The year was 1971, Brian Jones was no longer a Stone, and the Stones were in a heated battle over who would own the rights to the back catalog. Mick and the boys settled into Muscle Shoals studio in Alabama to record for a few days in December of 1969 to record "Wild Horses" and "Sister Morphine which was cut for the Exile on Main Street album but held over for stickey fingers.
According to stories, the song Wild Horses was written for Marianne Faithful. Jager would later say that Keith came up with the melody and music, then Mick wrote the heart felt lyrics. He says that it was a time in his life when he needed to write something that close to him.
But what really makes this album great is the song "Can't You Hear Me Knocking". Both Keith Richards and new guitarist Mick Taylor open it up with a sick leading riff which Keith than switched to the rhythm for the verses.
But the Magic happens about 2:40 into the jam. The first guitar you hear is Keith, then theres the sax solo by Bobby Keyes. All the while Richards has been meandering in the back round, when finally the Sax and Keys solo stop and Mick Taylor starts with his long smooth solo. This was quite the departure from earlier Stones albums, being that no more multi-instrumentilist Brian Jones will be heard again.
But this album also features "I've got the Blues" which was later covered by Thalia Zedik and her band Come. And the Jagger/Richards/Faithful penned song "Sister Morphiene" with Ry Cooder on bottle neck slide.
Once again if you haven't heard this entire album, go run into traffic or jump off a cliff.
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