Goddess in the Doorway

{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}

{{italic title}}

{{Infobox album

| name = Goddess in the Doorway

| type = studio

| artist = Mick Jagger

| cover = goddessdoorway.jpg

| alt =

| released = 19 November 2001

| recorded = February and May 2000, January–February and April–June 2001

| studio = {{hlist

|Roxie (Miami)

|Third Stone (Los Angeles)

|Drive By (Los Angeles)

|Rumbo (Los Angeles)

|Chiswick (London)

|Metropolis (London)

|Norfolk Lodge (Richmond)

|Mick Jagger's hotel room (Heidkamp)

|Hit Factory (New York City)}}

| genre = Rock

| length = 56:51

| label = Virgin

| producer =

| prev_title = Wandering Spirit

| prev_year = 1993

| next_title = Alfie

| next_year = 2004

| misc = {{Singles

| name = Goddess in the Doorway

| type = studio

| single1 = God Gave Me Everything

| single1date = November 2001

| single2 = Visions of Paradise

| single2date = February 2002

}}

}}

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.

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. The Cover Photo was created by German fashion Designer Karl Lagerfeld.

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.{{cite web|last=Kessler|first=Ted|title=Interview: Missy Elliott > Missy in action|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2001/aug/05/life1.lifemagazine7|work=The Guardian|date=4 August 2001|accessdate=6 March 2013}}{{cite web|last1=Wiederhorn |first1=Jon |last2=Rankin |first2=Rebecca |title=Mick Jagger Finds A Muse in Britney Spears |url=http://m.mtv.com/news/article.rbml?id=1444822 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411102419/http://m.mtv.com/news/article.rbml?id=1444822 |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 April 2013 |publisher=MTV News |date=27 June 2001 |accessdate=6 March 2013 }} 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.{{cite magazine|last=Fricke|first=David|author-link=David Fricke|title=People of the Year: Mick Jagger|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/people-of-the-year-mick-jagger-20011206|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=6 December 2001|accessdate=22 May 2013}} 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. The song failed to become a significant hit.

Reception

{{Music ratings

|MC = 62/100{{cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/music/goddess-in-the-doorway/mick-jagger|title=Goddess in the Doorway by Mick Jagger|publisher=Metacritic|accessdate=3 October 2016}}

|rev1 = AllMusic

|rev1score = {{Rating|3|5}}[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r559276|pure_url=yes}} AllMusic review]

|rev2 = Rolling Stone

|rev2score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/reviews/album/7733/37826|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100609014957/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/reviews/album/7733/37826|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 June 2010|title=Goddess in the Doorway|magazine=Rolling Stone|accessdate=3 October 2016}}

}}

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."{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/goings-on/five-star-generally|title=Five-Star Generally|date=2009-02-23|magazine=The New Yorker|access-date=2019-06-28}} 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."{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/15/arts/jann-wenner-the-masters-interview.html|title=Jann Wenner Defends His Legacy, and His Generation's|date=2023-09-15|work=The New York Times|access-date=2023-09-17}}

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.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X9OVDwAAQBAJ&q=jim+farber&pg=PT218|title=Can't Give It Away on Seventh Avenue: The Rolling Stones and New York City|last=McKittrick|first=Christopher|publisher=Post Hill Press|year=2019|isbn=9781642930405}}

Goddess in the Doorway reached No. 44 in the UK and No. 39 in the US. It has sold 80,778 copies in the UK{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2014/jul/09/robin-thicke-five-blockbuster-albums-that-bombed-jagger-carey-duffy-guns-n-roses-glasvegas |title=From Robin Thicke to Mariah and Mick: five blockbuster albums that bombed |author=Eamonn Forde |date= 9 July 2014 |work=The Guardian }} and 317,000 copies in the US.

Following this, Jagger returned to work with the Rolling Stones on Forty Licks (2002) and A Bigger Bang (2005) and their associated world tours, the Licks Tour (2002-03) and the A Bigger Bang Tour (2005-07). Aside from his soundtrack work with David A. Stewart on Alfie in 2004, and the compilation The Very Best of Mick Jagger released in 2007, Goddess in the Doorway remains his last solo release to date.

Track listing

{{track listing

|all_writing = Mick Jagger, except where noted

|title1 = Visions of Paradise

|writer1 = Jagger, Rob Thomas, Matt Clifford

|length1 = 4:02

|title2 = Joy

|writer2 =

|length2 = 4:41

|title3 = Dancing in the Starlight

|writer3 = Jagger, Clifford

|length3 = 4:06

|title4 = God Gave Me Everything

|writer4 = Jagger, Lenny Kravitz

|length4 = 3:34

|title5 = Hide Away

|writer5 = Jagger, Wyclef Jean

|length5 = 4:31

|title6 = Don't Call Me Up

|writer6 = Jagger, Pamela Quinlan

|length6 = 5:14

|title7 = Goddess in the Doorway

|writer7 = Jagger, Clifford

|length7 = 4:56

|title8 = Lucky Day

|writer8 =

|length8 = 4:51

|title9 = Everybody Getting High

|writer9 =

|length9 = 3:55

|title10 = Gun

|writer10 = Jagger, Clifford

|length10 = 4:39

|title11 = Too Far Gone

|writer11 = Jagger, Pamela Quinlan

|length11 = 4:34

|title12 = Brand New Set of Rules

|writer12 =

|length12 = 7:39

|note12 = "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

|total_length = 56:42

}}

{{Track listing

|headline = Japanese edition bonus track

|title13 = If Things Could Be Different

|writer13 =

|length13 = 4:49

|total_length = 61:31

|note13 = 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

}}

Personnel

Charts

=Weekly charts=

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

!scope="col"|Chart (2001)

!scope="col"|Peak
position

scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA Charts){{cite Ryan|page=142}}

|align="center"|65

{{album chart|Hungary|29|year=2001|week=52|rowheader=true|access-date=26 November 2021}}
scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC){{cite web|title=MICK JAGGER {{!}} full Official Chart History {{!}} Official Charts Company|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/14177/mick%20jagger/|publisher=Official Charts Company|accessdate=28 November 2016}}

|align="center"|44

scope="row"|US Billboard 200{{cite web|title=Mick Jagger – Chart history {{!}} Billboard|url=http://www.billboard.com/artist/310992/mick-jagger/chart?f=305|magazine=Billboard|accessdate=28 November 2016}}

|align="center"|39

Certifications and sales

{{certification Table Top}}

{{certification Table Entry|title=Goddess in the Doorway|type=album|artist=Mick Jagger|relyear=2001|region=Germany|award=Gold|certyear=2001|accessdate=20 August 2019}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Spain|artist=Mick Jagger|title=Goddes in the Doorway|award=Gold|type=album|relyear=2001|certyear=2001|certref={{cite book |last=Salaverrie |first=Fernando |url=http://www.mediafire.com/file/7q55521w7go6vh6/Spanish+Certifications+for+2000-2002.pdf |title=Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 |language=es |edition=1st |location=Madrid |publisher=Fundación Autor/SGAE |date=September 2005 |page=958 |isbn=84-8048-639-2 |accessdate=26 August 2019}}}}

{{certification Table Entry|title=Goddess in the Doorway|type=album|artist=Mick Jagger|relyear=2001|region=United Kingdom|award=Silver|certyear=2001|id=2557-2668-2|salesamount=80,778|salesref=|accessdate=20 August 2019}}

{{certification Table Entry|title=Goddess in the Doorway|type=album|artist=Mick Jagger|relyear=2001|region=United States|nocert=true|salesamount=317,000|salesref={{cite web|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/67625/ask-billboard|title=Ask Billboard|magazine=Billboard|date=31 December 2003|accessdate=20 August 2019}}}}

{{Certification Table Bottom | nosales=true}}

References