Customer Reviews

Let It Bleed

5 star:		(103)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

There was only one version of Let It Bleed. This is it. It was released simultaneously in the UK and US on Dec 5, 1969. The Stones had the guts to leave off their July megahit Honky Tonk Woman and instead (much to the chagrin of record company execs) put a countrified satire of their own hit on the album. The Let It Bleed sessions also produced 3 of their finest works that are not on the album (Honky Tonk Woman, Sweet Virginia, and Sister Morphine).

The album contains a huge chunk of the work that made the band famous for this era....Gimme Shelter, Love in Vain, Let It Bleed, Midnight Rambler, and You Can't Always Get What You Want have all pretty much defined not only the Stones but this era of English-speaking history to the world. The album is a staple in every serious rock collection.....it's that simple.

The album has several notable facts:
.....Brian Jones died the same day the last tracks were recorded in London
.....M.C. Escher and photographer Man Ray were both invited to design the cover (they declined)
.....it includes the 1st song not sung by Mick - You Got The Silver, sung by Keith (Mick's version was left in the can)
.....Gimme Shelter was written by Keith while he waited in his car for girlfriend Anita Pallenberg who was starring with Mick (and actually making love instead of only acting) on the set of Performance
.....the Stones have long been accused of stealing many of the song bits from Ry Cooder who was involved in the early sessions and laid down basic tracks that developed into many of the songs

The tracks were recorded between Feb 9 and Jul 2, 1969 at Olympic Sound, London, with final mixing done at Sunset Sound and Elektra Studios in L.A. between Oct 18 and Nov 3. You Can't Always Get What You Want dates slightly earlier, first recorded on Nov 17, 1968 at Olympic with Al Kooper on French horn, producer Jimmy Miller on drums instead of Charlie, and the 35 member London Bach Choir. In addition to the 9 tracks that made the album, the Let It Bleed sessions also produced:
.....the entire jam session on April 23, 1969 that became the album Jammin' With Edward
.....Honky Tonk Woman (released as a single - Mick Taylor's 1st session with the band)
.....All Down The Line (released on Exile On Main Street)
.....Stop Breaking Down (released on Exile On Main Street)
.....Sweet Virginia (released on Exile On Main Street)
.....Shine A Light (released on Exile On Main Street)
.....Loving Cup (released on Exile On Main Street)
.....Sister Morphine (released on Sticky Fingers)

This information comes from "It's Only Rock And Roll: The Ultimate Guide To The Rolling Stones" by Karnbach and Bernson and from my own collection.

Let It Bleed is the bluesiest of all the Stones' records and this probably has to do with the addition of former Bluesbreakers guitarist Mick Taylor to the band. He adds some fine slide and blues guitar work to the band. This album sounds like it could have been recorded in the Mississippi Delta. In fact "Love In Vain" is an old blues song that the band sings in a dirge-like fashion. "Midnight Rambler" sounds like something that Muddy Waters could have written. "Let It Bleed" contains just a simple guitar and drum backing, but is a great song. "You Got The Silver" has Keith singing lead and it is some of his best vocal work ever. "Country Honk" is a country reworking of their number one hit rocker "Honky Tonk Woman". There are some hard rockers on the album including the opening track "Gimme Shelter" and the scorching "Live with Me". "Monkey Man" is one the most underappreciated songs in the Stones catalog. Martin Scorcese used it brilliantly in the film "Goodfellas" and it contains some classic screeching by Jagger. Of course the most played track on the album is the last one, "You Can't Always Get What You Want". It's the Stones slap of reality to the hippie's love & peace movement and a foreshadowing of the violence that would pierce the country, including their own Altamont show.

This is another of my personal top ten favorite album/CDs. Coming on the heels of "Beggars Banquet", this set has been called one of the two most assured albums in rock history (the other was "Who's Next" by The Who). This recording also marked the end of Brian Jones' association with the Stones. Though his replacement, Mick Taylor, was certainly an excellent guitarist, some would argue that the band was never quite the same without Jones. He provided a versatility to the Stones arrangements that has since been unmatched.

This album is studded with gems. It opens with "Gimme Shelter", a great Stones rocker, and ends with "You Can't Always Get What You Want", another of their best-known songs. In between are the bluesy "Love In Vain", a countrified version of "Honky Tonk Women" called "Country Honk", and the fluid rock of "Live With Me" and "Let It Bleed". There is also the studio version of "Midnight Rambler", a dark piece that showcases Jagger's dramatic posturing at its most effective, and a couple of tunes that, in my opinion, are underrated. "You Got The Silver" is Keith at his best both playing and singing, while "Monkey Man" builds to a frenzy of wailing and gibbering by Mick at the end.

The Stones are one of the essential bands of rock and roll, and this recording, along with "Beggars Banquet", find them at the peak of their game. There are, of course, several other outstanding Stones recordings, but it just doesn't get any better than this. If you own any rock music, you've got to own these.

Wow!

There are a lot of terrific rock and roll albums; this ranks among the best. There is great poignancy with this work. For one thing, some of the songs are poignant--"Love in Vain," "You Can't Always Get What You Want." For another, we see Brian Jones on only two cuts, and playing a minor role (autoharp on "You Got the Silver" and percussion on "Midnight Rambler"), with Mick Taylor (his successor) playing guitar ("Live with Me").

As a salad dressing apothegm has it, though: "'Tis the taste that tells the tale." And what a work!

It starts off with a great little rocker, "Gimme Shelter." There is a foreboding note at the outset (ironic given that this song, if memory serves, was being played when the Hell's Angels began their havoc at Altamont). Nice choral singing in the background. Key lines:

"A storm is threatening'
. . . .
If I don't get some shelter
I'm gonna fade away."

The rhythm section (Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman) plays well, and Keith Richards spews forth chunky guitar notes. Mick Jagger does a nice job on harmonica.

"Love in Vain": I risk the wrath of blues fans. . . . I like this version better than either of the multiple ones on Robert Johnson's 2 CD work. Keith's spare guitar work and Mick's vocals simply work extremely well. The Stones have done an estimable job over time covering blues classics--and even recording some of their own original blues-y works. Here, they show that they can do a credible job as compared with the originals.

"Country Honk": Interesting in its country sound, but listen to "Honky Tonk Women" for the real deal. This is a nice experiment, but. . . .

"Midnight Rambler": The album version is terrific, but after you listen to the live version on "Get Your Ya-Yas Out," this recedes into the background. And that's a compliment to the live version, since this is a great, haunting, disturbing rock and roll song. A song about Albert DiSalvo can only be described as "creepy." Still, the recorded version works well and is compelling rock theater. Mick's harmonica work is quite well done here. The presto close out is fabulous.

"You Can't always Get What You Want": Some of the most poignant lines in rock and roll:

"You can't always get what you want,
But if you try, sometime you just might find
You get what you need."

This song features the London Bach Choir in support! This is an interesting and intelligent (and poignant) song. Noteworthy: Al Kooper joins the Stones with some nice turns on French horn (kind of weird for rock and roll!), piano, and organ.

Simply, one of the classic rock and roll albums. . . .

This is really the first album I ever remember seeing. My German uncles' and cousins' had it when I was Army Brat growing up in Germany 35 years ago. I had a C2 fx in a motorcycle accident in 1980 and having these tunes running through my head made me realize how wonderful life is and truly strengthend my will to live after the emergency room docs gave me less than a 1 % chance to survive. I remember being pumped full of morphine in the hospital and having the tune "Monkey Man" going through my head. "You cant always get what you want" helped comfort me after my right arm was permanently paralyzed in that wreck. This truly is a very personal album for me and a personal review, but I'll go ahead and post it. Face it, if you love the Stones I'm not telling you anything you don't know already about the quality of these tunes. I'll never tire listening to this and "Sticky Fingers".

This album is where the Stones really came into their own, where Jagger and Richards made it sound like they wanted. Although you can't always get what you want, I think Keith Richard's guitar soundscapes here are nigh on perfect, from the intro to Gimme Shelter, to the bass line he plays in Live with Me, to the guitar that counters the bass line in Live with Me, to the riff in Monkey Man and to almost all guitar parts in between (Mick Taylor only plays bits on Country Honk & Live with Me). Keith established his style and stamped a template for rock n roll on this record, my favorite Stones album by far.

No Stones album is complete without a throw away song or more and I'd nominate Country Honk here. Otherwise, there are some classics: Gimme Shelter is chilling, Live with Me is pure crotch rock. Ian Stewart's piano carries Let it Bleed. Mick's harp and lyrics on Midnight Rambler paint a dark but vivid picture. And rock and roll guitar players who want to play a thousand notes should listen to Monkey Man and hear how Richards creates a rich song with a simple riff.

Unlike the original LP, the CD includes a list of who played what on each song. Lots of surprises. A fine, fine album.

It's hard to be objective about this album--I've lived with it for so long. But there's no doubt that it's one of the best Stones albums (along with Beggars, Fingers, Exile). "Gimme Shelter" "Love in Vain" "Can't Always Get" "Let it Bleed" "Rambler" are worth the price of admission. Even the "throwaways" are worthwhile: Keith's vulnerable vocals on "You Got the Silver" (with great slide guitar) and the bridge on "Monkey Man"--plus Mick really goes overboard at the end as only he can. This is when they really were the "greatest rock'n'roll band in the world". A must!

The Stones have long been billed as "the greatest rock and roll band in the world", which is debatable -- but there is no doubt in my mind that they are definitely the most dangerous rock band there has ever been. Let It Bleed is a case in point: even the gentle songs (of which there are what? three?) have a certain element of menace to them that other bands can only pretend to possess (the cartoonish menace of Led Zeppelin, for instance). As to the straight-ahead rockers? "Gimme Shelter" has that dirty, bluesy Stones feel right from the get-go, with Mick Jagger and guest vocalist Merry Clayton blending their considerable abilities to perfection...in fact, Ms. Clayton just about blows Mick out of the studio, and you can hear Mick egging her on in the background -- way cool! "Love In Vain", their dirgelike treatment of Robert Johnson's classic, has a pathos to it that I love (and Keith's lovely, mandolin-like sound in the play-out is magnificent). "Country Honk" is a rerecord of the funkier "Honky Tonk Women", easily as much fun to listen to as the original, with its scratchy violin and Jagger's down-home vocal. "Live With Me" is one of the Stones' better hard rockers, with another great Jagger vocal and truly weird lyrics. "Let It Bleed", another great country-blues song, has a lovely, foot-stomping feel to it. It also has some of Jagger's most controversial lyrics since "Sympathy For the Devil" -- not just for containing one of the earliest known references to cocaine in rock music, either. Think, really think about what Jagger is saying in the choruses, as they progress from "lean on" to "dream on" to "cream on", etc. Harsh stuff for that era, and the Stones pull it off brilliantly. "Midnight Rambler", a great blues, embodies the album's undertones of danger better than any other song. Essentially the narrative of a serial killer ("I'll stick my knife right down your throat, baby, and it hurts"), the song contains some very incendiary lyrics, a down-and-dirty slide guitar riff courtesy of Mick Taylor, some of Jagger's best harp playing, and one of Charlie Watts' best-ever pieces of drumming. From the thrilling time-signature changes to the wicked-little-boy laughter you can hear from Mick and Keith in the background (listen for it just before the "heard about the Bostonnnn..." WHANNGG!! bit), "Rambler" is a true Stones classic. "You Got the Silver" is a minor song, but notable for being Keith Richards' most beautiful vocal effort...and that's really saying something. "Monkeyman", a truly underrated part of the Stones catalog, has one of the greatest dirty guitar licks ever put down by anybody -- and again, some amazing vocals and lyrics by Jagger ("I hope we're not too messianic/Or a trifle too Satanic/To learn to play the blues!"). And then, closing the album off, is the crowning achievement of the 1960's Stones albums: "You Can't Always Get What You Want". Forgetting for the moment that it's now been licensed for commercial use (for shame, fellas!), this song is one of the best in rock. I like to think of it as, finally, the Stones' answer to "A Day In the Life". Don't follow me? Hang on a minute! The lyrics, when you look at them, seem to be stolen moments from someone's day (going to a demonstration, the Chelsea drugstore, meeting someone at a reception) -- and whereas "A Day In the Life" is world-weary, eerie, and elliptical, "Get What You Want" is straightforward (for the most part), grounded, and, while maybe not happy with the world, at least more willing to settle for the way things are, in a perfect example of idealism vs. realism. Musically, too, this song seems to provide a riposte to the earlier Beatles classic, choosing a blues-gospel sound over Lennon's folkier, jazzier direction, and picking a tremendous vocal choir over a massive orchestral track. What's more, where "A Day In the Life" swirls up into its cataclysmic, even apocalyptic ending (the chaotic orchestra and thunderous final chord), "What You Want" suddenly becomes an eruption of joy, kicking itself up into ever-greater heights of wonder and energy, with the choir's endlessly-rising voices, and Watts' drums providing one final thrust of force. Of course, the rest of the band kicks some tush as well, from Bill Wyman's expert bass playing, Keith and Mick Taylor's strident, yet playful guitars, to Ian Stewart (the unsung hero of the Stones!) providing some wonderful barrelhouse piano throughout. This song, and Let It Bleed in general, seem to me to be the Coda for Sixties rock, coming as it did right at the end of the decade. Soon after, the Beatles would break up, the post-Altamont Stones would strike out in newer (though no less dangerous) directions, and many heroes of the era would perish. Let It Bleed stands in that moment, at once celebrating and mourning what has passed, casting its eye uncertainly on what is to come, yet eager to get on with it. So maybe what I said before was wrong, after all... maybe the Stones are the greatest rock and roll band in the world, at that. (NOTE: Beatles' fans, please don't think I'm denigrating "A Day In the Life" in any way! It is still one of the supreme achievements in rock. I'm only saying that "What You Want" deserves a place right alongside, for the reasons mentioned above. Just wanted to clear the air. Thanks.)

Of all the Albums the Stones pumped out in the Sixties, this one is most fun to pop in, press "play", and leave be. Strange, given that some of these songs are among the heaviest they ever attempted. "Gimme Shelter" is as dark as "Sympathy for the Devil", and is a great deal murkier to boot. "Love in Vain", the Robert Johnson cover, is quite morose, and "Midnight Rambler" is just plain creepy.

But that's only half the story. "Country Honk" does "Honky Tonk Woman" one better, stripping it down, and fiddling it up. "You Can't Always Get What You Want" starts sad but ends hopeful. And the title track, my favorite, achieves something in the wash of Charlie's cymbals and the laughing way Mick sings "Bleed it all right," at the end that comes the closest as the Stones ever got to an expression of transcendant joy. I'm not sure I buy that it was meant as a sardonic reply to "Let it Be" (wasnt't this released before Let it Be?), but it's a great song nonetheless, perfect to listen to in the car.

While we're on that subject, isn't it about time we admitted that this Beatles/Stones split is just silly? I've participated myself, I admit (My review of Abbey Road wasn't all that thoughful and has won me no freinds), but c'mon, it's not 1968 anymore. I prefer the Stones, but the Beatles were still pretty damn good. The two bands were just going in different directions, that's all. Hey, for all the unkind things I've said about the late Beatles, if it's a choice between them and Blink 182, I'm all over that Octopus' Garden action.

But in the meantime, I've got this gritty masterpiece to make me smile.

Love it, love it, love it. The earthy, sloppy grittiness of the Stones from this period exhilirates me, makes me feel real... dirty. Yeah. "Live with Me" is so nasty and untamed... You can hear the desperation and decadence in "Gimme Shelter" and the wise-ass attitude in "Let It Bleed" (a great parody of "Let It Be"). Keith's "You Got the Silver" is disarmingly beautiful and soulful--"Feelin' foolish, yeah that's for sure, waitin' here by your kitchen door." What a great image--not the front door, or the bedroom door, but the kitchen door! And the swaggering, truly frightening "Midnight Rambler" is propelled by an unsettling current of sexual violence. "Well ya heard about the Boston--!!!... He's movin' like a sly black panther." But rock'n'roll is great because it IS scary, it should be, anyway, it should come from the gut and the spine and the crotch, and that's all. This is a magnificent album, I'm glad after all these years it retains all its power and threat.