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stupidguy2
Jagger uses that great growly voice.

Used it on "Midnight Rambler" at the Forum in '75.

Reminded me of the Bill Cosby album where he did the "Fat Albert" voice

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Nimrod
Good tune but its always bothered me when he says the hand of fate "kicked me right down".

Because then the song ends?

I like Hand of Fate and Black of Blue...it was released during my 'disco-era'...

2 1 2 0

This song is the reason of my love to the RS and specially to the riffman KR

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stupidguy2
Jagger uses that great growly voice.

You like Dirty Work, then, no?

Drew

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loog droog

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stupidguy2
Jagger uses that great growly voice.

Used it on "Midnight Rambler" at the Forum in '75.

Reminded me of the Bill Cosby album where he did the "Fat Albert" voice

...and on Midnight Rambler in Brussels 1973. That's about the first time, I think.

others have said it, so not much more to add ... but one of my fav stones tracks, fantastic vocals/lyrics, amazing guitar work, think the drumming is great, etc.

Well said by everyone. One of their best, one of my favs.
Great to listening while on the road travelling across the country (Dominican Republic).
It has that caribbean flavour.

Easily one of their top 10 tracks and the best off B&B. After hearing Hot Stuff on the radio I was worried the Stones were done. Then I heard Hand of Fate and all was well with the world again.

Beyond great guitar and vocals, the lyrics are great. One of their best writing efforts pairing great music with words.

I would love to hear them play it live at a show I'm at, but also worried that Ronnie will butcher the solos.

I can see why Wayne Perkins thought he was in the band after playing those solos. They are the best on the record (and most, maybe all of the records after this by the Stones).

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buffalo7478
Easily one of their top 10 tracks and the best off B&B. After hearing Hot Stuff on the radio I was worried the Stones were done. Then I heard Hand of Fate and all was well with the world again.

Beyond great guitar and vocals, the lyrics are great. One of their best writing efforts pairing great music with words.

I would love to hear them play it live at a show I'm at, but also worried that Ronnie will butcher the solos.

I can see why Wayne Perkins thought he was in the band after playing those solos. They are the best on the record (and most, maybe all of the records after this by the Stones).

fantastic song
it's great to have the guide vocal version with waynes first attempts, great guitar playing by everyone

The recent popping up of "Memory Motel" made me think my other favourite BLACK AND BLUE track. And seemingly I haven't said anything of it yet here.

This is an unique sounding Rolling Stones rocker. There is a lot of obviousness in teh song - it is probably about the only song in BLACK AND BLUE that has a traditional Keith Richards chord-based structure in it (with a typical early 70's Taylor type guitar solo), not far from being 'by-numbers', but however, it manages to sound original, novel and fresh.

It is teh whole feeling in teh song that fascinates me. That laid back, hidden rage - a bit like "Sway" - that hits teh listener the very moment when Keith hits the first chords with his most 'no bullshitting' attitude. So dark. So black and blue. Jagger discovers a whole new dimension from his vocal vocabulary - never had - and never again - would he sound so strong in low-register and 'mannish'. A totally new voice compared to anything he had done by then. Reminds me sometimes of older Dylan telling his (rather similar) stories with his broken (but dramatical, effective) voice.

Then we have Charlie and Bill - oh boy, what a groove! Just listen how they interact with Keith's guitar. Pure art. It can't be any more Stonesy! The song transforms along the way from a laid back rocker into funky moments, and back, building up the tension all the time. Many wonderful production ideas; it contains so much clever choices how to keep the 'story' exciting. is that intuition or being inspired or just hard work... I don't know, but it just sounds so natural; the song flows. I think that kind of ability is what makes the 'classical' Stones so exciting (and I think they somehow lost that during the 80's).

And lastly, damn those guitar solos by Wayme Perkins. If he is there filling Taylor's shoes, he surelly does that almost too well. We could argue if that kind of solos belong to Stones songs in general, but shit, I don't think there is any way one can play guitar solos any better! Outstanding work. And yeah, they do fit there beautifully. But still there is something tragical in hearing a guitar solo like that in a Rolling Stones recording in 1976. A nod to the past, like saying a goodbye to whole Taylor era... Like Jagger showing in flesh the claim he had just made that they could find Taylor-like player any day, no big deal. There you have it. But that's it - we don't need that any longer...

- Doxa

Love this song and the album it comes from.

My favourite black and blue song. Remember my brother played this one loud for me in the 70s and i played it for weeks after. Still like the song very much

'The missus' loves it dearly...
...and I love her equaly; so there ya go.

Seriously: great track. Great album too, btw!

Lovely track on a great album

Stellar stones.

On very few other songs has Mick's voice sounded this good. Love everything about this song. It sounds 'classic stones' in a way, but not a lot of other stones songs that sound like this.

Great guitars, great sound, fantastic drumming from basher Watts

Easily THE best song on B+B........For me anyway!

Yeah they should try and play it more often live.

What a drag it is gettin' old

GREAT tune. I DO love it but it has never sounded good live to me. It's slightly... What... Clunky? There's an odd groove to it on record that just can't be translated on stage. But on record.... Wonderful.

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bitusa2012
I DO love it but it has never sounded good live to me. It's slightly... What... Clunky? There's an odd groove to it on record that just can't be translated on stage. But on record.... Wonderful.

A same observation here. Maybe it is that "odd groove" of the original, and the extradordinary atmosphere with it, that is never translated very well to stage. Something is lost there, and they can't find anything new to say either (to make an interesting "road version").

However, it is the 1976 versions I talk about. Are there any modern ones?

- Doxa

classic

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bitusa2012
GREAT tune. I DO love it but it has never sounded good live to me. It's slightly... What... Clunky? There's an odd groove to it on record that just can't be translated on stage. But on record.... Wonderful.

The 1976 versions were excellent, imo.

Hmm.. me thinks especially that Paris version sounds a bit tired and forced. Like teh guys were about fall asleep or something. I think the song with that kind of rather slow tempo is a bit hard to keep exciting. It sounds still good, but not excellent as the original.

A better solo guitarist could also help...

- Doxa

I loved this song from the day I purchased the album on the release date. Thought the live '76 versions were fun too.

Then there's the the soundboard/monitor sound check recording - I can't recall from which year but it's somewhat "recent" (in Stone's and my time that can be the last 15 years or so ;-) As far as Keith being ragged and sloppy, there's none of that on this recording. He's playing with absolute pin-point precision and accuracy. For my own playing I hate those monitor recordings cause they reveal every little blemish in my playing. I've never been in total awe of technical playing - I've loved his playing so much over the years that technique doesn't even enter into my equation of him - but this particular recording really blew me away.

Frankfurt '76 has always been one of my favorite live versions of "Hand of Fate" .

I think that it's from the second night.

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Doxa
Hmm.. me thinks especially that Paris version sounds a bit tired and forced. Like teh guys were about fall asleep or something. I think the song with that kind of rather slow tempo is a bit hard to keep exciting. It sounds still good, but not excellent as the original.

A better solo guitarist could also help...

- Doxa

You're just provoking

I can't see anything tiring, or lacking in the solo guitar department for that matter, on this version. Everything rocks.

As for the studio version,it's very underrated.

"Hand of Fate" would fit well on FM radio Rock stations but,they play Queen's bicycle song instead. I never understood that.

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DandelionPowderman

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Doxa
Hmm.. me thinks especially that Paris version sounds a bit tired and forced. Like teh guys were about fall asleep or something. I think the song with that kind of rather slow tempo is a bit hard to keep exciting. It sounds still good, but not excellent as the original.

A better solo guitarist could also help...

- Doxa

You're just provoking

I can't see anything tiring, or lacking in the solo guitar department for that matter, on this version. Everything rocks.

No, I'm not. I have listened today several times the original, so compared to it the AUX ABOTTOIRS version just sounds flat and breathless (anyway, I hope we will get a polished, official version soon; usually better sounds give an impression of better performance). I think the best parts are the 'funk' moments, Preston also having a role there.

You really must be a huge Ronnie Wood fan if you think that his solos there are not lacking anything... In the original, the guitar solos uplift initially strong performance into higher spheres, actually carrying the song into new heights. Here Ronnie does not have such a great foundation as Perkins had, but what the song asks is the soloist to take the song into his shoulders and make it fly. Something just made for a natural solo guitar player like Mick Taylor. But Woody's not that kind of guitarist, and his soloing there is not uplifting anything, is more like just somehow coping with the task, almost struggling in pieces. Just getting the job done, somehow. Surely not 'leading' anything, something great solo guitarists tend to do by definition. I don't think it is a question of style or any artistically justified choices; it's really just secondary rate guitar work, a guy struggling in circumstances he clearly is not home with. One can only imagine what a proper solo guitarist could have done within those premises. It is just not his cup of tea.

- Doxa

Well, the guitar solos are great to my ears.

A great track that makes you rocking
Hand Of Fate was performed live at the Hague concerts in 76, I attended one of them and it was a great day.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-03-26 18:47 by runaway.

For there to be one represented with such a view, too:

I have got no objections to the song "Hand of Fate", but have never been made enthousiastic about it. It is OK, but what to me is good and interesting about BLACK AND BLUE, which, once again to me, marks a comparative slump in the band's career (together with and even more than IORR), are "Hot Stuff" and "Fool to Cry" and, to some extent, "Crazy Mama". The only outright great song on that album for me is "Memory Motel".