Would it be considered their best album or CD since "Goat Heads Soup"?

What do you think?

I thought about this as I revisited it for full play this week. Man does this CD have some solid rock and soul to it.

it is one of their best

I like it better than Some Girls. Memory Motel & Hand Of Fate have an Exile On Main Street vibe.

If it was released this year,it would tank faster than Jagger's best of....The problem with Black & Blue is that their is some very stuff on it and some very bad stuff. With not a lot of middle ground. The good stuff:Obviously Memory Motel. A much loved song by stones fans. As well as Hand Of Fate and Crazy Mama. Hey Negrita isn't bad. Fool To Cry is OK. But after that,I really don't care for Melody and I espicially can't stand Hot Stuff. Never have,never will and Cherry Oh Baby is just a throw away of a song.

"It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door"

In today's market, even Exile will tank. They could release their best album even next year and it will not sell over 500-600k in U.S and 100-100k in UK, fact.

I remember buying Black and Blue and staring in disbelief at the paltry number of songs on it. Yes, Memory Motel was longish, but I think that one or two more songs would have given the album more heft. If the boys had parked Slave between Hand of Fate and Cherry Oh Baby on Side 1, and led Side 2 with Worried About You, Black and Blue would have been a masterpiece.

You are right Monkeylad, an absolute masterpiece. But still, I only don't care for COB, it is in my favorite top 5 Stones albums. It grooves, it's raw, it's got it all.

sweetcharmedlife Wrote:
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> If it was released this year,it would tank faster
> than Jagger's best of....The problem with Black &
> Blue is that their is some very stuff on it and
> some very bad stuff. With not a lot of middle
> ground. The good stuff:Obviously Memory Motel. A
> much loved song by stones fans. As well as Hand Of
> Fate and Crazy Mama. Hey Negrita isn't bad. Fool
> To Cry is OK. But after that,I really don't care
> for Melody and I espicially can't stand Hot Stuff.
> Never have,never will and Cherry Oh Baby is just a
> throw away of a song.


I have to disagree. The fact that there are such contrasting styles make it such an eclectic album to listen to. You get rock, soul, reggae, funk. And it's sequenced in such a way that when a song ends, you can expect something new and different, but feeding off of the energy of the last song to give you a new, different energy. You're not going to like it if you're convinced that these styles cannot mesh.

Well, Black And Blue is far and away better than anything the Stones have released since Tattoo You, and i personally have always found it far more enduring than the consistant but rather shallow Some Girls. The public response hasn't been what it could be to the Stones more recent output because they are used to the Stones releasing mediocre material so expectations haven't been high. I'm not sure an album of Black And Blue's calibre would necessarily change that but i'm pretty sure from some quarters (die hard fans and some reviewers) it would be heralded as a genuine return to form and not a lot of unsubstantiated hype.

Monkeylad Wrote:
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> I remember buying Black and Blue and staring in
> disbelief at the paltry number of songs on it.
> Yes, Memory Motel was longish, but I think that
> one or two more songs would have given the album
> more heft. If the boys had parked Slave between
> Hand of Fate and Cherry Oh Baby on Side 1, and led
> Side 2 with Worried About You, Black and Blue
> would have been a masterpiece.


Absolutely, it is a great album but is one or two tracks too short.

Just make sure to add "Slave", something they should've done back in 76.

If Black & Blue had come out now it would have been hailed as the best Stones album since Some Girls or Tattoo You. Hell, if It's Only Rock N Roll (their weakest album of the 70s) had come out now it would have had the same praise.

Black and Blue is one of the few Stones albums i haven't got on CD yet.

When I bought it on vinyl in the early eigthies i thought the sound was to smooth and not dirty enough. Only played Hand of Fate, Crazy Mama and Cherry oh Baby (turned me onto reggae!) regulary, didn't like the ballad stuff much.



Lately I've come to appreciate songs like Memory Hotel and Fool to Cry, and i think the album is underrated. Let's hope the Stones switch record label soon and that the album is re-released with a lot of bonustracks. Then I will definitely buy it.

If Black And Blue was released this year, we could expect 1 or 2 B&B-songs in the setlist for the forthcoming tour....probably Fool To Cry and Crazy Mama.

That's two more B&B songs than we get now.

"It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door"

It would be the sensation of the year....this album was more popular...than people realize......it was a big succes....i know lotsof non stones folks who has this album...seems like everybody in the 70 ties....bought this black&blue thing...well in holland anyway....for a R&R band a very brave album...i ean dancing to Led Zep...is hard''right''? Hot Stuff...love the ballads too...its a perfect album.period.

everyone would say what a short poorly produced album with bad vocals...quickly followed by a discussion concerning whether such old men should be singing songs about those things.

OLDKR

i think it would do very well...
its one of my favorites...
i recently gave an lp copy to a friend who hadn'd heard it..he tells me he's been wearing it out (and indeed i found it on his turntable-which i also gave him)... he says he loves it and he's not a huge stones fan though he did ssee them on last tour "cause he wanted to see them once before they quit"..that kind of guy..

"Cherry Oh Baby" is crap.

Agreed it's totally underrated. Crazy Mama is one their best riffs, period.

micwer wrote:
"Agreed it's totally underrated. Crazy Mama is one their best riffs, period."

Well, if you like raw, and from the gutter, Exile style, this one must be for you.

I've had BnB on my mp3-player last week, while studying in the library. I have not thought exactly about what if it was released now, but I was listening to CM, thinking: if this songs was not '70 Stones, but a new song by a new band like Starsailor/White Stripes/Kaiser Chiefs/Razorlight and so on, what reception would it get? In my opinion this type of song is timeless, it would be a hit for sure. And the same can be said for many other songes of BnB, GHS, IORR: if you do not measure them to your expectations of STONES type of songs, many are just as great as anything else out there, then and now...

Good night (sleep tight... ahhh) ;-)

Jelle



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-10-22 02:22 by sluissie.

I like Monkeylad's suggestions and may burn myself a CD like that.

"No Anchovies, Please"

Edward Twining Wrote:
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The public response hasn't
> been what it could be to the Stones more recent
> output because they are used to the Stones
> releasing mediocre material so expectations
> haven't been high.

This is bs.99.5% of the public has no idea what the actual quality of the Stones' modern albums has been simply because 99.5% of the public has not listened to these albums.Not many bands,or any for that matter,are going to be topping any charts well into their fifth decade as a band.The age group which accounts for most album sales are oblivious to what artists pushing 70 are doing.

As far as Black and Blue goes,there are three classic songs (Hand Of Fate,Memory Motel,and Crazy Mama),three decent songs (Hot Stuff,Hey Negrita,and Fool To Cry) and two worthless tracks (Cherry Oh Baby and Melody).There are more quality songs on any of their recent albums even though the best three tracks of Black and Blue might hold up well against most of the newer material.

I know my answer is really a cop-out to this question but I just find it impossible for me to Imagine Black N Blue coming out today because it is truly a product of its time. I think all their old alblums are like that.

I meant to say Alblum. its my new slang.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-10-22 04:31 by ryanpow.

I think that if this CD were to come out today the band would get a standing ovation from the fans. Is it a little thin..maybe, but there is something there for everyone's taste.

By the way IMO, Cherry Oh Baby and Melody, are the songs that get a little extra play in that laid back groove. Kind of like when your high starts to settle in after the peak. That is where they fit into that niche.

For me Memory Motel is a bore. Cheesy lyrics and bubbly licks. Hence Mick playing the opening chords on keyboard. I always skip over it.

When it was released in april 1976 it was a totally disaster...the worst Stones-album -ever...now, 30 years later it's a classic!

The best thing about it is the beautiful cover with just the boys (like their covers 1964-1967)

(by the way....since black and blue ......really awful albumcovers....with the exception of abb)

IMO IORR is better than GHS

It's one of my 'couldn't care less about records'. It's OK, some decent tracks, but its too short and lacks something imo.

Nikolai Wrote:
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> If Black & Blue had come out now it would have
> been hailed as the best Stones album since Some
> Girls or Tattoo You. Hell, if It's Only Rock N
> Roll (their weakest album of the 70s) had come out
> now it would have had the same praise.


Not true IMO, any album released from now on will be burned to the grounded by any of us.

oh no not you again, has the same feel as it's only rock and roll and nobody liked it.