Posted by Lord Voodoo on May 01, 2000 at 11:27:59:
In Reply to: Album which best defines the Stones sound posted by The Midnight Rambler on May 01, 2000 at 05:42:19:
Let It Bleed. It is an album that is essentially Mick and Keith doing everything. Neither Taylor nor Jones are very present on the album and what emerged was the essense of the Rolling Stones.
In my view there are 2 songs which are the essense of the Rolling Stones:
You Can't Always Get What You Want
Honky Tonk Women
Other songs may be better to some people, but when I think of any sound that is the Stones, those two songs contain that sound.
Let It bleed has one of them and hybrid of the other. It also has a bunch of really amazing songs which are not defined by Mick Taylor's endless solo's (as good as those can be). Sticky Fingers is not their typical album because it features too much of Taylor. Exile could be but its too weird. I mean its my favorite stones album, but I don't think it is their sound. That album is something else. Beggars is too rootsy and acoustic. It's like saying Stripped is their sound. They can do it, and they do it well, but the sound of the stones is not all acoustic.
Everything after Exile is not a perfect album. Some Girls and Tattoo You come close but they have songs which are defined by the era. Lies would never have been released in 1969, but You Can't Always Get What You want could have been released in 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, and on and on. That's why it is a timeless song, and that's why Let It Bleed is the album that is the stones. It is their sound and its all timesless!