149. The Rolling Stones | Let It Bleed (1969)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Gimme Shelter
2. Love in Vain
3. Country Honk
4. Live with Me
5. Let It Bleed
6. Midnight Rambler
7. You Got the Silver
8. Monkey Man
9. You Can't Always Get What You Want

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Let It Bleed is an insensitive album. Or is it a dehumanizing album? No matter, the themes aren't at all positive. Sexual relationships are impersonal, demeaning and violent—Country Honk, Live With Me and Gimme Shelter. Non-sexual relationships are the same—You Can't Always Get What You Want, Monkey Man and Midnight Rambler. Aside from that, the music is quite good. It's the best Rolling Stones album so far.

The only problem I had with it, is that I don't get that album feeling when I listen to this album. It seems like a collection of songs. That's the way all Rolling Stones albums have felt. It just seems they go in to the studio, write a bunch of songs, and put them on the album without care to how they are ordered or how they relate to each other. Despite indicating there are themes on this album, I don't think that was intentional at all. This isn't a big problem, but I think their albums could have been better if they were more focused.

This is a nice collection of great songs, but not a great album, so I don't see why it's on the 1001 Albums list. The stand out songs are Gimme Shelter, Love in Vain, Country Honk (I like this version of Honky Tonk Women better), Let It Bleed, Midnight Rambler and You Can't Always Get What You Want.

★★★★★★★★☆☆