo album. Says Mick:
"I was messed up psychologically. Years of song writing credit abuse in the Stones reduced my self esteem to the point I thought I might have only imagined I had written anything. Even during recording of the solo album, I constantly believed I saw Mick Jagger around the studio, laughing at me, but that might have been the cocaine."
The original cover of Mick's solo album by hipgnosis had him pissing on a stack of Stones albums while wearing a goat's head mask, parodying the infamous photo of the mid 60's Stones pissing on a wall, as well as their 1973 album, 'Goat's head soup'. This cover was considered too shocking for the time. Everyone thought being an ex stone was guaranteed success for a solo career, but the album languished in delete bins as no one recognized the name, because no one even remembered he was in the band, because his name never appeared on song writing credits. Catch 22. It is now considered a collector's item as most copies were buried in a landfill with all the unsold copies of Atari's 'ET' game in 1982.
The damage was done. Mick retired from recording and spent the rest of his life playing the same 4 blues songs over and over in small bars, only being applauded when he played Stones material. This pushed him further into depression and weight gain. I once talked to Mick after a show in 1986 where he was sweating profusely, red in the face, and obviously not happy with his guitar sound during the show. He spent most of the show running back and forth to his amp, changing settings, or kicking it. He told me, "My fucking amp is out to get me!" But let's not dwell on those sad days. Let's return to the glory days when Mick still believed his solos were getting on albums, and he would get his promised song writing credits.
This track you are listening to is from the archives. It was found in the attic of a vicar in England, who had passed away and left his belongings to his niece. She noticed labels on the cans that identified them as "Rolling Stones demos 1973" with added notes from producer Jimmy Miller like "Winter...1 hour solo...(trash it!)", '100 years ago...2 hour guitar solo (WTF???)' After research, it was found that Mick had sold all his unedited solo tapes to the vicar in 1979 after admitting to him in the confessional that he needed money for guitar strings. The vicar was a fan of Taylor's playing on 'time waits for on one' and agreed to buy them all for a few pounds and 15 hail mary's. Mick was skint, as his solo album had failed, and Jagger didn't help sales by saying in a 1979 interview, 'Where are the songs? It's pretty bad, isn't it?"
In this treasure trove, we find unreleased 'goats head soup' sessions where Mick is playing with total abandon, with no lyric or time constraints, unfettered by his own terrible vocals. His lyrical guitar style, using note slides, bends, and subtle use of wah pedal, brings back memories of the glory days of the Stones. This song should have been on the newly expanded 'Goat's head soup' album, but as usual, Jagger/Richards have no interest in promoting Taylor in any way. Maybe this will help restore interest in Taylor's full contributions to the Stones, as well as legal enquires into how Jagger/Richards got away with one of the biggest 'songwriting' scams of the century.
Excerpts taken from the 2020 biography: "I can't quit you baby, but I quit the Stones' by Mick Taylor.
All satire aside, this jam reminded me how much I've been influenced by Mick Taylor and evokes the style of his melancholy work in the early 70's around 'Goat's head soup.'
The Six Million Dollar GuitarVancouver, British Columbia
I am bionic. I have superhuman guitar playing abilities, and my mantra is better songs, stronger grooves, faster solos.
Since my arms are powered with a duracell nuclear battery, I am able to play and improvise for over two hours at a time, beating all previous records set by non bionic humans. Music for working, the bathtub, or running in slow motion....more
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