I’ve already spoken to you previously about “Goat’s Head Soup,” by The Rolling Stones. Like you’ve probably already noticed, It’s one of my favourite records of all time! But allow me to change that for you on how their 1976 record, “Black and Blue,” is one of my go to records. I know, I know, you’re already thinking, “MARCO,  out of the entire catalogue of one of the greatest rock and roll bands of all time, you had to pick that one. You couldn’t have picked, “Some Girls,” “Exile on Main St.,” or even “Sticky Fingers, but go with this sort of “meh” record! And my answer to that is simply, YEAH! To me, “Black and Blue,” is a record that I’d tend to go back to pretty often. Not as often as now, but within the past quite a-bit, but I still enjoy it whenever I get the chance. It’s an interesting record, because it’s the first one to feature former Faces guitarist Ronnie Wood in its entirety, replacing Mick Taylor. GREAT! But that doesn’t really matter to me. Whenever I listen to “Black and Blue,” It takes me back to when I used to work at a clothing store, while going to university at the same time. I remember stumbling upon it while working on one of my assignments. I was looking for some sort of music with a-bit of a punch, some sort of rock and roll elements to it, but carrying out some sort of groove style. And that was the period where I was slowly starting to get into The Rolling Stones, after I heard of The Beatles…..a-little too much, but I ain’t complaining! Just seeing the cover art of Mick Jagger, and Keith Richard’s faces up close grasped my attention. I didn’t know what I was about to get into, but I knew that it was going to be something quite interesting. And look, I’m not saying that it’s the greatest Rolling Stone record of all time, no, I’m just saying that it’s a really good record to check out, because there’s this sense of flowability within each song. And there’s this sort of sense where the band is slowly trying to evolve as a sense of gravitating towards new styles, but while still grounding themselves towards their rock and roll roots. I’m just hoping that they do some sort of reissue release for this record, because I guarantee you that there are so many great unreleased gems that should’ve made the record. TRUST ME ON THIS!

The record kicks off with, “Hot Stuff,” a sort of upbeat funky melody,  where you can get the sense that the band was trying to grasp the dance genre, in which we will see more and more towards the end of the 70’s, and early 80’s. The same goes for their opening song of side 2 with “Hey Negrita.” But the winner to me is “Hand of Fate.” This is such a great, and underrated Rolling Stones song, because of not only for their cool FREAKIN’ lyrics, but the production behind the song. From the melody all the way towards the beat of the song just sounds amazing. I remember hearing this for the first time and just being blown away by the lyrics themselves. “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 record then closes with this great engaging rock blues track titled, “Crazy Mama,” where you get this sense that the band is returning back to their rock and roll, and bluesy roots, but with an engaging melody added to it.