It was 44 years ago today (June 9th) that the Rolling Stones released their 1978 blockbuster, Some Girls. The album, which was competing on the charts and turntables around the globe with breakthrough punk and disco records, was able to absorb the musical influence of what was going down in the clubs and the streets of New York City and become the first album in years to drastically redefine the Stones' sound. It also featured the band's first chart-topper since 1973's “Angie” — the disco-based monster summer hit and instant classic, “Miss You, which remains the Stones' last Number One single to date.
Back in 2011, Keith Richards told Spinner.com that after the excesses of some of the band's then-recent albums — which saw the Stones dabbling in reggae and R&B — for Some Girls, they simply went for broke writing and performing a straight ahead rock based album: “Yeah, it was a deliberate idea of Mick (Jagger) and I to strip the band back down to basics. And also, it was the first full album that I was doing with Ronnie (Wood), so we were all feeling our way in that respect. We were just getting into each other's way of playing on this stuff. To me, I remember it as a load of fun, but I'm sure some other people might have other ideas.”
Although Wood had only popped up on two tracks on 1976's Black And Blue, he had been touring with the band since 1975. And while Wood's guitar work was all over the 1977 concert set, Love You Live, Some Girls featured the first full album of the signature “Keith & Ronnie” guitar sound. Richards counted that as one of the album's high points, recalling, “That was one of the joys of it. Every session we'd go to, every day — and we were there a long time — Ronnie and I realized we were finding a way to play together. As Ronnie calls it, 'the ancient form of weaving.' You don't know which guitar is doing what. And that's the joy of playing with two guitars or three, the interaction. I remember it as a fun album to make.”