We’ve hit the halfway mark in ‘09, and it’s about time I checked in with a list of what I’ve been digging over the last few months. Gentlemen, start your list making!

• Oi Va Voi, Traveling the Face of the Globe
  They were my May monthly crush, and for good reason: “At first glance, their sound recalls Beirut thanks to the globetrotting ethnic instrumentation — clarinet, trumpet, bouzouki, violins, and accordion pepper the songs — but as soon as Bridgette Amofah starts singing on the album opener “Waiting,” you’re transported somewhere distinctly modern and utterly unique. It’s indie rock! It’s traditional Jewish music! (It’s a floor wax! It’s a dessert topping!) It’s both, and it’s awesome. The songs are great, the melodies memorable, and the arrangements are consistently interesting & unexpected. Hard to describe in just a few words, but I think “Badly Drawn Jew” does them justice.”

  Try “Every Time” below, and if you dig it, grab Traveling the Face of the Globe at iTunes!

  Download: Oi Va Voi, “Every Time” (mp3)
  (Right-click/control-click link to download)

• Fred, Go God Go
  What I said while making them my June monthly crush still stands: “Go God Go is shockingly great, and is in the running for my favorite album of the year. It’s impressively hooky, soul-infused indie pop from beginning to end, and I haven’t found a single song that begs the skip button. Every tune brings something interesting & fun to the table, from the swirling disco + cowbell-enhanced rhythms of “Skyscraper” and the unexpected shot of mariachi horns in “Keep Me Clear” to the sharp, soaring brit-rock of of “Fear” — it’s all good. Best of all, the melodies are memorable & the stuff that repeat listens are made of.”

  Give “Good One” a spin below, and then grab Go God Go at iTunes!

  Download: Fred, “Good One” (mp3)
  (Right-click/control-click link to download)

• Wilco, Wilco (the album)
  Jeff Tweedy & company have assembled another batch of excellent songs, and I find the sound of (the album) to be a nice middle ground between the warmth of Sky Blue Sky and the chill of A Ghost is Born. Some critics have complained that the band are keeping guitar virtuoso Nels Cline on too short a leash, but I find the “lil’ dab will do ya” approach here a winning one. Beautiful stuff abounds.

  Check out “I’ll Fight” below & then grab (the album) at iTunes.

  Download: Wilco, “I’ll Fight” (mp3)
  (Right-click/control-click link to download)

• Manic Street Preachers, Journal for Plague Lovers
  Long story behind this album, so here’s the short-short version: Manics lyricist & guitarist Richey Edwards vanishes in 1995 shortly after the release of their opus The Holy Bible; band soldiers on as trio releasing gigantically successful albums, many dealing with the loss of Edwards; in tribute to their missing mate, Manics set unfinished/unused lyrics of Edwards’ to music, even reconnecting with Bible producer Steve Albini to recapture the sound of the band when Edwards was part of it; resulting album is really good — sounds like the proper sequel to Bible, and is a critical & popular success in the UK. Not yet available on these shores, but if you dug The Holy Bible, you’ll really dig Journal for Plague Lovers.

  Try “This Joke Sport Severed” on for size below & then order Journal for Plague Lovers from amazon.com.

  Download: Manic Street Preachers, “This Joke Sport Severed” (mp3)
  (Right-click/control-click link to download)

A few other favorites:

• Favorite reason to hit the dancefloor: Little Boots, “New In Town” from the forthcoming album Hands. Best pop single of the year, hands down (no pun intended).
• Favorite new road trip song: Malcolm Middleton, “Red Travellin’ Socks” from the excellent Waxing Gibbous. Folk with four on the floor.
• Favorite reason to learn French: Plastiscines, “Pas Avec Toi” from About Love. Nothing lost in translation here: this quartet of ladies rocks.
• Favorite Spoon-fed rawk: White Rabbits, “Percussion Gun” from It’s Frightening. Sharp, inventive indie from Brooklyn by way of Austin’s finest.
• Favorite reissues done right: Aside from our own? Gotta be the 2 new Def Leppard deluxe editions for Pyromania and Adrenalize. Both albums sound better than ever, and the complete 1983 live show added to Pyromania should not be missed.
• Favorite things to look forward to: Florence and the Machine’s debut album, Lungs, due in the UK in July; Nicely loaded reissues of the Beastie Boys’ Ill Communication and Hello Nasty, both dropping ahead of a new album this fall.

Every generation has its musical cornerstones. Call them what you will - most would call them “idols” (in a much truer sense than the manufactured meat grinder that is American Idol or Pop Idol) - but they helped define entire generations.

Michael Jackson was one of them for my generation: the kids of the 1970s, who were born in the days of disco, punk, heavy metal and orchestral rock and were the original target audience for MTV (back when it really was “Music Television” and showed videos at all hours of the day and night). Sure, his rise to stardom started in the 1960s with The Jackson 5, which launched a young, pitch-perfect, dance happy kid into stardom (and effectively dragged his siblings along for the ride). But Michael really hit his stride when I was starting to become a fan of pop and rock music.

Thriller was one of the first albums I ever bought, if not the first, with my own money. I listened to that tape until it had stretched beyond playability. I owned a “Thriller” jacket because he looked quite cool in the video. I learned the moonwalk after seeing his incredible performance on “Motown 25″ (sure, he lip-synched the song, but it was the dance that had everybody talking).

I even briefly switched to Pepsi after the pyrotechnics incident out of solidarity – yes, I was a fan.

But most of all, I loved the magic of his music. Off The Wall and Thriller are wall-to-wall sonic tapestries that are solid from the first beat to the last. The infectious (if repetitive) bassline of “Billie Jean,” or the Van Halen guitar solo in “Beat It,” or the tour de force of “Thriller,” or the dance-’til-you-drop beat of “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” – all are model pop songs.

Sure, his star faded from there, but there were still occasional glimpses of brilliance, even as his personal life became increasingly erratic and eccentric. His third album with Quincy Jones, Bad, had a few nuggets, including the title song, which spawned a parody by “Weird Al” Yankovic that so impressed MJ that he allowed Al and crew to use the same set for the parody video (click the links for the two videos). Black Or White was a catchy song and had a wonderful video with excellent use of the then-emergent video morph technology. And “Scream” (a duet with his sister, Janet) had a video that still stands as the most expensive of all time - and the song isn’t too bad, either.

And sometimes MJ would collaborate with similarly high-wattage stars, like Paul McCartney:

And in 1985, he and Quincy Jones helped bring about “USA for Africa” and the “We Are The World” song and video:

(A brief aside: my 6th grade class performed this song at our graduation, and on the first run-through there were a lot of kids doing their best Cyndi Lauper, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Willie Nelson impersonations - things that did not please our music teacher.)

My fandom didn’t last too long, however. The first blow was when he outbid Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono for the ownership of ATV Music (née Northern Songs), which meant that The Beatles’ song catalog was suddenly open to the highest bidder for use in ad campaigns (my Beatles fandom far outweighs that of MJ, and always has). And the rumors and allegations of child molestation were tough to disbelieve, given that MJ always seemed a bit too eager to be around children.

MJ’s childhood was nothing that I’d wish upon anybody, but I also think that his adulthood was equally tragic. His constant battle to become somebody else – the pseudo-castrati voice, the horrendous plastic surgeries, the shift in skin coloration – pointed to a never-fulfilled need to treat deep psychological and emotional wounds. But the insular world of superstardom likely blinded him to this necessity, to his own detriment.

He tried to seek solace in isolation, and was about to stage a massive comeback-cum-farewell concert series in London. And now he is no more.

But we have the music, that glorious music.

Michael: may you finally find peace.

(Note: this post was adapted from my blog, randomduck.)

“If you will suck my soul, I will lick your funky emotions” - George Clinton, 1970. Sorry this took so long to finish, and all the corresponding innuendo thus implied. I’ll make this a quickie:

1. Harry Belafonte, “Man Piaba”
One of the earliest “birds and the bees” songs I’ve been able to dig up. I have the feeling if we all followed Harry’s advice the human race would have died out thousands of years ago.

2. Digital Underground, “Packet Man”
A sly wink to the misogynistic sex-soaked hip-hop of the time, this is my favorite song from the album that gave us the ubiquitous “Humpty Dance” as well as the eventual Tupac Shakur. One thing to keep in mind is that Shock G and Humpty are the same person, there’s only one guy rapping to himself, a triumph of imagination, pre-planning and multi-tracking. My favorite bits come at the end (sorry, more unavoidable innuendo) as the deal gets more desperate and the dealer gets more exasperated.

3. Stereo Total, “L’amour A 3″
I don’t speak French, but I sure do speak Sexy. I’m pretty sure this is the theme song to the French version of “Three’s Company”, sage advice to Archie that rather than finally settling down with one, why not invite Betty and Veronica to share?

4. Evil Cowards, “Sex Wars”
Yeah I dunno, I found this recently and it’s silly fun, pushing its metaphors to their breaking point. For a far more clever take on the “sex as warfare” analogy, please seek out Alan Moore and Mike Matthews’ 1989 comic “Lust”, kindly reprinted in the “Extraordinary Works Of Alan Moore” book.

5. De La Soul, “Jenifa Taught Me (12″ version)”
Just like the Digital Underground song, this plays with sexual innuendo in hip-hop without actually delving into the specificity of say, Kool G Rap’s “Talk Like Sex”. I’ve included the original 12″ vinyl version, which gets criminally chopped in half on the classic “3 Feet High And Rising” album.

6. Lovage, “Strangers On A Train”
A song about sex that’s actually sexy for a change! I take the T to work every day, and I can tell you this NEVER happens…

7. Coldcut, “I’m Wild About That Thing (The Lost Sex Tapes Position)”
Tries to set the record straight on all that stuff Belafonte skirted around. …Come to think of it, Belafonte would probably look great in a skirt…

Download: Harry Belafonte, “Man Piaba” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Digital Underground, “Packet Man” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Stereo Total, “L’amour A 3″ (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Evil Cowards, “Sex Wars” (AAC)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: De La Soul, “Jenifa Taught Me (12″ version)” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Lovage, “Strangers On A Train” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Coldcut, “I’m Wild About That Thing (The Lost Sex Tapes Position)” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download all the songs in a handy ZIP file:

Download: “Pleasure Delayer” (ZIP)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

And there’s not a “Wiiiilllllllllmmmmmaaaaaa!” in sight.

Fred, like last month’s crush Oi Va Voi, is another band I didn’t know I needed in my life. I stumbled across their new (to the U.S., at least — it hit shelves in their native Ireland last freaking May) album Go God Go in a new releases newsletter from the excellent digital music store Amie Street. Normally an album with a title like Go God Go would send me running the other way pretty darn quickly (insert venomous rant about crossover religious pop music here), but because it’s also the title of one of the best South Park episodes ever, I decided to give it a shot.

Cartman be praised! Go God Go is shockingly great, and is in the running for my favorite album of the year. It’s impressively hooky, soul-infused indie pop from beginning to end, and I haven’t found a single song that begs the skip button. Every tune brings something interesting & fun to the table, from the swirling disco + cowbell-enhanced rhythms of “Skyscraper” and the unexpected shot of mariachi horns in “Keep Me Clear” to the sharp, soaring brit-rock of of “Fear” — it’s all good. Best of all, the melodies are memorable & the stuff that repeat listens are made of.

It’s hard picking my favorite track to share — there are so many great songs to choose from — so I decided to go with the last track playing while I write this up: “Good One,” which features a delicious sing-songy melody and a bouncy rhythm that’s just begging for a hand-clap-along. Enjoy!

Download: Fred, “Good One” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Check out the neat animated video for “Keep Me Clear” below:

Like what you’ve heard? Grab Go God Go on the cheap as DRM-free, high-quality MP3s from Amie Street.

It’s far too much fun to find songs about sex, and sometimes it’s a bit too easy. There are the obvious culprits: George Michael’s entire Faith album deals with relationships and sex, Two Live Crew did quite a few lewd numbers about fornication, and AC/DC’s “You Shook Me” is a favorite of sex-crazed teens (and these days, many of their parents, too).

But I wanted to shake that up a bit: throw in a few obvious ones, as well as some songs that are a bit more obscure, or those performed by songwriters not known for writing sexually-charged songs. They’re the songs that would have Salvador Dali saying “oooOOOooo!” (Hat tip to Craig Ferguson for that riff.)

1. “Sit On My Face” - Monty Python (from Monty Python Sings!)
   Obvious? Oh yes, but it’s quite blatant about it’s intent: let’s get down, do some 69, and sound like a proper army regiment as we do it. Hmmm….
2. “Duncan” - Paul Simon (from Paul Simon)
   I was telling sprite as I ws prepping this list that I didn’t think that Paul Simon had a sex song in his catalog. However, he had two: “Cecilia” and this song, “Duncan,” which talks about a sexual encounter that, in modern interpretation, could swing either way. “She took me to the woods/Saying here comes something and it feels so good/And just like a dog I was befriended/I was befriended” - you make the call!
3. “Iowa” - Dar Williams (from Out There Live)
   Dar often introduces this song (her most overt sing-along at most shows) by citing its inspiration in the “bosomy” hills of Iowa. And the song mentions how these hills make Ms. Williams wish she “had a way with women.” Can’t argue with that, right?
4. “The Town Crotch” - Jonathan Coulton (from Thing A Week Three)
   Every town/neighborhood/school/building has one of these.
5. “Ice Cream Man” - Tom Waits (from The Early Years - Volume 1)
   The “ice cream” served by this guy is not something you’d want to serve your innocent children.
6. “Rudebox” - Robbie Williams (from Rudebox)
   It’s Robbie Williams - no relation to Dar, and certainly a bit more overt in his sexual mischievousness - who is shaking his “rudebox” and rhyming “Durex” with “sex.” That’s fitting, as condoms and sex go together like…. Robbie Williams and having a career that’s successful everywhere except the United States.
7. “Add It Up” - Violent Femmes (from Add It Up (1981-1993))
   The Violent Femmes’ ode to nerdy teenage lust is perfectly delivered in this live performance in front of nerdy teenage fans - what’s not to like?

Download: “Sit On My Face” - Monty Python (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Duncan” - Paul Simon (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Iowa” - Dar Williams (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “The Town Crotch” - Jonathan Coulton (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Ice Cream Man” - Tom Waits (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Rudebox” - Robbie Williams (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Add It Up” - Violent Femmes (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download all the songs in a handy ZIP file:

Download: “Ooooooh!” (ZIP)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

It was so challenging for me to find sex-related songs in my library of tunes. I mean, I don’t have the foggiest idea how innuendo works being the wholesome good boy that I am. O:-)

Oh, whom am I kidding?!? Let the debauchery begin…

1. TUSK by Fleetwood Mac
   In order to have sex, one of the things many people need is a penis. Based on what I’ve read, this Fleetwood Mac song is about Stevie Nicks’ penis…what? Stevie is a woman? Oh never mind…I hear the song is still about a penis and you need a penis to have sex…well, at least I do. By the way…best use of the USC marching band in a rock recording…ever!
2. ROCK MY SPOT by Scissor Sisters
   In order to have sex, some people need a vagina. This song is an ode to pleasing the vagina. And really, who better to pick a song about the vagina than me? And who better to sing about satisfying a vagina than Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters? This one was a B-side to their cover of “Comfortably Numb.” It’s a funky disco number that has a twinge of late 80s/early 90s George Michael in it. Irony abounds!
3. WHEN ARE WE GONNA DO IT by Linus of Hollywood
   Sex is a byproduct of horniness…that horniness is sometimes not satisfied for whatever reason resulting in blue balls. I present to you this jaunty, McCartney-esque ditty about the yearning to get laid. I’ve never heard anybody so upbeat about not getting sex. Oh wait…there are all those interviews with the Jonas Brothers…
4. COMING from “The Apple” soundtrack
   When one has sex, there are feelings of passion, seduction, and satisfaction. They have been written about in many a song, but never quite like this. This is from the best “worst movie” ever: The Apple, a disco-rock movie musical from 1980 set in the futuristic year of 1994. It centers around a singing couple who go on a music competition show only have them torn apart and allured by a big conglomerate music company. [Insert raised eyebrow here.] There’s a bunch of attempted religious allegory that I’ll save for a fuller analysis of the movie, but this song is one of the centerpieces. It takes place in this concubinal montage of not-really-attractive people having sex with each other. It’s all done tastefully as a sort of interpretive dance that was choreographed by (I kid you not) “So You Think You Can Dance” judge/producer Nigel Lythgoe. Oh, and as you’ll hear…subtlety was thrown out the window when this song was written.
5. BAD TOUCH by The Bloodhound Gang
   And when you’re going at it, you just go at it. I mean, seriously, what more can be said about that talks about animalistic, raw sex while namechecking Siskel, Ebert, The X-Files, and Waffle House? I gotta flag this one for karaoke the next time I go…
6. HE’S MY BEST FRIEND by Jellyfish
   Last but not least, when all else fails in the world of sex, you just have to take things into your own hands. This Nilsson-esque tribute to masturbation comes (no pun intended) from one of my all-time favorite albums, “Spilt Milk.” I can’t decide which is jauntier: this song or Linus of Hollywood’s ode to blueballs. Why are these guys so perky about not having full-on sex?!?

All right…time for a cold shower…

Download: Fleetwood Mac, “Tusk” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Scissor Sisters, “Rock My Spot” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Linus of Hollywood, “When Are We Gonna Do It?” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: The Apple, “Coming” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: The Bloodhound Gang, “Bad Touch” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Jellyfish, “He’s My Best Friend” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download all the songs in a handy ZIP file:

Download: “The Sex Factor” (ZIP)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

“This one’s a good choice, and it’s not too smutty. It’s a book on tape by Paul Harvey, you know, that nice midwestern man on the radio who’s like a pleasant version of Grandpa?”

1. Tenacious D, “Hard Fucking/Fuck Her Gently”
   Nothing quite as hot as 2 overweight dudes talking about pleasin’ the ladies. “Fuck Her Gently” absolutely kills live, too: the song-closing line “then I’m gonna fuck you hard” is one of the oddest/most amazing crowd sing-alongs ever.
2. Tom Jones, “Sexbomb (feat. Mousse T.)”
   Christ, I’ll probably throw *my* underwear on stage if I ever get to see the man perform. Sweaty, swarthy, and too cool for school, this nugget was nicked from Reload, his excellent 2001 album of collaborations. The only other Mousse T. track I’m familiar with is “Horny,” which I discovered on the Chef Aid South Park album, so obviously this is a pairing from heaven.
3. TV On The Radio, “Make Love All Night Long”
   Sounds like a woozy Bowie bootie jam. Damn, I love this song.
4. Prince, “The Continental”
   It’s a well-documented fact that Prince is a sexy MF, so it was tough narrowing down my choice for this list. Do I go the “Darling Nikki” route, as it was one of the major reasons that we now have parental advisory stickers on albums? Maybe “Soft and Wet”? “Gett Off”? “Do Me, Baby?” “Black Sweat”? “Kiss”? “Hide The Bone”? The head spins with the number of options, so I went with one of his dirtier, lesser-known cuts from the symbol album: “The Continental.” (No, not visions of Christopher Walken) It starts out as a filthy, aggressive, guitar-fueled jam with a memorable refrain (”C’mon let me do u like u want 2 be done”) before changing gears into a breathy Carmen Electra rap detailing, uh, the aforementioned refrain.
5. Pulp, “This Is Hardcore”
   Elegant, perverted stuff. Orchestrations make it sound like the theme to some James Bond movie, while the lyrics make it sound like a Ron Jeremy movie.
6. N.E.R.D., “Tape You”
   Pharrell knows how to get freaky, especially in this plea to his girlfriend encouraging her to engage in a three-way with him and another girl that he can videotape.
7. Triumph The Insult Comic Dog, “30 Seconds Of Magic (feat. Adam Sandler)”
   We all know sex is funny, but puppet dog sex is even funnier. Nicked from Triumph’s classic album Come Poop With Me.

Download: Tenacious D, “Hard Fucking” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Tenacious D, “Fuck Her Gently” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Tom Jones, “Sexbomb (feat. Mousse T.)” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: TV On The Radio, “Make Love All Night Long” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Prince, “The Continental” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Pulp, “This Is Hardcore” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: N.E.R.D., “Tape You” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Triumph The Insult Comic Dog, “30 Seconds Of Magic (feat. Adam Sandler)” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download all the songs in a handy ZIP file:

Download: “Mr. and Mrs. Erotic American” (ZIP)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

For June, we continue exploring music’s holy trinity of excess. Once again, Mister Mackey sets the stage — he’s such an illustrative speaker:

Let’s consult a bunch of knowledgeable musicians to help him out:

• Uncle Sam’s “Mr. and Mrs. Erotic American”
• The Man(del) from UNCLE’s “The Sex Factor”
• Onkel Rudi’s “Ooooooh!”
• UNKLE Matt’s “Pleasure Delayer”

I love Tuesdays: it’s new release day for music stores, of course, and iTunes makes that much more fun than most shops. I like to go digging through the new album listings past all the Coldplays and Eminems, searching for something new and different (both UNKLE Matt & NBC News anchor Brian Williams are iTunes hunters, too, by the way), and that’s how I discovered my most recent obsession: Oi Va Voi. They’re British indie by way of Israel, and I can’t stop listening to their new album Travelling the Face of the Globe, available in the US only digitally @ iTunes.

At first glance, their sound recalls Beirut thanks to the globetrotting ethnic instrumentation — clarinet, trumpet, bouzouki, violins, and accordion pepper the songs — but as soon as Bridgette Amofah starts singing on the album opener “Waiting,” you’re transported somewhere distinctly modern and utterly unique. It’s indie rock! It’s traditional Jewish music! (It’s a floor wax! It’s a dessert topping!) It’s both, and it’s awesome. The songs are great, the melodies memorable, and the arrangements are consistently interesting & unexpected. Hard to describe in just a few words, but I think “Badly Drawn Jew” does them justice. If that intrigues you, check out the song below. Enjoy!

Download: Oi Va Voi, “Every Time” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

If you like what you hear as much as I did, grab Travelling the Face of the Globe at iTunes.

The Rolling Stones’ 1971 classic Sticky Fingers is one of those albums: even if you’re not intimately familiar with it, you’ll recognize something subconsciously. From Andy Warhol’s iconic cover art with the working zipper & die cut fly to the introduction of John Pasche’s instantly recognizable lips & tongue logo, the packaging itself is a major work of art as much as the classic music it contains. The songs are a still-electrifying blend of rock, blues, soul, country and juuuust a touch of hedonism that practically defines the “sex, drugs & rock n’ roll” cliché.

The album you’ll find in stores is a classic, yes, but it only tells part of the Stones’ story of that era: they were at the peak of their live prowess at that time, and it’s mystifying that no concert recordings have officially surfaced. Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! is decent but is essentially the product of lots of studio overdubbing, and their next official live release didn’t come until 1977’s Love You Live, so, sadly, no official document of them in their prime exists. Remedying that is one of my goals in presenting this.

One final note: I wouldn’t consider this a definitive look at the Stones’ Sticky Fingers recording sessions, it’s just a presentation of the best bits from my small collection of recordings to show that a good reissue of a classic album isn’t hard to do. If I can put something like this together from a handful of discs on my shelf, just imagine what the Stones could do themselves with the hours of tapes & acetate in their vaults — Enjoy!

[Note: Download each song individually by right-clicking (Win)/control-clicking (Mac) the linked mp3 after the song name, or download each disc-length list as a ZIP file at the end of each list.]

Bonus Disc #1: Alternate Takes/Versions/Mixes

I’ve compiled a host of studio outtakes & unreleased versions of Sticky Fingers album cuts and one infamous non-album track that’s become one of the most storied songs in the Jagger/Richards canon. The source for most of these is the incomparable multi-disc boxed set of 60’s studio outtakes, The Black Box, released by Yellow Dog in the early 90’s. Other tracks come from Beggar’s Breakfast, a good odds & sods collection, and the excellent Unplugged bootleg, which has zero documentation about the songs, but probably the most compelling alternate versions. You’ll hear more from these sets and others in the months to come, so for now, enjoy the best of what the Sticky Fingers sessions had to offer:

1. “Brown Sugar #1″ (mp3)
   Apparently the earliest known version of the song, recorded at Muscle Shoals in December 1969. Some of the tracks end up on later takes. From The Black Box.
2. “Brown Sugar #2″ (mp3)
   Lots of start/stop/restart/stop/restarting, but eventually results in a take that’s close to final. From The Black Box.
3. “Brown Sugar (early mix)” (mp3)
   This early mix features a different lead guitar part by Mick Taylor. From Beggar’s Breakfast.
4. “Brown Sugar (Alternate Version)” (mp3)
   Mix originally appeared on the initial pressings of the quickly withdrawn US version of Hot Rocks. From The Black Box Bonus CD.
5. “Sway (early mix from acetate)” (mp3)
   From Beggar’s Breakfast.
6. “Sway (7″ single mix)” (mp3)
   Different mix from a different take. From The Black Box.
7. “Wild Horses (Acoustic)” (mp3)
   A fantastic, unreleased, completely acoustic take of which little is known except that it was recorded sometime between 1968-1970. From Unplugged.
8. “Wild Horses (Alternate Version)” (mp3)
   Mix originally appeared on the initial pressings of the quickly withdrawn US version of Hot Rocks. Heavy vocal reverb is plainly evident. From The Black Box Bonus CD.
9. “You Gotta Move (Acoustic)” (mp3)
   An unreleased take of Mississippi Fred McDowell’s blues classic of which little is known except that it was recorded sometime between 1968-1970. From Unplugged.
10. “You Gotta Move” (mp3)
    Another alternate take, recorded at Muscle Shoals in December 1969. Sounds a lot like the cut from Unplugged, but with a better stereo mix. From The Black Box.
11. “Bitch” (mp3)
    A near-final version of the song, marred by damaged tape at the 2:18 mark. From The Black Box.
12. “Sister Morphine (Acoustic)” (mp3)
    An unreleased, mostly acoustic take of which little is known except that it was recorded sometime between 1968-1970. From Unplugged.
13. “Sister Morphine #1″ (mp3)
    Features an alternate arrangement of Ry Cooder’s slide guitar. From The Black Box Bonus CD.
14. “Sister Morphine (Marianne Faithfull vocal)” (mp3)
    The Stones back up co-writer Faithfull on this original version of her single. Mind-blowingly good. From The Black Box Bonus CD.
15. “Dead Flowers (Acoustic)” (mp3)
    A fantastic, unreleased, completely acoustic take of which little is known except that it was recorded sometime between 1968-1970. Sloppy & glorious. From Unplugged.
16. “Schoolboy Blues (a.k.a. “Cocksucker Blues”)” (mp3)
    Probably the most notorious unreleased Stones recording. I’ll let Wikipedia do the heavy lifting: “‘Cocksucker Blues’ was the title of a song Mick Jagger wrote to be the Stones’ final single for Decca Records, as per their contract. Its context and language was chosen specifically to anger Decca executives. [That's a very diplomatic way of putting it -- S.] The track was refused by Decca and only released later on a West German compilation in 1983, although the compilation was discontinued and re-released without the song.” From The Black Box.

Download a handy ZIP of Bonus Disc #1: Alternate Takes/Versions/Mixes:

Download: Sticky Fingers Bonus Disc #1: Alternate Takes/Versions/Mixes (ZIP)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Bonus Disc #2: Get Your Leeds Lungs Out! Revisited

Recorded live at the University of Leeds on March 13, 1971, during their short tour of the UK just ahead of the release of Sticky Fingers. The band is in fine, furious form, and the setlist is a great mix of (then) new material & instant classics from their Decca days. This version of the recording was remastered from the original tapes, and the result is an amazingly vibrant step up from any official live recordings from the era. I’m looking at you, heavily-overdubbed Get Yer Ya Ya’s Out! The tracklisting:

1. “Dead Flowers” (mp3)
2. “Stray Cat Blues” (mp3)
3. “Love In Vain” (mp3)
4. “Midnight Rambler” (mp3)
5. “Bitch” (mp3)
6. Band Introductions (mp3)
7. “Honky Tonk Women” (mp3)
8. “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (mp3)
9. “Little Queenie” (mp3)
10. “Brown Sugar” (mp3)
11. “Street Fighting Man” (mp3)
12. “Let It Rock” (stereo version) (mp3)

Download a handy ZIP of Bonus Disc #2: Get Your Leeds Lungs Out! Revisited:

Download: Sticky Fingers Bonus Disc #2: Get Your Leeds Lungs Out! Revisited (ZIP)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)