Text "Harlem shuffle" (Walter Schäppi)
In a baker's shop in Holland in 1981 I heard the first bars of a new song. Immediately I knew that this was the new Stones single and I was thrilled! Like in 1978 I was better prepared in 1986 - again this itching when I listened to the radio: how will it be this time?
Truly no masterpiece! After the first disappointing impression yet I can accept the single by degrees, some passages have seized (hitch hike, hitch hike baby...). Listen to the song several times, the louder the better... and your neighbors will only profit of it. That I'm not filled with enthusiasm may be due to the original itself - accidentally I heard a dozen of LPs with hits from the 60s last year, and this song I found / judged rather uninteresting. I think in this case the Stones have made too less a song of their own out of it - in contrast to "Just my imagination" for example. Surely, the rhythm became more danceable what's certainly useful for sale - but is that enough? Besides I find the mix "somewhat very wilful". Where are the guitars? Generally: why a cover version? Wasn't there a suitable (danceable) own composition, or did they want to link up with the success of the "likely constructed" "Dancing in the street"?? There's something left that upsets me. For the Stones it was always difficult to filter out the songs for the respective LP from the plenty of material. Why the hell wasn't it possible for years to produce at least the B-sides a little more interesting, that means to put a non-LP-track on them?
"Had it with you" is a good flipside, by the way: a good but not an excellent song. Rockpile send their compliments. In contrary to the A-side the song is judged very different by fans - the spectrum reaches from "not bad" to "such a bunk!"... And again a strange mix. The brass and the lead guitar are too low and they act nearly without conncetion to the powerful center (oh Keith!) somewhere far away.
From the LP I expected very, very much. This single has damped my expectations a little.
The video: Far far better than the song. Something like this I like to put up.
The maxi: Already in comparison to other Stones- and Jagger-maxis no masterpiece. Who needs that? Are discos thrown on the Stones? Absolutely not, there's better suited material by barrels. For me this is pure moneymaking...
Publication
| 1986 unreleased |  Charlie is good tonight nr. 5
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