36. CAN’T YOU HEAR ME KNOCKING

The Rolling Stones

GUITARIST: MICK TAYLOR (1971)

Love at the improv.

Conceived as a blues-funk workout, album. But the tune became immortalized in the pantheon of guitar solo greats thanks to some masterful improvisation by Mick Taylor, who led the musicians in an extended jam at the song’s end. “It just happened by accident; that was never planned,” he told in 1979. “Towards the end of the song, I just felt like carrying on playing. Everybody was putting their instruments down, but the tape was still rolling and it sounded good, so everybody quickly picked up their instruments again and carried on playing.” Following tenor saxophonist Bobby Keys’ extended solo, Taylor enters, playing exotic lines on his Gibson ES-345 that recall Carlos Santana. The result is an off-the-cuff jam that outshines the original composition.