Goddess in the Doorway

Background

Following 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.

Recording

While 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. 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. Jagger's collaborations with super-producer Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins would suffer the same fate.

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. Although the song failed to become a significant hit, Goddess in the Doorway – with its hybrid of different styles—was released the following month to among the strongest reviews Jagger had received—including his tenure with The Rolling Stones—in years, with Rolling Stone's chief editor Jann Wenner bestowing a five-star instant classic rating upon the album. However, not everyone was as effusive, with Keith Richards calling the album "Dogshit In The Doorway".

Reception

While the critical approval of Goddess in the Doorway was gratifying for Jagger, the album only reached No. 44 in the UK and No. 39 in the U.S. It has sold 80,778 copies in the UK, 330,000 copies in the US and over 1.2 million copies worldwide as of July 2014.

Following this, he returned to work with The Rolling Stones on Forty Licks and A Bigger Bang and their respective worldwide Licks and A Bigger Bang Tours. 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 Mick Jagger's latest solo release to date.

Chart positions

Album

Singles