![]() 'The single sleeve had a picture of me with a pen digging into me as if it were a sword. 'I was getting a bit tired of people having a go, all that, "Oh, it's not as good as their last one" business. 'The idea of the song has to do with our public persona at the time', Mick wrote in the sleeve notes to the 1993 compilation, Jump Back. It's Only Rock 'N' Roll was their riposte. ![]() At the time, though, their skins weren't so tough and leathery as now and the criticisms hurt. Richards was deep into being a junkie, Jagger had become a high society jet-setter and, as one critic succinctly put it, their image began to eclipse their accomplishments. With the benefit of retrospect, it's easy to see now that, after Exile On Main Street, The Stones did begin a slide from innovation and revolution into decadence and rock star excess. 'It's Only Rock 'N' Roll (But I Like It)' was authored in direct response to the kicking dished out to 1973's Goats Head Soup which critic Lester Bangs had greeted with these words in Creem: 'There is a sadness about The Stones now, because they amount to such an enormous "So what?".' In 1974 they released a song, and an LP titled after it, that attempted to shrug off the critics with characteristic arrogance and disdain. Which, let's face it, is in all probability true – not that the band took it lying down. Ever since their legendary late '60s/early '70s run of Beggar's Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main Street, they've been accused of being shadows of their former selves, sell-outs, nowhere near as good or relevant as they used to be. Not that batting away slings and arrows and the like is anything novel for The Rolling Stones. And worse, Charlie Watts cheerfully air-drumming in his study, despite the fact that we can clearly hear a solid rhythm section, presumably a pre-recorded backing track. But then there's Keith Richards, fumbling about in a bit of a fuddle, contributing barely anything, seemingly not exactly sure what he's supposed to be doing. Part of Global Citizen's One World: Together At Home Coronavirus Relief Concert, the new take on the song finds Jagger grooving energetically on an acoustic in his front room and Ronnie Wood adding tasty licks from his hallway. To add somewhat of an insult to injury, 'Living In A Ghost Town' comes limping on the heels of a split-screen online performance of 'You Can't Always Get What You Want' from 1969's stunning Let It Bleed. The Stones' chug-a-lug doesn't come out of the comparison awfully well. It doesn't help that it shares part of its title with The Specials' astonishing 'Ghost Town', a timely classic back in the recession-hit early '80s. It's getting a bit of a pasting from the online community who are having a lot of fun mocking Mick Jagger and Co for moaning about being stuck at home when they live in mansions with acres of land, hot tubs and snooker rooms, etc. 'Living In A Ghost Town', started some time ago when the band could convene together in a swanky recording studio and hastily rounded off with isolated overdubs. The Rolling Stones have just released their first original track for eight years. Their 1974 riposte to criticism, which Steve Sutherland finds a mixture of downright goodies with a sprinkling of duds is remastered on 180g vinyl from pure analogue
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