The Rolling Stones Celebrate The 30th Anniversary Of ‘Voodoo Lounge’ With EP With 4 B-Sides From The ‘Voodoo’ Sessions

Time really does fly. It’s like I got distracted and looked up and 30 years have passed since the Stones put out their great album, Voodoo Lounge. The Stones celebrated this august occasion by rounding up the four B-sides they released at the time and putting them on an EP released last week. God, I love Voodoo Lounge. The album got it’s name when Keith Richards adopted a stray cat who’d been hanging around the studio and named him Voodoo. Keith commandeered one of the offices in the studio and stuck a sign on the door that read “Voodoo Lounge,” so people would know the cat was in there.

1994 was a tough time for me and I was damn happy to get a new Stones record. I had returned from my Ft Smith exile and had taken a job peddling medical supplies in hospitals and nursing homes. I was in my car every day… the traveling salesman. I was also in what was perhaps my most tragic romantic relationship, but I digress… The Stones themselves had gone through a tough time in the late 80s. Keith was eternally pissed that Mick put out a pop-oriented solo album in 1985 with She’s The Boss. Worse yet, it had gone platinum, which surprises me as I was disappointed with it. Rather than focus on the next Stones’ project, 1986’s Dirty Work (an underrated album that I love), Mick kind of left it to Keith to put together the album. Famously he supposedly dropped by the studio to cut some vocals and didn’t even take his coat off. “Take your coat off and stay awhile, Mick…” Keith wanted to tour on the album and Mick wanted to do another solo album. It seems our heroes were at loggerheads.

Mick took off to do Primitive Cool which came out in 1987 and turned out to be an utter disaster of an album. Even a cameo from Jeff Beck on guitar couldn’t save that thing. I think if Primitive Cool had been a hit the Stones would probably have been history. To counter, Keith formed the X-Pensive Winos, a crack backing band, and released Talk Is Cheap in ’88. Everybody loved Talk Is Cheap and it sort of evened the balance of power in the Stones. The Stones reconvened and recorded/released Steel Wheels – still the Rock Chick’s favorite Stones album – in 1989 after three years which was a lifetime back then. The tour for Steel Wheels was epic. They hadn’t toured since Tattoo You in the early 80s and everybody wanted to see the Stones. I caught that tour in both East Troy, Wisconsin (where we lost Stevie Ray Vaughan) and Dallas. I even bought the live album from that tour Flashpoint when it came out in 1991. It’s a great live album certainly worthy of a spin.

But then, after the massive tour… nothing from the Stones. Keith put out his follow up album Main Offender in 1992. Mick put out his underrated, fabulous album Wandering Spirit. I was beginning to wonder by 1994 if the Stones would ever record again. They supposedly had broken up in the 80s and it only took 3 years to get an album out, now it’d been 5 years. Then the first single, “Love Is Strong” dropped and my prayers had been answered. Keith had asked Mick to play more harmonica on the album and it brings a fabulous texture to the album. I remember seeing the video with the Stones as giants wandering around New York city… Charlie sitting on a building keeping time by beating on water towers. It wasn’t all good news, founding bassist Bill Wyman had decided after Steel Wheels and 30 some years he’d had enough. Keith immediately said they were going to hire a chick to replace him…instead they hired Darryl Jones who’d once played with Miles Davis.

The Stones actually hired an outside producer for the album, Don Was, who was known for getting bands to return to their classic sound… not unlike Andrew Watt today. Mick complained that they had a lot of “groove” oriented songs and Was squashed that. Keith always said that on Steel Wheels they were trying to be the Stones but on Voodoo Lounge they were just being the Stones. Regardless, it was a rocking, diverse record.

The first three tracks were a broadside statement that announced the Stones were back and were rocking. “Love Is Strong,” “You Got Me Rocking” (which is just great), “Sparks Will Fly.” I remember at the time being divided on Keith’s songs. I loved “The Worst” a little country-rock thing but really didn’t dig “Thru and Thru” until they used it on The Sopranos years later. The big ballad “Out Of Tears” is one of the best Stones ballads this side of “Angie,” and sadly for me was prophetic. I blame myself. I love the diversity of sound on this album. Charlie Watt’s drums are just a magnificent heartbeat that he makes appear so easy. They have keyboardist Chuck Leavell play a harpsicord on “New Faces,” a sound I hadn’t heard on a Stones record since maybe “Lady Jane.” “Moon Is Up” is a trippy tune.

“I Go Wild” is another great rock song. Keith was really kicking in some great riffs at the time. “Brand New Car” is a great midtempo sort of rocking sort of bluesy song that just takes off. “Suck On The Jugular” is a groove type tune that Jagger was alluding to. “Blinded By Rainbows” is an underrated gem of a breakup song… believe me, I know what I’m talking about. “Sweethearts Together” is a classic Stones country song. The album ends with the fabulous rocker “Mean Disposition” that I play on those rare occasions the Rock Chick gets mad at me. “She’s got a mean disposition, Really make a mess, Really make a mess out of you.”

Unbeknownst to me at the time, with each single the Stones released, they included a B-side and you know how we love our B-sides around here. I love that the Stones have finally made these tracks available. The song “Jump On Top Of Me” was in the movie Pret-A-Porter a terrible flick that someone drug me to. I’ve been looking for this song for 30 years. If I’d known it was b-side on a CD single I’d have snapped it up. It’s a bluesy rocker and a classic Stones’ song. “I’m Gonna Drive” is another rocking groover that I immediately put on my Playlist: Driving/The Road. “I’m gonna drive… to the edge of this ol world.” That’s a car I’m getting in.

“So Young” is one of Mick’s most inappropriate lyrics and it dates back to the Some Girl sessions. It’s a rocker and I dig it but I’m surprised they put it out as a b-side. Mick likes to court controversy. The song that I’m most taken with is “The Storm” a straight up blues song. I loooove when the Stones get back to their roots and play the blues. This thing is so bluesy it sounds like it was written by Willie Dixon but it’s a Jagger/Richards original. It’s just always wonderful to hear “master bluesmen practicing their craft.”

Editor’s Note: I figured out my technical issue in posting a link to the B-Sides EP From Voodoo Lounge:

I would have embedded a link to the EP but every time I do it erases everything I’ve written which about gave me a heart attack. You can find the songs where ever you stream your music or buy your music. These b-sides may not change your life, but they’re a great listen from the same sessions that produced the epic Voodoo Lounge. And it’s a great jam on a summer afternoon.

Cheers!