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whitem8
A great album with a lot of variety, and two epic stones jams, Time Waits for No One and Fingerprint File. Great album with a funk/rock feel to it. The only song that doesn't do much for me is Luxury.

Great album indeed,beside that I agree with you.

The first time they played it safe all over.
Not one single note on the album points forward.
There are decent songs, but they are alarmingly uneven and this is were they took it one step further in creating 'Stones-by-numbers' tracks - something that started on Goats Head Soup. On this record, if was the first time (but not the last) on which they started to sound like a copy of themselves on certain tracks.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-08-14 20:09 by Blueranger.

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Blueranger
The first time they played it safe all over.
Not one single note on the album points forward.
There are decent songs, but they are alarmingly uneven and this is were they took it one step further in creating 'Stones-by-numbers' tracks - something that started on Goats Head Soup. On this record, if was the first time (but not the last) on which started to sound like a copy of themselves on certain tracks.

Good description, although Luxury pointed forward to what would come on their next album.

Sure--not their best Album. (Thats stil "aftermath" for me), But time waits for no-one is awesome. "If you cant rock me" is a great Opener and i like "luxury"Dont like "Fingerprint File"Sometimes awful on their 1976 tour in germany

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DandelionPowderman

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Blueranger
The first time they played it safe all over.
Not one single note on the album points forward.
There are decent songs, but they are alarmingly uneven and this is were they took it one step further in creating 'Stones-by-numbers' tracks - something that started on Goats Head Soup. On this record, if was the first time (but not the last) on which started to sound like a copy of themselves on certain tracks.

Good description, although Luxury pointed forward to what would come on their next album.

by which i assume you mean really half-baked attempts at doing for reggae what they did for the blues... ;-)

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Turner68

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DandelionPowderman

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Blueranger
The first time they played it safe all over.
Not one single note on the album points forward.
There are decent songs, but they are alarmingly uneven and this is were they took it one step further in creating 'Stones-by-numbers' tracks - something that started on Goats Head Soup. On this record, if was the first time (but not the last) on which started to sound like a copy of themselves on certain tracks.

Good description, although Luxury pointed forward to what would come on their next album.

by which i assume you mean really half-baked attempts at doing for reggae what they did for the blues... ;-)

Well, they did I Got A Letter, a pure reggae original with Keith on vocals that didn't make it to GHS or IORR. I think mixing in a rock sound in Luxury was something they did because they weren't confident enough to do a full blown reggae back then.

I'm one of the few who really enjoy Cherry Oh Baby, though, and Ronnie's entrance gave them a more Caribbean/Funky sound on BAB. Hey Negrita proves that.

So, yeah, Luxury was pointing forward, although they started playing reggae in 1972 already.

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DandelionPowderman

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Turner68

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DandelionPowderman

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Blueranger
The first time they played it safe all over.
Not one single note on the album points forward.
There are decent songs, but they are alarmingly uneven and this is were they took it one step further in creating 'Stones-by-numbers' tracks - something that started on Goats Head Soup. On this record, if was the first time (but not the last) on which started to sound like a copy of themselves on certain tracks.

Good description, although Luxury pointed forward to what would come on their next album.

by which i assume you mean really half-baked attempts at doing for reggae what they did for the blues... ;-)

Well, they did I Got A Letter, a pure reggae original with Keith on vocals that didn't make it to GHS or IORR. I think mixing in a rock sound in Luxury was something they did because they weren't confident enough to do a full blown reggae back then.

I'm one of the few who really enjoy Cherry Oh Baby, though, and Ronnie's entrance gave them a more Caribbean/Funky sound on BAB. Hey Negrita proves that.

So, yeah, Luxury was pointing forward, although they started playing reggae in 1972 already.

I'll give "I Got A Letter" another listen, thank you.

EDIT: Listened to it. They were right not to put it on an album, although I see your point, it's more reggae than most of what they ended up releasing. I wish they'd either gone all-in or stuck to their roots.

That said, I love Keith's "words of wonder" collaboration recently.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-08-14 22:28 by Turner68.

I bought the UMG re-release of IORR. Was very disappointed with the muddy mix. A bummer because this album has some nuggets that would shine with a more detailed mix.

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DandelionPowderman
Well, they did I Got A Letter, a pure reggae original with Keith on vocals that didn't make it to GHS or IORR. I think mixing in a rock sound in Luxury was something they did because they weren't confident enough to do a full blown reggae back then.

I'm one of the few who really enjoy Cherry Oh Baby, though, and Ronnie's entrance gave them a more Caribbean/Funky sound on BAB. Hey Negrita proves that.

So, yeah, Luxury was pointing forward, although they started playing reggae in 1972 already.

That's pretty funny. I can just imagine them making that decision. lol

I don't think the Stones have ever done any particularly authentic sounding reggae tunes till they covered Get Up Stand Up. Yes I Got A Letter was close but not completely pure reggae, imo.

For those interested in my long, song by song in depth reviews....here's my review of IORR from a few years ago:


It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll – 1974 (US #1; UK#2)
If You Can’t Rock Me • Ain’t Too Proud To Beg • It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll •
Till The Next Goodbye • Time Waits For No One
Luxury • Dance Little Sister • If You Really Want To Be My Friend •
Short And Curlies • Fingerprint File

Stones Fan – ****
Casual Listener - ***

Jimmy Miller had been producing The Stones since Beggars Banquet in 1968, but it was time for a change. It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll is the first Stones album produced by Mick and Keith a/k/a The Glimmer Twins. After the dark muddy mix of Exile and Goats Head Soup, they went for a completely different production sound here. And few Stones albums are as varied musically as this one.

Charlie kicks in as does a great classic sounding Keith riff and Mick starts singing “The bands on stage and its one of those nights”. The sound is brighter and more powerful than Goats as Mick threatens “If You Can’t Rock Me, Somebody Will”. The song has a nice bridge with Taylor playing a tuneful lyrical lead. But throughout the song, the lead sounds like it was overdubbed over the band playing live, and it’s slightly jarring. Overall, it’s a nice opening number but lacking that magical something.

Charlie does a nice opening fill, Keith slashes a great chord lick, Billy Preston kicks in a tasty piano lick and we’re into a classic Stones Motown cover. The Stones typically do great covers and this is prime. Keith does a great raw solo that you’d never hear in Motown. This is raw, tasty, rock with a Motown beat. If you’re going to do a cover, you should do it in your style. I can’t stand note for note covers, and The Stones are masters at taking a song (even a classic) and making it their own. They liked Ain’t Too Proud To Beg enough to release it as their 2nd US single, but it only peaked at #17. They still occasionally play it live and it still sounds good.

The title track was the initial single. It was the worst performing first Stones album single at that time. Especially after number ones from Brown Sugar and Angie, peaking at #16 in the US and #10 in the UK was extremely disappointing. But It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll is an offbeat listen. It started as a jam at Ronnie Wood’s house with Bowie and others – hence his “inspiration” credit on the album. Ronnie then gave it to Mick to work on (probably in exchange for the work on Ronnie’s solo album). The problem is you can hear the work on the song, how he formed a Chuck Berry’ish jammed song around a great anthem type chorus. The song kind of push and pulls and sort of fights with itself before it eventually takes off at the end. The Stones still play it live (the only live regular from the album), but I still find it lacking as a total song. It’s a classic chorus in need of a better song.

Till The Next Goodbye is another one of those beautiful unknown Stones ballads. It’s not single material. It’s slow, drawn out, not particularly hooky, yet the music sucks you in with the beautiful acoustic flourishes. The bridge when Mick sings how “he can’t go on like this” as the piano touches in is very effective. The Stones liked it enough to do a promo film for it along with the two singles for Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert.

Time Waits For No One is next and it is a masterpiece. Without a doubt, it is the greatest musical composition The Stones have ever done with matching lyrics magnificently sung by Jagger. The opening and closing rim shot, bass drum combo as the music enters in is so tasteful and unique. This is Mick Taylor’s greatest moment with The Stones, as throughout the song, his lyrical licks and accents are amazing. It also features his greatest lead guitar solos ever. I’ve been listening to this track for 35 years and never tire of it and still hear new things. It’s incredibly layered, amazingly produced and played. Listen to the end solo with Taylor weaving in and out with Charlie’s fantastic drums accents (hear those cymbals), piano coming in and finally the song fading away with just the rim shots and bass drum. This song should be played daily on radio and should’ve won a Grammy. This is simply a historic rock recording and a highlight of The Stones career.

Side two starts with the pseudo reggae of Luxury. What seems like a minor album track at first, becomes a real grower over time. Perhaps it could’ve used a stronger beat to help propel it, but it grooves so well as Jagger complains about working so hard to keep you in the luxury. This is another unique musical song from the Stones and it works really well.

With the exception of the opening track, Dance Little Sister is the only basic rocker on the album. But this track has little dynamic to it, except the really great bridge (“Jumped out of Africa”) followed by a killer guitar solo. The rest of the track does get monotonous and is fairly pedestrian for The Stones. The outtake version has the bridge a second time, which is an improvement.

If You Really Want To Be My Friend is a really tasty Philly style soul ballad. Blue Magic does fantastic backing vocal touches throughout the track. Jagger’s vocals are great as The Stones are really stretching themselves here. Another wonderful guitar solo mixed with keyboard touches highlight a great track. At over 6 minutes, The Stones are showing they’re not concerned with commercial concerns – you won’t hear this on the radio and that’s just fine. But with some editing, Hall & Oates could’ve taken this song to the top.

Short and Curlies sounds like a loose one take type bar-room jam song as Mick sings about how “it’s too bad that she’s got you by the balls”. It’s a fun listen, but certainly not essential, and probably could’ve cut it as a b-side somewhere.

Fingerprint File closes the album in unique style. This funky song barely sounds like The Stones (sounds like solo Jagger really as he’s playing the rhythm guitar). The break in which the song stops with “Superfly” style licks, bass solo notes, funky drums, wah wah rhythm guitar and Jagger whispering about paranoia is a really unique Stones experience. Then the song picks up again and you definitely want to get up and boogie. It was great live on the 1975 tour and it’s disappeared since. Bring it back I say.

With only two real rockers, a great Temptations cover, a long soul ballad, a weird wild funk excursion and a magnificent Santana styled true musical composition, It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll is a tremendously varied sounding record. It’s a very enjoyable musical journey. Yet with the exception of Time Waits For No One, it’s missing that intangible Stones magic. It’s also lacking a great single, which helps explain it’s relatively disappointing chart stats (#1 for only a week in the US, #2 in UK). Other bands in 1974 would envy an album of this quality, yet from The Stones, it just seems a little off. The writing was on the wall as this was Mick Taylor’s finale. It did feature one of my favorite covers though, courtesy of Guy Peelaert, who did even better with Bowie’s Diamond Dogs.

Funny, I am a Stones fan like most listening to majority (99% probably for me) of studio releases from inception to 1981 (excluding live),

but I really, really dig this album. Exhile the Holy Grail, GHS just a few pull me (weird, I know) but the rest of the studio releases up to and including Tattoo You: FUN.
Not the most articulate review here, but IORR we have MT seasoned 5 years with the RS, Mick's voice rich at it's peak, dare I say, during the 70's, and the pressure/ego mania/ monied up/ stuck up/ breakin' up competitive 80's were not here yet!

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Naturalust

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DandelionPowderman
Well, they did I Got A Letter, a pure reggae original with Keith on vocals that didn't make it to GHS or IORR. I think mixing in a rock sound in Luxury was something they did because they weren't confident enough to do a full blown reggae back then.

I'm one of the few who really enjoy Cherry Oh Baby, though, and Ronnie's entrance gave them a more Caribbean/Funky sound on BAB. Hey Negrita proves that.

So, yeah, Luxury was pointing forward, although they started playing reggae in 1972 already.

That's pretty funny. I can just imagine them making that decision. lol

I don't think the Stones have ever done any particularly authentic sounding reggae tunes till they covered Get Up Stand Up. Yes I Got A Letter was close but not completely pure reggae, imo.

How pure do you want it?

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-08-18 10:28 by DandelionPowderman.

An obvious attempt to be pure and certainly the closest they ever got with an original but elements like the keyboard, the second guitar and even the vocal detract from the purity, imo. To be pure reggae, everyone has got to get it for the whole tune. Still think Get Up Stand Up is the purest they ever got, obviously a subjective opinion.

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Naturalust
An obvious attempt to be pure and certainly the closest they ever got with an original but elements like the keyboard, the second guitar and even the vocal detract from the purity, imo. To be pure reggae, everyone has got to get it for the whole tune. Still think Get Up Stand Up is the purest they ever got, obviously a subjective opinion.

Subjective indeed, but with your logic one might say that Mick is the "unpure" element on Get Up, Stand Up.

Keith has the accent right (in places), as well as the voice trembling

I see why I got a letter wasn't pursued. That guitar is annoying!

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TravelinMan
I see why I got a letter wasn't pursued. That guitar is annoying!

The off-beat one? Very reminiscent of one of the guitars on Luxury.

Here it's a bit too high in the mix, imo.

Yeah it should be pulled way down. Very distracting and repetitive.

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DandelionPowderman

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Naturalust
An obvious attempt to be pure and certainly the closest they ever got with an original but elements like the keyboard, the second guitar and even the vocal detract from the purity, imo. To be pure reggae, everyone has got to get it for the whole tune. Still think Get Up Stand Up is the purest they ever got, obviously a subjective opinion.

Subjective indeed, but with your logic one might say that Mick is the "unpure" element on Get Up, Stand Up.

Keith has the accent right (in places), as well as the voice trembling

I actually thought Mick stayed pretty close to the bone on GUSU, "What I say..." and even added a slight accent (at times) for authenticity. But certainly all the musicians kept a reggae groove and backbeat going where as with I Got a Letter that second guitar strays into different territory with mixed results, imo. Takes away from the mantra like purity of the reggae beat.

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Naturalust

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DandelionPowderman

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Naturalust
An obvious attempt to be pure and certainly the closest they ever got with an original but elements like the keyboard, the second guitar and even the vocal detract from the purity, imo. To be pure reggae, everyone has got to get it for the whole tune. Still think Get Up Stand Up is the purest they ever got, obviously a subjective opinion.

Subjective indeed, but with your logic one might say that Mick is the "unpure" element on Get Up, Stand Up.

Keith has the accent right (in places), as well as the voice trembling

I actually thought Mick stayed pretty close to the bone on GUSU, "What I say..." and even added a slight accent (at times) for authenticity. But certainly all the musicians kept a reggae groove and backbeat going where as with I Got a Letter that second guitar strays into different territory with mixed results, imo. Takes away from the mantra like purity of the reggae beat.

I don't disagree with that. At the same time, I haven't heard Bill or Darryl manage to lock in with the single-string rhythm guitar the way Keith does on I Got A Letter, as well as on Cherry Oh Baby. Very important for the reggae groove together with the drums, imo.

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DandelionPowderman

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Naturalust

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DandelionPowderman

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Naturalust
An obvious attempt to be pure and certainly the closest they ever got with an original but elements like the keyboard, the second guitar and even the vocal detract from the purity, imo. To be pure reggae, everyone has got to get it for the whole tune. Still think Get Up Stand Up is the purest they ever got, obviously a subjective opinion.

Subjective indeed, but with your logic one might say that Mick is the "unpure" element on Get Up, Stand Up.

Keith has the accent right (in places), as well as the voice trembling

I actually thought Mick stayed pretty close to the bone on GUSU, "What I say..." and even added a slight accent (at times) for authenticity. But certainly all the musicians kept a reggae groove and backbeat going where as with I Got a Letter that second guitar strays into different territory with mixed results, imo. Takes away from the mantra like purity of the reggae beat.

I don't disagree with that. At the same time, I haven't heard Bill or Darryl manage to lock in with the single-string rhythm guitar the way Keith does on I Got A Letter, as well as on Cherry Oh Baby. Very important for the reggae groove together with the drums, imo.

I like it when the bass guitar actually becomes the melodic instrument in the style of Family Man Barrett and obvious in so many Marley tunes. I think the bass in I Got A Letter ventures into that territory although it reminds me of the bass in Emotional Rescue at times. I'm sure you hear that same lick like I do.

Yep, I do, and that was what I was hinting of. Keith has that reggae touch in his bass playing. Bill not so much.

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DandelionPowderman
Yep, I do, and that was what I was hinting of. Keith has that reggae touch in his bass playing. Bill not so much.

As to be expected since Keith has a few more elements of the Rasta lifestyle and has spent considerably more time in Jamaica.

I just got done listening to the alternate version; all early or alternate mixes. Just lightyears better and tougher than the official. Whoever threw the blanket over the mix/mastering desk in Munich did this album in.
GHS has received much late acclaim, and IORR would have kept the big run going.

I actually started listening to Dance Little Sister with headphones recently. I never used to like the track, but now I love it. MT is on fire and I thought the band performed well on the track. Each to their own though.

Not a great album but still a fun listen. I've always loved Luxury and that overdriven guitar of Keith's. Fingerprint File has a great groove that they further explored on Black And Blue.

I think the problem with this album is in the lyrics and the continuation of the band going down the self-parody route that they started on Goats Head Soup - Starfu cker, Dancing With Mr D - cartoonish, light-hearted and almost throwaway lyrics.

Where did you hear the alternative version?

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Palace Revolution 2000
I just got done listening to the alternate version; all early or alternate mixes. Just lightyears better and tougher than the official. Whoever threw the blanket over the mix/mastering desk in Munich did this album in.
GHS has received much late acclaim, and IORR would have kept the big run going.

One of my favourite albums, still. Actually the first Stones record I owned.

I have always regarded it as a fresher, more modern sounding album than the more or less stale sounding GHS, something which was confirmed by the story about Jimmy Miller wasting their time at the studio and Keith and Mick taking over the production duties at the time.

The only slightly dull song is Luxury, too monotonous and repetitive really. Ain't Too Proud To Beg I don't like at all.
Lyrically the songs vary greatly from arrogant and provocative to deeply sensitive, so it has all, really.

I call this the sixth golden era album, after BB, LIB, SF, EOMS and GHS (GHS was actually a step back in the series as it were, so there's only five really).

Sadly this level became more of an exception than rule, starting with the next album. But I'm sure that many differ with me



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023-11-20 16:26 by SomeGuy.

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SomeGuy
One of my favourite albums, still. Actually the first Stones record I owned.

I have always regarded it as a fresher, more modern sounding album than the more or less stale sounding GHS, something which was confirmed by the story about Jimmy Miller wasting their time at the studio and Keith and Mick taking over the production duties at the time.

The only slightly dull song is Luxury, too monotonous and repetitive really. Ain't Too Proud To Beg I don't like at all.
Lyrically the songs vary greatly from arrogant and provocative to deeply sensitive, so it has all, really.

I call this the sixth golden era album, after BB, LIB, SF, EOMS and GHS (GHS was actually a step back in the series as it were, so there's only five really).

Sadly this level became more of an exception than rule, starting with the next album. But I'm sure that many differ with me

I don't disagree at all with you here...however if we're going to be revisionist in terms of classifying "The Big Four" to stretch it to IORR, then I think Black and Blue certainly isn't a low point by any means, which takes you to Some Girls an the "next" big 4, Some Girls through Undercover. That means what you've got is a BIG 11. Now that's big!

On the other side, I think that TSMR is a bit of a dip, like GHS as you've opined, but not a bad album...you could then go further past BtB to Aftermath.

The album run is then 14...stunning. But really, that's why we like this band so much isn't it? It's not bullet proof by any means but staggeringly high quality for the most part.

Nothing wrong with OOOH's either...ok, you have to stop somewhere!

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SomeGuy
One of my favourite albums, still. Actually the first Stones record I owned.

I have always regarded it as a fresher, more modern sounding album than the more or less stale sounding GHS, something which was confirmed by the story about Jimmy Miller wasting their time at the studio and Keith and Mick taking over the production duties at the time.

The only slightly dull song is Luxury, too monotonous and repetitive really. Ain't Too Proud To Beg I don't like at all.
Lyrically the songs vary greatly from arrogant and provocative to deeply sensitive, so it has all, really.

I call this the sixth golden era album, after BB, LIB, SF, EOMS and GHS (GHS was actually a step back in the series as it were, so there's only five really).

Sadly this level became more of an exception than rule, starting with the next album. But I'm sure that many differ with me

I don't disagree at all with you here...however if we're going to be revisionist in terms of classifying "The Big Four" to stretch it to IORR, then I think Black and Blue certainly isn't a low point by any means, which takes you to Some Girls an the "next" big 4, Some Girls through Undercover. That means what you've got is a BIG 11. Now that's big!

On the other side, I think that TSMR is a bit of a dip, like GHS as you've opined, but not a bad album...you could then go further past BtB to Aftermath.

The album run is then 14...stunning. But really, that's why we like this band so much isn't it? It's not bullet proof by any means but staggeringly high quality for the most part.

Nothing wrong with OOOH's either...ok, you have to stop somewhere!

I couldn't agree with you more on the Big Four issue. Actually I never wholeheartedly embraced that concept, because it suggests that the previous and later albums are less valuable, which of course is not the case. I for one love the early years a lot.
Perhaps that's part of the reason why I felt the need to extend the number of 'Big' albums a bit. Most Stones albums are Big! Seeing how many records they have made and how very few of them aren't good, I mean, really.
Having said that, of course some albums are more equal than others, to paraphrase Orwell. To me, the next Biggest Record after IORR that came out was TY. For others, SG was that moment, so there ya go...

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SomeGuy
I couldn't agree with you more on the Big Four issue. Actually I never wholeheartedly embraced that concept, because it suggests that the previous and later albums are less valuable, which of course is not the case. I for one love the early years a lot.
Perhaps that's part of the reason why I felt the need to extend the number of 'Big' albums a bit. Most Stones albums are Big! Seeing how many records they have made and how very few of them aren't good, I mean, really.
Having said that, of course some albums are more equal than others, to paraphrase Orwell. To me, the next Biggest Record after IORR that came out was TY. For others, SG was that moment, so there ya go...

The 'big 4', from my perspective (and I think many others would agree) are the 'big 4' for a reason. It really starts with Let's Spend the Night/Ruby Tuesday, this is when the Stones took their songwriting (and playing) to a whole new level of brilliance, including non-album songs like JJF and Honky Tonk W. It's not necessarily saying the previous albums are less valuable - they are fantastic too (most of them) and have a huge place in the Stones history. But 95% of the people that know/love the Stones do know them from songs in those 'big 4' for the most part. JJF, Sympathy, Honky, You Can't Always Get, Brown Sugar, Happy, etc. WOW, it was truly an amazing run, one that I wished I could have experienced real time, rather than discovering about them in the 80s.