To celebrate the upcoming publication of my short story, “The Record Collector,” I’m finally doing the “post an influential album each day for 10 days” thing that several friends challenged me to do.

It’s not even close to the best Stones album (that’d be Exile on Main Street, with Let It Bleed and Some Girls behind). It’s not even the best Stones live album (which is probably Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out), but it’s the album that introduced me to the Rolling Stones beyond what I’d heard on oldies AM radio stations (“Get Off of My Cloud,” “The Last Time,” “Satisfaction” and a few others).

Still Life is a snapshot of early Ron Wood-era Rolling Stones. He and Keith Richards seem to be having fun bailing each other out on leads, and the 80s tracks like “Shattered” and the underrated “Let Me Go” are great. Wyman and Watts are my probably favorite rhythm section, and they make this record.

More importantly—check out the cover songs they played. They cover Smokey Robinson and The Miracles’ “Goin’ to a Go-Go,” Eddie Cochran’s “Twenty-Flight Rock,” the Temptations “Just My Imagination,” and their old single, Norman Meade’s “Time is on My Side.” Rockabilly, Motown, R&B—all beloved by, and one and the same to, the Rolling Stones. They come onstage to Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington’s “Take the ‘A’ Train” and exit to Hendrix’s “Star Spangled Banner” (this album was my first encounter with the latter).

For me, the Rolling Stones have always been about their variety and their sense of humor. This album has both.