The Rolling Stones: Ranking The Albums Best To Worst

12. Goat's Head Soup

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yctmnY2oL50 Date Of Original Release: 1973 Key Tracks: Heartbreaker (Do Do Do Do Do Do), Angie, Silver Train For what it's worth, The Stones pretty much invented the "rock power ballad" with "Angie", all plangent violins and soft Mick in crooner mode. Sorry, Aerosmith. If you can get past the awful cover sleeve with Mick's face obscured by some kind of gauzy veil, this is a solid, underrated mid-period Stones album. High peaks are the relentless horn-laden assault of "Heartbreaker" and the smooth funk of "Silver Train". Keith also gets quite a pretty ballad in with "Coming Down Again", though it is a touch on the whiny side.

11. The Rolling Stones, Now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcoR7fJzqIc Date Of Original Release: 1964 Key Tracks: Heart of Stone, Little Red Rooster, Mona Note: This LP was originally released in the UK, with various track changes, as "The Rolling Stones". This LP and #10 feature the Stones in their initial permutation as a solid R&B cover band. Your enjoyment of these records therefore hinges on how much you like the blues and R&B tracks being covered here. The Stones original mission was to take the American Chicago-style blues they loved so dearly and spread them to a wider audience. These two records represent the fulfilment of that mission. Chuck Berry, Willie Dixon and Jimmy Reed covers are given airing here, letting the listener know what one of those early Stones shows must have sounded like. This is the Stones at their most embryonic state, and though the original material is mostly generic sounding blues pastiche, the signs of their talent and greater things to come are all over these records.