Classic Albums: Let It Bleed, The Rolling Stones
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In 1969 The Rolling Stones had reached the point of a long and fruitful peak, Brian Jones had been replaced by Blues virtuoso Mick Taylor and the bad boy image that the band had enforced in the early stages of their career concocted though the mind of manager Andrew Loog Oldham had now been augmented and cemented in the paradigm of the bands rock n roll circus. Let It Bleed is there finest album yet many people argue constantly over which is the bands greatest achievement committed to two sides of vinyl, that one album that shows what The Rolling Stones were all about. Fans and critics may say that Exile On Main Street is they’re finest release, but really (and this is from a completely honest standpoint) Exile gets a tad too thin and boring at times, not due to it’s length but at the fact that there are only a few worthy songs that managed to remain in the bands live repertoire and remain favourites to the fans, the rest of it seems to mirror a band finding there feet musically while trying to cope with the change of a new country in which they recorded in the basement of. The reason that Let It Bleed is such a triumpth by the The Greatest rock n roll band in the world is that this album manages to to achieve in half an hour that some bands take hours, months even fucking years to accomplish! This album screams Rock N Roll with all it’s rebellious nature, sexual ambiguity and youth whether it be from the uneasy and edgy opener Gimme Shelter to the wholesome and heartfelt finsih of You Can’t Always Get What You Want. Like all great music that has stood the test of time this paints a vivid picture of the band at the time of there career when they were showing the strength of themselves as artists and musicians Even if at the time they heading down a roller coaster that in the future would lead members leaving, drug abuse, fall outs and rocky success in the following decade, but at this point they were stronger then they ever had been and ever will. This album is the reason why still to this day the band are one of the greatest musical outfits the Britain as ever produced and the world has ever seen.
Track One: Gimme Shelter.
First and foremost this is one of the most startling and greatest opening tracks of any album, it ranks in between ’Back In The USSR’ off of The Beatles White Album and Funeral For A friend/ Love Lies Bleeding by Elton John from the album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. It’s sloping and uneasy fade in gives the listener a sense of danger and chaos in the air as the distorted and amplified harmonica bursts in, you get the idea that things aren’t right. Jagger’s vocals have always been an acquired taste but he shines brightly in all his prancing and posing swagger adding depth and sophistication to this ragged number penned entirely by Keith Richards as Charlie Watts pounds away in his usual grooving stomp. The song reaches new heights as Mary Clayton screams ’RAPE! MURDER! IT’S JUST A SHOT AWAY!’ over and over adding more darkening paranoia to this menacing number. Rock music never had more of an edge.
Photo by Zephyrance Lou