I recently finished Cyrus Patell’s book on The Rolling Stones 1978 album SOME GIRLS. Patell’s book is part of the 33 1/3 series, which for those of you unfamiliar, are short little books written by one author and are dedicated to one classic album. It’s basically a long-form version of my Classic Albums Revisited posts, which I once did on this very album. This is the third or fourth book in the series that I’ve read, though currently there are 80+ books in the series. The 33 1/3 series covers more than just classic rock, there are rap, metal, and country albums in the series as well.
The books cover the behind-the-scenes/making of-aspect of the albums in addition to providing a track-by-track analysis. Typically the book will be constructed around a theme of some sort, and of the small sample I’ve read, include a personal story from the author’s life. Patell’s book on Some Girls is built around the conceit that The Stones record is basically all a love-letter (of sorts) to the late 1970s version of New York City. Most but not all of the songs, Patell points out, are in some way about New York. It’s pretty obvious, but strangely enough I never really made that connection.
Some Girls also is structured around Patell’s childhood in New York, around the time of the album’s initial release. The death of one of his beloved teachers, the author’s first brush with death, plays a pivotal part of the first few and last chapters of the book. Although I did find it interesting, I almost wish Patell had just stuck to The Rolling Stones. Had this book been a typical long format book I wouldn’t have had as much of a problem with Patell’s personal connection to the record—but Some Girls (like all the books in the series) is a very short, very compact book. I had a similar issue with the series entry on PET SOUNDS, but unlike that book, I walked away enjoying Some Girls.
My enjoyment of Patell’s book is two fold: he provides an excellent history of the band and the band’s efforts to record SOME GIRLS while at the same time giving a great history of late 1970’s New York. He doesn’t just tell us that “Miss You” was written as a nod to the current disco culture, he explains to us that Mick Jagger and company were hanging out the infamous Studio 54. Then Patell proceeds to give us a brief, but informative history of the club. Patell’s deft ability to balance band history and history-history is what makes Some Girls such an enjoyable read.
There was one minor annoyance that almost got me to stop reading the book, and that was the author’s reliance on Keith Richards memoir Life. At the start of the book there were so many long quotes taken directly fromKeith’s book that I nearly put the book down because it seemed like I was basically re-reading Life. Thankfully, once the author turns away from basic band history and starts discussing the album in detail these direct quotes from Life are less intrusive. Look, I get it, Patell wasn’t able to actually talk with Keith Richards…but some of the quotes are ridiculously long, taking up damn near an entire page. I’m glad I didn’t give up on Patell’s book because it really is a good read.
Even if, like me, you’ve read five or six books on The Rolling Stones you should still check out Some Girls. Patell’s analysis of the songs both lyrically and musically (he gets pretty deep into chords and tuning) is worth a read. If like me you’re a big fan of SOME GIRLS you owe it to yourself to check out Patell’s book, it’s a quick but insightful read.
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