“I think I need a blood transfusion…” – The Rolling Stones, “Criss Cross”

I knew coming into the lockdown that only rock and roll was going to keep me sane. However, if you’d told me it was going to be the Rolling Stones (who haven’t released a new album of original material in 15 years) who would be releasing tunes that would save me, I wouldn’t have believed you. Admittedly, Dylan and Neil Young have both helped with some new music (Review: Bob Dylan, ‘Rough And Rowdy Ways’ – The Spell-Binding 1st LP of All Originals In Eight Years) and a vault release (Review: Neil Young’s ‘Homegrown’ – The Lost Masterpiece, In The Vaults 45 Years) respectively. But it was the Stones who released the very pandemic-centric brand new track “Living In A Ghost Town” that just blew me away the most, New Single: The Rolling Stones’ Great Pandemic Song, “Living In A Ghost Town”.

Last Thursday, while I was focused on and listening to Dirty Honey’s great, new, rocking EP, creatively titled Dirty Honey (Review: New Band – Dirty Honey’s EP, ‘Dirty Honey’ – Sweet, Filthy Rock N Roll), the Stones released a “new” song from the vaults, “Criss Cross.” “Criss Cross” was an outtake from the sessions for 1973’s Goats Head Soup. An outtake is basically a “leftover” track, one that was recorded for an album but for whatever reason didn’t make the final track list. “Criss Cross” has finally seen the “light of day” and gotten a proper release in advance of the Goats Head Soup deluxe edition that will becoming out in early September.

“Criss Cross” has apparently been widely bootlegged over the years. It was known as “Criss Cross Man” and in one spot I saw it described as “Criss Cross Mind.” I realize bootlegs are a bit taboo. I have admitted my past crimes in this area, and yes, I have some bootleg recordings. Most of my bootleg stuff was live recordings most notably by Springsteen. But I had some cassettes (God, remember cassettes?) of live stuff from Van Halen and a rough recording of the Stones’ concert in Hyde Park after Brian Jones died… Mick reading Shelley and releasing white butterflies. The 60s folks… I can’t make this stuff up, but I digress. Anyway, for years I’ve read about all these folks who had bootleg recordings of studio stuff. Either early versions of songs or outtakes and leftover tracks. I’ve never once held in my hand any studio bootlegs. I guess I really was a novice bootleg collector having never even seen a studio boot.

I love that all these great artists are clearing out their vaults. Dylan has his superb “Bootleg Series” (Dylan’s Bootleg Series – A User’s Guide). Neil Young has curated his entire history on his website, neilyoungarchives.com. Springsteen has released some of his vault stuff on Tracks and yes, all those old live Springsteen bootlegs I had… they’ve been released though his “First Friday” concert series. I have rectified my old outlaw ways and purchased many of them… well, around 10 of them… I may have a problem. At least I can sit up at 2 a.m. and debate the nuances of different performances of “Prove It All Night” over a glass of dark and murky spirits. I’m thrilled that slowly but surely the Stones – truly my all time favorite band – have started sharing some of their unreleased material as well. The Stones are like Neil Young in that they often return to their unreleased material, punch it up a little bit and release it years later as “new.”

I’d been reading about the rumors of the Goats Head Soup deluxe release for quite some time but I couldn’t find anything concrete on the inter-web. Then this week on the “social media” I started seeing clips from a video that seemed to indicate a new release was coming. I thought for a minute it might be their long awaited new studio album. While I’m bummed that we’ll have to keep waiting on that, I was thrilled to see this long rumored deluxe edition of Goats Head Soup is finally coming. I first heard “Criss Cross” on Thursday when I watched the video on YouTube… Mick must have directed this video… no band members are in it. It follows a fetching young lady who lives as we all should – mostly naked or topless. Here it is…

I played “Criss Cross” for the Rock Chick and she looked up at me and said, “This is a great song… why didn’t they release it for 50 years?” It’s a good question. Predictably, I love this song. It harkens back to the Stones’ sleazy rock of the early 70s, which is one of my favorite Stones’ eras. Mick certainly sounds like he’s having a really good time on this track. It starts off with some funky, way-wah guitar and keyboards by probably Billy Preston. I know Nicky Hopkins and Ian Stewart also played keyboards on the sessions but I think they play predominantly piano. The track rides a riff that reminds me of “Happy” or “All Down the Line.” You could have blind-folded me and I could have guessed it was from the Goats Head Soup – It’s Only Rock N Roll era.

I love when Mick sings, “Here comes a woman, givin’ me a criss cross mind…” The woman in question must be dangerous as Mick continues to sing “Save me” throughout the song. “Mama walkin’ around in the rain, she want you every night, an’ think I need a blood transfusion.” I think we’ve all been there… Goats Head Soup was recorded in Jamaica where the Stones set up for a number of weeks in a studio to write and record tracks. Most of the songs came out of jams and this track certainly sounds like it evolved out of a jam. It has that loose, sloppy feel that a lot of Stones tracks had back then. It’s more about feel than technique. The last part of the song devolves into the guys riding the riff to the finish line with Mick improvising over them. Surprisingly there is no guitar solo…odd when you’ve got Mick Taylor in the band but it still all works.

This is a great addition to the Stones’ catalog and just a great song by the greatest rock n’ roll band in the world. The deluxe box set of Goats Head Soup has a pretty hefty price tag and I wasn’t going to buy it. It was the Rock Chick who said, “What do you mean, you’re not going to buy it? You have everything else, you have to buy it. I’ll buy it for you if you don’t… with your money.” Marriage is all about teamwork folks… when I stumble the Rock Chick picks me up. So, yes, I have the box on order. While pricey it has the first official release of the concert known in bootleg circles as The Brussels Affair. I actually have that boot, but I’m somehow two songs short of the full recording. There are only two other completed outtakes – one track “Scarlet” has Jimmy Page playing on it so I’m pretty excited about that. Only three new tracks and a heavily bootlegged concert comes with a pretty steep price tag… but don’t worry your intrepid blogger at the urging of the Rock Chick will take one for the team and buy the thing, dissect it and report back to you, our faithful readers.

Stay safe out there… and during this crazy time you might want to avoid being “cheek to cheek, oh yeah, tongue to tongue” with anybody you don’t already know…

Cheers!