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From today's NY Daily News
Judge the Stones' Songbook
By These Covers
By ISAAC GUZMAN
Daily News Features Writer
olling Stones fans who can't wait until the band's September concerts can get some satisfaction tonight at the Bottom Line, when a collective of respected musicians pays tribute to the Mick Jagger-Keith Richards songbook.
Ed Rogers and Jeanne Stahlman, founders of 'The Beat Goes On' series
The Glimmer Twins show marks the 15th installment in a series called "The Beat Goes On," which has previously celebrated the songs of the Mod generation, the Brill Building and the Rat Pack. "Beat Goes On" founders Ed Rogers and Jeanne Stahlman think Mick and Keith compare very favorably with the most revered songwriters of the early rock era.
"What we wanted to put across was not the giant traveling circus [of Stones tours]," says Rogers, but their skill as composers.
"These guys wrote songs that were in competition with Dylan and the Beatles," he adds. "These guys used to write really great songs that have held up."
To emphasize this point, tonight's show will showcase lesser-known songs, such as the flower-power anthem "Dandelion," the 1967 ballad "She Smiled Sweetly" and "Sitting on a Fence," an oddity that became a smash for one-hit wonders Twice as Much.
Of course, it's hard to argue that the forced rhymes of "My Obsession" � which will be sung by Yo La Tengo frontman Ira Kaplan � are really the equal of, say, "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue." But, critical comparisons aside, the "Beat Goes On" tribute is one of the few places to hear a line like "My obsessions are your possessions."
"The show is kind of like a living museum," Stahlman says. "But not in a fusty way."
An eclectic crew of two dozen musicians will perform, among them Rogers, former Dream Syndicate leader Steve Wynn, indie rock producer Don Fleming, alterna-bluesman Freedy Johnston and extravagantly coiffed soul singer Christine Ohlman.
Rogers says he's especially excited to hear what No Wave icon James Chance will do with "Under My Thumb."
"James' first band was the Contortions, which had a real avant-garde, jazz-funk, ultra-image type of sound," he says. "It's kind of like a Miles Davis approach to jazz, but in a punk way. He's going to take that and do something crazy with it."
Original Publication Date: 5/17/02
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