Defend the Indefensible: The Stones' Black & Blue

Side one of "GHS" is great and nothing really terrible on side two either - just not "classics". I'll listen to it any old day of the week. Can't say that about all of their records (especially the ones released after "Undercover").
The only one from the seventies that doesn't do it for me is "It's Only Rock And Roll" (but I like some of it)

Why not? I'll throw it on as well. The music is mighty, mighty, fine

 

I'm a fan, too. And I'm happy that "Hand Of Fate" is the one Rolling Stones classic rock track that hasn't been killed by over-exposure, including by the band itself -- do they ever play this one in concert?

And, yes, BLACK & BLUE is absolutely one of the best-sounding rock discs I've ever heard. Love, love, love those drums.

 

I wish they listened to this before they mixed "A Bigger Bang". The title means a bigger bang on the snare drum

 

Hey! You guys were right!

Made great late-nite listening...music playing down low...wife sleeping on the couch. I dug it. Okay...maybe Cherry Oh Baby was a little annoying...you guys aren't Jamaican...so knock it off! Okay...I did actually sing along with a couple of the "yay-e-yay-e-yay's"

This album kinda opened up for me last nite...

 

Ahhh, that's what I find great about these threads or the games/polls; sometimes we go back and listen to things in a different manner or with a different attitude than we did earlier.

Me, I still don't like BLACK AND BLUE too much, but am not bothered in the least that others do.

JcS

 

You really have to want to hear the "groove" to get the most out of the entire album. Great to hear something different by them - it's been the same old stuff for the past 20 years.

 

Black and Blue - In which Mick wants to play disco, Keith wants to play reaggae, and Charlie and Bill do the same that they had been doing since 1963. Not a bad album, and I agree that "Hand of Fate" is a great rocker that should be more remembered today. But alas, one more spin of "Brown Sugar" or "Start Me Up" is more in order to most.

 

On the 1976 Euro tour - and then gone forever.

 

Is "Start Me Up" a leftover from the "Black And Blues" sessions or the "Some Girls" sessions? I know Chris Kimsey was around, so I'm thinking "SG". . .

 

Judging from its sonics, I would guess "Slave" is the BLACK & BLUE leftover on the first side of TATTOO YOU.

 

Funny. "Slave" and "Worried About You" are my favorite songs on "Tattoo You" and they both come from "Black and Blue". So, I guess, "Start Me Up" (which I do not like all that much) is from "Some Girls"? (actually, all the songs on side 2, with the exception of "Waiting On A Friend," are great IMO) Seems I never like the hits???

 

Had to listen to this record right now (first time in years). The sound is great and there´s some really cool songs there. They are really mixing some different styles of music but the album is better than I remembered. Truly an OK album from the guys.......

 

But Hand of Fate is not a single, it is an album track. And we are looking at an entire album here, not 8 choices on a chart in which to find the weak link.

This thread is about defending a complete album as a work. A brand new concept for some.

 

Well, let's not get too excited about praising it!

JcS

 

I was on Wikipedia and found the answer to "Start Me Up": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tattoo_You

"Slave" and "Worried About You" were recorded in 1975 during the Black and Blue sessions (featuring Billy Preston on keyboards and Wayne Perkins on guitar).

"Start Me Up" (originally written as a reggae number called "Never Stop" during Black and Blue). . .came from the Emotional Rescue sessions in 1979. "Start Me Up" was left unreleased at the time because Keith Richards had expressed concern that he might have inadvertently taken its main riff from another song he had heard. . .

 

Hi Pigwhisperer,
The "it" I was referring to was Some Girls. I'm sorry I didn't make that clear. BTW everybody, the band did dig out "Hand of Fate" on this latest tour and I think they did it on the last one as well. They still don't do it very often. A good place to go check out set-lists is over at IORR.org. I hope this helps.

 

I always liked this album a lot going back to when I bought it new in '76 when I was 12 years old. I think the sound quality is excellent, and just right - not too muddy like 'Exile' and not sterile & overprocessed-sounding like a lot of Music became after the 70's.

However, as clear as the recording quality is, I could never decipher most of the friggin' lyrics to 'Hand of Fate', so I reminded myself to check for it Online, so..., here it 'tis:


Hand Of Fate

The hand of fate is on me now
It pick me up and knock me down
I'm on the run, I'm prison bound
The hand of fate is heavy now
I killed a man, I'm highway bound
The wheel of fortune keeps turning round
Turning round, turning round
I should have known it was a one horse town

My sweet girl was once his wife
He had papers the judge had signed
The wind blew hard, it was a stormy night
He shot me once, but I shot him twice
The hand of fate is on me now
It pick me up and it kicked me right down
Kicked me right down
Kicked me right down

I had to save her life
Yeah, I gunned him twice
Yeah, and I watched him die, watch out boy
Yeah, I watched him die

He was a barroom man, the violent kind
He had no love for that gal of mine
Then one day in a drinking bout
He swore he'd throw me right of town
The hand of fate is on me now
I shot that man I put him underground
I put him underground
Yes I did

I'm on the run, I hear the hounds
My luck is up, my chips are down
So goodbye baby, so long now
Wish me luck, I'm going to need it child
The hand of fate is on me now
Yeah it's too late
Too late baby, too late now
The hand of fate is on me now
The hand of fate is heavy now

It pick you up and knock you down !

 

As the years go by, I am convinced that the 1976-1981 period will be remembered far more fondly than it is now. Each of the 4 albums that were done in this time are stellar IMHO. I bought B&B immediately upon release and have always liked it a lot. I couldn't stop playing it. Played it for wifey a few years ago, and she, shaking her head, asked: "Why don't the Stones play these songs in concert?"

Indeed. I think it's a brilliant LP, but then I also think that If You Really Want to be My Friend, Time Waits for No One, Till the Next Goodbye & Fingerprint File are some of the best songs the Stones have ever done. These guys are capable of just so much more than the reasons why most people go see them.

Caught a recent show and when they played "Rain Fall Down" (w/ MJ on guitar), you could just see the glee in MJ's eyes as the band did someting different. My jaw was on the floor.

 

error--posted twice--sorry

 

DEAD ON, BROTHER.

 

I think that, to some degree, there are only so many songs that casual fans can process. They want to hear "Satisfaction," "Jumping Jack Flash," and "Tumbling Dice," and the Stones give them what they want.

If I knew that the Stones would play "Fingerprint File" and "Hand of Fate" and "Mixed Emotions" when I went to see them, I would cough up the $200 or whatever it is to buy a ticket.

 

Some references have "Start Me Up" going back to Mar-Apr 1975. I've heard this version and it's much more reggaeish / R&Bish than the Tattoo You version. Not really any riffage. The earliest outtakes unearthed of "Slave" are from 1979, so more an Emotional Rescue leftover.

 

I can't vouch for this info, but here are some outtake liner notes (so I was wrong in my previous post, 'Slave" does go back to 1975):

1. Start Me Up #1 4'23
Munich, Musicland Studios march-april 1975

2. Start Me Up #2 3'42
Paris, Pathé Marconi Studios oct.1977 - march 1978

3. Hang Fire #1 6'18
see 2

4. Hang Fire #2 6'06
see 2

5. Hang Fire #3 2'24
see 2

6. Hang Fire #4 2'26
see 2

7. Slave #1 6'58
Rotterdam, MRU jan-feb 1975

8. Slave #2 9'39
Paris, Pathé Marconi Studios june-oct. 1979

9. Slave #3 8'17
New York, Atlantic Studios april-june 1981

10. Little T & A #1 3'41
Nassau, Compass Point Studio jan - feb 1979

11. Little T & A #2 4'13
see 10

12. Black Limousine #1 3'15
see 2

13. Black Limousine #2 4'09
see 2

14. Black Limousine #3 3'35
see 8

15. Black Limousine #4 4'02
see 8

16. Neighbours 3'22
see 10

17. Worried About You #1 7'42
see 7

18. Worried About You #2 7'21
see 8

19. Tops #1 4'38
Los Angeles, Elektra Studios nov. 1972

20. Tops #2 4'04
see 8

21. Heaven #1 5'15
see 2

22. Heaven #2 5'22
Paris, Pathé Marconi Studios oct - nov 1980

23. No Use In Crying #1 3'33
see 8

24. No Use In Crying #2 4'27
see 8

24. No Use In Crying #3 4'27
see 8

25. No Use In Crying #4 4'24
see 8

26. Waiting On A friend #1 4'15
Kingston, Dynamic Sound Studios nov - dec 1972

27. Waiting On A friend #2 4'32
see 8

28. Waiting On A friend #3 3'33
see 2

 

Totally agree John. 100% right. They did "Crazy Mama" on the mini stage in Oakland in 1997 and it was awesome. Go to iorr.com and pull the set list from the second show in November and you will see what a good set list looks like.