The Rolling Stones: Black & Blue - 1976

  

"Rehearsing guitar players, that's what that one was about" - Keith Richards   

Another somewhat maligned Stones album - it seems as if everything post - Exile On Main Street is viewed disparagingly, which is something of a shame. 

Just as with the solo work from the members of The Beatles, Bob Dylan’s post 70’s work, or The Beach Boys' post-Pet Sounds work, everything is measured against those classic periods in the group-artists’ career. It means, unfortunately, that sometimes, perfectly acceptable albums get the brush off from critics and fans alike. Black And Blue is by no means a bad album at all. 

Yes, maybe the band had become a bit lazy and were enjoying the “rock star” life a bit too much, but that was not surprising. I should imagine some of the fire does go out. It would appear to be the case as it has happened to pretty much every major artist over many years. In December 1974, just as recording was due to begin for this album, underrated guitarist Mick Taylor abruptly left the group, leaving them in a bit of limbo. 

Despite that, though, as they always seemed to do, the arch pragmatists got by and produced an album that is a favourite of mine, at least. If the cover is anything to go by, this is a HOT album - musically sweating and broiling throughout, like mid-afternoon in Jamaica (something I have experienced). However, it was recorded in Rotterdam, Montreux and Munich from December 1974 to April 1975 and was not actually released until April 1976, well over a year since recording began. (Made In The Shade, the retrospective compilation, filled the gap). It was also Ronnie Wood’s first album with the group, although he doesn’t feature prominently on all the tracks. Guitarists such as Wayne Perkins and Harvey Mandel were virtually auditioned on the album’s recording. 

The album was one of only eight tracks, many of them dabbling in reggae, funk and slow, extended dance-ish grooves. While this may not appear to be archetypal Stones fare, it is in its loose, jamming style that its strength and its appeal lies. At the time of release, however, it was panned by many critics and fans alike, unfairly in my book. Thankfully, retrospective views have been kinder.

Anyway, tell me all your troubles......

Check out Bill Wyman’s huge, rumbling bass on the Stones-funk of Hot Stuff and the superb guitar, both of which help to neutralise any criticism of the sparse lyrics. Hot stuff indeed, great stuff too. 

Hand Of Fate just bristles and burns with typically riffy power as Wayne Perkins’s guitar magnificently matches Jagger’s confident vocal. The swaggering offering is one of my favourite Stones rockers. It rarely gets mentioned, but for me it is as good as anything from the 1972-1981 period and that includes the Exile material.

The Stones are a white group that can do reggae acceptably and they produce a more than credible version of Eric Donaldson’s slow, seductive skank, Cherry Oh Baby. The track thuds along appealingly, with Billy Preston’s swirling organ breaks to the fore. As a fan of the original, I'm happy with this. 

The impressive and fetching country-ish Memory Motel is one of the few tracks to feature Jagger and Richards sharing lead vocals. Harvey Mandel actually handles the guitar (Richards only sings on here). It has that effortless Stones lazy appeal that was so prevalent in their early/mid-seventies material and I just love to bit where Jagger says “going back up to Bowwstown” in that silly but enjoyable drawl of his.

Reggae returns on the chunky reggae-rock of Hey Negrita, which is another easily swaying groove of a track, with a killer vocal and equally good, often searing guitar parts. It slowly boils as hot as the album’s overall ambience. Ronnie Wood makes his first great Stones guitar contribution here and it is said that he basically wrote the song. Once again, as with Brown Sugar, The Stones reference themes of interracial sex, something that was considered quite risqué in the comparatively intolerant seventies. God knows why. Now its lyrics are considered offensive and insulting by many for different, perhaps over-sensitive reasons. Anyway, musically, it's great. 

Melody was Surely one of The Stones’ most off-the-wall, experimental tracks, with Billy Preston’s jazzy flourishes on the keyboards given free rein throughout. The song was credited to Jagger-Richards, but many suspect that it was pretty much Preston’s song. The way the two main songwriters appeared to hoover up all songs, whether they wrote them or not, has always seemed a bit mean to me. 

Fool To Cry was a somewhat maudlin Jagger ballad to his daughter, was the album’s sole big hit. It is largely Jagger’s pained vocals and his electric piano, but it has a starkly soulful appeal. I remember really loving it, big time, in the hot summer of 1976. 

The album’s other blatant rocker along with Hand Of Fate was Crazy Mama and it bears the hallmarks of Richards all over it. Its riffs are perfectly irresistible. Any Stones fan will love it. Jagger’s vocal is gruffly likeable too, as he growls and grunts in between verses. 

As I said at the beginning, the album has a general “hot” feel about it, maybe for that reason. I know that I only ever seem to play it on hot summer days. What I do know is that it is a far better album than it was ever (or still isn't) given credit for. Oh for those Tattoo You songs (Slave and Worried About You) that dated from this album's sessions to have been included though.....