Their first album consisting entirely of Jagger/Richards originals didn’t look out of place in a year of touchstone albums such as Revolver, Pet Sounds and Blonde On Blonde.
The rolling stones albums series#
The Stones paid tribute to their R&B and blues heroes on a series of standards including “Carol” (Chuck Berry), “I Just Want To Make Love To You“ (Willie Dixon) and ”Mona“ (Bo Diddley), while the album also featured the first flowering of the nascent Jagger/Richards writing partnership with the admittedly derivative “Tell Me”. The material and performances are exemplary, with Keith in his element and Jagger proving that he can still blow a mean harp too.Īnd this is where they came in with one of the great debut albums which captured perfectly the raw excitement of the group’s live shows of the time.
One question springs readily to mind as regards Blue & Lonesome: why the hell couldn’t they have done something like this years ago? If this is to be their valedictory album then what better way to go out than with a return to the music that first inspired them. Until, that is, this return to their blues roots which was as much a delight as a surprise after decades of by-the-numbers albums, as their studio recordings increasingly took second place to the their lucrative live tours. The Stones would never sound so energized and relevant again. The rockier numbers provide the best moments – Keith has fun on “Little T&A” – and the album was a critical success too. The original vinyl album had a fast and a slow side and went on to sell shedloads on the back of the rifftastic opening track “Start Me Up”, the last of the great Stones singles. I love his frequent and humorous put-downs of Mick’s affectations almost as much as I love the innumerable deathless guitar riffs he has conjured up for the self-proclaimed “Greatest Rock’n’Roll Band In The World”.Īn odds and sods album consisting of outtakes dating back as far as 1972 (the nicely reflective “Waiting on a Friend” with a fabulous solo from jazz legend Sonny Rollins). If I didn’t dislike the overused “National Treasure” expression so much, I would probably use it to describe Keith in an ironic, inelegantly wasted kind of way. Richards is the very essence of the rock star, the ultimate survivor of the rock’n’roll lifestyle and the heart and soul of The Rolling Stones. And you have to hand it to the duo who, along with their equally ancient band mates, are undertaking yet another US tour in 2019 and who have long since disregarded Grace Slick’s dictum that rock stars over the age of 50 shouldn’t be seen in public. Famed Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards celebrates his 75th birthday on 18 December and with Mick Jagger having reached the same milestone in July, both halves of the “Glimmer Twins” will have passed their three-quarter century.
0 kommentar(er)
