Steven Van Zandt of the E Street Band once famously said that The Rolling Stones output from 1968-1972 comprised the “greatest run of studio albums in music history”. Let It Bleed was the Stones’ second album in that quartet of releases, and featured a distinct return to the dirty blues rock that has defined the band’s sound for multiple generations of listeners. This is crunchy and dirty blues rock at its absolute finest, featuring slithering guitars, a rock solid rhythm section, and of course the sneering pre-punk vocal swagger of Mick Jagger. It’s a time capsule of late 60’s rock and roll that feels as fresh as ever over 50 years since its release.
The album itself is a love letter to all of the great genres that were born out of the blues– Rock N’ Roll, Country, Honky-Tonk, Gospel, and Ragtime. This is all made possible due to the incomparable guitar stylings of Keith Richards, who carried the bulk of the dual guitar workload due to founding member Brian Jones’ increasing descent into drug dependency. Jones, who had previously helped contribute to the dual-guitar attack the Stones were known for, was unfortunately too drugged out during the recording sessions to offer much in the way of anything valuable, and was left off of the majority of the album, only playing autoharp on “You Got The Silver” and congas on “Midnight Rambler”. It would be the last Stones record he would ever be featured on as he tragically died at the age of 27 later that year due to drowning in a swimming pool.
That sense of gritty unease can be found throughout the entirety of Let It Bleed. If the Stones could be summed up throughout their career it’s in both their prolific output as well as their innate ability to capture the seedier sides of life while still offering some glimmer of hope in a phrase or melody that elevates the subject matter in a romanticized way. Let It Bleed encapsulates those thoughts in brief moments, and punctuates it with the incredible “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” to close the album.
On a final note– most day “Gimme Shelter” is probably my favorite Stones song of all-time (although some days I’d probably have to say “Wild Horses”). It’s intensely dark subject matter describing the brutal horrors of war pairs absolutely perfectly with the brooding and slinking guitar introduction to open the song, a pièce de résistance for the group and rock music in general. And it’s made even more special with the absolutely jaw-dropping backing vocals of Merry Clayton, whose performance on the track is undoubtedly the best backing vocal performance ever. Clayton, pregnant at the time and with curlers in her hair, absolutely unleashes throughout the song and elevates it to a level of intensity that is beyond compare. Seriously go and listen to her isolated vocals in this video and get yourself some goosebumps this morning. If you don’t get chills, you don’t have a soul.
Standout Songs: “Gimme Shelter”, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”, “Monkey Man”, “Country Honk”
