Rolling Stones (1973) Can You Hear The Music

An odd one in the Stones catalogue, it starts with some typical Latin combo of percussion and piercing flute  that was clearly the influence of Mick Taylor, whose  fascination with music of Latin America due to his Jazz background is well documented. And while this is great as the Stones embraced the eclecticism in an attempt to copy Zeppelin, eclecticism came naturally to Zep. The native  beat is soon transplanted for typical 70s Stones Electric piano ballad feel blending the soft soulful vocals by Jagger with the double tracked guitar figure. 

The strong trippy filter of distortion and Jagger's droning vocals all end up masking the original Latin flavour. Its a messy mix with occasional traces of the highly atmospheric flute wasted as it is deeply submerged under the Stone's typical muddy rhythm/upbeat swagger. If the flutes cut through the heavy arrangement it would've been more unique but unfortunately the Stones were out of their depth in merging their rock sound with other cultures; unlike the Mighty Zep, but they sure knew how to pull off that 'smooth yet also rough' dichotomy and how to create a hypnotic groove better than anyone.