Another prized jewel in the Rolling Stones' unmatched catalog is to be restored to its full glory and more, with the September 4 multi-format release of their 1973 classic Goats Head Soup. The album will be available in multiple configurations, including four-disc CD and vinyl box set editions, with a treasure trove of unreleased studio and live material.
The Universal Music Enterprises media announcement describes the product.
“The box set and deluxe CD and vinyl editions of Goats Head Soup will all feature ten bonus tracks, which include alternate versions, outtakes and no fewer than three previously unheard tracks.
“Stones devotees worldwide will be thrilled by the inclusion, on the box set and deluxe editions, of the previously unheard "Criss Cross", “Scarlet,” featuring guitar by Jimmy Page and bassist Ric Grech of Blind Faith, plus a third newly unveiled song, “All The Rage.”
“The bonus disc of unreleased material also sheds new light on tracks such as “100 Years Ago” and “Hide Your Love,” with further un-issued mixes by Stones insider and acclaimed producer Glyn Johns.
“The box set editions of Goats Head Soup will also include Brussels Affair, the 15-track live album recorded in a memorable show in Belgium, on the autumn 1973 tour that followed the album's late August release. This much-sought-after disc, mixed by Bob Clearmountain, was previously available only in the Rolling Stones' “official bootleg” series of live recordings in 2012.
The Brussels show features the already-classic “Tumbling Dice,” “Midnight Rambler,” “Jumping Jack Flash” and many others, and includes a sequence of tracks from the then-new album. “Star Star” is followed by “Dancing With Mr. D,” “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)” and “Angie.””
“In a way, maybe when you write songs without even knowing it you’re kinda saying, 'Can I do this live?' And so in a way you add that in,” Keith Richards explained to me during a 1997 interview in San Diego, California.
“You don’t know if it’s gonna work, but I guess you keep in the back of your mind is ‘We’re making a record here.’ What happens if they all like it and we gotta play it live? So in a way, that maybe in the back of the mind it sets up the song to be playable on stage.”
During 2002, I interviewed Rolling Stones co-founder and bassist Bill Wyman about the band’s live shows. This 1973 Brussels Affair captures the band on stage at their zenith.
“I always thought…As long as me and Charlie could get it together, then the rest of the band could do what they’d like and it worked,” remarked Wyman. “And that’s what happened in the studio, and that’s what happened live. Me and Charlie were really always on the ball, always straight, always together and had it down.
“If we had our shit together we got it right. What he was doing and what I was doing, standing next to him and watching his bass drum, and all that, which a lot of bass players don’t do, stupidly, once we got our thing going, and the group was there, then anything could happen. That’s all there was. There was simplicity. It wasn’t how many notes you played, it’s where you left nice holes and I learned that from Duck Dunn and people like that.”
Music business veteran Marshall Chess is the son of Leonard and nephew of Phil Chess, the dynamic duo who founded the legendary Chicago-based blues and jazz Chess label.
After departing from Chess Records, Marshall formed and ran Rolling Stone Records 1970-1978. He helped create the Rolling Stones famous tongue and lip logo and was involved as Executive Producer on 7 Rolling Stone #1 albums during the 1970’s.
In a 2008 interview I asked Chess about the band’s concerts like this stellar Brussels show from 1973.
“The songs became bigger on stage.
“On stage the Stones have the alchemy, the magic of becoming one. Check me out. When bands lock together, and become as one, it’s much greater than any individual. It becomes a very magical thing. Music is a very magical thing. Music can conjure up magic, and they, by not on purpose, by fate, chance, whatever you want to call it, they make magic sometimes. And not every time they play. But they make it on their records, they make it live. Even when they played badly people get carried away with it. I’ve seen that one. I used to tour with them.”
Additionally, the CD and vinyl box sets offer the original ten-track album in 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Atmos and Hi-Res mixes, along with the videos for “Dancing With Mr. D,” “Silver Train” and “Angie.” An exclusive 100-page book will feature a remarkable array of photographs, essays by writers Ian McCann, Nick Kent and Daryl Easlea and faithful reproductions of three tour posters from 1973.
As McCann writes: “Goats Head Soup was released with plenty of fanfare. Despite what you may read today, the kids weren’t entirely absorbed by glam rock, metal, prog and Philly soul back in 1973, and they bought the album in their thousands, sending it to No. 1 in the USA and in the UK, their fifth consecutive British chart-topper.”
Their 11th UK studio album, recorded in Jamaica, Los Angeles and London as their last collaboration with producer Jimmy Miller, Goats Head Soup came in the wake of the Stones' landmark 1972 double album Exile On Main St.
“You never point the microphone actually at the instrument,” Keith explained in our 1997 dialogue. “You’ve got them in the corners pointing and once you’ve found those placements, you don’t really change them. One of the joys of it was that you’re not really aware that you’re actually making a record. The room is good if you know what you’re doing. Use as few microphones as possible. All the tinkering, splitting things up can never achieve. The whole idea when you play music is to fill the room with sound. You don’t have to pick up each individual instrument, particularly in order to do that. Because a band is several people playing something. And somewhere in the air of the room, that sound has to gather in one spot. And you have to find that spot. (smiles).
“It’s very easy to write in Jamaica. But in Jamaica, it’s particularly easy because they are so musically oriented, the Jamaicans. I mean, to be quite honest with you, the Jamaicans do nothing without music, which for a musician is fantastic! Because, even if you’re not playing music in your own house, you can hear half the town below in little villages and there’s music playing. They do everything to music. It’s an open environment when we record.”
Andy Johns was the chief engineer and mixer of Goats Head Soup. I interviewed him in 2012.
“I got to work with The Rolling Stones because of Jimmy Miller. I’d worked with him as an assistant engineer at Olympic, and then moved over to Morgan Studios. And they made me a full time engineer almost instantly.
“I was well aware of the Stones when Glyn did their first demos at IBC. They didn’t even have a record deal. I remember him bringing that stuff back to the house. They soon started making records. Glyn used to live with Ian Stewart.
“I was the only guy there. I did all the sessions that came in and got a lot of experience quickly. I did Traffic’s Shanghai Noodle Factory’with Jimmy. And then we worked on the Blind Faith thing. He came in about halfway through on that. Mott The Hoople. Free’s live album.
“Then there was a Stones’ session that he brought into Morgan,” reminisced Johns. “The first session on ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ and it went very badly. Just horrible. They did not want to be there and there were too many of them for that little place. Al Kooper was there, I think. That was my first opportunity of working with them. And Mick was in a foul mood telling me to turn Brian (Jones) off. So Jimmy gets me in on Sticky Fingers, which was about half done.
“Because there is Mick and Keith, and Jimmy and Andy, and then there’s Marshall (Chess) and everyone, you know, is trying to get it done but in different ways. You do the basic track, get the arrangement sussed out and do basic track. Then you look for other ideas which quite often appear almost like on their own. They just come out of the air. I was still learning on Exile.
“Jimmy was an extremely talented man. His main gift I think was his ability to get grooves, which for a band like the Stones is very important. Look at the difference between Beggar’s Banquet and Satanic Majesties. He put them right back on the rail. So he was quote 'influential,' then and came up with all sorts of lovely ideas for them. In fact that’s him playing the cowbell at the beginning of ‘Honky Tonk Woman.’ He sets it up.
“On Exile they sort of stopped listening to him and by the time we got to Goats Head Soup it was like he wasn’t there. That was a very tough record to make,” lamented Andy. “ I love ‘Winter’ from that.”
Producer Jimmy Miller was a wonderful guy,” stressed Marshall Chess. “I loved him. I was in Jamaica for Goats Head Soup.
“‘Heartbreaker…’ Great songs on that album and a great period. The effect of being thrown out of England, we were living in different places but when we came to record we would get totally absorbed with the atmosphere. It wasn’t that Goats Head Soup’ recording in Jamaica then made it a reggae album. Black and Blue was my last thing when I worked with them. It’s all stayed together to me as one big lump.
“What I noticed about the Rolling Stones at their sessions was that even though they were using multi-track they were so locked in this kind of magical way. When we did the rhythm tracks it was basically mono. It didn’t matter. Even though they were on separate tracks they were locked. We didn’t have to correct. Keith sometimes fucked with Bill’s bass but they didn’t have too.
“I was involved at this time in tweaking. ‘Less bass here.’ Some sequencing. I am hearing fantastic sounds. It was locked together. I was concerned about the retail pricing all the time. We had meetings and discussions with Atlantic Records sales people. I knew how to do this. I was a record man. I was involved with the cover and the manufacturing. The whole thing.”
Goats Head Soup, with its famous David Bailey sleeve, featured the Stones' vintage 1969-1974 line-up of Jagger, Richards, Mick Taylor, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts, with the addition of some essential collaborators.
On an album on which their trademark rocking sound was often augmented by more low-key, reflective material, there were four featured piano players: Nicky Hopkins, Billy Preston, Ian 'Stu' Stewart and Jagger himself.
Nicky Hopkins was a longtime staple on Stones’ recordings and important auxiliary member.
“Nicky was the best and the greatest,” summarized engineer Andy Johns. “God bless Nicky Hopkins. He added so much to that band. Sometimes you wouldn’t really notice it. But if you take the piano out then the house of cards collapses a bit. He was always coming up with gorgeous little melodies. Earlier, ‘She’s A Rainbow.’ That’s Nicky. Of course he was doing a lot of things like that. Plus he was extremely rhythmic. People don’t remember him for being rhythmic. But he was.
“When people think of Nicky Hopkins they think of his right hand. But he would make the groove happen sometimes. If you took him out, ‘Oh, what happened here.’ Which is normal. If they are listening to him they are gonna play around him. Or with him. And if you take one of those elements out ‘What happened here?’ It’s music. See. That’s how it works.”
“Angie” was the only single to be released from the LP in the UK, where it spent two weeks at No. 5 in September. In the US, the exhilaratingly funky, horn-filled “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker),” with the and out of tune piano track, featuring Mick Taylor's wah-wah lead guitar, followed it into the top 20 in February 1974.
Album highlights included “Dancing With Mr. D,” “100 Years Ago,” “Star Star” and “Winter.” Richards' rueful lead vocal on “Coming Down Again” featured another Stones stalwart, saxophonist Bobby Keys. “Silver Train,” the B-side of “Angie,” would be revived after a gap of some 40 years, during the Stones' 14 On Fire tour of 2014, when Mick Taylor reprised his original guitar part in shows in Tokyo and Brisbane.
“Mick Taylor in the studio was just a shining light,” reinforced Andy Johns
“When he plays his guitar and we’d do 100 takes on something he would come up with something slightly different every time. Faultless. Every once in a while he’d drop a note. I mean, that’s expected. His slide playing. He’d put a bottle on his little finger and then he’d do chords with the rest of his hand. So he could do both at once. Usually it’s a separate deal but that was part of his style. His sense of melody was unbelievable.
“Every time I knew it was Mick Taylor I’d be sitting at the edge of my seat. He was wonderful but became discontent with his situation. On the 1973 tour of Europe I spent quite a lot of time with him and he would say ‘They won’t let me have input on any songs. Anytime I have an idea I’m blocked out.’”
“I loved Mick Taylor in the Stones,” volunteered Marshall Chess. “Because I liked Mick Taylor’s feminine warm sounds intertwined with Keith’s masculinity. And I felt Ronnie was brilliant, I knew him from the Faces, Ronnie is like Keith. It’s like two Keiths. They’re both very similar. But that Mick Taylor had something, the texture. Even now when I listen to the Stones’ channel on Sirius XM I hear those Mick Taylor solos…Does something to me…”
Goats Head Soup will be available in the below formats:
1CD STANDARD CD
TRACK LIST
2020 Stereo Mix
- Dancing With Mr D
- 100 Years Ago
- Coming Down Again
- Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
- Angie
- Silver Train
- Hide Your Love
- Winter
- Can You Hear The Music
- Star Star
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2CD DELUXE CD
TRACK LIST
2020 Stereo Mix
- Dancing With Mr D
- 100 Years Ago
- Coming Down Again
- Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
- Angie
- Silver Train
- Hide Your Love
- Winter
- Can You Hear The Music
- Star Star
Rarities & Alternative Mixes
- Scarlet
- All The Rage
- Criss Cross
- 100 Years Ago (Piano Demo)
- Dancing With Mr D (Instrumental)
- Heartbreaker (Instrumental)
- Hide Your Love (Alternative Mix)
- Dancing With Mr D (Glyn Johns 1973 Mix)
- Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) – (Glyn Johns 1973 Mix)
- Silver Train (Glyn Johns 1973 Mix)
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1LP STANDARD VINYL
Mastered at half speed by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios, London.
TRACK LIST
2020 Stereo Mix
SIDE A
- Dancing With Mr D
- 100 Years Ago
- Coming Down Again
- Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
- Angie
SIDE B
- Silver Train
- Hide Your Love
- Winter
- Can You Hear The Music
- Star Star
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
2LP DELUXE VINYL
Mastered at half speed by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios, London.
TRACK LIST
2020 Stereo Mix
SIDE A
- Dancing With Mr D
- 100 Years Ago
- Coming Down Again
- Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
- Angie
SIDE B
- Silver Train
- Hide Your Love
- Winter
- Can You Hear The Music
- Star Star
SIDE C
- Scarlet
- All The Rage
- Criss Cross
- 100 Years Ago (Piano Demo)
- Dancing With Mr D (Instrumental)
SIDE D
- Heartbreaker (Instrumental)
- Hide Your Love (Alternative Mix)
- Dancing With Mr D (Glyn Johns 1973 Mix)
- Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) – (Glyn Johns 1973 Mix)
- Silver Train (Glyn Johns 1973 Mix)
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2LP DELUXE TRANSPARENT VINYL W/ ALTERNATIVE SLEEVE (ONLY AVAILABLE ON THE STONES STORE)
Mastered at half speed by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios, London.
Store Exclusive Format pressed on crystal clear vinyl with alternative cover.
TRACK LIST
2020 Stereo Mix
SIDE A
- Dancing With Mr D
- 100 Years Ago
- Coming Down Again
- Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
- Angie
SIDE B
- Silver Train
- Hide Your Love
- Winter
- Can You Hear The Music
- Star Star
SIDE C
- Scarlet
- All The Rage
- Criss Cross
- 100 Years Ago (Piano Demo)
- Dancing With Mr D (Instrumental)
SIDE D
- Heartbreaker (Instrumental)
- Hide Your Love (Alternative Mix)
- Dancing With Mr D (Glyn Johns 1973 Mix)
- Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) – (Glyn Johns 1973 Mix)
- Silver Train (Glyn Johns 1973 Mix)
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4CD BOXSET
Goats Head Soup Super Deluxe box sets features 35 tracks on three CDs & one Blu-ray disc (Dolby Atmos, 96kHz/24 bit high resolution stereo, and 96 kHz/24 bit DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1). Included are the new stereo album mix, sourced from the original session files, Rarities & Alternative mixes featuring three previously unreleased tracks, “Scarlet,” “All The Rage” & “Criss Cross.”
Also included is The Brussels Affair, recorded live at the Forest National Arena in October 1973. The 4 discs are housed in the boxset alongside a 120-page book with an incredible array of photos and 3 essays. 50 Years On – An Appreciation of Goats Head Soup by Ian McCann, Brussels Affair Live 1973 Tour by Nick Kent & The Story Of The Cover Art by Darryl Easlea. The set is completed with 4 x 1973 reproduction tour posters, rolled up within the packaging to avoid creases.
TRACK LIST
CD1 - 2020 Stereo Mix
- Dancing With Mr D
- 100 Years Ago
- Coming Down Again
- Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
- Angie
- Silver Train
- Hide Your Love
- Winter
- Can You Hear The Music
- Star Star
CD2 - Rarities & Alternative Mixes
- Scarlet
- All The Rage
- Criss Cross
- 100 Years Ago (Piano Demo)
- Dancing With Mr D (Instrumental)
- Heartbreaker (Instrumental)
- Hide Your Love (Alternative Mix)
- Dancing With Mr D (Glyn Johns 1973 Mix)
- Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) – (Glyn Johns 1973 Mix)
- Silver Train (Glyn Johns 1973 Mix)
CD3 – ‘Brussels Affair – Live 1973’
- Brown Sugar
- Gimme Shelter
- Happy
- Tumbling Dice
- Star Star
- Dancing With Mr D
- Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
- Angie
- You Can’t Always Get What You Want
- Midnight Rambler
- Honky Tonk Women
- All Down The Line
- Rip This Joint
- Jumpin’ Jack Flash
- Street Fighting Man
CD4 (BLU-RAY)
Dolby Atmos, 96kHz/24 bit high resolution stereo, and 96 kHz/24 bit DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
- Dancing With Mr D
- 100 Years Ago
- Coming Down Again
- Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
- Angie
- Silver Train
- Hide Your Love
- Winter
- Can You Hear The Music
- Star Star
+ Original Videos: Dancing With Mr D, Silver Train & Angie
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4LP VINYL BOX
This deluxe vinyl box set features the new stereo album mix + Rarities & Alternative mixes including three previously unreleased tracks, Scarlet, All The Rage & Criss Cross. Mastered at half speed by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios, London.
Also included is The Brussels Affair, recorded live at the Forest National Arena in October 1973 and pressed on 180g vinyl.
TRACK LIST
2020 Stereo Mix
SIDE A
- Dancing With Mr D
- 100 Years Ago
- Coming Down Again
- Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
- Angie
SIDE B
- Silver Train
- Hide Your Love
- Winter
- Can You Hear The Music
- Star Star
Rarities & Alternative Mixes
SIDE C
- Scarlet
- All The Rage
- Criss Cross
- 100 Years Ago (Piano Demo)
- Dancing With Mr D (Instrumental)
SIDE D
- Heartbreaker (Instrumental)
- Hide Your Love (Alternative Mix)
- Dancing With Mr D (Glyn Johns 1973 Mix)
- Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) – (Glyn Johns 1973 Mix)
- Silver Train (Glyn Johns 1973 Mix)
SIDE E – ‘Brussels Affair – Live 1973’
- Brown Sugar
- Gimme Shelter
- Happy
- Tumbling Dice
SIDE F – ‘Brussels Affair – Live 1973’
- Star Star
- Dancing With Mr D
- Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
- Angie
SIDE G – ‘Brussels Affair – Live 1973’
- You Can’t Always Get What You Want
- Midnight Rambler
SIDE H – ‘Brussels Affair – Live 1973’
- Honky Tonk Women
- All Down The Line
- Rip This Joint
- Jumpin’ Jack Flash
- Street Fighting Man
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CASSETTE (ONLY AVAILABLE ON THE STONES STORE)
TRACK LIST
2020 Stereo Mix
SIDE A
- Dancing With Mr D
- 100 Years Ago
- Coming Down Again
- Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
- Angie
SIDE B
- Silver Train
- Hide Your Love
- Winter
- Can You Hear The Music
- Star Star
Harvey Kubernik is the author of 18 books, including Canyon Of Dreams: The Magic And The Music Of Laurel Canyon and Turn Up The Radio! Rock, Pop and Roll In Los Angeles 1956-1972.
Sterling/Barnes and Noble in 2018 published Harvey and Kenneth Kubernik’s The Story Of The Band: From Big Pink To The Last Waltz. For 2021 they are writing and assembling a multi-narrative book on Jimi Hendrix for the same publisher.
Otherworld Cottage Industries on July 30, 2020 will publish Kubernik’s 500-page book, Docs That Rock, Music That Matters, featuring Kubernik interviews with D.A. Pennebaker, Albert Maysles, Murray Lerner, Morgan Neville, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, Andrew Loog Oldham, John Ridley, Curtis Hanson, Dick Clark, Travis Pike, Allan Arkush, and David Leaf, among others.
Kubernik’s writings are in several book anthologies, most notably The Rolling Stone Book Of The Beats and Drinking With Bukowski. He was the project coordinator of the recording set The Jack Kerouac Collection.
During 2006 Harvey Kubernik spoke at the special hearings initiated by The Library of Congress that were held in Hollywood, California, discussing archiving practices and audiotape preservation.
In 2020 Harvey served as Consultant on Laurel Canyon: A Place In Time documentary directed by Alison Ellwood which debuted om May 2020 on the EPIX/MGM television channel.
Kubernik has just penned a back cover book jacket endorsement for author Michael Posner’s book on Leonard Cohen that Simon & Schuster, Canada, will be publishing this fall 2020, Leonard Cohen, Untold Stories: The Early Years.
