Re: Re: Re: Re: Black and Blue..an unheralded masterpiece?

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Black and Blue..an unheralded masterpiece?

Comments:
: : Yes..I could have gone on and added a few more strong points of this underrated gem, but..where to stop? : : Weak points? Sure, a few..too few tracks..lyrics not the best..no real out-and-out classics. Actually, though, I don't think the lyrics are any weaker than those on Exile, just a little more intellegible. They're not song lyrics so much as vocal snippets intended to establish a mood..again much like Exile. Think of Black and Blue as Exile with better sound quality and 10 fewer tracks.. : : : It also has the best inner liner of all time : I dunno..I kinda LIKE arguing about who plays what on what track, plus the rumors about 'secret' guest stars...(i.e. Pete Townshend suposedly on "Sway" & "Slave"...etc... : . With all of the track by track listings of who played what which I believe should be mandatory on all albums, plus Hey Negrita is worth the price of admission alone. : You forgot that it's possibly Mick's best vocal performance as well. His singing on that album is unbelievable. : You notice tho,no Stu : : : : : : : : : : : I posted on Black and Blue sometime back, saying I'd revised my previous lukewarm feelings about the album when I bought the CD version. : : : : : Since then my opinion of this album has done nothing but climb. I've become kind of addicted to it. I'd now rank it in the top 5. My reasons: : : : : : 1. Two fine rockers - Hand of Fate and Crazy Mama - that are as close to pure unadulterated Keith as you can find. : : : : : 2. Two fine ballads. Maybe a bit schmaltzy, but they've not been equalled since. : : : : : 3. Every song is interesting. Even Hot Stuff, the weakest song on the album, has a unique lead guitar sound. The song arrangements are fully worked out, densely layered carefully crafted - you can listen to them again and again and hear new things each time. : : : : : 4. It's Charlie's best album. Listen to his work on HOF and CM. : : : : : 5. It has the best sound on any Stones record. Only Sticky Fingers is in the same league. You can hear every note, and the songs have a unity of sound quality that's missing in most of the Stones subsequent work. : : : : : 6. The variety of sidemen used by the Stones, esp. Perkins..Mandel., gave the album some flavors that they haven't had before or since. : : : : : Dare I say it..I might even give this record the nod over Let It Bleed..heresy, I know..but geez, this album sounds good.. : I wouldn't go THAT far..BUT..its better than ITS ONLY ROCK N ROLL,its one of the few Stones albums you can play early in the morning (the old side 2 of EXILE was another...) But like I said, notice Stu ain't on it...(of course he ain't on SOME GIRLS,because apparently did't like what was going on..so I guess he missed one!) And Stu was a pretty good judge of where the Stones were at..it still misses the SPARK that most of the great stones albums have...now to me, GOATS HEAD is the ulitmate underrated Stones album. GOATS HEAD had the unfortunate problem of following EXILE,and a 4-5 year period where the Stones had put out an incredible amount of stunning original material, and played a series of stunning tours... The best comparison I can make is with the Who....take an album like WHO BY NUMBERS- today, its an incredible sounding record, but when it came out it was slagged off as an 'ordinary' Who album, if only it had followed the WHO'S skein of barrier breaking material..but thats about all I can say about the whole thing.....