Artist: The Rolling Stones
Albums: Black and Blue and Steel Wheels.
Worth Buying: Every track on Black and Blue and all but two tracks on Steel Wheels
Having finished reading the book: Old Gods Almost Dead - The 40 Year Odyssey of the Rolling Stones; I began to listen to a large chunk of their catalog.
Prior to reading I was (mostly) only familiar with the bands radio hits. I did own a copy of Let It Bleed but that was the one exception. Since reading the book, I have listened to the following RS albums in their entirety:
Aftermath
Their Satanic Majesties request
Beggars Banquet
Exile on Main St
Let It Bleed (Ok, I re-listened)
Sticky Fingers
It's Only Rock'n'Roll
Goats Head Soup
Black and Blue
Some Girls
Steel Wheels
A Bigger Bang
Most of these albums have already attained classic album status and are certainly worth your time to check out (if you haven't already). So I have no desire to write about these albums at this time because there has already been so much written about them and I feel that I have nothing new to add except to agree that these are great albums.
Instead, I thought I would write about few their later (and oftentimes more dismissed) albums: Black and Blue, and Steel Wheels.
Both of these albums got (and still get) a fair amount of slagging from fans and press. The words "Sell out", and "This is not what the Stones sound like" often come up. And I guess if you compare them to what is considered their classic back catalog, you might say, this isn't the same band......And to a certain extent it isn't. The records made while Brian Jones was still alive sound different from the ones with Mick Taylor in the band, and by this time Ron Wood was in the band....so yeah, things do change and all bands whether they change members or not need to musically change and grow. But do these albums just simply reflect the natural change and growth of a band or where these albums just deliberate pandering to the changing tastes of radio?
One band that originated their own sound and then, from time to time, would alter that sound in order to fit the changing tastes of radio is Kiss. During the late 70's Kiss recorded I Was Made for Loving You. I think it's safe to say that the song was a deliberate attempt to appeal to the Disco friendly top 40 radio of the time. But the bottom line is that was (and still is) a good song.
So I think the real obstacle is to not compare these albums to their past catalog and just judge the songs unto themselves.
Black and Blue had two radio hits; Hot Stuff and Daddy You're a Fool To Cry. These are both very strong tracks, but the remaining album tracks are equally strong.
Hot Stuff had some people decrying that the Stones had gone disco, but Hot Stuff isn't disco. Its pure James Brown groove. Yes, its repetitious as hell, but so are most of the best James Brown jams. Changing up enough to keep it interesting and highlighted by an electrified piano track, I found myself not being able to get enough of this track.
Hand of Fate is as straightforward a Stones song as you could ask for. 2 songs in and I can't see why anyone would complain about this album.
On Cherry Oh Baby the band plays with Reggae. Keith Richard's was into Reggae music at this time, so in hindsight its no surprise that two Reggae influenced numbers would make it onto the album. But I am sure that without that hindsight, fans of the day might have listened and thought "This isn't the Stones!" I am not a big Reggae fan, but I enjoyed this tracks cool laid back vibe
Memory Motel gives us a pure 70's R&B/Soul Ballad and another great song
Hey Negrita (Negrita was supposed to be Mick's nickname for Bianca Jagger), the 2
nd Reggae song on the album is little less pure Reggae as it mixes in a bit more of the Stones signature rock'n'soul sound. This is a very catchy song.
Melody, Has the band stepping out into a Jazz/Pop number that Nora Jones could probably record today without anyone batting an eye lash.
Crazy Mama, closes the album and gets back to Stones signature Rock'n'Soul sound.
One of the cornerstones of the Rolling Stones sound has always been their admiration for and the channeling of Black American music. Black and Blue is a very black sounding album and if you listen carefully you can definitely hear the Blues in it too.
Steel Wheels: This album had two radio hits, listening to this album, I could only find two stinkers. Only two tracks that I would skip, and that's a damn good batting average for any band.
The opening track Sad, Sad, Sad, is the first stinker. Skip.
Mixed Emotions: This was one of the two radio hits. It's a pretty good song, and it got a lot of airplay in its day, but there are so many more much better songs on this album.
The albums first great music surprise is Terrifying. Jagger sings some of the most uniquely melodic vocals that I think I've ever heard him write. This is an infectious melody that doesn't take long to start grooving too.
Hold on To Your Hat is a strong 80's rocker mixing both punk and blues influences. This is a fun and youthful sounding track
Hearts for Sale is pure blues with 80's style production. No this song does not sound like the Blues that the Stones did in the 60's but if Eric Clapton had done this song in the 80's no one would have complained.
Blinded By Love: The second stinker on this album. Skip.
Then comes the other radio single Rock and a Hard Place...... I dunno....I like the opening guitar riff on this song....but sometimes it feels like this song was just trying to hard to fit into the 80's but it worked (for them at least) because they got a lot of airplay for it. .....Radio in the 80's was so repetitive, and this was before we had the ipod alternative....Who knows, maybe I just got burned out on all the airplay it got.
Then comes the Richards song Can't Be Seen. This is another great musical surprise. It is so strange to hear Richard's guttural raw voice over such slick 80's pop production, but these two contradictions work and the song is really good
Almost Hear You Sigh is pure 80's ballad with some soul influences. With a lesser band and more commercial sounding singer this would have been a total cheese track. But it's Jagger's rougher vocals and a very strong chorus that makes this song feel authentic
Then comes Continental Drift.. With its heavy Eastern Indian influences, this is easily the most musically compelling track on the album. Listening to this song I get the same feeling l do listening to 2000 Light Years from home.
Break the Spell is pure Stones Blues. This song is probably the strongest link to their earlier material
Slipping Away is another Richards tune. This is a soul ballad and strong link to Keith Richard's very strong debut album "Talk is Cheap (Another album that I strongly recommend that you get).
Yes, this album sounds nothing like the Rolling Stones that recorded Beggars Banquet or Exile on Main Street. If you can get past that fact you just might be able to enjoy the fact that these are really well written and enjoyable songs.
So I go back to my original statement about musical growth vs. pandering to the tastes of radio. With Black And Blue I just hear a band growing and changing and no pandering to radio at all. With Steel Wheels, I think that you can definitely hear the need to make an album that would fit in with 80's radio. But that doesn't mean you haven't written really good songs and (thus) made a good album. It's radio hits aside, Steel Wheels has some really great songs on it. Many of them far better than a good deal of what dominated radio in the 80's (and even radio now).
Black and Blue on CD 
Cheap on mp3 Steel Wheels on CDcheaper on mp3
