Where the Stones got Melody from...

Most varied,best Sound Album EVER!

A very good album! As some mentioned, quite unique in the Stones catalog, with tracks such as Melody, Hot Stuff, Crazy Mama ... and Cherry Oh Baby!

... Cherry gets a lot of hate, but I love it on B&B almost as much as I love You Gotta Move on Sticky Fingers.

BLACK AND BLUE is an oddity.

Did they have to do it?

I dunno.

They did.

It was transitional.

They wanted to do a new record. Without whatever, they had a few guitarists show up.

They did it. Then they went on tour. Then they worked on it a little more and... they toured it.

The mango is the most consumed fruit in the world but the most popular fruit in the world is the banana.

If B&B was put out today it would be a shitstorm of praise and disgust.

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GasLightStreet


... If B&B was put out today it would be a shitstorm of praise and disgust.

...Which is pretty much what it got at the time

Listening to it right now, what a great album, Hot Stuff indeed!


C

So great Harvey Mandel

***
I'm just a Bad Boy Boogie

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GasLightStreet
Where the Stones got Melody from...

Wow! Obviously "inspired by Billy Preston"

"No Anchovies, Please"

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Elmo Lewis

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GasLightStreet
Where the Stones got Melody from...

Wow! Obviously "inspired by Billy Preston"

Yes, the influence is obvious, but I think "Melody" strugles to be in it's own right - and succeeds. "Melody" is an odditty and one of the highlights on Black and Blue.

I've loved BLACK & BLUE since it came out. Sonically it's the best Stones album I'm guessing because they didn't have time to muddy it up with overdubs and second guessing.

Surely, there are 6-7 more songs from those sessions which could create a "sides three and four" of a deluxe reissue.

In the valley between the peaks that were the 1968 - 1972 Big Four and the three that were the 1978 - 1981 Big Comeback, Black and Blue IMO is the best of that 1973 - 1976 lesser lot.

I'm someone who also particularly appreciates cover art. That folded two-part album cover is, to my tastes, far and away my favorite Stones album cover of them all.

And yet I've never owned the LP. The past few years I've kept an eye out for a good condition, well-priced copy in the used vinyl bins, but have yet to find one. I'm sure it will happen sometime though.

Surely at some point Rolling Stones Inc has to have released a print or at least a poster of the full, front and back image... right?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023-07-24 01:29 by TheBluesHadaBaby.

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Elmo Lewis

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GasLightStreet
Where the Stones got Melody from...

Wow! Obviously "inspired by Billy Preston"

'Inspired by' = 'you co wrote it but we're not giving you a composer credit'

(see also 'IORR' and Ronnie Wood)

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umakmehrd

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terraplane
Best Ronnie Wood era album. I like it as much as EOMS

Say what... you are a Crazy Mama

How could this be Ron Woods best album? He plays on only three tracks.On one, Cherry Oh Baby he contributes almost nothing.Obviously he contributed a lot more to Some Girls and later albums.

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Taylor1

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umakmehrd

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terraplane
Best Ronnie Wood era album. I like it as much as EOMS

Say what... you are a Crazy Mama

How could this be Ron Woods best album? He plays on only three tracks.On one, Cherry Oh Baby he contributes almost nothing.Obviously he contributed a lot more to Some Girls and later albums.

Four tracks: COB, HN, FTC and CM.

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DandelionPowderman

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Taylor1

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umakmehrd

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terraplane
Best Ronnie Wood era album. I like it as much as EOMS

Say what... you are a Crazy Mama

How could this be Ron Woods best album? He plays on only three tracks.On one, Cherry Oh Baby he contributes almost nothing.Obviously he contributed a lot more to Some Girls and later albums.

Four tracks: COB, HN, FTC and CM.

I don't think Wood is on FTC, is he?

Mathijs

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Mathijs

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DandelionPowderman

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Taylor1

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umakmehrd

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terraplane
Best Ronnie Wood era album. I like it as much as EOMS

Say what... you are a Crazy Mama

How could this be Ron Woods best album? He plays on only three tracks.On one, Cherry Oh Baby he contributes almost nothing.Obviously he contributed a lot more to Some Girls and later albums.

Four tracks: COB, HN, FTC and CM.

I don't think Wood is on FTC, is he?



Mathijs

If we believe Wikipedia Ronnie doesn't play guitar on FTC. Wayne Perkins and Keith Richards do.
Rockandroll,
Mops

I stand corrected. At least he's singing on most of the songs



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023-07-24 16:06 by DandelionPowderman.

His best album by far is Some Girls

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DandelionPowderman
I stand corrected. At least he's singing on most of the songs

If you wanna call it siging

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DeeGee

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DandelionPowderman
I stand corrected. At least he's singing on most of the songs

If you wanna call it siging

It was only a year or so after IGMOATD so his voice wasn't yet too bad

Fave Tracks...

1. Memory Motel * * * * *
2. Hand Of Fate * * * * *
3. Fool To Cry * * * *
4. Melody * * * *
5. Cherry Oh Baby * * * 1/2
6. Hot Stuff * * * 1/2
7. Hey Negrita * * *
8. Crazy Mama * * *

Black And Blue * * * *
#20 of their 23 studio LPs, slightly more satisfying than Emotional Rescue, Undercover and Dirty Work, slightly less so than Voodoo Lounge and Steel Wheels.

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mkbbcmr
Black And Blue * * * *
#20 of their 23 studio LPs, slightly more satisfying than Emotional Rescue, Undercover and Dirty Work, slightly less so than Voodoo Lounge and Steel Wheels.

Voodoo and Steel in the same league as Black n Blue ? I rate them considerably lower.

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GasLightStreet
Where the Stones got Melody from...

Wow. Even the horn section is pretty close.
I love Billies input and the 75/76 tour - a great addition to the Stones sound.

Black and Blue. I have been scratching my head over Black and Blue since I was a junior high school kid awaiting its arrival. I was newly into album rock but had accumulated several Stones LPs and was forming opinions, likes, and dislikes in my little not quite fully formed brain as a 14 year old.

My fist thought was how disappointing "Fool to Cry" as the single was to me. The album was way to nuanced for my tastes at that time. I couldn't understand why I wasn't hearing the next Sticky Fingers or Beggars Banquet. I was aware of the turmoil in the band replacing Mick Taylor. So, first take on Black and Blue was my first Stones disappointment.

As an adult, my opinion on Black and Blue has only improved slightly. I 100% respect what the Stones did at that point in time. I view this LP as the chronological end to the Exile thru Black and Blue era. I view Exile more in the B&B, Its only RnR, Goats Head Soup era than the previous Big 3. I hold IORR, GHS, in higher regard than most on this board is my feeling. When looking at the era I have outlined, I believe that Black and Blue ends this era beautifully.

My overall one sentence review of Black and Blue would be "the inferior clone of Goats Head Soup"

Sorry for all the word salad, but this LP has perplexed me for decades and putting thoughts down on paper seems to have cleared it up a bit in my head.

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timmyj3
As an adult, my opinion on Black and Blue has only improved slightly. I 100% respect what the Stones did at that point in time. I view this LP as the chronological end to the Exile thru Black and Blue era. I view Exile more in the B&B, Its only RnR, Goats Head Soup era than the previous Big 3. I hold IORR, GHS, in higher regard than most on this board is my feeling. When looking at the era I have outlined, I believe that Black and Blue ends this era beautifully.

My overall one sentence review of Black and Blue would be "the inferior clone of Goats Head Soup".

+1

Well said.

Drew

Glyn Johns said that a version of FTC was done and mixed in december 1974. Then the Stones kept working on it....
Rockandroll,
Mops

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drewmaster

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timmyj3
As an adult, my opinion on Black and Blue has only improved slightly. I 100% respect what the Stones did at that point in time. I view this LP as the chronological end to the Exile thru Black and Blue era. I view Exile more in the B&B, Its only RnR, Goats Head Soup era than the previous Big 3. I hold IORR, GHS, in higher regard than most on this board is my feeling. When looking at the era I have outlined, I believe that Black and Blue ends this era beautifully.

My overall one sentence review of Black and Blue would be "the inferior clone of Goats Head Soup".

+1

Well said.

Drew

Thank you.

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timmyj3
My fist thought was how disappointing "Fool to Cry" as the single was to me.

Yes it's an inferior tune and an odd choice for a single, and in that sense it's similar to Emotional Rescue being released as the first a single from that album. Terrible choice imo.
Also reminiscent of them releasing Streets of Love as the first single from ABB 18 years ago. All baffling choices that leave a bad impression of what to expect from the albums,
At least B&B and ER have several mighty fine redeeming qualities as albums vs. the overall below average mess of ABB where it's tough to find anything remotely listenable (give or take a track or two).
With the the release of Fool to Cry in '76, it's no wonder the Stones were already being considered out of touch dinosaurs, and over the hill. Thankfully they bounced back with the Some Girls album in '78.

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023-07-24 21:39 by Hairball.

Didn't they release Streets Of Love and Rough Justice simultaneously?

Why ask the question if you already know the answer? But yes, a double A side.
Rough Justice might have been a better introduction on it's own vs. being tainted with Streets of Love as the co-lead single which also left bad impression of what to expect from the album.

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......