Sticky Fingers

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Sticky Fingers
Studio album by The Rolling Stones
Released	23 April 1971
Recorded	2 December 1969 - 4 December 1969, 17 February 1970, March–May 1970, 16 June 1970 – 27 July 1970, 17 October 1970 – 31 October 1970, January 1971, except "Sister Morphine": begun 22 March 1969 – 31 March 1969
Genre	Rock
Length	46:25
Label	Rolling Stones, Atlantic
Producer	Jimmy Miller
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Robert Christgau (A) link Rolling Stone link
The Rolling Stones chronology
Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert (1970) Sticky Fingers (1971) Exile on Main St. (1972)
Alternate cover
Cover of Spanish edition

Sticky Fingers is an album by The Rolling Stones and was released in 1971. It is notable for being the band's first release on their newly-formed Rolling Stones Records label after having been contracted since 1963 with Decca Records in the UK and London Records in the US. It is also Mick Taylor's first full-length appearance on a Rolling Stones album (with the exception of Sister Morphine in which he does not perform).

[edit] Recording and release

Although sessions for Sticky Fingers began in earnest in March 1970, they had done some early recording at Muscle Shoals Studios in Alabama in December 1969 and "Sister Morphine", cut during Let It Bleed's sessions earlier in March of that year, would be heldover for this release. Much of the recording for Sticky Fingers was effected with The Rolling Stones' mobile studio unit in Stargroves during the summer and fall months in 1970. Early versions of songs that would appear on Exile on Main St. were also routined during these sessions.

With the end of their Decca/London association at hand, The Rolling Stones would finally be free to release their albums (cover art and all) as they pleased. However, soon-to-be-ex-manager Allen Klein (who took over the reins from Andrew Loog Oldham in 1965 so that Oldham could concentrate on producing the band), dealt the group a major blow when they discovered - to their horror - that they had inadvertently signed over their entire 1960s copyrights to Klein and his company ABKCO, which is how all of their material from 1963's "Come On" to Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert has since come to be released by ABKCO Records. The band would remain incensed with Klein for decades over the swindle.

When Decca informed The Rolling Stones that they were owed one more single, they cheekily submitted a track called "Cocksucker Blues" - which was guaranteed to be refused. Instead, Decca released the two-year-old Beggars Banquet track "Street Fighting Man" while Allen Klein would have dual copyright ownership - with The Rolling Stones - of "Brown Sugar" and "Wild Horses".

Sticky Fingers may just be the band's most drug-drenched album, as well over half of the songs mention drug use, while the rest merely allude to it. Some final overdubbing and mixing in January 1971, found the album complete and preceded by "Brown Sugar" that March, which reached #1 in the US and #2 in the UK. Appearing in April on their new Rolling Stones label (with distribution by WEA Music), Sticky Fingers was rapturously-received and hit #1 worldwide, beginning an uninterrupted string of eight consecutive chart-topping US studio albums. "Wild Horses", covered by Keith Richard's friend Gram Parsons with The Flying Burrito Brothers, was the second single in the US only, making the Top 30.

[edit] Cover

The artwork for Sticky Fingers - including a working zipper that opened to reveal a man in cotton briefs (rubber stamped "THIS PHOTOGRAPH MAY NOT BE-ETC.") - was conceived by Andy Warhol, photographed by Billy Name, designed by Craig Braun and featured the lower torso of either Warhol assistant Jed Johnson^[1] or Joe Dallesandro^[2] (not Mick Jagger as a number of fans at the time speculated) in a pair of tight jeans. After retailers complained that the zipper was causing damage to the vinyl (from stacked shipments of the record), the zipper was "unzipped" slightly to the middle of the record, where damage would be minimized. In Spain, General Franco proved his rock and roll credentials by substituting the original cover and "Sister Morphine" with a "Can of fingers" cover and the Chuck Berry composition "Let it Rock", recorded March 13th, 1971 at the University of Leeds. The album features the first usage of the "Tongue and Lip Design" designed by John Pasche.

In 1994, Sticky Fingers was remastered and reissued by Virgin Records. In 2003 the TV network VH1 named Sticky Fingers the "No.1 Greatest Album Cover" of all time. (Be that as it may, the zipper was prone to cause damage to any album cover stacked next to it.)

In 1989, bassist Bill Wyman opened an American cuisine restaurant entitled "Sticky Fingers".

In 2003, Sticky Fingers was listed as number 63 on the List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

The southeastern US barbecue restaurant Sticky Fingers was named after the album and features the album framed in every restaurant.

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, except where noted.

1. "Brown Sugar" – 3:50
   • Features Bobby Keys on saxophone and Ian Stewart on piano
2. "Sway" – 3:52
   • Features Nicky Hopkins on piano
   • Features Mick Jagger on rhythm guitar and Keith Richards on back-up vocals
3. "Wild Horses" – 5:44
   • Features Jim Dickinson on piano
4. "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" – 7:15
   • Features Billy Preston on organ, Bobby Keys on saxophone and percussion by Jimmy Miller
5. "You Gotta Move" (Fred McDowell/Rev. Gary Davis) – 2:34
   • Features Bill Wyman on electric piano
6. "Bitch" – 3:37
   • Features Bobby Keys on saxophone and Jim Price on trumpet. Percussion by Jimmy Miller
7. "I Got the Blues" – 3:54
   • Features Billy Preston on organ
8. "Sister Morphine" (Mick Jagger/Keith Richards/Marianne Faithfull) – 5:34
   • Features Ry Cooder on guitar and Jack Nitszche on piano
   • Mick Taylor does not appear on the track, recorded in 1969
9. "Dead Flowers" – 4:05
   • Features Ian Stewart on piano and Mick Jagger on acoustic guitar
10. "Moonlight Mile" – 5:56
    • Features Jim Price on piano
    • Features Mick Jagger on acoustic guitar
    • Keith Richards does not appear on this track

[edit] Personnel

• Mick Jagger – vocals, acoustic guitar, backing vocals, guitar, percussion
• Keith Richards – backing vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals, guitar
• Mick Taylor – electric guitar, guitar, acoustic guitar, slide guitar
• Charlie Watts – drums
• Bill Wyman – bass, electric piano

[edit] Additional personnel

• Ian Stewart – piano
• Nicky Hopkins – piano
• Bobby Keys – saxophone
• Jim Price – trumpet, piano
• Billy Preston – organ
• Jim Dickinson – piano
• Rocky Dijon – congas
• Jack Nitzsche – piano
• Ry Cooder – slide guitar
• Jimmy Miller – percussion
• Paul Buckmaster – string arrangement

[edit] Charts

[edit] Album

[edit] Singles

[edit] References