MY FAVORITE SONGS OF 2012 (OR, THIS IS WHERE I MENTION FRANK OCEAN)

Over the past few days, I've posted about some of my favorite albums of the year. But there were a lot of great songs that weren't on any of them, so I'm gonna do one more quick list. Ready?  Here we go:

Frank Ocean - "Thinkin' 'Bout You": I kind of feel like I have to justify why Ocean wasn't on my top albums of the year.  So here it is:  I really wanted to like his album. A vote for him seemed to equal a vote for a world where being gay is no big deal. I'm all about it. But I just don't love the album, it doesn't keep my interest at all.  And that said, "Thinkin' 'Bout You" might be the best song I heard all year. It's so moving, it gets me every time.  Just based on this song, I'll pick up his next album.  The guy is clearly talented as hell.

Solange - "Losing You": My boss turned me on to this song, and he's a tough crowd, so I checked it out. What an amazing song.  If it's possible for her to get out of her sister's shadow, this is the song that should be able to do it.  

M.I.A. - "Bad Girlz": Unfortunately, the headlines M.I.A. made in 2012 were all about her little moment of  giving the finger to the camera at the Super Bowl. It was dumb and goofy.  But at least she put out a great song, and the video for this was pretty cool too.

Santigold - "Disparate Youth": She's always interesting. This song is a bit more "new-wave-y" than her prior songs.  It actually reminds me of New Order for some reason.

The Chris Robinson Brotherhood - "Let's Go Let's Go Let's Go": I'm not very familiar with Chris Robinson's solo stuff, although I have certainly enjoyed his music with The Black Crowes. But wow, what a great song, it sounds like something that would have been on a Sam Cooke record or a very early Motown single.

Ryan Shaw - "Morning Noon And Night": Actually, I need to check out his album.  I heard his song in Starbucks, Shazam-ed it, and downloaded it.  It's one of the best things I've heard all year and also kind of Sam Cooke-ian.

Leonard Cohen - "Going Home": I can't really get into entire Leonard Cohen albums, but I do love some of his songs, and this one is a classic.

Willie Nelson - "Just Breathe": I liked Willie's album, Heroes, but not enough to include it in my top albums of 2012.  But this Pearl Jam cover was incredible.

The Beach Boys - "That's Why God Made The Radio" I'm fascinated that it even got made. And I love the fact that there's no acknowledgement of anything current.  This is a 100% authentic Brian Wilson creation.

Van Halen - "Stay Frosty": This was also an unlikely, and solid, reunion.  David Lee Roth had lots of great lines, Ed Van Halen sounds inspired and Alex and Wolfgang are solid. This song is the highlight, and actually can stand up next to some of their earlier stuff. 

The Rolling Stones - "Doom And Gloom"/"One More Shot": Basically, they kicked everyone's ass with these songs.  

Led Zeppelin - "Good Times Bad Times (live)": I could have picked any song from Celebration Day, really.  But this is the first song on the album and the excitement is tangible.  I have to do a separate post about this album, I can't believe how great it is. 

Aerosmith - "Oh Yeah": I wish I liked their album, Music From Another Dimension, more than I do.  We had to wait so long for it! But "Oh Yeah," which Joe Perry wrote, is 100% classic Aerosmith. 

Paul McCartney/Dave Grohl/Krist Novoselic/Pat Smear - "Cut Me Some Slack": Rocking.  

The Wallflowers featuring Mick Jones - "Reboot The Mission": Basically a Clash tribute.  In the best way. 

Joey Ramone - "New York City": It holds up to the greatest Ramones songs.  I love it. 

Gaslight Anthem - "45": I thought this should have been the song to bring them to the "next level." 

Iggy Pop and Bethany Cosentino - "Let's Boot And Rally": a great song from True Blood, written by the show's music director, Gary Calamar. Calamar wrote the song for them, and he told me about it. And this is where I get to include Best Coast (the band Ms. Costentino sings for; I like them, but not enough to include them on this list). 

TOMORROW ON THE MORNING JOLT: REISSUES! U2, NIRVANA, ROLLING STONES, BEACH BOYS, JETHRO TULL

Tomorrow morning I'll be on SiriusXM OutQ's The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick talking about one of my favorite subjects: box sets and reissues.  It's that time of year, they make great gifts!

I've written a lot about U2 lately, and I've also written about the Achtung Baby album and the reissue.  It blew me away when I first heard it in 1991, and I've never gotten tired of it.  The super deluxe version of the box set has lots of great extras (although I balked at the $400+ uber box set, which has the same music, but does have magnets, stickers, Bono shades, etc.  Cute, but for me, not worth the money.  Really, all you need is the album itself, but I really wanted some of the extras.


I've written about the Nirvana Nevermind reissue. Well, a lot has been said about the album lately.  It really was a game changer for music. Yeah, it led to a lot of bands deciding that they had to pretend to be angst ridden, but what are you gonna do?  You can't blame all the hair metal bands on Van Halen, and you can't blame the grunge fakers on Nirvana. I bought the super deluxe version of this also.  Again, for the extras, including a live recording and also Butch Vig's original mixes of the album.  But you'd do fine with the deluxe version.  Or really, just the original, it's so powerful and still holds up today.

I've also written about The Rolling Stones Some Girls reissue. I've mentioned that it's probably my favorite Stones album, and that the outtakes are so good, I think they're better than the Stones' next album, Emotional Rescue. And they're better than most band's albums too.  When Ronnie Wood joined the band, it just worked. It was while the band were still powerful and had their swagger.  I like a lot of what they've done since Some Girls, but nothing came close to matching this LP.  I love Tattoo You and I really like Steel Wheels and A Bigger Bang, none of them come are in their neighborhood.

Jon Moskowitz (@JonMoskow) from the blog Vivoscene was nice enough to do a guest review of The Beach Boys' Smile. I don't really get the album, and I Tweeted a request for someone to guest review it for me, and Jon (who I met at a social media seminar hosted by Sree Sreenivasan aka @sree) said he'd do it.  It turns out, he doesn't really get the album either.  It's not any anti-Beach Boys bias though: we both enjoy Pet Sounds.

Finally, Jethro Tull's Aqualung. People kind of make fun of Jethro Tull, but if you think of them in the context of the time, wow, how different they must have sounded.  Fortunately for them, classic rock radio has played their records for decades.  But that can be a double edged sword.  Songs like "Aqualung" and "Locomotive Breath" and "Cross-Eyed Mary" can lose their edge after years of repetition and being played back to back with lots of the soft rockers that classic rock radio plays so much of. But this is a pretty awesome album.

THE ROLLING STONES - SOME GIRLS (reissue review)

The Rolling Stones released Some Girls in 1978 when I was nine years old.  I don't think I was aware of the concept that a band was releasing a new album, but I did associate certain artists with certain songs, I just had no idea if they were new or old.

But I do remember hearing "Miss You," "Beast Of Burden" and "Shattered" all over the place.  Years later, when I started really getting into the Stones, learning their history and buying their old albums (this was around '89, when they hit the road for the first time in years for Steel Wheels) I picked up Some Girls and was knocked out by how great it was.  This may be sacrilegious to say, but it quickly became my favorite Stones album. I realize that most hardcore fans choose albums from the Brian Jones or Mick Taylor eras.  Of course I love albums from both of those eras, and there are no bad albums from either era, but this is my favorite.

If you didn't know better, you would have thought that Ronnie Wood was created in a lab to join The Stones. In the history of rock, has there ever been a replacement in a major band that just fit so perfectly?

I don't think I knew too much of the context when I first got the album though. I just knew that there were three incredible singles, but in between them were a group of songs that were just as good, or better.  I knew that this came out during the punk rock era, and they seemed to nod at this without trying too hard, on songs like "Lies," "Respectable" and "When The Whip Comes Down." Their soul roots were acknowledged with their cover of The Temptations' "Just My Imagination." They nodded at their country influences (and made fun of them more than a bit) on "Far Away Eyes." "Miss You" and "Shattered" were funky as hell, and "Beast Of Burden" is one of their best pop songs ever.  Also on this album is one of my favorite Keith Richards-sung Stones tunes, "Before They Make Me Run" ("see my taillights fading, there's not a dry eye in the house"). On my Rolling Stones iPod mix, every song on this album is included. (That mix is nearly 11 hours long, but still.)

I just bought the deluxe (not super-deluxe) version of the album. It comes with a second disc of stuff that didn't make the album. Often times, this kind of thing is a curiosity, but disc 2 of Some Girls is its own great album.  I think I prefer it to their next album, Emotional Rescue! "Claudine" is a great vintage rocker.  "No Spare Parts" (featuring newly recorded parts by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood) is a lovely country-ish song.  There's actually a lot of country on disc two, including Keith singing a classic song, "We Had It All," and also a cover of Hank Williams' "You Win Again."

The super-deluxe version also contains a DVD of a live concert from the tour, but not the CD version.  So, I decided to get the deluxe version, and pick up the DVD/CD version of Some Girls - Live In Texas '78, which you can get separately (and buying both was still less expensive than the super-deluxe version). I have a lot of great live recordings by the Stones, but this might be the best one. So, if you love the Stones, particularly the Ronnie Wood era, I'd recommend doing what I did: get the deluxe version, and get the DVD/CD (or BlueRay/CD) combo of Some Girls Live.

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS - "I'M WITH YOU"

I read that Flea had been listening to a lot of Rolling Stones records while working on the new Red Hot Chili Peppers album, I'm With You (and Rolling Stone's review cited this fact also).  I would think that this was equal parts musical inspiration and "how did they do it?"

In other words: Mick and Keith have pretty much led the band since they took over the reigns from Brian Jones. But losing Jones was still a big deal, a big transition, for the band. After that, losing Mick Taylor was a big deal too.  But of course, The Rolling Stones have endured a number of key member changes.  So the question for the Red Hot Chili Peppers is: is new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer their Ron Wood -- the guy born to be a member of the group -- or is he their next Dave Navarro (i.e. guy who just isn't the right fit)?

(By the way, NO disrespect to Navarro, the album he did with RHCP, One Hot Minute, had some good songs, but it didn't quite work).

I've been listening to this album for a while, and I'm still having a hard time deciding.  I think it's a stronger album than say, One Hot Minute, but I'm not sure how many songs people will want to hear from this album when the Peppers are on tour in two or three years from now.  "Monarchy Of Roses" is a great opener, and would have been a way better first single than "The Adventures Of Rain Dance Maggie" which just sounds too much like past Chili ballads.  I do think Josh Klinghoffer fits in pretty well.  He's definitely different from John Frusciante - he's less guitar hero guy and more about textures (which is kind of what he added as an extra touring member of the band a few years ago).

A ballad that sounds different from prior mellow tunes is "Brendan's Death Song," about a late friend of the band.  I think it's pretty powerful, Anthony Kiedis sounds like he's haunted by memories of people he's lost. It's not mellow depression, but real sadness, and it's soulful.  I also like the more upbeat, piano-driven "Happiness Loves Company."  Frusciante added keyboards to the mix, but he was definitely a guitar guy first.  I get the feeling that Josh Klinghoffer is ok playing anything, as long as it fits the song.

I guess I just wish that the songs here were more memorable.  I'm surprised that some of these got past Rick Rubin, who usually won't let a band hit the studio until the songs are tight enough.

But the Chili Peppers is one of my favorite bands ever, and I'm loyal.  I'll look at I'm With You as Josh Klinghoffer's Mother's Milk - his intro to the group, and hopefully they have something like a Bloodsugarsexmagik or Californication left in them... or at least another By The Way. For now, I'm looking forward to seeing this version of the band live, and seeing how the new songs hold up to the classics in concert.  I think maybe the band would have benefitted from actually doing some shows with Josh before making the record.

MICK JAGGER AND KEITH RICHARDS RECORDING...

... uh, well... they *are* recording.  The rub: they are recording separately.  The new issue of Rolling Stone (not the one pictured here, the new one with Lady Gaga on the cover) has two separate blurbs about upcoming projects from Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Both mention a rumored 2012 tour.

A small feature on page 18 discusses Mick's new project, a supergroup of sorts that features Dave Stewart of The Eurythmics, Joss Stone, Damien Marley and Oscar winning composer A.R. Rahman. Mick has worked with Dave before in his solo career, notably on songs to the soundtrack of the 2004 film Alfie ("Old Habits Die Hard" is one of his best non-Stones moments). Joss and Mick did a duet on that soundtrack as well.

Mick has always expressed a bit of boredom with doing things the same way with The Stones, but his attempts to do different music projects outside of the band haven't done well.  His last full length solo album, 2001's Goddess In The Doorway, got a five star review in Rolling Stone, which only called attention to the fact that it was far from being a five star album.  (It did have one of his finest moments: his excellent collaboration with Lenny Kravitz, "God Gave Me Everything"). Anyway, it didn't sell well and I remember it being laughed at in the press (and by Keith). I guess his new "super-group" is an interesting project to him.  I have to admit, I'm interested to hear it. In the article, Mick says he doesn't have any Stones plans to announce at the moment.

Meanwhile, an "In The News" item on page 20 says that Keith is finally working again with his former backing band, The X-Pensive Winos. Unlike Mick, Keith seems to love working in the Stones' blues/country/R&B/rock style, which the Winos did so well.  So it's surprising to me that he hasn't done a real solo project in nearly 20 years. I saw the Winos twice (once on each tour) and they kicked ass.

So who knows what this means for The Rolling Stones. They can't wait too much longer to do another album and tour, can they?

Anyway: I know that conventional wisdom says that Keith's solo career is better than Mick's, but I'm planning (planning!) on writing about both men's careers outside of the Stones this week.  Feel free to weigh in, right here in the comments section.

BEN WATERS' TRIBUTE TO IAN STEWART - BOOGIE 4 STU

You'll want to check this album out if you like pre-rock and roll boogie woogie. Or if you are a Rolling Stones fan. Or if you like PJ Harvey.

Rock and roll fans know Ian Stewart: he was the original piano player of The Rollling Stones. Their original manager, Andrew Loog Oldham (who currently is a host on Little Steven's Underground Garage) deemed him surplus to requirements to the Stones. He was demoted to road manager, and also studio and touring piano player. But yet, he stuck with the Stones for the rest of his life until he passed away in 1985.

Ben Waters' parents were friends with Stewart, and when young Ben saw him play piano at their house, he decided he wanted to be a piano player also. These days, he's a pretty popular musician on the roots music scene in the U.K., and he also plays in Charlie Watts' band, The ABCandD of Boogie Woogie.

Watts plays drums on most of the album, most of which was recorded in Jools Holland's studio (appropriately, as Stewart was likely an influence on Holland's style). But the album took on a life of it's own, with Keith Richards, Ron Wood and even ex-Stone Bill Wyman making multiple contributions. On one song - a cover of Bob Dylan's "Watching The River Flow" features Charlie, Keith, Ron, Bill and Mick Jagger. (Apparently, Stewart considered it the only good song Dylan ever wrote!) Although they all recorded their parts separately, and it isn't billed as a Stones tune per se, it's the first new recording by the band in six years, and the first recording with Wyman in 20 years.  There's also a Keith/Ronnie duet on "Worried Life Blues."

The other big guest is Waters' cousin, Polly Jean Harvey.  They recorded "Lonely Avenue" in her parents' living room, on a piano that Stewart once owned. It's an interesting contrast to her very British new album, Let England Shake.

The album is a great reminder of how much fun pre-rock and roll boogie woogie music is, and also has some great blues moments. If you're a Stones fan, you gotta have it, but it's worth checking out for anyone interested in the roots of rock and roll music. By his own admission, Stewart was a limited piano player: to progress with their music, they had to leave him behind (and he hated some of their more "progressive" material like "Sympathy For The Devil"), but this album offers an interesting glimpse of what the Stones would have sounded like if Loog hadn't canned him.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: THE BRITISH INVASION AND R&B

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning at 9 am ET I go on the SIRIUS XM channel OutQ and talk about music on The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick. This week and next week, however, I am moving to Thursdays.  In three weeks, I'll be back to Wednesday.

I'm going to talk about what I was supposed to talk about last week: the British invasion of the early '60s, and the American R&B of the era: how they influenced each other, and how that influence manifests itself today.  I'm adding one recent release that I didn't originally plan on: Otis Redding's Live On The Sunset Strip. It's a two CD collection of a few sets that he did over the course of a multi-night stand at the Sunset Strip in April of 1966, backed by his own band (as opposed to Booker T & The MGs) at the point where the dude was blowing up.  It is hot, and worth checking out. I've talked about Otis on the show before, but as far as I'm concerned, you can't talk about him too much.

I'll also be talking about The Kinks, in honor of the late Pete Quaife. I'll be talking about a newly released live Jackson 5 album. And new albums by Paul Weller and Bettye Lavette. But the main thing will be the recently released DVD version of The TAMI Show. I was talking with a friend of mine, we said it may be the best music DVD ever. And I never say that kind of stuff.  But it is a well shot concert from 1964 featuring a legendary performance by James Brown (see part of it here). Plus, The Rolling Stones (here), Marvin Gaye (here), Diana Ross & The Supremes (also here), The Beach Boys and Smokey Robinson & The Miracles. Check out below, I've posted a joint performance by Chuck Berry with Gerry & The Pacemakers, and also Lesley Gore. This is incredible stuff.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: THE BRITISH INVASION AND R&B

UPDATE: I'm not going to be on OutQ today, due to a number of other guests. So I'll do an extended version of my weekly thing next week. Sorry everyone, I just found out! Tomorrow night, however, I will be on The Catholic Channel, and I'll post more about that later on.

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning at 9 am ET, I go on the SIRIUS XM channel OutQ to talk about music on The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick. Tomorrow I will talk about the "British Invasion" of the early 1960's, and the American R&B of that era, and the effects they still have today. It's something I love to talk about: how music can bring together different cultures, and that was definitely happening in the early '60s. 

First, I'll talk about The Kinks' late founding bass player Pete Quaife. He passed away last week. The Kinks were kind of seen as the quintessential British band, and they were. But on their first album, they were covering Chuck Berry and blues and R&B artists. It's still amazing to me: there was no internet in the early '60s: the fact that white British kids were going crazy over American artists like Chuck and Muddy Waters - who many American kids didn't know about, or didn't appreciate, it's pretty amazing.

After that, I'm going to talk about The TAMI Show DVD. The TAMI Show was a concert film recorded October 28 and 29 of 1964 and was released in December of that year. The concert featured performances by James Brown, The Rolling Stones, Marvin Gaye, Lesley Gore, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Chuck Berry and The Beach Boys among others. It was when desegregation was still a relatively new concept. The show was mainly attended by white kids, but there were black kids too, and I bet this made lots of people nervous. You can hear the white girls going crazy throughout the entire performance, especially when James Brown is on. Brown's TAMI performance is legendary, he blew everyone away. The Rolling Stones were pretty badass, and the Motown artists were excellent, but James was by far the best. Anyway, this DVD costs like $15 and it's one of the best things I've ever seen. I can't say enough about how awesome it is, just trust me.

It's been a year since Michael Jackson died. Before he was The King Of Pop, he was the star of a great Motown band, The Jackson 5. A newly released live album, Live At The Forum, recorded at the L.A. Forum in 1970 and 1972. I brought in their cover of Traffic's "Feelin' Alright."

One British rocker who was profoundly influenced by the music of 1964 is Paul Weller. In the late '70s and early '80s, he fronted a legendary band called The Jam, who were influenced by The Who and The Kinks, but only through their mod periods. Not only The Who and The Kinks, but their American R&B influences, and when they moved away from that, I think he moved on. In the '80s, he formed a new band, Style Council, who were very influenced by the very synth-heavy American R&B of that era. He's been solo since the '90s, and done some of the best music of his career in that time. Some say that his latest album, Wake Up The Nation, is his finest. Larry Flick has already said that it is his favorite album of 2010.

Finally, Bettye Lavette. Last year, I said that her 2005 album I've Got My Own Hell To Raise was one of the most underrated albums of the '00s. I'll stand by that: the album saw her covering classic songs from great female songwriters. Her new album, Interpretations, sees her covering Britsh rock artists, most of whom started in the '60s, including The Beatles (individually and collectively), The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. It's good, I don't love it as much as I've Got My Own Hell To Raise, but it's a cool album.

One album that I wanted to discuss, but I just won't have time, is the newly released Otis Redding collection Live On The Sunset Strip. If I don't talk about it on OutQ at some point, I will at least write about it here.

THE ROLLING STONES ON THE TAMI SHOW

A couple of days ago, I was digging listening to The Rolling Stones' early 1970s-era stuff via the Exile On Main Street reissue and the Stones In Exile documentary DVD. They were a very different band from a few years earlier, when they were still up-and-coming and featured Brian Jones as the guitarist (replaced in the Exile-era by Mick Taylor). You get a glimpse of the band on the recently released TAMI Show DVD, where they performed at a concert that also featured James Brown, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Chuck Berry and The Beach Boys, among others. The Stones' performance is pretty incredible (although they got blown away by James Brown, who performed before them - Keith Richards said going on after him was the biggest mistake the band ever made). But check it out, here's The Stones from the TAMI show doing "It's All Over Now."

STONES IN EXILE DVD

I've got to say, I've really been digging listening to The Rolling Stones' classic Exile On Main Street over and over since the reissue came out. Tonight I watched Stones In Exile, the documentary about the album.

The doc was pretty cool, it was interesting to see footage of the era.  But you know Mick Jagger really isn't too into talking about it (in a recent interview he said he didn't know the point of it, other than getting paid, or something like that), and Charlie Watts really really isn't into talking about it. Keith Richards is cool with talking about whatever, but he didn't have any incredible insight, nor did former members Mick Taylor and Bill Wyman, although it was cool to see and hear them in the doc. My favorite parts were the interview segments with Bobby Keys, who played sax on the album (and still plays on their records and tours today). But I enjoyed the doc.

What I loved about the DVD though, was a bonus feature with extended interviews with "Exile fans": Jack White, Sheryl Crow, Liz Phair, will.i.am and Caleb Followill from Kings Of Leon, as well as Martin Scorsese and Don Was.   I used to do interviews with rock stars, and I often was more interested in talking about things other than themselves - especially music that really, really meant a lot to them. Whoever did these interviews, I was definitely envious of, because these were the types of conversations I loved, back in the day. It was fascinating to see what Exile meant to these folks: to Jack White, it was an album that could confound rock critics, they could no longer box the Stones in. To Sheryl Crow, it was how they looked at the place where she was from, the south. will.i.am is one of the most proudly modern and commercial artists - but he likes the fact that it is an entire body of work, and part of a greater continuum of work, and one that isn't reliant on having hit singles.  It's the "cool" album to like, because it isn't as well known. Followill, the son of a preacher man, thought it sounded like the devil's music, and loved it. Don Was, an artist and producer (who has produced The Stones' records of the past 15 years) can't figure out what is on the essence of the album (which I'm sure some critics will have field day with).  And Liz Phair, as her fans know, has a pretty complex relationship with this particular record. Maybe the doc will get some Stones fans to pick up her debut, the classic Exile In Guyville. I know Mick, Keith and Charlie exec-produced the doc, but I would think that they might be weirded out by all of the things that everybody said about the album - not just Liz (but especially Liz!).

A cynic could say that they selected the artists they interviewed for marketing purposes, but I take a different point of view.  Through these interviews, you really see why the album, and the band is so relevant today. I give the main doc a B but this feature an A.

ROLLLING STONE'S 500 GREATEST SONGS

A couple of years ago, in the pre-No Expiration era, Rolling Stone magazine put out a special issue with the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time." For some reason, they've just updated it slightly in a special collector's issue. And for some reason, you can't see the list on RS's confusingly redesigned website, but you can see it here.

I decided to use this as a launching pad for a great iPod mix, since I'm often finding myself to be ok with Rolling Stone's choices (minus their prejudice towards Jann Wenner's friends, and prejudice against progressive rock and metal). 

So, the first thirty songs… I couldn’t touch and left them intact on my mix. Some of them aren’t songs that I need to hear many more times, but I would feel downright sacrilegious replacing any of them. But I didn't mind ditching some sacred cows of classic rock radio.
I started making my own revisions at #31, where I replaced Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven” with “The Rain Song.” I’m so tired of “Stairway.” I don’t know if “Rain Song” is really my favorite Zeppelin song – there are way too many awesome songs to choose one. But I love the line, “Upon us all, a little rain must fall.” That has always stuck with me.

I love The Rolling Stones but I am way more into some of thier album tracks, as opposed to the hits (that said, I left a lot of the hits alone): At #101, I replaced The Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” with the live, super badass version of “Midnight Rambler.” The former probably has a better message, as the latter is about a murderer, but I can’t help it, I never loved “You Can’t…” I replaced “Honkey Tonk Women” with “Stray Cat Blues.” “Wild Horses” was replaced “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” from the same album, 1971’s Sticky Fingers. And I replaced The Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar” with “All Down The Line.”

At #193, I replaced Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” with “Saturday Night Special." And at #407, I replaced “Sweet Home Alabama” with “The Ballad Of Curtis Loew.” So my Skynyrd songs are anti-gun and one honoring an African American blues musican. Yeah, I'm from a blue state.  But I love Skynyrd.

I’ve often argued that Elton John is more a slave to his greatest hits than any other major artist – he has so many amazing songs that most people aren’t even familiar with. So, I replaced #137 “Your Song” (a great song) with “I Need You To Turn To,” off of the same album, his self titled second album from 1970. Also, I replaced Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” a song about loneliness, veiled in a song about space travel, with “I Want Love” from 2001’s Songs From The West Coast, a much more honest and mature song.

Rod Stewart’s “Maggie Mae” (#131) is a great song about cougars, but another one that’s been driven into the ground. It was the b-side to “Reason To Believe” (written by Tim Hardin), and Rod has said that if the radio DJ hadn’t flipped the single, he’d have ended up going back to digging graves. That’s probably not true, but maybe he would be reuniting with The Faces this year! So, I’m replacing “Maggie Mae” with “Reason To Believe.”

I know that Ray Charles' Modern Sounds In Country and Western was groundbreaking. And I love Ray singing country. But the album is way too overproduced with strings and corny backing vocals. I know that was the way Ray wanted it. But I don’t want to hear “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” so I replaced it with “Come Rain Or Come Shine.” (I did leave "Georgia On My Mind" alone.)

I got really crazy when I replaced Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” with his “Precious Time” from 1999. Sorry everyone! I’m just so tired of that song , and I don’t feel bad saying it, because I think Van is too. “Precious Time” speaks to me more. Also, I replaced Van Morrison’s “Moondance” with “And It Stoned Me.”

People will want to clobber me for replacing Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” with “The Show Must Go On.” “Rhapsody” is a great creation, and of course I love the scene from Wayne’s World. But I just don’t need to hear it anymore. I’m not a Queen fanatic, but “The Show Must Go On” hits me hard every time. I imagine Freddie Mercury knew he didn’t have much time left when he was writing this, and it certainly comes off that way when he’s singing it. I was going to replace Queen’s “We Will Rock You” with The Roots’ “Rock You,” but instead I used “The Seed (2.0) from the same album. Sorry, I like The Roots more than Queen.

I replaced The Strokes’ “Last Nite,” with the song they stole the riff from, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ “American Girl.”  And Pavement’s song was replaced by Rush’s “The Spirit Of The Radio.” It’s only right. (I do rip on Pavement a lot, but they have like five good songs.  I can't remember any Strokes songs though).

More replacements:

• Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff” with “Love To Love You Baby,” it’s plain sexier.
• “Losing My Religion” from Out Of Time with “Try Not To Breathe” from my favorite R.E.M. album, Automatic For The People.
• Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” which I could never stand with “A Case Of You.”
• Aerosmith’s “Dream On” with “Make It” from the same album, their 1973 self-titled debut. Aerosmith are almost as bound to their greatest hits as Elton.
• Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” with “Beyond Here Lies Nothing,” although I like the sentiment of the former better, the latter is a better song.
• Beck’s “Loser” with the funkier “Beercan” from the same album, Mellow Gold.
• Bill Withers’ “Lean On Me” has a nicer message than “Use Me,” but I switched it anyway. Sue me!
• I replaced the studio version of James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” with a live version recorded at The Concert For New York City, which took place a few weeks after 9/11.
• The Spencer Davis Group’s “Gimme Some Lovin’” with “I’m A Man.”
• Bobby Darin’s “Mack The Knife” with Louis Armstrong’s version. That may pre-date the rock and roll era, but it’s my mix.
• I don’t have The Dixie Cups’ “Chapel Of Love,” so I replaced it with The Dixie Chicks’ “Goodbye Earl.”
• I replaced Stevie Wonder’s “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life” with “As,” which he told me was the best lyric he’s ever written.
• I replaced Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold” with “Harvest.”
• I replaced Daft Punk’s “One More Time” (which I do like) with The Chemical Brothers’ more rocking “Block Rockin’ Beats.”
• The Rascals’ “Good Lovin’” with “People Got To Be Free.”
• Earth Wind & Fire’s “That’s The Way Of The World” with “September.”
• Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit In The Sky” with a newer version by The Blind Boys Of Alabama.
• I never was that into Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” so I was going to go with The Fugees’ version, but I decided on Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop (That Thing)” instead.
• I replaced The Allman Brothers Band’s live “Whipping Post” (clocking in at over 20 minutes) with “Statesboro Blues” from the same album, At Fillmore East. Even though Gregg Allman wrote “Whipping Post” and “Statesboro Blues” is a Blind Willie McTell number. But my wife will be using this mix too, and a twenty something minute blues jam ain't gonna fly. 
• I replaced The Bees Gees’ “How Deep Is Your Love?” with “To Love Somebody” because I like it better.
• Only one Metallica song, and it’s “Enter Sandman” ? At #408? I replaced it with “For Whom The Bell Tolls,” the first Metallica song I ever heard on “Metal Shop.”
• I just can’t stand The Carpenters, sorry. I replaced their song with Aimee Mann’s “Save Me” from the 1999 film Magnolia.
• I replaced Nirvana’s “In Bloom” with “School” from Bleach.
• I replaced Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy” with “Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems.”
• I replaced Crosby Stills & Nash’s “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” which I never really liked, with Crosby Stills Nash & Young’s “Carry On.” (both songs were written by Stephen Stills.)
• I replaced Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” with the live version of “Captain Jack.”
• #431 was The Smiths’ “William, It Was Really Nothing,” which I like, but I replaced it by moving up “How Soon Is Now?” from #477, and then replaced that with “Panic.”
• I replaced Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water” with “Highway Star.”
• I replaced Gladys Knight & The Pips’ “Midnight Train To Georgia” with “I Heard It Through The Grapevine.”
• I replaced Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender” with “Blue Moon Of Kentucky”
• I replaced Guns N Roses’ “Paradise City” with “It’s So Easy.”
• I replaced George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” with one of my favorite songs ever, “All Things Must Pass.”
• I used the remix of Missy Elliott’s “Get Ur Freak On,” the one with Nelly Furtado.
• I replaced Jay-Z and UGK’s “Big Pimpin’” with Jay-Z, Kanye West, T.I. and Lil’ Wayne’s “Swagga Like Us.”
• I replaced Foreigner’s “I Want To Know What Love Is” with Yes’ “Starship Trooper.” (sorry honey)
• Yeah, I love “I Love Rock N Roll” (#491) too, but I replaced that with Joan Jett & The Blackhearts’ version of “Crimson and Clover.”
• I replaced MGMT’s “Time To Pretend” (#493) with “Kids.”
• At #496, I replaced Jackson Browne’s “Running On Empty” with Warren Zevon’s “Poor, Poor Pitiful Me,” which he wrote about Jackson, and which Jackson later covered.
•  Finally, at #499, I replaced Weezer’s “Buddy Holly” with “In My Garage.”

There were also a bunch of songs I had to flat out ditch. 

• I had to flat out ditch #49, The Eagles’ “Hotel California.” Like “Stairway To Heaven,” it’s another classic rock sacred cow. I like other Eagles songs better, but I don’t think any Eagles songs belong in the top 50, sorry. “Stairway” and “Hotel” were the only things I changed from the top 100.
• Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild”
• ABBA’s “Dancing Queen”
• Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman”
• I don’t mind The Lovin’ Spoonful, but I got rid of both of their songs, “Do You Believe In Magic” (#218) and “Summer In The City” (#401). I know they're in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but they don't make my top 500, or my top 600.
• I can’t stand The Jefferson Airplane at all, so I dropped their songs “Somebody To Love” (#279) and “White Rabbit” (#483).
• 50 Cent’s “In Da Club.” (But don’t tell him.)
• Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe.”
• Chubby Checker’s “The Twist.”
• R. Kelly’s “Ignition (remix),” I always thought the dude was corny before we all found out how creepy he is.

I added a bunch of songs as well, those are for the next post.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: ROCK AND ROLL! (THE STONES, BLACK KEYS, HOLE)

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning at 9 am ET I go on the SIRIUS XM channel OutQ. I am a weekly contributor to The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick. Tomorrow I will earn my title (given by Larry) of "rock reporter."

First, I'll be talking about The Rolling Stones' Exile On Main Street reissue, which I love. The Stones have never really been too interested in adding bonus tracks to their catalog releases, but I'm glad they did for this one. Actually some of the songs are kind of like collaborations between the Stones of the late '60s/early '70s and today, as Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and even Mick Taylor have added some new parts to some of the bonus tracks (which were unfinished and sitting in the vaults for decades). Of course, even without any extra stuff, Exile is a classic album and perfect for the summer.

I recently wrote about how much I like The Black Keys' Brothers. I'm excited to play them for people who aren't familiar with them.

Likewise, I'm excited to play The Len Price 3 for people. They are an awesome garage rock band who I doubt I would be familiar with, were it not for Little Steven's Underground Garage. They remind me of The Who or The Kinks from the early '60s.

Finally, the new Hole album, Nobody's Daughter. I think it is weird that Courtney Love is using the Hole name, since none of the other members used to be in the band. But I guess Hole has always been about her. I don't know if I love the album, but "Skinny Little Bitch" is pretty classic.

Hey, if you're around a computer or radio at 9 am ET, tune in and let me know what you think!

GET THE "NEW" ROLLING STONES SONG ON iTUNES

The first of the "unearthed" songs from The Rolling Stones' Exile On Main Street resissue, "Plundered My Soul," is now out on iTunes. Of course I'm going to buy the deluxe reissue, but I couldn't wait to hear this.

"Follow The River" is another "unearthed" track.  It's known that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards added bits of guitar and vocals to the track. It's also known that Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman didn't add anything to the original track. But what's interesting is the other rumor: that Mick Taylor also added some guitar parts. A while ago, England's Daily Mail reported that Taylor was living in a small apartment and was going to sue The Stones for not paying him for his term in the band (which many would consider their greatest era, as it included Exile and also Sticky Fingers). His manager called the NME to say that that was just not true at all. Now, maybe that was because Taylor was actually speaking with the Stones, and was hoping to either get paid or to actually rejoin and he didn't want to screw things up.  Or maybe he was 100% telling the truth.

But another rumor is that the Stones are getting tired of Ron Wood's antics. If they got rid of him, even though he is the "new guy" in the band (having only been a member for three decades or so) it would make the band look less legit. But if they replaced him with the guy he replaced, Mick Taylor, then it seems a bit more OK. Since Taylor played on Exile, it would make even more sense if they did a tour where they focused on that album.  Another cool option is having Mick rejoin and have him and Ron switch off at guitar and bass (they both play bass as well).

At any rate, it's great to hear a "new" Stones song - they have never been the best at putting out interesting reissues - and here's hoping it isn't the last we hear from them.

ROLLING STONES WEEK ON THE JIMMY FALLON SHOW

Musically, no late night show can come close to Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. The Roots are the best late night band ever, they can rock with Black Star and they can rock with Christopher Cross. On Monday night, Mike McCready of Pearl Jam sat in with the band (I wish they'd post some rehearsal video of that!).
And in the above video, Jimmy announced that the week of May 10th is going to be Exile On Main Street week on his show, where every night a different artist will cover a song from the album (which is being reissued on May 18). That should be pretty cool.

THIS WEEK ON AMERICAN IDOL: THE ROLLING STONES CATALOG

Entertainment Weekly reports that this week on American Idol, the "Top 12" will be singing Rolling Stones covers. I'm not a big Idol fan - I don't mind it, but I'm just not a fan - but I don't have high hopes for this. I predict it will be like bad karoke versions of the band's most obvious hits.

THE GREATEST ROCK CONCERT FILM EVER?

Rolling Stone writer David Fricke claims that The T.A.M.I. Show is the best concert film ever. Based on that, I just put it in my cart on amazon. The artists playing at this one concert, recorded October 29, 1964 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium include Jan & Dean, Chuck Berry, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Marvin Gaye, The Beach Boys, The Supremes, James Brown and The Rolling Stones.

THE ROLLING STONES EXILE REISSUE. CAN. NOT. WAIT.

I love The Rolling Stones, but they never do their catalog justice.  They've reissued thier albums twice, and never include anything extra (other than the recent Get Your Ya-Ya's Out box set). So, I'm really excited to hear ten unreleased songs on the upcoming deluxe version of Exile On Main Street, which is coming out May 18 according to their website. Mick Jagger told Rolling Stone that some of the songs weren't complete, and he added some vocals to some, and wrote and sang new lyrics to "Follow The River." Keith Richards added a bit of guitar stuff, but mostly they left the original recordings alone. Now that they are in Stones mode, I wonder if the guys will do any new music.  If the rumors of them working with Jack White are true... well, that would be awesome.

JOHNNY DEPP TO DIRECT KEITH RICHARDS DOC

I'm surprised that hasn't happened already!  I read in The Playlist, a blog about the crossection of music and film, that Johnny Depp will be directing a doc on Keith Richards. I'm just surprised he hasn't directed a Keith doc already.  I wonder if he'll get Mick Jagger to participate. Or Ron Wood - especially if The Rolling Stones fire him, as has been rumored.

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GET KEITH RICHARDS TO STOP DRINKING?

According to British tabloid The Sun, Ronnie Wood. Keith Richards has been drinking forever, but after seeing how Ron has gone off the rails (and there are rumors that Mick Jagger is going to fire him from The Rolling Stones), he has decided to lay off the sauce. I don't even know what to say about that! Here's hoping that both Keith and Ronnie do what they need to, to stay healthy.

RON WOOD TO TOUR THIS YEAR

I read that Ronnie Wood is considering a solo tour this year. Supposedly, he was hoping for a Rolling Stones tour, and since (he thinks) that that isn't happening, he wants to hit the road, and focus attention on his music rather than his personal life. He supposedly has been working on a solo album for a while, and now he wants to get it out there. I wonder if the Stones are really not touring, or just that they are going to tour without Ronnie.  I hope that they can work things out. Whatever he does, I hope he's OK.  And I hope that he doesn't do a Faces tour without Rod Stewart.