The Rolling Stones ' Black and Blue ' Is Great --- Why Does It Get Beat Up So Much ?

I fell somewhere between "disappointed" and "hated it" when it came out. Listened to it some years back and liked Hand Of Fate and...forgot what else. I'll give it another listen after reading through here.

One thing I do remember from listening to it 5~6 years ago -- it might be the best recorded 'Stones album out there, at least for '60s / '70s and maybe later. Especially after GHS and IORR.

 

A certified fool!

 

1976...? 'Posturing by old men'...??? Seriously?

44 years later, you must feel that they are positively fossilized dust mate...

 

Sorry folks but I disagree with BAB being a very good or dare it be said great Rolling Stones record...

IMO the only 2 good things going for that record was Charlie's magnificent drum sound (the best sound of any drums on any rock album) & Jaggers soulful vocal on Fool To Cry, 2nd only to Out Of Time...

Its a transitional moment before the band finally gelled again w/ SG & created the sound that would
carry the Stones from then until now, its just to loose & sloppily performed, of course that's partly due to Wood not being fully integrated into the band in 1976...

Add to that Richard(s) raging smack habit & you come up with Stones music that creates more of junkie nod instead of a consistent atmosphere...

If Some Girls is as good as it was / is but still seems hollow then BAB is left with only a void...

All subjective obviously

 

The SOUND of this album is just superb. Easily their best sounding album. Alive. Clean, yet dirty. Not compressed or cluttered. Bristles. Bristling. Snaps out of the speakers.

I love the record, apart from, really, Melody, which just meanders .. but everything else is just The Stones! Crazy Mama, Hand of Fate, Memory Motel, Hey Negrita and Fool to Cry are wonderful, WONDERFUL songs.

I bought the vinyl at the HMV shop in London the day I flew home to Perth. It traveled hand baggage! Got off the plane in Perth, cabbed home and put it on the turntable, not having heard anything of it. REALLY LIKED it, but it’s an album which has grown immeasurably in stature through the years/decades! I NOW LOVE it.

 

I think I read somewhere that Mick and Keith have had arguments about ' Start Me Up ' opening their shows. Mick feels it's a natural opener while Keith wants something different. Maybe ' Little Red Rooster '? I'm kidding there bit they have dozens of songs that could open their concerts well.

 

It is a good album that sounds great.

 

Even if you are a blind fangirl, which I don't think you are, why not with the Rolling Stones? They never really let you down and there's plenty here who are so blind towards anything Beatles they buy Ringo Starr solo albums from the 80s!

Nice one mentioning Memory Motel. Such a great track. I don't love Black & Blue but it's enjoyable. It has some good grooves and sounds fantastic. Cherry Oh Baby is a low point though.

 

“Fool To Cry” and “Memory Motel” are two of the peaks of their career, in my opinion.

 

I've said it before, I'll say it again. I liked that song a lot more when it was still called "Thunder Island" by Jay Ferguson.

 

I don’t compare Black And Blue with any other Stones album... you don’t have to! I loved it when it came out, and I love it now. Brilliant tracks on it, and in my opinion they never got back there again..

 

Did they have that traditional an opener at their ‘70s shows? “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” or “Brown Sugar” seem like they’d be good choices.

 

Punk rock in 1977 was simple, straightforward, angry music played by angry 20 year olds. The most decadent rock stars in the world, 13-16 years older than that, have as little genuine to say about that as a Frank Sinatra cover of Summertime Blues.

 

I like Black & Blue. It's not in the same league as Sticky Fingers or Exile, but what is?

And it's the first Stones release I remember as it happened. (Those guys scared me ...)

 

Absolutely LOVE Hand of Fate! The solo is great...
The rest of it.....meh.

 

My sister bought it when it was released and I always listened to her copy until I picked it up a several years later. I seem to remember Lester Bangs slamming this in CREEM magazine when this was released and other than "Fool to Cry" I have no idea why. Thought it was a good album then and still like it today.

 

I like the album plenty. I like it more than "It's Only Rock and Roll". I don't like "Fool To Cry", but the rest of it is quite pleasing. Groovy. "Hand of Fate", "Hey Negrita", "Hot Stuff", "Memory Motel"....I dig these cuts a lot. It helps that the album only has 8 songs. Easier to get a positive ratio.

 

Great album. Really no bad songs (except maybe "Cherry Oh baby"). I think it gets overlooked because it is a perfect example of a transitional album.

 

The lack of love for "Hot Stuff" also makes me sad in that I can't see how it doesn't imply folks not having hundreds of funk albums in their libraries.

The more people doin' it, what comes funky, the better.

 

Dog poop is great. Why don't more people like stepping in it?

 

How about the souped-up version on Love You Live?? Of course, that album probably has as many detractors among fans as B&B (personally I think it’s fantastic), but that’s a subject for another thread.

 

At this point in their career, the Stones were quite bereft of original ideas. I'm of the mind that Hand of Fate and Memory Motel are fantastic, top shelf. Hot Stuff is a cool groove but IIRC a total rewrite of an earlier, obscure Billy Preston song (someone help me out here). Hey Negrita is a similarly cool groove. Melody is a total swing and a miss in terms of attempting to cover reggae. The "inspiration" business is distasteful.

Which brings me to Fool to Cry. God I hate it. Hate it. It's so eff-ing repetitive, and Jagger drags his little daughter into his most tawdry and misogynistic lyric since Back Street Girl. For the last verse, he doesn't even try. Two lines and back to yet another chorus. No wonder Keith fell asleep on stage during live renditions.

 

I was in Jr High when this came out and was listening to Hot Rocks and Ya Yas as my introduction to the Stones. When "Fool to Cry" came out as a single it seemed like such a drop off from their previous work.

 

Yeah, and that's another Stones album I absolutely love (but that's often dismissed)