The Rolling Stones - "Jigsaw Puzzle" (1968)

This is the epitome of Mick Jagger's effected, manneristic 1960's singing style (as opposed to his over-the-top, manneristic of the late 80's and on). Also, his most Dylanesque lyrics, as though, after several years of trying to rip off the Beatles, he'd been listening too much to Blonde On Blonde.

But if the Rolling Stones would not have been quite as successful with a less flamboyant frontman, Jagger himself would never have made it if he wasn't backed by such a stellar band, laid back enough to offset his extroverted tendencies on stage and in the studio. And it's the music that that makes this one of the best tracks of their career.

Forget any notions of the Stones being merely purveyors of elemental three chord, blues based rock. "Jigsaw Puzzle", like all of the Stones greatest recordings, may be raw, but it is magnificent music that turns country blues into a space age symphony with no pretensions barring the lyrics. And actually, as is often the case with the Stones, the music redeems the lyrics, turning the line about the guitar players being "outcasts all their lives" into an obituary for Brian Jones before the fact.

Like all of the music on Beggars Banquet, "Jigsaw Puzzle" is based on Keith Richards' explorations of open chord tuning, which is widely documented in interviews and which I admittedly don't understand much about, not being a guitar player myself. But you don't have to be a musician to feel the creative boost these explorations injected in him and you only need to have any ears at all to get the laid back groove of Charlie Watts' drumming or the fat sound of the bass - one of their best recorded parts and rumored to be Keith and not Bill Wyman. But best of all are lilting, almost surrealistic bottleneck guitars, which literally turn into a tribal drone by the time we get to the verse about the twenty thousand grandmas and the queen (see what I meant by Dylanesque?).

With all that going on, Jagger himself sounds quite good, actually.

The Rolling Stones - "Stuck Out All Alone" (1969)

Between 1968 and 1972, the Stones were greater than the Beatles had ever been. Who else could have come up with a bluesy soul groove as deep as this outtake bootleg and never release it. But then the Stones were quite notorious for throwing away beautiful unfinished tracks, such as "Waiting On A Friend", which they apparently never got around to completing for Goat's Head Soup in 1973 ,when the original backing tracks were cut, where it might have offended such stellar songs as "Dancing With Mr. D".

But "Stuck Out All Alone" is fully realized, an almost perfect cut. Keith Richards plays like he heard "(Sitting On The) Dock Of The Bay" in a dream, woke up, went out to find Steve Cropper's muse and found the ghost of Robert Johnson instead. Bill Wyman supplies a fat bass line that guards Keith's heels, while Charlie Watts does just what he does so well, swinging and tapping modestly and winningly.

To make a case for the Stones editorial wisdom, the fragile angularity of the song might have just barely fit on Let It Bleed and I have to admit it would have been out of place on Sticky Fingers. Yet Mick Jagger sings so soulfully you have to wonder whether the real reason this track was never released because it plain scared the shit out of him.

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...