Man, the first 3 tracks include "If You Can't Rock Me" and "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll". Those plus "Luxury" are the HIGH POINTS. After that it's mildly interesting jams ("Short 'n' Curlies", "Dance Little Sister"), overlong Jagger ballads ("If You Really Want To Be My Friend", "Til The Next Goodbye", "Time Waits For No One"), perfunctory R&B filler ("Ain't Too Proud To Beg"), and the drug-addled dementia of "Fingerprint File".

Yeah, even nuking the first couple of songs is not improving this for me.

Can I just say how much I love this thread and a big thumbs up to D.J. for filling in my stones collection!

thread delivers!

I've never heard this one, but, hell, I'll give it a shot.

Just my opinion- in the larger scheme of things, the journey to oblivion finished up, once and for all.

I dunno, Rads, "If You Can't Rock Me" is a clunker of "Winning Ugly" (their absolute worst song) proportions. It just sucks. And like I said, I sort of enjoy the T-Rex choogle of It's Only Rock And Roll, but it's not exactly essential Stone listening.

This is a great thread, albeit a little insular. It's interesting that no comments about which songs work live and which don't, some songs that are pretty mediocre in the recorded version seem to work live. E.g. If You Can't Rock Me never did anything for me on the record but I've seen them do it live and really, well, rock it.

black and blue is the worst stones album ever, including all the tripe they've spit forth after tattoo you

You are at the wrong Memory Motel Bobbo.

It's in my top 3 post-Exile albums. It fights with "Some Girls" and "Tattoo You" for supremacy.

admittedly, i (intentionally) haven't listened to it in years, but still

Well, I think some of the participants most likely have a bit of "listening thread" fatigue but also most the people commenting have heard these albums dozens of times. I mean, there's only so many ways you can describe the greatness of their best 60's and 70's work.

I will say that my favorite album to live setting song is "Around and Around". I love that shit live. It just smokes.

As for "If You Can't Rock Me", put me in the camp that finds it to be a solid rocker and a welcome part of any live set.

Yeah, it has a weird place in my drugged out heart.

It has all the pieces of mid 70s Stones, but since they were auditioning guitarists, Ronnie wasn't there to be the bridge between the EPICALLY fucked up Keef and the fad-chasing Mick.

So, you get songs like Hot Stuff, which is proto-disco, and then you get Cherry Oh Baby, stemming from Keef's Jamaica/reggae faze. (The stories about them getting busted in Jamaica and Anita basically filming Black Anal Gang Bang in a prison are some of the worst things I've ever even heard about stem from these years.)

And, as Derris says, you've got Memory Motel, one of the best 7 minute, dual singer, road weary ballads ever put on wax.

I shot you not that I probably listened to this album 176 times on a road trip through Florida. The guys I was with wanted to listen to Buffett, and I wanted to hear something with a pulse, and this was our "compromise" album -- I am not entirely sure what that says about me or my friends, but it is a little disconcerting even now.

Count me in as surprised more people aren't participating in this thread.

Also...........MELODY.


*cries*

Black and Blue for me is the last true Stones record. The mystique is still here, probably moreso than on either of the two preceding albums. The songwriting's a little duff, but the aura of this wretch just oozes 70s decadence. Mick apparently wanted more than a lifetime VIP pass at Studio 54, he wanted to command the snowcapped clientele too. It's inexcusable of me to like this album so much, and yet I do.

"Hand of Fate" and "Crazy Mama" were pretty ineffective rockers really. The band's will just wasn't into it anymore. The reggae moves of "Cherry Oh Baby" sounded far more convincing (and were a huge improvement over the charming awkwardness of "Luxury"). Ditto the funk/disco of "Hot Stuff". "Melody" should be an embarrassing mess of vast proportions, but I love it. "Hey Negrita" might be the end of the same jam that produced "Dance Little Sister". "Fool To Cry" sets up Mick for "Emotional Rescue", which wasn't just the death of the Stones but also the moment I pissed on the grave. "Memory Motel" sounds like Mick saying goodbye to the band, or the band as the world had grown to know it - or maybe that's just me.

Don't forget, Bebe Buell was instrumental in the order of the songs.

Rads is absolutely right... this is the last Rolling Stones record. After this the question was only "is this embarrassing and does this sully the Legacy."

I seriously threw up during the middle of playing this just now.

And Rads and Harry - the thing is, the band didn't die and so you have to weigh the lumps with the coal, so to speak.

The next 2 albums after this are fucking awesome, and if you actually listen to everything after the title track on Emotional Rescue, it is the epitome of Keef trading Junk for Coke. (and, awesome).

I'm not one to comment as compared to those much more steeped in the mythiness of the Stones, so I feel less compelled to participate. Especially, like Derris says, those who have listened to these albums dozens of times more than I are saying things quite succinctly. I wrote earlier that I am learning a lot about the Stones that I like and don't like because of this thread. The ongoing result for me after listening to each of these albums has been a total love for The Stones when they meld that Blues, R&B, Rock formula just right. When they hit that they sound like no one else but them. Whether its a slow burner, or ramshackle rumble. Its the off road into the country or heavy blues or r&b singularly that tend to miss almost all the time for me,however, there are a few exceptions. And, one thing absolutely no band has ever come close to doing for me as well as the Stones, opening a song.

Derris pukes out some comments on Black and Blue:

Side 1:


Hot Stuff - Ever the trend follower, I'm sure Jagger had to have a long talk with Keith about this before production started. I'm sure he had to tell him where music was headed (at least popular music) at the time. Despite it's direct desire to get played at disco's, it still sounds dirty. I can see Jagger loving it as this gets the crowd moving at Studio 54 while doing lines with the jet set in some inner sanctum at the club. Still, it works for me as a dance single and would be perfected on the next album with "Miss You". No clue what gibberish he's shouting at the end of this. Probably for the best. Had he already moved to NYC at this point? He mentions the city a few times.


Hand of Fate - I'd be willing to bet this started with Keith brining in the riff. It's classic Keith. Driving and insistent. Hell, maybe he even brought the lyrics in. Sounds to me like it's literally about killing a guy and being on the run. Whoa, there's even a disco beat break down right in the middle of the song. I guess that dance factor has always been there. I mean, after Gram Parsons taught Keith open tunings, the party really got started.

Cherry Oh Baby - Ahh the stab at "real" reggae. The song itself is a classic already. I mean, I even liked it as a kid on UB40's "Labour of Love". This sounds more immediate and real clearly. I always imagine Keith learning this from the locals on the beach in Jamaica. This is Keith reaching a success that few in music had ever reached and still living like a nomad bohemian in Jamaica. A man with no country. Still, real simple and sometimes that's all it takes.


Memory Motel - This is my favorite song on the album. I had to look it up but this wasn't the single, it was "Fool To Cry" apparently. Top ten at that. Still, something about this one, the chorus is just so............heartfelt? Yearning? Don't know, but to me, this is where they perfected the 70's ballad. I think they saw the success of "Angie" and took it to this logical conclusion. Pretty sure if they hadn't put out those sustaining mid-70's ballads they may not have made it to "Some Girls". Like Rads said, this is dripping with 70's production but man, it's just put together perfectly. Sha la laaaaa la, Sha la laaaaaa la........

I wanted to. I've got everything from Out of Their Heads through Exile plus Some Girls. I've also got the UK versions of all of the ones that have two different versions, and maybe I could have downloaded all the US versions that DumpJack put up and tried to compare US vs. UK. That's still something I want to do someday.

I dunno, though, I just wasn't up for it. I'm still working my way backwards through their stuff (nearly pulled the trigger on buying Now! several times lately), and I've kind preferred just sitting back and seeing what everyone else has to say about these, especially the ones I haven't gotten to yet. Plus I've acquired a ton of other stuff recently that I'm working my way through.

I have to say, you guys have managed to get me interested in this trio of post-Exile albums, even with your mixed-to-bad reviews of them. I may just have to pick up Goat's Head along with Now! and the reissue of Exile sometime soon.

This is the absolute gospel truth.

That's cool - even though our tastes are near polar opposites, I actually like to hear what you think about most stuff because it is an informed opinion coming from someone who approaches music from a completely different viewpoint than my own. (No Homo)

Side 2:


Hey Negrita - Love this psuedo reggae work out. Something about the single note plucked out lead line works for me more than the strummed take of "Cherry Oh Baby". This sounds MUCH more dirty. Keith clearly spent a lot of time with the locals on Jamaica. Which reminds me of my favorite story (besides Gar's Anita story: ) of Keith letting Peter Tosh stay at his place on Jamaica while they were on tour. Tosh, who was on the Stones label, gets a call from Keith that he's coming off tour and that Tosh needs to get out. Tosh, upset with the promotion of his records, says fuck you I'm not going anywhere. There are a couple of takes of what happened next. One version is Tosh says if you want me out you better bring a gun. Another is Keith showed up to the barrell of a gun. Another is Keith told him if he was still there when he got there he was going to be knifed and when he showed up with a machete, Tosh was already gone. Regardless, this song makes me think of that kind of craziness of this period of Stones lore.


Melody - Man, this is just a great WTF? I've read that this was some sort of dedication to Billy Preston or it was inspired by something of his. His involvement just makes it all the more mongerous. It's like some jazzy cigarette smoked lounge number with great horns. I can't imagine them doing this live back then. Listening to this makes me wonder why this album ever got it's substandard reputation. It's so eclectic. It's rock, jazz, soul, balladry, reggae. Like Gar said, this is kind of a perfect road trip album.


Fool To Cry - This seems like this is the kind of song that would make you or break you as a Stones fan. It could so easily be mocked (Daddy........what's wrong) if it weren't so awesome. I mean, if some new band put this out it would almost seem like a novelty song. Not sure why I think that. It feels like such a time and place. Extra points to the movie "Beautiful Girls" for including it on the soundtrack. Great use of it as well, an end of the night montage. Oh shit, forgot about the break down here at the end. I'm a certified fool babay.................


Crazy Mama - Classic Stones from the first 10 seconds. Richards riff with Mick Taylor leads. The full chorus. Man, I know this doesn't stack up to their greatest songs but listening to it right now, this makes me want to go whoop it up right now. "And if you don't believe Ima do it.......just wait for the thud of that bullett"


FUCK IT. GREATEST ALBUM OF ALL TIME

Its all making sense since I just dragged myself through the pot to shootin' up years. Not to precede the forthcoming, these 2 albums were my intro to owning a Stones album. There are some great tracks on them and both throw me back into those brat years stuck in disco. I didn't know culture much then but I sure liked songs about T&A.