Takin' You Back
Letting it bleed with The Rolling Stones
Let’s hop in the time machine once again to take a listen to another one of the great rock n’ roll bands of all time, The Rolling Stones. What The Stones have, aside from a guitarist who is probably older than the Parthenon, is a true talent for writing kick-ass rock songs. If you’ve ever wondered what the hell those cheesy TV infomercials are talking about when they say , “This isn’t your father’s rock and roll,” The Rolling Stones are the “father’s rock and roll” they were talking about. In a career that has spanned decades and eighteen albums that have gone platinum at least once, it’s pretty difficult to pick out one album that’s better than all the others. In fact, that task is probably impossible. So we’ll just look at one of the best.
Let It Bleed was the band’s third studio album to be released after 1967, when it had been common practice in the music industry for an album release in the US to be completely different from the version released in the UK. Albums would sometimes have different track listings, covers and sometimes even a different title than the UK original. The Rolling Stones’ first five albums to be released in the US from 1964-1967 were all counterparts to the UK release. Back to Let It Bleed, though. Recording for the album technically began in March of 1968, before Beggar’s Banquet had even been released to the masses. The band had begun recording, in my opinion, their greatest song ever in March of 1968. “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” was completed, and it was almost a full year later that work on the rest of the album began in February of 1969.
The album is filled with recognizable tracks, from “Gimme Shelter” to “Midnight Rambler.” “Gimme Shelter” was, at the time, a song written about the Vietnam War, which may be a reason why it was never released as a single. Also noteworthy on Let It Bleed, but not obvious at first glance to someone who isn’t familiar with the band’s catalog is “Country Honk,” a country version of their famous “Honky Tonk Women,” and one of the two tracks that drummer Mick Taylor played on as his audition to replace Brian Jones. However, perhaps the biggest milestone was “You Got the Silver,” on which Keith Richards sang lead vocals solo for the first time.
Let It Bleed may not be the Stones’ best selling or most popular album of all time, but it was definitely an important stepping stone early in the career of a band that’s still (arguably) going strong. For anyone who claims to have an appreciation for music of all kinds, this album is definitely a must.
Posted by Cory Roop on Dec 02, 2008 @ 7:00 am