ROLLING STONES Sticky Fingers FRANCE 2C 070 63152 w/WORKING ZIPPER Warhol

$

39

ROLLING STONES Sticky Fingers
EX/NM Vinyl Record

Record Label: Rolling Stones Records 2C 070 63152 (France)

1980.  France Issue. Working zipper on front cover. Andy Warhol artwork. Two sided picture/credit insert.

Condition: No wear on lightly laminated front or back cover. Corners are sharp. Perforation around belt buckle on the front has come apart so, from the top of the album to the zipper it is opened. Spine side and bottom are solid and show no signs of shelf wear, chipping or splits. There are no spindle marks on the label. Vinyl is clean, shiny and plays like new.

Side 1
1. Brown Sugar  
2. Sway  
3. Wild Horses  
4. Can't You Hear Me Knocking  
5. You Gotta Move      

Side 2
6. Bitch  
7. I Got the Blues  
8. Sister Morphine  
9. Dead Flowers  
10. Moonlight Mile

Review: Pieced together from outtakes and much-labored-over songs, Sticky Fingers has a loose, ramshackle ambience that belies both its origins and the dark undercurrents of the songs. It's a weary, drug-laden album -- well over half the songs explicitly mention drug use, while the others merely allude to it -- that never fades away, but barely keeps afloat. Apart from the classic opener, "Brown Sugar," the long workout "Can't You Hear Me Knocking," and the mean-spirited "Bitch," Sticky Fingers is a slow, bluesy affair, with a few country touches thrown in for good measure. The laid-back tone of the album gives ample room for new lead guitarist Mick Taylor to stretch out, particularly on the extended coda of "Can't You Hear Me Knocking." But the key to the album isn't the instrumental interplay -- although that is terrific -- it's the soulfulness of the songs. "Wild Horses" is their first non-ironic stab at a country song, and it is a beautiful, heart-tugging masterpiece. Similarly, "I Got the Blues" is a ravished, late-night classic that ranks among their very best blues. "Sister Morphine" is a horrifying overdose tale, and "Moonlight Mile," with Paul Buckmaster's grandiose strings, is a perfect closure: sad, yearning, drug-addled, and beautiful. With its offhand mixture of decadence, roots music, and outright malevolence, Sticky Fingers set the tone for the rest of the decade for the Stones.