The Rolling Stones - "Brown Sugar" (1971)

I've been listening to them for over a quarter of a century, ever since I was sixteen years old, and I still think they're the greatest thing I ever discovered. They're never ever far away from my heart and mind. I love the good stuff and I even kinda like the bad stuff, because when you get right down to it, even their most awful crap still has Keith and Charlie playing on it.

No need to apologise for loving "Brown Sugar", though, as it is the Rolling Stones' most perfect group effort and one of their hottest tracks, literally sizzling off the speakers every time I play it.

It took me twenty years to learn that Mick Jagger wrote the riff here and while it seems that it's Keith Richards' brash guitar powering the song, this is actually the one time during the Mick Taylor period that the Stones really lived up to their original "two guitar, one sound" aesthetic. Just listen to how Taylor's guitar answers Keith's on the opening riff or how his fill hangs in the air for a split second on the chorus before being joined in and commented upon by Keith.

Then there's also Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts at their understated, efficient best, Bobby Keys' greatest sax solo and one of Mick's least effected vocals. Keith turns in his usual off-key harmonies which can be as amazing as his guitar work and, like the myriad wrinkles on his face, define rock and roll. And probably because it was recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, it throbs with the heat of southern soul, even though it owes more to Sun and Chess.

Tastes so good...