What does it sound like?:
Black And Blue was a minor detour for The Rolling Stones on their quest to find out what Rock sounded like when it grew up, a quest they’d embarked upon in 1973. Mick Taylor quit in December 1974. They toured America in 1975 and released Made In The Shade, a rather limp Best Of, as a stop gap. Black And Blue was recorded with their touring band, which included Ron Wood, and they used the opportunity to audition a number of auspicious lead guitarists for Taylor’s role.
There are eight tracks, four each side. Three are experimental, one is a cover left over from It’s Only Rock And Roll, two are ballads and only two are proper Stones-y tracks. The style of Blues Rock that defined their imperial phase was petering out. The presence of Billy Preston and Ollie Brown gave them the confidence to try dance, funk, latin and a bit of jazz. Wood’s enthusiasm for reggae added to the mix. Jagger dominates proceedings, clearly having a ball. Richards sits back, contributing little to the writing and leaving plenty of room for the guest guitarists. He was swimming in a fog of heroin at the time. The Glimmer Twins produce. Glynn Johns and Keith Harwood engineer. It was one of the best sounding Stones record on release, on a par with Sticky Fingers.
Hot Stuff has a sinewy bassline, choppy guitars, and lots of percussion. It’s a funk-adjacent song, oddly lacking attitude, whose ideas would be expanded and developed for Miss You. Jagger excitedly brings the spirit of Studio 54 to a Stones’ record as he sings his deliberately risible lyric. Charlie Watts is almost on the one, but is, in fact, in his natural position, slightly behind the beat. As a result, he drains any energy generated by the rhythm guitars, which are hardly bursting with enthusiasm in the first place. The piano is marvellous. Harvey Mandel, one of the guest guitarists, delivers a nice slinky solo. Hand Of Fate, lyrically an update of Hey Joe and featuring three different solos by Wayne Perkins, is a nugget of grit that is effortless for The Stones, driven by a stylish Wyman bass and a judicious Keef rhythm. Cherry Oh Baby is an abomination. Poor Charlie cannot find his one drop and Jagger’s transatlantic Jamaican accent is horrendous. Only Bill Wyman can hold his head high. It was rejected for It’s Only Rock & Roll and doesn’t belong here either. Memory Motel, however, has the best hook on the album, an on-the-road narrative, pregnant with regret over lost love, starting with one night stand which may or may not have been with Carly Simon. A party fails to lift the mood. Richards’ broken, tortured lead vocal contributions are beautifully pitched. Musically, Preston carries the main burden on acoustic and electric piano, plus ARP String Ensemble. The rest of the band, including both Perkins and Mandel, are careful to serve the song and avoid stealing any of the limelight from the two vocalists. There is a sha-la-la-la refrain that could have been sung by a choir. At times, it feels like a discount You Can’t Always Get What You Want minus the joyful coda.
Ron Wood “inspired” Hey Negrita by coming up with the riff. Preston wraps it in Afro-Cuban piano stylings and Brown adds Latin percussion. Nevertheless, the rhythm is disjointed, neither one thing or another. The guitar solo is perfunctory. Jagger is having fun cooing over a girl as he desperately implores her to lower her price. Negrita means bold but is a word that clearly flirts with being misunderstood. Melody, this time “inspired” by a Billy Preston tune, is theatrical, sophisticated, jazzy. Preston’s piano and organ trade licks with themselves. A full horn section appears well after the halfway point and is gone in seconds. Jagger playfully bends his vocal chords around Preston’s keyboard lines. It’s a duet between the two, only Wyman and Watts add a discrete metronomic rhythm. Jagger uses an adjustment of the Angie melody to address his daughter on Fool To Cry. His vocal is tender and fragile, often in falsetto. He’s playing the victim but he’s cheating on her mum. It would be a hard song to love if not for Nicky Hopkin’s exquisite keyboards, Wyman’s sumptuous bass, some gorgeous Wayne Perkin’s guitar and Charlie’s finest, most subtle drumming on the whole album. The finale is a typical sloppy riff, dueling guitars and a Crazy Mama. In Parachute Woman, Jagger was riven with lust. Now, he’s a responsible adult, he has violence on his mind instead. Charlie could give this his trademark laidback push in his sleep. The guitars are Keef and Ron with Jagger on third guitar, a formula that would serve them well for the next fifty years. The solo zings. Everyone seems to have a smile on their face.
Steven Wilson has worked his magic again. The new mix is remarkable. He has this happy knack of making everything sound better, yet recognisably the same. He maintains fidelity with the spirit of the original while making every effort to improve the sound quality. All the percussive details can be clearly heard. The previously hidden piano sounds incredible. He makes Billie Preston the star performer but Wyman is superb, too. The staging for the slower songs is close and intimate. If you thought the original Glimmer Twin mix could not be bettered, give the new mix a listen. You might be impressed.
The outtake disc is underwhelming. It starts with two fully formed tracks that could easily have supplanted Cherry Oh Baby. I Love Ladies lacks lyrical subtlety and its melody resembles Fool To Cry but you can barely hear the 1975/2025 join and it is exquisitely poised. A cover of Shirley And Company’s then recent Shame, Shame, Shame is gloriously camp, the rhythm section relishing a straight 4/4 beat. There are four extended jams, Chuck Berry Style, Blues, Rotterdam and Freeway, all very appropriately named. Harvey Mandel is on Chuck Berry and Jeff Beck is on the other three with Robert A. Johnson contributing to Rotterdam as well. Nevertheless, it is difficult to imagine that these tracks will be listened to very often. Both Slave and Worried About You, later released on Tattoo You, originated during these sessions but no early versions are anywhere to be heard. Nor are other contemporaneous tracks, some of which included Jagger vocals, such as Bring It Up and Come On, Sugar.
The 1976 Earl’s Court concert is a gig of two halves. The first is full of Black And Blue material and is excellent. Hot Stuff and Hey Negrita are so much better in the live setting. There are stellar performances of “deep” cuts as well. You Gotta Move is a superb rendition and joining If You Can’t Rock Me in a medley with Get Off My Cloud is inspired. You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Happy and Tumbling Dice are delivered with aplomb. The band take a break to give Billie Preston a deserved solo turn. However, the gears change when The Stones get back to play their big hitters. The pace is rushed and relentless, one song blending into another, the riffs becoming indistinguishable and the vocals garbled. Brown Sugar, Jumpin’ Jack Flash and Street Fighting Man sound like one long cardio workout.
The Blu-Ray has Steven Wilson Dolby Atmos and stereo mixes of the album and Earl’s Court, plus “Les Rolling Stones Aux Abattoirs, Paris-Juin 1976”, a “previously unreleased live TV recording from Paris”, the first of a three night run much of which ended up on Love You Live. Both CD and vinyl boxes include a 100 page hardcover book featuring a brand new essay by Paul Sexton, exclusive photographs from the album sessions and tour, and a replica poster from the 1976 Paris concert. You can buy the stereo remix as a single disc or as a double with the outtakes and jams.
Black And Blue topped Billboard for four weeks and went platinum. In the UK where Dr Feelgood, Graham Parker and Eddie And The Hot Rods were as feisty as mid sixties Stones, it got to number two and Fool To Cry was top ten. However, overall, despite Jagger’s best efforts, it felt flat and not of its time, a hybrid, partly too old-fashioned and partly outside their comfort zone. If Richards and Watts aren’t inspired, you are not going to achieve a classic Stones album.The best guitarist on show is Wayne Perkins but Ronnie Wood passed the audition. His place was never in doubt, helping them to evolve into a new phase of Rolling Stones. Fifty years on, it’s safe to say they made the right decision.
This deluxe edition is a curate’s egg with three of the discs never less than interesting, the remix, the first half of Earl’s Court and the Blu-Ray, but with the outtake disc and the second half of Earl’s Court less satisfying. The value would be in a stand alone Blu-Ray but, failing that, just the Steven Wilson remix.
What does it all *mean*?
Black And Blue kept The Stones juggernaut rolling. It cleared the decks, concluding their contract with Atlantic and Allen Klein, freeing them to make even more money. It also set the template for the future. The recruitment of Ronnie Wood sparked an extremely productive period of songwriting and performing, taking them well into the eighties. It also rejuvenated Richards’ enthusiasm in the band, especially after the events in Canada forced him to address his drug abuse. This gang of musicians was well-suited to the road and The Rolling Stones became an established stadium act for the rest of their careers. Some Girls was next, a return to basics, this time with three guitars. A conscious decision was made not to use session musicians like Preston and Hopkins as it led them into “experimental territory away from their basic sound,” a phrase that could sum up Black And Blue.
Goes well with…
A besotted love of The Rolling Stones.
Release Date:
14/11/2025
Might suit people who like…
A strong sense of nostagia.
Memory Motel remastered
Not their best but then they were in turmoil following Taylor’s departure and the fact that preceding sets like Sticky Fingers and Exile in particular had been so strong. Having said that I always loved Melody- and Fool to Cry had a certain poignancy and vulnerability about it.
Possibly their best sounding record ever.
I’m a fan much more roll than rock.
First non-compilation Stones album I ever bought, in the summer of 1977 I think (a little late, I know, but I had to save up for it). Still think “Memory Motel” is a masterpiece and I seem to be one of the few people who like “Cherry Oh Baby” (oh well). Interesting what you say about the Earls Court concert, Tig. It sounds comparable with LA Forum ’75 — I think Mick adopted his shouting style to make his non-stop gymnastic performance feasible (he never sits still for a second and I guess he needed a breathing technique to be able to sing at the same time). Consequently, many of the faster songs suffer. At this stage, it seemed the spectacle threatened to overshadow the music. But it does show the Stones at their most decadent before they cleaned up, took sponsorship and became the professional gigging juggernaut of their latter years.
I too like Cherry Oh Baby though. I prefer Eric Donaldson’s version. I also like Walk And Don’t Look Back with Tosh.
I think this is a harsh review of an underrated album. The groove was relaxed and sure sloppy. But there’s a place for that.
It reminds me of Van’s Period Of Transition.
I always liked the cover art , reminded me of the sound – plenty of presence.
Me? Harsh? I’ll take that as a compliment.
😉
I like the cover too.
Always had a soft spot for it and think it contains some of their best “thinking outside the box” songwriting (thanks to the outside influences from Ronnie and Billy).
Fool To Cry grabbed me when I saw them doing it on TOTP. Like soul but with the Stones attitude and rock tinge. The best thing on this record. I never really got into the rest of it but I might give it another go. It seemed a bit half-baked and another disappointment after the glory years as it were. Less engaged. They still managed to make everything theirs though as Louie Walsh use to say. After Exile there was a tendency to pull a couple of gems out of their pockets and then make do with less inspired material for the rest. I think the best in these years was less rock and more other styles. Something changed, they were never going to come up with something like the opening bars of Gimme Shelter again.
Excellent write up once more.
I think the original is the best sounding Stones album so my only interest in what Wilson has done would be 5.1/Atmos mix. For outtakes they generally didn’t finish tracks if they weren’t going to be on the album so they often have recent Jagger vocals and sometimes a guitar part is also added.
I haven’t heard that live show, but I know you are correct about it. I think their worst period as a live band. They already improved for the Some Girls tour a couple of years later.
As for the album itself Keith called it the “auditioning the guitarists album” even if Ron Wood has a different story as evidenced in his recent DID appearance. I like it more now than when I first heard it, you are right about Cherry though, Hand of Fate is a classic Stones track and Memory Motel is a fine ballad, perhaps slightly overlong though, Hot Stuff is very danceable. Always struggled a bit with the big hit single, sometimes I don’t mind it. Keith famously once fell asleep when they were playing it live 🙂
There were featuring the album a lot in late 90s shows and I think I may have heard 3 tracks from it one night in Amsterdam; Hand of Fate, Crazy Mama and Memory Motel. I even got Melody at Shepherds Bush Empire 1999, I believe one of only 2 times it has been played live
I saw them play “Fool To Cry” at their London Stadium gig in 2018.
Always rather liked the funkier groove they found. I’m not going to buy it but I’ll definitely give it a listen.
As a big Stones fan, this was a huge disappointment at the time. A sort-of-decent Keef riff on Hand of Fate (and possibly a bit too cleanly recorded..?), a bit of cod reggae, a single that was a bit soppy and hot on the heels of Angie, only 4 tracks per side…this just sounded a bit lazy. The era of a mish mash of nuggets in amongst the dross had begun.
I think a bit of hindsight has added some sheen to its reputation, especially as subsequent albums were frequently even MORE disappointing (possibly with exception of the oft quoted Some Girls, but even that has its filler), but this still seems a bit of an odd one to get the de luxe treatment.
I think the bottom line is that for ‘name’ acts, like the Rolling Stones, there is no such thing as a release that isn’t up for the deluxe treatment. If it can happen to Empire Burlesque it can happen to anything.
I’m not wildly sure if Jimi’s Axis release is vital but for pretty much the same amount of material, that appears to be a whopping £70 less than Black and Blue… you what?
Something’s seriously gone wrong!
Good point!
Dreadful album and their performance at Bingley Hall, Stafford (first night) in support of it was one of the worst gigs I’ve ever been to.
Black And Blue appeared on a list titled ” Bad Albums That Are Actually Quie Good” (or some similar title.
I bought it, and whilst it has its moments, I still think it’s a duffer.
(Then again, I think Steel Wheels is a good album, so make of that what you will)
It is, and Voodoo Lounge is even better
Seems to me that Stones albums before Beggars Banquet (and after Exile) had one or two good tracks- sometimes great ones- but that the overall sets were a general disappointment.
Broadly I’d agree, but the first 4 UK albums on Decca are a great listen, and are historically significant. Between the Buttons and Satanic Majesties are distinctly patchy, although they have their supporters!
Love them both. Aftermath is also excellent, unlike the Fabs sometimes the US configurations are superior in the 64-67 period
Aftermath is indeed the peak of the pre BB period (and it was the 4th UK album!).
As an aside, there is a view that the US Meet the Beatles is a better album than With the Beatles, but we are straying off topic now!
Side 1 is as good as it gets, but side 2 is nowhere near the same level (and less songs)
I love the naive energy of the debut.
The Stones? Absolutely
After Exile, Goats Head Soup and Some Girls are fabulous records, I think.
Goat is superb. 😊
I disagree, but it doesn’t matter. I think the point here is that, apart from the agreed Imperial phase of Beggars to Exile (including Ya Yas by the way) within which we will all have a different pecking order but agree they are terrific, most of their albums will have some of us that like them and some of who don’t care for them so much. For instance, I really, really like Its Only Rock and Roll (c’mon, Fingerprint File and Time Waits for No One are brilliant) but I know it’s a minority view!
Don’t dis the Goat. 🤘
Mmm. Angie. And not much else.
Oh, don’t start him off….😀
😉
True though. Sadly.
Ahh… how about ‘Winter’? ‘Can You Hear The Music’? ‘100 Years Ago’?, ‘Silver Train’??
That’s a fine and thoughtful review of a minor Stones album. I have a fondness for it but that’s more to do with time place and memory rather than intrinsic quality. It was one of my soundtrack albums of that long hot summer of 76, between school and university. An impossibly cool and unattainable girl who was part of our crowd that summer had a copy and played it endlessly. Where are you now Murph?
But listening to it again as this review has prompted me to do, there are a number of tracks that still stand up – Fool to Cry, Memory Hotel, Melody, Hand of Fate.
As I write, I am ploughing my way through the outtakes on disc 2. You’re right, there’s nothing to detain us here, although Shame Shame Shame is enjoyable in a fun karaoke kind of way.
One point of order: ‘negrita’ does mean bold in the context of typeface but there’s no ambiguity about its use here. I somehow don’t think Mick is offering friendly advice to a young lady who has ambitions as a writer….
I understand it means brazen, confident, brave, as well as referring to a beautiful black girl. In Spanish, it is a compliment not an insult. English speakers often mistakenly confuse it with their own derogatory term.
Interesting, didn’t know that. Still reckon in this context that the beautiful black or Latina girl is the more likely meaning!