Your thoughts on this lp. It wasnt a big one but had it's moments. I liked
Memory Motel alot, Fool To Cry, Crazy Mama,.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-11-07 19:38 by tipps.

It's grown on me. At first I thought that it was a mismash of tracks, some fillers and some rockers. When I play it now I enjoy it for what it is.

Pretty much agree with the OP. Those are the 3 I enjoy, plus Hand Of Fate. The other 4 never really took with me. I've always thought the album was one good side and one filler side. Although the songs are all spread out pretty nicely throughout in my case, where I believe the whole album is one good song and then one bad song. So its not that difficult for me to listen to in that respect. I just don't like half of the LP.

Hot Stuff - always liked it
Hand of Fate - very good track as well
Cheery Oh Baby - Charlie's worst performance ever, awful, fake reggae.
Memory Motel - one of those gems... love it

Hey Negrita - Always thuoght this was a fun song!
Melody - so-so, sounds a bit forced to me.
Fool to Cry - Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Crazy Mama - At first didn't like it much, now I love it!

[thepowergoats.com]

10/10, another perfect Rolling Stones album!

C

Having been released during the rise of UK punk and having been among the most-maligned RS albums, it is always a surprise to listen to because it is always better than you expect it to be from memory. The gems on this record are outstanding, but the bland spots and soft mid-70s production detract from making it a fully cohesive listen all the way through. I think the overall lack of focus (what does the title mean? There is no underlying theme or concept, it's just a random collection of songs not very cleverly sequenced together) has to do with the fact that most of the sessions for Black and Blue were recorded when they were auditioning guitar players to fill Mick Taylor's slot. As a result, it comes off as more an album of songs featuring The Stones with special guests, rather than a solid integrated basic Stones album with a unified sound and focus, which of course the next album Some Girls certainly was.

Fantastic album. Took the Stones to a new dimension. Even grown to like Cherry Oh Baby, well I liked the original version anyway. Memory Motel and Hand Of Fate are bona fide (or should that be bona-fied!) classics worthy of any greatest hits collection. Fabulous recording too...the music really breathes.

was a bit dissapointed with black and blue when i was collecting the back catalogue of albums.

maybe i was comparing it too much to other albums and so it didnt sit well with me, it was also too short.

i liked crazy mama, and memory motel. hand of fate, hey negrita and hot stuff were just ok, and the rest just dross.

i did like the sound production but overall it isnt a great album and its too short.

Best sounding Stones album. Love HS, HoF, MM, Hey Negrita. All the rest is full forgetable.

Mathijs

Black & Blue was the first Stones album I bought when it was released and I still love it to this day.

Excellent: Hot Stuff, Memory Motel, Melody
Merely good: Hand of Fate, Fool to Cry, Crazy Mama
So-so: Cherry Oh Baby, Hey Negrita

Awesome album. Certainly in my Top Ten of Stones LPs. If they had finished Worried About You and Slave (and whatever else), well, it might be considered one of their best.

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WeLoveToPlayTheBlues
Awesome album. Certainly in my Top Ten of Stones LPs. If they had finished Worried About You and Slave (and whatever else), well, it might be considered one of their best.

I second that.

And Hey Negrita must be one of the grooviest songs ever recorded. The production on the album in general is as good as it gets. What a huge improvement production-wise after the blurry, uneven-sounding GHS and IORR!

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liddas
10/10, another perfect Rolling Stones album!

C

Agree

Agree that it has the best sound of any Stones album (try playing it immediately after Exile). I absolutely love HoF and MM and generally like almost eevrything else. Unlike others, I don't think there are any real duds on B&B.

Hot Stuff: 3/10, the live version: 7/10

Hand of Fate: 9/10

Cherry Oh Baby: 5/10

Memory Hotel: 9/10

Hey Negrita: 10/10

Melody 6/10

Fool to Cry: 3/10

Crazy Mama: 8/10

Average: 6,75.

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DartfordRenegade
Black & Blue was the first Stones album I bought when it was released and I still love it to this day.

Same. Hot Stuff and Hey Negrita are now my favourite tracks though I liked them the least when it came out.

I remember the cheap black printer's ink on my hands from the Barbara Charone review in Sounds and how Crazy Mama was going to be the new Brown Sugar. Ha!

Hot Stuff: 9/10, the 1976 live version: 10/10, later live version: 6/10

Hand of Fate: 8/10, the 1976 live version: 7/10, the 2002/3: 5/10

Cherry Oh Baby: 7/10, the 1976 live version: 8/10

Memory Hotel: 9/10 (a bit too long!), the live version: 7/10

Hey Negrita: 10/10, the 1976 live version: 11/10

Melody 8/10, the 1999 live version: 8/10

Fool to Cry: 9/10, the 1976 live version: 10/10, later live version: 7/10

Crazy Mama: 5/10, the 1997 live version: 1/10

Average album: 8,2. Average live versions: 7,3

Their last great album imo, I like all the songs on it.

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DandelionPowderman
Hey Negrita: 10/10, the 1976 live version: 11/10

Wow, that's a big score for the live version. Rightfully I must add:

video: [www.youtube.com]

Just as long as the guitar plays, let it steal your heart away

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marcovandereijk

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DandelionPowderman
Hey Negrita: 10/10, the 1976 live version: 11/10

Wow, that's a big score for the live version. Rightfully I must add:

video: [www.youtube.com]

Wood plays better on the live version, so does Keith, imo

I think Hey Negrita works.

I wish they had gone all out and a made a killer funk album with it - Hot Stuff and Hey Negrita and Slave (had they finished it for B& would have been a great 1-2-3.

That said, I still like it & it can hit the spot on a hot, sunny day.

On the downside, Cherry Oh Baby is a waste, and Fool To Cry is dead boring.

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andrewt
That said, I still like it & it can hit the spot on a hot, sunny day.

Yes, plus lots of beer.

I love Emotional Rescue under the same circumstances.

I'm serious.

Dance Pt 1 when you're slightly squiffy is great.

Dance Pt 1 is ALWAYS great, squiffy or not

I enjoy it. I think it's a pretty good little album. It just seems so short. I don't know how it stacks up in actual run time, but I think 8 tracks is the shortest of any Stones studio album. And it seems even shorter because I do skip a couple of tracks. But I the tracks I do like, I really like. And there's a couple I absolutely love, Hand Of Fate for example.

It's definitely different. There are a lot of different influences going on, but they all seem to fit together. Probably because the production sounds pretty consistent, regardless of whether it's a Reggae, Rock, Ballad, or whatever you'd call "Hot Stuff".

There was a time when I kind of didn't consider it an actual studio album, even though I liked it. Maybe it was the length or the fact that the album was a transition from the Taylor to Wood era, and they were auditioning different guitarists on the album. Since many of the songs don't have the lead guitarists from the 3 main eras of The Stones. But I guess Let It Bleed was also a transition album in that respect. I just kind of got this idea stuck in my head when I was younger that it wasn't a "real album" and more of a stop-gap project between the Taylor and Wood eras, or an audition process that was released as an album because, well why not? I do consider it an actual album now though.

I've always really liked the artwork too. It's very simple, but I remember seeing it in a music store as a teenager and being captivated by it for some reason. Mainly the front cover. I've always wondered what the hell Keith was whispering, like I'm sure many people were, since there was a pretty funny "caption this picture" thread here on IORR (I think, not sure where else I would have seen it). Because whatever it is, Mick has this strange look on his face. And you have Bill in the background looking... well Billish. I guess I just thought it was a cool photo, mainly because Keith looks cool. And as a teenager I looked up to Keith a lot. I still love the guy, but I don't look up to him the same way a teenager does.

Hot Stuff: 10/10, the 1976 live version: 10/10, later live version: 4/10

Hand of Fate: 9/10, the 1976 live version: 7/10, the 2002/3: 5/10

Cherry Oh Baby: 10/10 (I also love the bootleg version), the 1976 live version: 10/10

Memory Hotel: 8/10, the live version: 7/10

Hey Negrita: 10/10, the 1976 live version: 9/10

Melody 10/10

Fool to Cry: 8/10, the 1976 live version: 6/10 (it's not a live song)

Crazy Mama: 10/10, the 1997 live version: 5/10

It might not be their best effort but if you compare it to current musical trends in rock/pop...Black and Blue is like Mozart music.

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emotionalbarbecue
It might not be their best effort but if you compare it to current musical trends in rock/pop...Black and Blue is like Mozart music.

Actually this is true.

Not many would take such an artistic chance these days.

hey - didn't we just discuss this album in depth the other week? c'mon, man...this is sorta like becoming one of the warhorse threads on the board...