The day before I started writing this entry I went to see The Rolling Stones play for the second time in their lives (well, mine too of course). 20 years ago they had impressed me with their energy and ability to create excitement live. This time I was rather apprehensive: could they still put on a great show now they're in their seventies? Well, let's put it this way: they're not doing their legacy any disservice. Yesterday they didn't seem to have aged a single day. Keith's face may now look like a Halloween rubber mask but he's still got that mischievous look in his eye and he can still shake a stadium with a simple riff of his guitar. As for Jagger, he's in ridiculously good shape. If he ever dies he should donate his body to science - if he still has some body left, he seems to be shrinking in size as he's getting older. But of course we didn't pay a pretty penny to see if they're holding up well, it's all about the music, and one can't complain in this department. The band were playing well and the setlist was nearly perfect - even Keith's "Slipping Away" came at the right time to use the restroom or get beers from the bar. Other than that, the only songs that weren't stone-cold classics were the two blues covers from their latest album, and these were played with obvious gusto and skill.
"Blue & Lonesome" was an unpredictable move from one of rock's most predictable dinosaurs: For decades now The Stones had been following the routine new album/huge tour/commemorative live cd. Big groups need new releases to promote on tour, to keep them from looking like a nostalgia act. Building tours around archive compilations like 40 Licks and GRRR was getting old, so they had to enter the studio again and come up with new material. After their 80's slump, their albums had been craftmanlike, neither exciting nor embarassing so one would normally expect more of the same. But instead of spending months honing in new songs as planned, they had an outburst of spontaneity, returning to their roots and the common love which brought them together: the Blues. Beginning the recording sessions with a blues cover just to warm things up, they found out they were enjoying themselves too much to stop playing blues and go back to trying to emulate their former glories. Three short days later, the band that took its name from a Muddy Waters tune and cut their teeth as Alexis Korner's sidemen had recorded its very first pure blues record as well as their first all covers album. They made a point of covering many relatively unknown classics, including no less than four songs by Muddy Waters' harmonica player and Chess Records solo artist, Little Walter. These include downhome blues "Just Your Fool" and "Blue And Lonesome" as well as the more jump blues-like "I Gotta Go" and "Hate to See You Go". The renditions are traditional in style, recreating without imitating the smoky atmosphere of 50's Chicago joints where this music was born. They're the most direct music they have done in decades, the band being super tight and recorded for the most part live straight to tape. The guitarists exchange licks without drowning the songs in solos as is too often the case in modern blues. Keith of course is not your typical lead guitarist (Woods played most of the solos in yesterday's concert), this kind of material would be perfectly suited to Mick Taylor, his counterpart in The Stones circa 1969–74. One can imagine how this album would have sounded with Taylor by listening to "Everybody Knows About My Good Thing" which contains some melting slide courtesy of guest Eric Clapton who plays in a similar style to Taylor. Clapton also plays lead on the closing "I Can't Quit You Baby". A bold move by The Stones, taking on a song made famous by Led Zeppelin. The Stones' version is emotive and powerful - maybe not as powerful as Zeppelin in their youth, but then again what is? The two Clapton songs count among the album's best, together with the Little Walter tracks, Jimmy Reed ballad "Little Rain", blues rocker "Ride 'Em On Down" and Howlin' Wolf's "Commit A Crime". Looking at him one can't imagine Jagger sounding as menacing as Wolf, a man twice his size with a voice to match. But Jagger is the most pleasant surprise here. I would expect Woods and Richards or seasoned sidemen like Chuck Leavel to be in their element playing traditional blues, but Jagger is the one that sounds the most rejuvenated by this project. His vocals are emotive and powerful, he has swagger when appropriate and oozes pain in the bluesier pieces. Above all, his harmonica playing throughout is one of the record's highlights. Being a "mere" covers album I doubt this will go down in history as one of the great Stones' records. Despite that, there's no denying it contains their most spirited playing in decades - not to mention it's the best British Blues album since the genre's heyday with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac.
"Blue & Lonesome" was an unpredictable move from one of rock's most predictable dinosaurs: For decades now The Stones had been following the routine new album/huge tour/commemorative live cd. Big groups need new releases to promote on tour, to keep them from looking like a nostalgia act. Building tours around archive compilations like 40 Licks and GRRR was getting old, so they had to enter the studio again and come up with new material. After their 80's slump, their albums had been craftmanlike, neither exciting nor embarassing so one would normally expect more of the same. But instead of spending months honing in new songs as planned, they had an outburst of spontaneity, returning to their roots and the common love which brought them together: the Blues. Beginning the recording sessions with a blues cover just to warm things up, they found out they were enjoying themselves too much to stop playing blues and go back to trying to emulate their former glories. Three short days later, the band that took its name from a Muddy Waters tune and cut their teeth as Alexis Korner's sidemen had recorded its very first pure blues record as well as their first all covers album. They made a point of covering many relatively unknown classics, including no less than four songs by Muddy Waters' harmonica player and Chess Records solo artist, Little Walter. These include downhome blues "Just Your Fool" and "Blue And Lonesome" as well as the more jump blues-like "I Gotta Go" and "Hate to See You Go". The renditions are traditional in style, recreating without imitating the smoky atmosphere of 50's Chicago joints where this music was born. They're the most direct music they have done in decades, the band being super tight and recorded for the most part live straight to tape. The guitarists exchange licks without drowning the songs in solos as is too often the case in modern blues. Keith of course is not your typical lead guitarist (Woods played most of the solos in yesterday's concert), this kind of material would be perfectly suited to Mick Taylor, his counterpart in The Stones circa 1969–74. One can imagine how this album would have sounded with Taylor by listening to "Everybody Knows About My Good Thing" which contains some melting slide courtesy of guest Eric Clapton who plays in a similar style to Taylor. Clapton also plays lead on the closing "I Can't Quit You Baby". A bold move by The Stones, taking on a song made famous by Led Zeppelin. The Stones' version is emotive and powerful - maybe not as powerful as Zeppelin in their youth, but then again what is? The two Clapton songs count among the album's best, together with the Little Walter tracks, Jimmy Reed ballad "Little Rain", blues rocker "Ride 'Em On Down" and Howlin' Wolf's "Commit A Crime". Looking at him one can't imagine Jagger sounding as menacing as Wolf, a man twice his size with a voice to match. But Jagger is the most pleasant surprise here. I would expect Woods and Richards or seasoned sidemen like Chuck Leavel to be in their element playing traditional blues, but Jagger is the one that sounds the most rejuvenated by this project. His vocals are emotive and powerful, he has swagger when appropriate and oozes pain in the bluesier pieces. Above all, his harmonica playing throughout is one of the record's highlights. Being a "mere" covers album I doubt this will go down in history as one of the great Stones' records. Despite that, there's no denying it contains their most spirited playing in decades - not to mention it's the best British Blues album since the genre's heyday with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac.
**** for Just Your Fool, Commit a Crime, Blue and Lonesome, I Gotta Go, Everybody Knows About My Good Thing, Ride 'Em on Down, Hate to See You Go, Little Rain, I Can't Quit You Baby
*** for All of Your Love, Hoo Doo Blues, Just Like I Treat You
this site offers download links:
ReplyDeletehttp://plixid.com/2016/11/30/the-rolling-stones-blue-and-lonesome-2016-mp3-22/