Mick Jagger released Goddess in the Doorway in Europe on November 19, 2001, with the U.S. release following the next day. His fourth solo studio album arrived through Virgin Records, eight years after Wandering Spirit, and grew from songs he had begun recording at home.
The material took shape after the Rolling Stones’ Bridges to Babylon tour. Jagger told Billboard’s Nigel Williamson that he had worked on the songs in France and the Caribbean using a computer, gradually developing his demos into a record. Pete Townshend helped him recognize what he already had. Drawing on his own experience, Townshend described how taking a carefully made demo to a band could change what made it work. Jagger saw an opportunity to keep developing those recordings without starting the process again with the Stones.
He also wanted more freedom over the decisions. In a 2001 interview with Paul Du Noyer for MOJO, Jagger explained that working with the same musicians brought expectations about what a Rolling Stones record should contain. “I wanted not to have so much of a committee,” he said. Going solo also made it easier to be emotionally open. He could follow a song into a romantic, reflective or comic mood without negotiating the familiar habits of the group.
Lenny Kravitz’s contribution to the lead single, “God Gave Me Everything,” went well beyond a guest vocal. He co-wrote and produced the song, playing electric guitar, bass, drums and tambourine as Jagger supplied vocals and harmonica. Their earlier collaboration had been a cover of “Use Me” on Wandering Spirit. Jagger told Radio & Records in November 2001 that they wanted to write something together this time.
The album opened with a different writing partnership. “Visions of Paradise” paired Jagger with Rob Thomas and Matt Clifford, with Thomas also contributing backing vocals. Jagger admired Thomas’s melodic instincts because they differed from his own. He described the song as an unusually direct move into pop for him, while explaining that the three writers had worked to keep some hardness in its romantic, singable arrangement. Clifford’s role extended across the album as a musician, writer and producer, alongside production work by Marti Frederiksen and Jagger.
Bono joined Jagger on “Joy,” which also featured Townshend. U2’s website reported in 2001 that the singers had traveled to Germany during the summer for the recording, with the trip filmed for Being Mick. The documentary followed work on the album and put some of those collaborations on screen. Jagger had already developed his own vocals, but welcomed the different melodic direction Bono took when adding his part.
“Don’t Call Me Up” depended on a smaller adjustment. Jagger recalled that the ballad had begun taking shape while he was making demos in Paris, and that a further pass at the writing transformed its chorus. He was especially pleased with the hook that emerged.
In 2007, “God Gave Me Everything,” “Joy” and “Don’t Call Me Up” all appeared on The Very Best of Mick Jagger. The Kravitz collaboration opened the compilation, putting a song from Goddess in the Doorway at the front of his solo retrospective.
