Song of the Day 1/27/10

The best 666 songs of alltime countdown continues every day, all the way to #1. Wednesday’s song is #183:

The Rolling Stones – Gimme Shelter

Yeah, the studio version is great, but the best was the one the band played at Altamont (Bill Wyman on bass rather than Keith), growling with a menace that even by these guys’ standards was intense. Look for an Italian bootleg from the 90s, incorrectly titled the Gimme Shelter soundtrack (it isn’t – all it has is the Stones songs on the movie soundtrack, but those alone are transcendent).

Song of the Day 1/14/10

Every day we count down the best 666 songs of alltime, all the way to #1. Thursday’s song is #196:

The Rolling Stones – Jumping Jack Flash

Trivia question: you know Jagger wrote the words, but who wrote the music? That would be Bill Wyman. And it makes sense, if you listen to how the bass looms out of the chorus, all those haunting, magnificently echoey chords. Pure low-register transcendence.