July 17 - Salt of the Earth

So this week, we started in the US with Bruce Springsteen, then went through Norway and Sweden before ending up in the UK - and that is where we will be today as well. The Rolling Stones was one of my dad's absolute favorite bands, and as you might guess based on yesterday's song, they soon became a band for me to listen to as well. He had a couple of their albums - a worn out copy of Out of Our Heads (UK version) and a slightly less worn copy of Around and Around, both albums part of their earlier output when a lot of their recordings were cover versions of older blues standards. Then, in my cousin Ingrid's record collection, I did see a copy of Let It Bleed. I never listened to it at that point, but I was intrigued by the cover art, a stack of circular items with a cream cake top all waiting to be dropped down on a record player.

I didn't really explore this period of the Stones until I found a reissue of Sticky Fingers in 1994 with the real closing metal zipper (cover designed by Andy Warhol). I think I had a cassette copy of Sticky Fingers before this as well, but something really clicked when I got the CD, and I started exploring this period of their career. I picked up Let It Bleed, because, of course, the cover was great - and I discovered that the songs were even better. Having had Honky Tonk Women around for a long time, Country Honk was an awesome discovery - and then there was Gimme Shelter, one of my all time Stones favorite. When I eventually found my way to Beggars Banquet, I was once again sold, and the final song is one of those songs that you think you may have heard just about everywhere - but yet it is undeniably Stones. Salt of the Earth is sung as a duet between Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, and is an ode to the working class more than anything.

I had the pleasure of seeing Stones live in 1990 on their Urban Jungle tour. It was the last tour they did with Bill Wyman, and I am very happy that I had a chance to see the full band (granted, Ronnie Wood was still the "new guy", having logged only about 20 years at that time). This was in the days before online ordering, so I spent the night outside the local record store in line to get one of their allotted tickets to the second show in Norway on the tour, which was added after the first show sold out very quickly. It wasn't necessary, as there were tickets available throughout the summer, but I am still glad I did (even though it was cold - winter in Trondheim isn't exactly warm). Anyway, please enjoy Mick Jagger and Keith Richards with Salt of the Earth.