Defend the Indefensible: The Stones' Black & Blue

I just want to know the first name of "Melody"!

 

Cover photos taken on Sanibel Island, Florida -- were they there just for the artwork? Seems odd to me for them to convene in the Gulf of Mexico (not an obvious locale) just for a photo shoot.

 

Listened to now, it feels like the culmination of where they'd been heading since Goat's Head; that laid-back, loosely funky, keyboard-heavy vibe... 'Memory Motel' is one of their most affecting ballads, 'Fool To Cry' - a lovely slow jam (those electric keys...swoon!) and 'Hand Of Fate' is a really convincing Stones archetype. Great Harvey Mandel/Wayne Perkins lead playing on those three tracks too... Always liked 'Melody' a lot too, which never seems to get much love. Slight, unfinished and all the better for it! One of their best sounding records too...

 

Black and Blue isn't that bad. I find "Hot Stuff" amusing and funky. It's just another of their weak 70's albums in between the greatness of Exile and Some Girls.

 

Never got why this was so disliked. I think it's a pretty solid album. "Hand of Fate" is one of my favorite Stones songs. And it's one of their first albums to actually sound great.

 

Only if you also delete tracks like Cherry Oh Baby, Melody and Hot Stuff.

 

Here's a 1976 performance of "Hand of Fate" that's pretty good (yes, I know I'm responding to a question asked in 2005!):

 

It's still puzzling why they didn't include a live version from 1976 on their Love You Live lp.

It's also interesting that Hot Stuff was the only live track from Black and Blue included on Love You Live when it was their most recent studio album at the time.

They also played earlier mentioned Hand Of Fate along with Fool To Cry, Hey Negrita and Cherry Oh Baby in 1976.

 

I tend to agree with you re Cherry Oh Baby and Hot Stuff (although the live performances were far better) but I do enjoy Melody.

The sequence of Memory Motel, Hey Negrita, Melody just seems to work for me.