For those gentlemen of wealth and taste, (not to mention abundant hedonism), namely Mick Jagger (vocals), Keith Richards (guitar), Bill Wyman (bass) and Charlie Watts (drums), who as founder members of the Rolling Stones had come to define the essence of how a rock band should sound and look, the mid-70s were shaping up to be a curiously uncertain time.
True, in a career that by 1975 already stretched back 13 years, the Stones, still renowned as rebels, if bountifully rich ones, had experienced previous periods of upheaval. Most notable among them was the departure of fellow original member Brian Jones in May 1969 (who sadly died a month later), his replacement on guitar Mick Taylor, a prodigiously gifted player and comparative youngster compared to the others, arriving in time for a trio of subsequent albums – ‘Let it Bleed‘ (1969), ‘Sticky Fingers’ (1971) and ‘Exile on Main St‘ (1972) – that kept resetting the bar in terms of accomplishment on a rock LP.
The pair of albums that followed, ‘Goats Head Soup‘ (1973) and ‘It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll‘ (1974) were both agreeable if less assured than their immediate predecessors, yet remarkable even for existing due to the backdrop of tax issues and drug habits (increasingly out of control in the case of Richards) they were recorded against – the band conspicuous as debauched, jet-setting nomads as these records and ensuing tours came and went.
As 1974 drew to a close Taylor, in part tiring of lichenous living, but more pertinently aggrieved at the lack of songwriting recognition on tracks credited unambiguously to ‘Jagger-Richards‘ up and left – his departure creating a vacancy in their guitar ranks.
The next 15 months would see the Stones undertake a very public selection process. Their 13th studio album ‘BLACK and BLUE‘ (April 1976) is to some extent an account of these auditions, from which the chosen candidate could not have been more perfect – Ronnie Wood looking every inch a Stone from day one.
Wood, when still a member of the Faces (lead singer Rod Stewart attributing their demise in December 1975 down to the guitarist being ‘constantly on loan to the Rolling Stones‘), put a foot in the Stones door by taking the role of ‘guest’ guitar player when the band undertook a U.S. tour through the summer of that year. At this point he had already appeared on a number of songs cut for ‘Black and Blue‘, the album already recorded when the run of concerts began but deemed not ready for public consumption, release then delayed until the following spring when more overdubbing had been done.
Indeed, recording commenced in the final throes of 1974 and within days of Taylor leaving the group. The remaining Stones, augmented by keyboard player Billy Preston and percussionist Ollie Brown convened in a studio in Munich to where a glut of guitarists, whether in reality or rumour, also ventured.
Proof that Wood, along with Americans Harvey Mandel and Wayne Perkins had been present came with the sleeve credits that established which tracks they played on. There was also conjecture Jeff Beck and Rory Gallagher no less plugged in at different times to gauge their possible Stones potential (if so, it was a case of thanks, but no thanks from both as their individual careers continued unabated). Decades later in the excellent Steve Marriott biography ‘All Too Beautiful‘ by Paulo Hewitt and John Hellier, came the revelation he had not only been sounded out, but was the preferred choice of Richards.
Currently the headstrong leader of hard rock ensemble Humble Pie, the former Small Faces ace was given clear instruction by Keith for his Stones screen-test of ‘Don’t try and upstage Mick‘ – only for Marriott, (a competent guitarist, but blessed with an extraordinary voice that would have provided a formidable backing vocal dimension), to ignore the advice and in jarring Jagger with his egocentricity, blew whatever chance he had.
Given the surfeit of stringsmen, Jagger joining them on boisterous closing track ‘Crazy Mama‘, the album is not as steeped in guitar solos as you might imagine. Sure, there are raucous riffs and some flashy finger work, yet for the most part ‘Black and Blue‘ is built on a funky, collective vibe, a groove armada so to speak.
While Mick and Keith in the guise of the ‘Glimmer Twins‘ take credit for production, there is no doubting the engineering skills of Glyn Johns (‘Who’s Next’/’Quadrophenia‘) and Keith Harwood (‘Diamond Dogs’/’Physical Graffiti‘), first in Munich then in concluding sessions in Rotterdam through October 1975, were essential in creating a pristine soundscape for the funk-friendly material.
Not putting too finer point on it, ‘Black and Blue‘ has a sound that resounds (arguably their best sounding collection of the period), without being a resounding creative success.
On release it took a mauling from the critics. In the New Musical Express, Charles Shaar Murray described ‘Black and Blue’ as ‘a let-down of hideous proportions,’ while in his review noted U.S. rock scribe Lester Bangs declared ‘They really don’t matter anymore or stand for anything.’ With their latest work unveiled to a wave of negative notices, it hardly needed admission from Richards a few months later that ‘It wasn’t very good,’ to make the point.
With ‘Goats Head Soup‘ considered the first non-essential Stones LP of the 1970s, then here was the first, or so as most of the rock press decided, inconsequential one – not just of the decade, but their entire career.
Yet with the passing years it would come to be judged less harshly, the Stones, in taking the risks they did, deserving of more credit than came their way at the time – the band in a state of flux while seeking a new guitarist, let alone searching out different musical horizons.
In what could be viewed as part of the guitar player audition process in allowing serious contenders opportunity to impress, unusually for a Rolling Stones LP it comprises of just eight tracks, with just one, the only cover ironically, clocking in at under four minutes. Significantly shorter than each of the previous two albums, it does beg the question of why two fine songs (‘Slave‘ and ‘Worried About You‘) in the batch recorded for ‘Black and Blue‘ were not only left off in favour in weaker material, but omitted altogether – both resurfacing on ‘Tatoo You‘ in 1981.
Setting the funk/soul scene is first up offering ‘Hot Stuff.’ From the off the interlocking rhythmic guitars of Richards and Mandel, coupled with Watts’ incessant snare drum, shape the sinuous grooves. The lyric is no great shakes, Jagger imploring those primarily in London, New York and Jamaica, to dance away their troubles. But along with backing vocals from Wood and Preston providing sultry keyboard decoration, the essence of the song would be refined to become ‘Miss You‘ which gave the band a massive hit single from the ‘Some Girls‘ album two years later.
Perkins makes his presence felt on the fiery ‘Hand of Fate‘, trading expressive guitar lines with Richards while Jagger delivers the narrative on what he described as a ‘Southern murder‘, told from the viewpoint of the fugitive.
‘He was a bar room man/The violent kind/He had no love for that gal of mine/Then one day in the 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.’
The ‘Brown Sugar‘ overtones in the performance are unmissable, but nevertheless it still boils with more authenticity than any of their countless imitators could muster, Jagger leaving the protagonist just one step ahead of his pursuers:
‘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.’
With their rendition of ‘Cherry Oh Baby‘ a 1971 hit for Caribbean-born singer-songwriter Eric Donaldson, they set about doing justice to outright reggae with a song which came to their attention when recording ‘Goats Head Soup‘ in Jamaica three years before. This interpretation offers renowned keyboard sessioneer Nicky Hopkins full license to shape the framework of a melody, where the lyrics to 1978 Clash masterpiece ‘(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais‘ fit almost as well as the original set written by Donaldson.
Side one closes with the poignant, cinematic sweep of ‘Memory Motel‘, a memorable widescreen Stones-ballad in the tradition of ‘Midnight Mile,’ ‘Winter‘ and ‘Wild Horses.’
Perhaps a touch indulgent at a shade of over seven minutes, it is a captivating piece featuring Keith doing a turn on electric piano with Preston playing synthesiser. Perkins (acoustic), Mandel (electric) share guitar duties – although curiously for a song of such length there is no solo – while Jagger, in a mood of wistful reminiscence, (‘It took a starry night to steal my breath away/Down on the water front/Her hair all drenched in spray‘), leads the troupe on piano.
As vivid as what Bruce Springsteen had recently conjured on ‘Backstreets‘ (to which it has melodic similarity), from ‘Born to Run‘, Richards also chips in with a vocal passage, ‘She got a mind of her own/And she use it well/Well she’s one of a kind‘, his fellow narrator, despite changing hotels many times since, unable to block out memories:
‘Every woman seemed to fade out of my mind/I hit the bottle and hit the sack and cried/What’s all this laughter on the 22nd floor/It’s just some friends of mine/And they’re busting down the door/Been a lonely night at the Memory Motel.’
Built upon a chunky riff that Wood took to Munich (earning him an ‘inspired by‘ credit), side two opener ‘Hey Negrita‘ is another track heavy with funk overtones, the supplementary Latin shuffles giving added flavour to the tale of a poverty-stricken South American man enraptured by an alluring woman:
‘Come si chiama/What’s you game/I’m just a poor man, what’s your name/Shake your body/Do it up now/Shake body, move it up now.‘
Preston adds fuel to the fire with some extravagant piano fills that take the track close to becoming an accelerated remake of ‘Fat Man in the Bathtub‘ that appeared on the brilliant 1973 Little Feat album ‘Dixie Chicken‘ – keyboard maestro Preston remaining at the fore on ‘Melody‘, a lengthy, R&B styled work out for which he too receives ‘inspired by‘ recognition.
Not only does Preston contribute emphatic piano, he shares much of the lead vocal with Mick through a piece where the track itself contains more purpose than the tale, Jagger singing the part of a character wronged by a duplicitous female (‘Melody (Melody), it was her second name‘). Fattened up by a horn section toward the close, it is all rather loose and louche, not dislikeable but lacking the substance to warrant a running time of almost six minutes.
At a minute less, the superb keyboard-based torch ballad ‘Fool to Cry‘ is far more focused and effective.
With Hopkins on piano and synthesiser, at the electric piano Jagger turns introspective in depicting a touching interaction with one of his children:
‘When I come home, baby/And I’ve been working all night long/I put my daughter on my knee/And she said/ “Daddy, what’s wrong?”/She whispered in my ear so sweet/You know what she said?/She said “Daddy, you’re a fool to cry.’
For much of this captivating track (an edited version becoming a hit single on both sides of the Atlantic), Jagger sings in a falsetto style which gives the song emotional resonance, helped in no small way by the tasteful, understated electric guitar refrains of Perkins and Richards.
In retrospect, closing cut ‘Crazy Mama‘ doubles as an exercise in standing still and the shape of things to come. This run-of-the-mill Stones rocker, interchangeable with two or three others on the preceding couple of albums, performed by Jagger, Richards, Wyman, Watts and Wood – this constituting the line-up until Wyman left the band in 1993.
With support from Preston and Brown the song blusters along to reasonable effect, the gist evident in couplets such as ‘Well you’re crazy mama/With your ball and chain/You’re plain psychotic, woo/Plain insane’, Wood having no problem with a guitar part sounding reminiscent of what he played when the Faces performed ‘Twistin’ The Night Away‘ at their live shows.
But by April 1976 it was clear the Faces were no longer an entity, the cat well and truly out of the bag when Wood was pictured with his now fellow-Stones on the cover of ‘Black and Blue‘ – the album, for all the unflattering comments it generated, reaching number two on the U.K. charts while enjoying a four-week run in the U.S. Number One spot.
Even if the critics were unsatisfied, praise from a surprising source arrived soon after. Having not left the band on the best of terms, Mick Taylor spoke out in defence of the record.
‘I like Black and Blue‘ he remarked in an interview – speaking as a former-Stone then and on behalf of many of us today.
ROLLING STONES – BLACK and BLUE (Released April 23 1976):
Hot Stuff/Hand of Fate/Cherry Oh Baby/Memory Motel/Hey Negrita/Melody/Fool to Cry/Crazy Mama;
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