Goddess in the Doorway is the fourth solo album by Mick Jagger, released in 2001. The most recent offering from Jagger as a solo artist, it marked his first release with Virgin Records, with whom he has been contracted as a member of the Rolling Stones since 1991.
| Goddess in the Doorway | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 19 November 2001 | |||
| Recorded | February and May 2000, January–February and April–June 2001 | |||
| Studio |
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| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 56:51 | |||
| Label | Virgin | |||
| Producer | Matt Clifford, Marti Frederiksen, and Mick Jagger with Jerry 'Wonder' Duplessis, Wyclef Jean, Lenny Kravitz, and Chris Potter | |||
| Mick Jagger chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Goddess in the Doorway | ||||
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Background
editFollowing his 1993 album Wandering Spirit, and The Rolling Stones' Voodoo Lounge and Bridges to Babylon in 1994 and 1997, Jagger began to work on demo material in 2000, finally reaching the studio in the spring of 2001. Although Jagger would primarily work with Marti Frederiksen and Matt Clifford as producers, he also sanctioned the talents of Lenny Kravitz and Wyclef Jean to help create Goddess in the Doorway. And while the songs would largely be composed by Jagger, he endeavoured to work with other collaborators, namely, Kravitz and Rob Thomas, lead vocalist of Matchbox Twenty. The recording sessions of several of the album's tracks were featured in the documentary Being Mick. The Cover Photo was created by German fashion Designer Karl Lagerfeld.
Recording
editWhile recording was underway, many of Jagger's musician friends, including Bono, Pete Townshend, Thomas, Kravitz, Jean and Joe Perry all made contributions. Townshend, in fact, was the initiating force behind the album. After having heard some of Jagger's demos, he told him that they didn't sound like Rolling Stones songs and that Jagger should record them on his own.
In the summer of 2001, Jagger had bumped into Missy Elliott and requested her to be part of the album. At his New York hotel, Jagger previewed his demo material to Elliott.[1][2] Following their meeting, both Jagger's and Elliott's reps confirmed the two artists were slated to collaborate on the song, "Hide Away," however, due to scheduling conflicts their collaboration never saw the light of day.[2][3] Jagger's collaborations with super-producer Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins would suffer the same fate.[2] By the end of the summer, Goddess in the Doorway was initially completed and the Kravitz-produced (and almost self-performed) "God Gave Me Everything" was put forward as the lead single that October. The song failed to become a significant hit.
Reception
edit| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 62/100[4] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [5] |
| Rolling Stone | [6] |
Jann Wenner, chief editor for Rolling Stone magazine, bestowed a five-star instant classic rating upon the album, a score that The New Yorker noted as part of a general trend at the magazine, "an almost cynical way of preserving the critical legitimacy of classic-rock artists."[7] More than two decades later, Wenner defended the review in an interview with The New York Times, saying, "The editors themselves put it at four stars, and there was not a critical backlash to the thing. [...] It’s still quite a good album. So I personally intervened. Having sat there and listened to Mick make it, I was in love with it. I confess: I probably went too far. So what? I’m entitled."[8]
Writing for the New York Daily News, Jim Farber said: "From the musicianship to the production to the performance and the lyrics, everything sounds cold and corporate." Keith Richards regularly referred to the album as Dogshit in the Doorway.[9]
Goddess in the Doorway reached No. 44 in the UK and No. 39 in the US.[10] It has sold 80,778 copies in the UK[11] and 317,000 copies in the US.[12]
Following this, Jagger returned to work with The Rolling Stones on Forty Licks and A Bigger Bang and their respective worldwide tours labelled Licks and A Bigger Bang. Aside from his soundtrack work with David A. Stewart on Alfie in 2004, and the best of collection The Very Best of Mick Jagger released in 2007, Goddess in the Doorway remains his last solo release to date.
Track listing
editAll tracks are written by Mick Jagger, except where noted
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Visions of Paradise" | Jagger, Rob Thomas, Matt Clifford | 4:02 |
| 2. | "Joy" | 4:41 | |
| 3. | "Dancing in the Starlight" | Jagger, Clifford | 4:06 |
| 4. | "God Gave Me Everything" | Jagger, Lenny Kravitz | 3:34 |
| 5. | "Hide Away" | Jagger, Wyclef Jean | 4:31 |
| 6. | "Don't Call Me Up" | Jagger, Pamela Quinlan | 5:14 |
| 7. | "Goddess in the Doorway" | Jagger, Clifford | 4:56 |
| 8. | "Lucky Day" | 4:51 | |
| 9. | "Everybody Getting High" | 3:55 | |
| 10. | "Gun" | Jagger, Clifford | 4:39 |
| 11. | "Too Far Gone" | Jagger, Pamela Quinlan | 4:34 |
| 12. | "Brand New Set of Rules" ("Brand New Set of Rules" only runs 3:36; it is followed by 2:56 silence and the hidden track "Goddess in the Doorway (Cocktail Version)" 1:07) | 7:39 | |
| Total length: | 56:42 | ||
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 13. | "If Things Could Be Different" (If Things Could Be Different" was also the B-side to "Visions of Paradise" in Europe and "Blue"—a 5:40 Mick Jagger composition—was the B-side of the European single "God Gave Me Everything" and the British single "Visions of Paradise) | 4:49 |
| Total length: | 61:31 | |
Personnel
edit- Mick Jagger – lead & backing vocals, acoustic & electric & slide guitar, harmonica, percussion
- Bono – vocals on "Joy"
- Mike Dolan, Milton McDonald – guitar
- Marti Frederiksen – electric & acoustic guitar, drums, backing vocals, programming
- Wyclef Jean – electric guitar, Spanish guitar on "Hide Away"
- Lenny Kravitz – electric guitar, bass guitar, drums, tambourine, backing vocals on "God Gave Me Everything"
- Kyle Cook – lead guitar on track 1
- Joe Perry – guitar on "Everybody Getting High" & "Too Far Gone"
- Craig Ross – twelve-string guitar, acoustic guitar
- Pete Townshend – guitar on "Joy" & "Gun"
- Jerry Duplessis, Phil Spalding, Christian Frederickson – bass guitar
- Steve Knightley – cellomandolin
- Robert Aaron – keyboards, French horn, flute
- Matt Clifford – piano, Hammond organ B3, Fender Rhodes, mellotron, keyboards, synthesizer, backing vocals, programming
- Kenny Aronoff, Jim Keltner, Ian Thomas – drums
- Lenny Castro, Paul Clarvis – percussion
- Martin Heyes – programming
- Chris White – tenor saxophone
- Patsy Gamble – baritone saxophone
- Steve Sidwell – trumpet
- Mikal Reid – trumpet, programming
- Neil Sidwell – trombone
- Pamela Quinlan – piano, keyboards – backing vocals
- Rob Thomas – backing vocals on "Visions of Paradise"
- Ruby Turner – backing vocals
- Elizabeth Jagger – backing vocals on "Brand New Set of Rules"
- Georgia May Jagger – backing vocals on "Brand New Set of Rules"
Charts
editWeekly charts
edit| Chart (2001) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA Charts)[13] | 65 |
| Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[14] | 29 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[15] | 44 |
| US Billboard 200[10] | 39 |
Certifications and sales
edit| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Germany (BVMI)[16] | Gold | 150,000^ |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE)[17] | Gold | 50,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[18] | Silver | 80,778[11] |
| United States | — | 317,000[12] |
|
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
References
edit- ^ Kessler, Ted (4 August 2001). "Interview: Missy Elliott > Missy in action". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
- ^ a b c Wiederhorn, Jon; Rankin, Rebecca (27 June 2001). "Mick Jagger Finds A Muse in Britney Spears". MTV News. Archived from the original on 11 April 2013. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
- ^ Fricke, David (6 December 2001). "People of the Year: Mick Jagger". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
- ^ "Goddess in the Doorway by Mick Jagger". Metacritic. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
- ^ AllMusic review
- ^ "Goddess in the Doorway". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 9 June 2010. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
- ^ "Five-Star Generally". The New Yorker. 23 February 2009. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
- ^ "Jann Wenner Defends His Legacy, and His Generation's". The New York Times. 15 September 2023. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
- ^ McKittrick, Christopher (2019). Can't Give It Away on Seventh Avenue: The Rolling Stones and New York City. Post Hill Press. ISBN 9781642930405.
- ^ a b "Mick Jagger – Chart history | Billboard". Billboard. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
- ^ a b Eamonn Forde (9 July 2014). "From Robin Thicke to Mariah and Mick: five blockbuster albums that bombed". The Guardian.
- ^ a b "Ask Billboard". Billboard. 31 December 2003. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
- ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 142.
- ^ "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2001. 52. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
- ^ "MICK JAGGER | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
- ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Mick Jagger; 'Goddess in the Doorway')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
- ^ Salaverrie, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (PDF) (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Madrid: Fundación Autor/SGAE. p. 958. ISBN 84-8048-639-2. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
- ^ "British album certifications – Mick Jagger – Goddess in the Doorway". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 20 August 2019.