Some Girls
Encyclopedia
Some Girls is the 14th British and 16th American studio album by The Rolling Stones
, released in 1978 on Rolling Stones Records
, catalogue COC 39108. It peaked at #1 on the Billboard 200
, and became one of the band's biggest-selling album in the United States
, and has been certified by the RIAA as having six million copies sold as of 2000.
, The Rolling Stones, among many of their musical contemporaries, were being targeted by some in the movement as cultural dinosaurs
, compromising their standing. Mick Jagger
felt invigorated by the provocations and was determined to answer them lyrically. It helped, however, that almost all the punks had, openly or not, idolised the Stones in the 1960s and were heavily influenced by the band's rebellious records from that era.
At least as important for the band's reinvigoration was the addition of Ronnie Wood to the line-up, as Some Girls was the first album recorded with him as a full member. His guitar playing style meshed with, and was similar to, that of Keith Richards
. Wood's slide guitar
playing would become one of the band's hallmarks, and his unconventional uses of the instrument are prominent on Some Girls. In addition, Jagger, who had learned to play guitar over the previous decade, contributed a third guitar part to many songs. This gave songs like "Respectable" a three-guitar line-up.
Jagger is generally regarded as the principal creative force behind Some Girls, a conception that, though disputable (Richards was present at all of the sessions), is plausible considering Richards' various legal entanglements at the time (see below). Jagger claimed in a 1995 interview to have written a great number of the album's songs (though when the amount was pointed out to him he denied that the record was mostly his own), including its signature song, "Miss You". In addition to punk, Jagger claims to have been influenced by dance music
, most notably disco
, during the recording of Some Girls, and cites New York City
as a major inspiration for the album, an explanation for his lyrical preoccupation with the city throughout.
For the first time since 1968's Beggars Banquet
, the core band — now Jagger, Richards, Wood, Charlie Watts
, and Bill Wyman
— would be the only musicians on a Rolling Stones album, with few extra contributors. Ian McLagan
, Wood's bandmate from The Faces, played keyboards, harmonica player Sugar Blue
contributed to several songs, in addition to saxophonist Mel Collins
and Simon Kirke
, who played percussion (the three jokingly credited as "1 Moroccan
, 1 Jew, 1 WASP
"). Jagger's guitar contributions caused the band's road manager, Ian Stewart
, to be absent from many of the sessions as he felt piano would be superfluous, making this a rare Rolling Stones album on which he did not appear. An alternate story has Stewart pointedly boycotting most of the sessions, claiming the band was sounding like 'bloody Status Quo!'
A serious concern was the issue of Keith Richards and his highly-publicized heroin possession bust in Toronto
, Ontario
in early 1977; resulting in a very real possibility that he might be sent to jail for years. However, due to the judgement that Richards was very separate from the usual theft and anti-social culture that is associated with heroin use, he was sentenced very lightly. He was ordered to perform a charity show for The Canadian National Institute for the Blind.. As a commemoration of his second lease on life following the end of his heroin addiction, Keith reverted his surname to "Richards" with an "s" for Some Girls, after fifteen years without it.
The sessions for Some Girls began in October 1977, breaking before Christmas
and starting up again after New Year's before finishing in March 1978. Under their new British
recording contract with EMI
(remaining with Warner Music in North America
only), they were able to record at EMI's Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris, a venue at which they would record frequently for the next several years. The Rolling Stones ended up recording about fifty new songs, several of which would turn up in altered forms on Emotional Rescue
and Tattoo You
. These sessions have also served as a prime source for many bootleg compilations over the years. Engineer for the sessions was Chris Kimsey
, whose approach to recording breathed life into the somewhat dense sounding recordings like Goats Head Soup
and It's Only Rock 'n' Roll albums. Kimsey's direct method of recording, together with the entrance of the then state-of-the-art Mesa/Boogie Mark I amps instead of the Ampeg SVT
line of amps, yielded a bright, direct and aggressive guitar sound. In fact, there have been few Stones sessions as widely bootlegged as these.
There was some controversy surrounded the lyrics to the title song, an extended musing on women of various nationalities and races. The line "Black girls just wanna get fucked all night" drew strong protests from various groups, including Jesse Jackson
's PUSH
. Jagger famously replied, "I've always said, you can't take a joke, it's too fucking bad," although he was reportedly more conciliatory to Jackson in private, as he claimed the song was intended as a parody of racist attitudes. Saturday Night Live
cast member Garrett Morris
would have the final say on the controversy with a mock-editorial on the show's Weekend Update
segment: After giving the impression that he was going to openly criticise the Stones, he quoted a sanitised version of the "Black girls just..." line, then stated "I have one thing to say to you, Mr. Mick Jagger... where are these women?!?"
, who would design the next three album covers as well, with illustrations by Hubert Kretzschmar. An elaborate die-cut design, with colours varying on different sleeves, it featured The Rolling Stones in garish drag alongside select female celebrities and lingerie ads. The cover immediately ran into trouble when Lucille Ball
, Farrah Fawcett
, Liza Minnelli
(representing her mother Judy Garland
), Raquel Welch
, and the estate of Marilyn Monroe
threatened legal action.
The album was quickly reissued with a revised cover that removed all the celebrities whether they had complained or not, and were replaced with black and punk style garish colours with the phrase PARDON OUR APPEARANCE - COVER UNDER RE-CONSTRUCTION (found on most reissues since). Jagger later apologised to Minnelli when he encountered her during a party at the famous discothèque Studio 54
.
There also existed a third version of the album cover with hand-drawn women (found on the 1986 CD reissue).
A fourth amended version that included Carly Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Britt Ekland and Jimmy Carter in drag was not published.
"Beast of Burden
", "Respectable" (in the UK) and "Shattered" (in the US) would follow as the next singles, all becoming minor hits as well.
The Stones embarked on their summer US Tour 1978
in support of the album, which for the first time saw them mount several small venue shows, sometimes under a pseudonym.
In 2003 Some Girls was ranked number 269 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
.
In 1986, the first compact disc
version of the album was issued by the Stones' new label distributor, Columbia Records
, as Rolling Stones/Columbia CK-40449. In 1994, with the acquisition of the Rolling Stones Records catalogue by Virgin Records
, Some Girls was remastered and reissued with a partial restoration of the original cover art. The first pressing was packaged in a replica of the original vinyl packaging. In 2009, the album was remastered and reissued by Universal Music, restoring the original color scheme of the cover.
"Some Girls" was re-issued on 21 November 2011 in a 2 CD Deluxe edition, including 12 previously unreleased songs from that era. A Super-Deluxe edition, also included a single for "Beast of Burden". The album re-entered the UK charts at #58.
, except where noted.
Additional personnel
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, released in 1978 on Rolling Stones Records
Rolling Stones Records
Rolling Stones Records is the record label formed by The Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Mick Taylor, Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman in 1970, after their recording contract with Decca Records expired. They were first distributed in the United States by Atlantic Records subsidiary...
, catalogue COC 39108. It peaked at #1 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, and became one of the band's biggest-selling album in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and has been certified by the RIAA as having six million copies sold as of 2000.
History
With the advent of punk rockPunk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, The Rolling Stones, among many of their musical contemporaries, were being targeted by some in the movement as cultural dinosaurs
Dinosaur (disambiguation)
A dinosaur is a member of a largely extinct group of vertebrates which is ancestral to birds.Dinosaur may also mean:*A metaphor that describes something as out of date, or rendered obsolete by later developments-Places:...
, compromising their standing. Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
felt invigorated by the provocations and was determined to answer them lyrically. It helped, however, that almost all the punks had, openly or not, idolised the Stones in the 1960s and were heavily influenced by the band's rebellious records from that era.
At least as important for the band's reinvigoration was the addition of Ronnie Wood to the line-up, as Some Girls was the first album recorded with him as a full member. His guitar playing style meshed with, and was similar to, that of Keith Richards
Keith Richards
Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
. Wood's slide guitar
Slide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
playing would become one of the band's hallmarks, and his unconventional uses of the instrument are prominent on Some Girls. In addition, Jagger, who had learned to play guitar over the previous decade, contributed a third guitar part to many songs. This gave songs like "Respectable" a three-guitar line-up.
Jagger is generally regarded as the principal creative force behind Some Girls, a conception that, though disputable (Richards was present at all of the sessions), is plausible considering Richards' various legal entanglements at the time (see below). Jagger claimed in a 1995 interview to have written a great number of the album's songs (though when the amount was pointed out to him he denied that the record was mostly his own), including its signature song, "Miss You". In addition to punk, Jagger claims to have been influenced by dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
, most notably disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
, during the recording of Some Girls, and cites New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
as a major inspiration for the album, an explanation for his lyrical preoccupation with the city throughout.
For the first time since 1968's Beggars Banquet
Beggars Banquet
- Personnel :The Rolling Stones* Mick Jagger – lead and backing vocals, harmonica on "Parachute Woman"* Keith Richards – acoustic and electric guitar, bass guitar on "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Street Fighting Man", backing vocals, lead vocals on opening of "Salt of the Earth"* Brian...
, the core band — now Jagger, Richards, Wood, Charlie Watts
Charlie Watts
Charles Robert "Charlie" Watts is an English drummer, best known as a member of The Rolling Stones. He is also the leader of a jazz band, a record producer, commercial artist, and horse breeder.-Early life:...
, and Bill Wyman
Bill Wyman
Bill Wyman is an English musician best known as the bass guitarist for the English rock and roll band the Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1992. Since 1997, he has recorded and toured with his own band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings...
— would be the only musicians on a Rolling Stones album, with few extra contributors. Ian McLagan
Ian McLagan
Ian McLagan is an English keyboard instrumentalist, best known as a member of the English rock bands Small Faces and Faces.-Small Faces and Faces:...
, Wood's bandmate from The Faces, played keyboards, harmonica player Sugar Blue
Sugar Blue
Sugar Blue is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician, who plays the harmonica. He is probably best known for playing on The Rolling Stones' single, "Miss You"....
contributed to several songs, in addition to saxophonist Mel Collins
Mel Collins
Mel Collins is a British saxophonist and flautist and session musician.He has worked in a wide variety of contexts ranging from R&B and blues rock to jazz, but is perhaps known for his work in progressive rock, as with King Crimson, Camel and the Alan Parsons Project.-Career:Collins has worked...
and Simon Kirke
Simon Kirke
Simon Kirke is an English rock drummer best known as a member of Free and Bad Company.-Biography:...
, who played percussion (the three jokingly credited as "1 Moroccan
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, 1 Jew, 1 WASP
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...
"). Jagger's guitar contributions caused the band's road manager, Ian Stewart
Ian Stewart (musician)
Ian Andrew Robert Stewart was a Scottish keyboardist, co-founder of The Rolling Stones and inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
, to be absent from many of the sessions as he felt piano would be superfluous, making this a rare Rolling Stones album on which he did not appear. An alternate story has Stewart pointedly boycotting most of the sessions, claiming the band was sounding like 'bloody Status Quo!'
A serious concern was the issue of Keith Richards and his highly-publicized heroin possession bust in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
in early 1977; resulting in a very real possibility that he might be sent to jail for years. However, due to the judgement that Richards was very separate from the usual theft and anti-social culture that is associated with heroin use, he was sentenced very lightly. He was ordered to perform a charity show for The Canadian National Institute for the Blind.. As a commemoration of his second lease on life following the end of his heroin addiction, Keith reverted his surname to "Richards" with an "s" for Some Girls, after fifteen years without it.
The sessions for Some Girls began in October 1977, breaking before Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
and starting up again after New Year's before finishing in March 1978. Under their new British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
recording contract with EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
(remaining with Warner Music in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
only), they were able to record at EMI's Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris, a venue at which they would record frequently for the next several years. The Rolling Stones ended up recording about fifty new songs, several of which would turn up in altered forms on Emotional Rescue
Emotional Rescue
Emotional Rescue is the 15th British and 17th American studio album by The Rolling Stones, released in 1980. Upon release, the album topped the charts in both the US and UK.-History:...
and Tattoo You
Tattoo You
Tattoo You is the 16th British and 18th American studio album by The Rolling Stones, released in 1981. The follow-up to Emotional Rescue, it proved to be a big critical and commercial success...
. These sessions have also served as a prime source for many bootleg compilations over the years. Engineer for the sessions was Chris Kimsey
Chris Kimsey
Christopher Kenneth Kimsey is a record producer, mixer and musician most famous for having co-produced The Rolling Stones' Undercover and Steel Wheels albums...
, whose approach to recording breathed life into the somewhat dense sounding recordings like Goats Head Soup
Goats Head Soup
Goats Head Soup is the 11th British and 13th American studio album by The Rolling Stones, released in 1973. It featured the song "Angie", which went to #1 as a single in the US and UK.-Recording:...
and It's Only Rock 'n' Roll albums. Kimsey's direct method of recording, together with the entrance of the then state-of-the-art Mesa/Boogie Mark I amps instead of the Ampeg SVT
Ampeg SVT
The Ampeg SVT is a bass amplifier made by Ampeg. The SVT, which stands for "Super Valve Technology", was designed by Bill Hughes and introduced in 1969. The SVT bass head produced 300 watts at a time when most amplifiers made less than 100. The SVT has been through many design changes over the...
line of amps, yielded a bright, direct and aggressive guitar sound. In fact, there have been few Stones sessions as widely bootlegged as these.
There was some controversy surrounded the lyrics to the title song, an extended musing on women of various nationalities and races. The line "Black girls just wanna get fucked all night" drew strong protests from various groups, including Jesse Jackson
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...
's PUSH
Push
-Music:* Push , an album by Bros* Push , a Belgian disc jockey born Mike Dierickx* Push , an album by Gruntruck* "Push" , a song by Enrique Iglesias...
. Jagger famously replied, "I've always said, you can't take a joke, it's too fucking bad," although he was reportedly more conciliatory to Jackson in private, as he claimed the song was intended as a parody of racist attitudes. Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
cast member Garrett Morris
Garrett Morris
Garrett Gonzalez Morris is an American comedian and actor from New Orleans. He was part of the original cast of the sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live, appearing from 1975 to 1980.-Early life and career:...
would have the final say on the controversy with a mock-editorial on the show's Weekend Update
Weekend Update
Weekend Update is a Saturday Night Live sketch that comments on and parodies current events. It is the show's longest running recurring sketch, having been on since the show's first broadcast, and is typically presented in the middle of the show immediately after the first musical performance...
segment: After giving the impression that he was going to openly criticise the Stones, he quoted a sanitised version of the "Black girls just..." line, then stated "I have one thing to say to you, Mr. Mick Jagger... where are these women?!?"
Packaging and artwork
The album cover for Some Girls was designed by Peter CorristonPeter Corriston
Peter Corriston is a Grammy-nominated graphic designer currently based in Greenwich Village, notable for designing the album artwork for several major rock bands and musicians. Corriston has worked internationally with such artists as Billy Idol, Chick Corea, Carole King, Debbie Harry, George...
, who would design the next three album covers as well, with illustrations by Hubert Kretzschmar. An elaborate die-cut design, with colours varying on different sleeves, it featured The Rolling Stones in garish drag alongside select female celebrities and lingerie ads. The cover immediately ran into trouble when Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
, Farrah Fawcett
Farrah Fawcett
Farrah Fawcett was an American actress and artist. A multiple Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she first appeared as private investigator Jill Munroe in the first season of the television series Charlie's Angels, in 1976...
, Liza Minnelli
Liza Minnelli
Liza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
(representing her mother Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
), Raquel Welch
Raquel Welch
Jo Raquel Tejada , better known as Raquel Welch, is an American actress, author and sex symbol. Welch came to attention as a "new-star" on the 20th Century-Fox lot in the mid-1960s. She posed iconically in a animal skin bikini for the British-release One Million Years B.C. , for which she may be...
, and the estate of Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
threatened legal action.
The album was quickly reissued with a revised cover that removed all the celebrities whether they had complained or not, and were replaced with black and punk style garish colours with the phrase PARDON OUR APPEARANCE - COVER UNDER RE-CONSTRUCTION (found on most reissues since). Jagger later apologised to Minnelli when he encountered her during a party at the famous discothèque Studio 54
Studio 54
Studio 54 was a highly popular discotheque from 1977 until 1991, located at 254 West 54th Street in Manhattan, New York, USA. It was originally the Gallo Opera House, opening in 1927, after which it changed names several times, eventually becoming a CBS radio and television studio. In 1977 it...
.
There also existed a third version of the album cover with hand-drawn women (found on the 1986 CD reissue).
A fourth amended version that included Carly Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Britt Ekland and Jimmy Carter in drag was not published.
Release and legacy
In May 1978, the first single from the album, "Miss You", a prowling, moody number built on a stripped-down disco beat and bluesy pop harmonies, was released to very strong response, garnering The Rolling Stones their last US #1 hit and reaching #3 in the UK. Some Girls appeared in June to a very welcoming audience, reaching #1 in the US and #2 in the UK, becoming their biggest-selling studio album in the process (currently certified six times platinum in the US alone). It was also a major critical success, with many reviewers calling it a classic return to form, and their best album since 1972's Exile on Main St.Exile on Main St.
Exile on Main St. is the tenth British and 12th American studio album by English rock band The Rolling Stones. Released as a double LP in May 1972, it draws on many genres including rock and roll, blues, soul, R&B, gospel and country. The release of Exile on Main St. met with mixed reviews, but is...
"Beast of Burden
Beast of Burden (song)
"Beast of Burden" is a song by English rock band The Rolling Stones, featured on the 1978 album Some Girls. In 2004 Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song #435 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and #433 on the 500 Greatest Rock and Roll Songs of all time.-Inspiration and...
", "Respectable" (in the UK) and "Shattered" (in the US) would follow as the next singles, all becoming minor hits as well.
The Stones embarked on their summer US Tour 1978
Rolling Stones US Tour 1978
The Rolling Stones' US Tour 1978 was a concert tour of the United States that took place during June and July 1978, immediately following the release of the group's 1978 album Some Girls. Like the 1972 and 1975 U.S. tours, Bill Graham was the tour promoter...
in support of the album, which for the first time saw them mount several small venue shows, sometimes under a pseudonym.
In 2003 Some Girls was ranked number 269 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005.Related news articles:...
.
In 1986, the first compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
version of the album was issued by the Stones' new label distributor, Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, as Rolling Stones/Columbia CK-40449. In 1994, with the acquisition of the Rolling Stones Records catalogue by Virgin Records
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
, Some Girls was remastered and reissued with a partial restoration of the original cover art. The first pressing was packaged in a replica of the original vinyl packaging. In 2009, the album was remastered and reissued by Universal Music, restoring the original color scheme of the cover.
"Some Girls" was re-issued on 21 November 2011 in a 2 CD Deluxe edition, including 12 previously unreleased songs from that era. A Super-Deluxe edition, also included a single for "Beast of Burden". The album re-entered the UK charts at #58.
Track listing
All songs by Mick Jagger and Keith RichardsJagger/Richards
The songwriting partnership of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, known as Jagger/Richards , is a musical collaboration whose output has produced the majority of the catalogue of The Rolling Stones....
, except where noted.
- Original North American 8-track tape versions of the album contained edited versions of the songs "Far Away Eyes" and "Shattered".
2011 Reissue Bonus Track Listing
Personnel
The Rolling Stones- Mick JaggerMick JaggerSir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
– lead and backing vocals, electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
on "Faraway Eyes" - Keith RichardsKeith RichardsKeith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
– electric and acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
s, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Before They Make Me Run", bass guitar on "Some Girls" and "Before They Make Me Run", piano on "Faraway Eyes" - Ronnie Wood – electric, acoustic, pedal steelPedal steel guitarThe pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"...
, and slide guitarSlide guitarSlide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
, backing vocals, bass guitar on "Shattered", bass drumBass drumBass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...
on "Shattered" - Charlie WattsCharlie WattsCharles Robert "Charlie" Watts is an English drummer, best known as a member of The Rolling Stones. He is also the leader of a jazz band, a record producer, commercial artist, and horse breeder.-Early life:...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Bill WymanBill WymanBill Wyman is an English musician best known as the bass guitarist for the English rock and roll band the Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1992. Since 1997, he has recorded and toured with his own band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings...
– bass guitar, synthesiser on "Some Girls"
Additional personnel
- Sugar BlueSugar BlueSugar Blue is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician, who plays the harmonica. He is probably best known for playing on The Rolling Stones' single, "Miss You"....
– harmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
on "Miss You" and "Some Girls" - Mel CollinsMel CollinsMel Collins is a British saxophonist and flautist and session musician.He has worked in a wide variety of contexts ranging from R&B and blues rock to jazz, but is perhaps known for his work in progressive rock, as with King Crimson, Camel and the Alan Parsons Project.-Career:Collins has worked...
– saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
on "Miss You" - Simon KirkeSimon KirkeSimon Kirke is an English rock drummer best known as a member of Free and Bad Company.-Biography:...
– congaCongaThe conga, or more properly the tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed Cuban drum with African antecedents. It is thought to be derived from the Makuta drums or similar drums associated with Afro-Cubans of Central African descent. A person who plays conga is called a conguero...
s on "Miss You" - Ian McLaganIan McLaganIan McLagan is an English keyboard instrumentalist, best known as a member of the English rock bands Small Faces and Faces.-Small Faces and Faces:...
– electric pianoElectric pianoAn electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
on "Miss You", organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
on "Imagination"
Chart positions
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1978 | UK Top 75 Albums | 2 |
| 1978 | Billboard Pop Albums | 1 |
| 1978 | RPM Canada | 1 |
| 2011 | UK Top 75 Albums | 58 |
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | "Miss You" | UK Top 75 Singles | 3 |
| 1978 | "Miss You" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| 1978 | "Miss You" | Club Play Singles | 6 |
| 1978 | "Miss You" | Black Singles | 33 |
| 1978 | "Beast of Burden" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 8 |
| 1978 | "Respectable" | UK Top 75 Singles | 23 |
| 1979 | "Shattered" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 31 |
| 2010 | "Beast of Burden" | Billboard Rock Digital Songs | 49 |
Certifications
| Country | Provider | Certification Music recording sales certification Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,... (sales thresholds) |
|---|---|---|
| United States | RIAA Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States... |
6× Platinum |
| France | SNEP Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
Gold |
| United Kingdom | BPI British Phonographic Industry The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies... |
Gold |