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Ket
Black and Blue was much better then the two previous albums before it. The only problem I have with it is cherry oh baby and the album is too short .

i don't get the "too short" cricitism...it's a standard length lp - it actually clocks in longer than either some girls or ER, and many other stones studio records of earlier eras.

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StonesTod

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Ket
Black and Blue was much better then the two previous albums before it. The only problem I have with it is cherry oh baby and the album is too short .

i don't get the "too short" cricitism...it's a standard length lp - it actually clocks in longer than either some girls or ER, and many other stones studio records of earlier eras.

Eight songs (only five of them really Jagger-Richards) felt like a borderline ripoff at the time.

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StonesTod

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Ket
Black and Blue was much better then the two previous albums before it. The only problem I have with it is cherry oh baby and the album is too short .

i don't get the "too short" cricitism...it's a standard length lp - it actually clocks in longer than either some girls or ER, and many other stones studio records of earlier eras.

I should have said number of songs, yeah I guess with hot stuff and memory hotel the total running time was not that short.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-02-22 02:03 by Ket.

....it's a poor album...uhuh.......Hot Stuff...Hand of Fate....Memory Motel....Hey Negrita...Fool to Cry.....Crazy Mama....

If B&B is poor, then I don't want to be rich.


It only has 8 songs but each one is pretty long. so it ends up the normal album length.

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Rip This
....it's a poor album...uhuh.......Hot Stuff...Hand of Fate....Memory Motel....Hey Negrita...Fool to Cry.....Crazy Mama....

You think it's self-evident that all those are great songs?

When I first heard it, the opening guitar on Hot Stuff made me laugh and the general feel of the track made me want to puke!

All stones albums have some good stuff on them, but I mostly just do not care for the band from this period onwards.

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71Tele

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Rip This
....it's a poor album...uhuh.......Hot Stuff...Hand of Fate....Memory Motel....Hey Negrita...Fool to Cry.....Crazy Mama....

You think it's self-evident that all those are great songs?

Not really self evident. They took years to grow on a lot of people. But after the last few studio albums those songs are gold.

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normanplace

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71Tele

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Rip This
....it's a poor album...uhuh.......Hot Stuff...Hand of Fate....Memory Motel....Hey Negrita...Fool to Cry.....Crazy Mama....

You think it's self-evident that all those are great songs?

Not really self evident. They took years to grow on a lot of people. But after the last few studio albums those songs are gold.

Agree that they sound better when contrasted with more recent albums.

OpenGspot wrote:

8. "Crazy Mama" – The best song on the album me thinks. Great riff, great vocals, surprised this one isn’t more popular on a wider level.

Maybe it`s just too gritty?

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JJHMick
It's one of the most famous German singers favourite Stones album

Sorry, only wanted to edit the post



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-02-22 11:57 by JJHMick.

In my top 7 Stones albums with:
Some Girls
SF
TTY
Exile
BBanquet
LIB

Great sound/producing - Down and dirty

With the New Barbarians and Keith solo, this is how I like the Stones sound.

I like the album. It always felt like a musical equivilent of a snack. A bonus for the fans between IORR and Some Girls. Plenty of repeats. Fool To Cry is a classic late at night tune, when you're getting tired and emotional.

I agree with you 100 % on this album, Tele71.
It's never terrible, but it's never really good either. A lot of mediocre songs, IMO. I'm a huge fan of funk and funky rock, but the songwriting is just too lame on B&B.

As some people pointed out, production is good, though. It's Only Rock 'n' Roll would have sounded a lot better with the punch and clarity of Black And Blue.

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noughties
OpenGspot wrote:

8. "Crazy Mama" – The best song on the album me thinks. Great riff, great vocals, surprised this one isn’t more popular on a wider level.

Maybe it`s just too gritty?

I can only say why I don't think it's that great: It's kind of a paint-by-numbers open G song with mediocre lyrics, and that weird Allman-brothers sounding multiple guitar riff on the end it is very un-Stones sounding.

I cringed when I heard the album first, and I still do .. it is probably Hot Stuff that does it .. can't stand the song and together with Miss You must be the worst they ever produced .. Hey Negrita doenst cut it either, and, although I like Memory Motel, Billy Preston was far too present at the time .. B&B is the worst Stones album for me.

Apart from Fool to Cry (I used to like it more, but it's like elevator music I don't hear anymore) and Cherry Oh Baby (Charlie is NOT a reggae drummer and this is a lame cover anyways) I don't think the songwriting was that weak. No, it's not quite up to The Big Four standards, but it's not bad at all. I don't love Black and Blue quite as much as Goats Head, but I do find myself throwing it on more than IORR. I'm amused at older books describing this as their 'creatively bankrupt post-Exlie period'.

"Oh MY! Instead of three albums being untouchable pieces of rock perfection like the 4 albums beforehand, Goats, IORR & B&B only merely kick a lot of ass"!

LOL!

[thepowergoats.com]

Goats is the underrated gem from that period in my view. There has rarely been that depth of emotion and longing on so many songs, a vibe that came together beautifully on "Coming Down Again". I much prefer that record to the two that came after because at least it feels like it has a thematic mood to it, where the next two are kind of a hodgepodge of different kinds of songs. Agree with the posters, however on the nice sound on B&B.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-02-22 21:40 by 71Tele.

B&B is one of my absolute favourita albums of all the time! not only just stones album, I mean of everything! I like it from the needle gets down on the piec of was, untill it lifts up! I love it, and i never get tired of it! More B&B songs for the next tour!!!

Black and Blue its a great transitional album from the Taylor era into the Paris legendary sessions... Black n Blue is better than any album post Tattoo You and probably better than IORR

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71Tele

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Rip This
....it's a poor album...uhuh.......Hot Stuff...Hand of Fate....Memory Motel....Hey Negrita...Fool to Cry.....Crazy Mama....

You think it's self-evident that all those are great songs?

yes I do... and certainly even more since the early 90's....they are of a gold standard by any measure.

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Rip This

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71Tele

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Rip This
....it's a poor album...uhuh.......Hot Stuff...Hand of Fate....Memory Motel....Hey Negrita...Fool to Cry.....Crazy Mama....

You think it's self-evident that all those are great songs?

yes I do... and certainly even more since the early 90's....they are of a gold standard by any measure.

Not by my measure.

....difficult to decide...what is greater...the many sounds that is Black & Blue or its campiness and general F.O. attitude...even in their most jaded moment they put this out...great stuff.

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studiorambo
I like the album. It always felt like a musical equivilent of a snack.

More like a morsel...and we had been waiting for about a year and a half since our last meal.


When I read these descriptions, I always wonder where exactly they are coming from. I think one has a different perspective on the album if they were alive and a Stones fan when it came out, as opposed to someone who was born, say in 1980 and heard it for the first time in 1995.

Because it's all just chapters in a book for the young. There's no tension as to what happens next. The future is already known.

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loog droog

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studiorambo
I like the album. It always felt like a musical equivilent of a snack.

More like a morsel...and we had been waiting for about a year and a half since our last meal.


When I read these descriptions, I always wonder where exactly they are coming from. I think one has a different perspective on the album if they were alive and a Stones fan when it came out, as opposed to someone who was born, say in 1980 and heard it for the first time in 1995.

Because it's all just chapters in a book for the young. There's no tension as to what happens next. The future is already known.

Speaking for myself, I was very much alive and anxiously awaiting B&B when it came out. In those days I would get a new Stones record the first day it hit the stores.

i don't know about 'poor' i would say sorta like abb...ONly in that it has an outstanding cut or two...some good uns relatively...some dross...??

a stunning stones rocker in hand of fate... personally like crazy mama, as out there as it is, and 'fool to cry' as thick poppy as it is...some good grooves it's the stones...but really something i personally never listen to...tho always glad to hear any stones pop up on the radio from this lp...

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loog droog


When I read these descriptions, I always wonder where exactly they are coming from. I think one has a different perspective on the album if they were alive and a Stones fan when it came out, as opposed to someone who was born, say in 1980 and heard it for the first time in 1995.

Because it's all just chapters in a book for the young. There's no tension as to what happens next. The future is already known.

Well that is of course true due to the ordinal nature of time. Most of the Stones story was written by the time I started listening.

Rip This wrote:

"its campiness and general F.O. attitude...;"even in their most jaded moment"

Yeah, I guess it wasn`t meant for eternity...

one of the most underrated albums.
rock, reggae, funky, disco, blues, ballads.... can you imagine springsteen, u2 etc doing something similar?

Brilliant album with some of the best songwriting the Stones ever did. Great variety, without losing the sound. Excellently produced and mixed. My only complaint is that the album has only eight tracks!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-02-23 12:59 by DandelionPowderman.