270. The Rolling Stones | Exile on Main St. (1972)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Rocks Off
2. Rip This Joint
3. Shake Your Hips
4. Casino Boogie
5. Tumbling Dice
6. Sweet Virginia
7. Torn and Frayed
8. Sweet Black Angel
9. Loving Cup
10. Happy
11. Turd on the Run
12. Ventilator Blues
13. I Just Want to See His Face
14. Let It Loose
15. All Down the Line
16. Stop Breaking Down
17. Shine a Light
18. Soul Survivor

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Exile on Main St. is a singular album. The music is rock and roll with songs that extend to its roots, country and blues. While the album reaches back to the beginning, it extends forward with use of backing singers and horns. It's impressive to have so much going on while maintaing so much clarity. And it's not that backing singers and horns haven't been used before, I just haven't heard it with straight up rock and roll.

I think this is one of the best albums I've ever heard. The Rolling Stones have always been plagued by inconsistency. Despite having many good albums, their catalogue is not unblemished. And even among the good albums, there are many songs that just don't resonate.

This album is different. Every song belongs and works to improve the others. It's true that this album doesn't have very many big hits on it as other of their albums do and it's true that it takes a while to warm up to the album. But it's worth the effort because these songs are some of their strongest. So, it's certainly worth listening and does belong in every serious album collection. It also deserves to be on the 1001 Albums list for being the gold standard of modern rock and roll albums.

All the songs are excellent. The stand-outs are: Rocks Off, Rip This Joing, Shake Your Hips, Casino Boogie, Tumbling Dice, Sweet Virginia, Torn and Frayed, Sweet Black Angel, Loving Cup, Happy, Turd on the Run, Ventilator Blues, I Just Want to See His Face, Let It Loose, All Down the Line, Stop Breaking Down, Shine a Light and Soul Survivor. Yep, that's all of them!

★★★★★★★★★★

215. The Rolling Stones | Sticky Fingers (1971)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Brown Sugar
2. Sway
3. Wild Horses
4. Can't You Hear Me Knocking
5. You Gotta Move
6. Bitch
7. I Got the Blues
8. Sister Morphine
9. Dead Flowers
10. Moonlight Mile

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Sticky Fingers is a reliable album. The music is rock. The band is all business on this album. They are tight and efficient. Keith Richards puts in a great performance.

This is a really good album and is certainly worth listening to. However, I don't think it needs to be on the 1001 Albums list.

All the songs on this album are good. The stand outs are: Brown Sugar, Sway, Wild Horses, Can't You Hear Me Knocking and Bitch.

★★★★★★★★★☆

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.

★★★★★★★★☆☆

107. The Rolling Stones | Beggars Banquet (1968)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Sympathy for the Devil
2. No Expectations
3. Dear Doctor
4. Parachute Woman
5. Jig-Saw Puzzle
6. Street Fighting Man
7. Prodigal Son
8. Stray Cat Blues
9. Factory Girl
10. Salt of the Earth

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Note: The album was originally meant to be released with the left album cover, but it was released with the right cover instead. See the Wikipedia entry for the details why the bottom cover was used.

Beggars Banquet is an edgy album. The songs are a mix of hard edged and quiet acoustic rock and roll. The mix of songs surprisingly works well together. The Rolling Stones certainly draw more directly from the blues than more of the recent rock and roll albums.

The album has a transcendent quality to it, something akin to what the Beatles accomplished from Revolver on. After listening to the album one time, there's no question about how great it is. I've yet to figure out for myself why there are albums like this. Is it just a convergence of production quality, mature song writing and mature playing? Maybe there's no way to define it; instead, you just feel it in your bones.

I've never been a big fan of the Rolling Stones, but the 1001 Albums list is making me one. Naturally, it follows from the observation above that this is not only an album that must be listened to, but it's an album that should be part of any serious music listener's collection. 

There isn't a bad track on this album, but the real stand outs are Sympathy for the Devil, Jig-Saw Man, Street Fighting Man, Prodigal Son, Stray Cat Blues and Salt of the Earth.

★★★★★★★★★★

70. The Rolling Stones | Aftermath (1966)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Mother's Little Helper
2. Stupid Girl
3. Lady Jane
4. Under My Thumb
5. Doncha Bother Me
6. Goin' Home
7. Flight 505
8. High and Dry
9. Out of Time
10. It's Not Easy
11. I Am Waiting
12. Take It or Leave It
13. Think
14. What to Do

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Aftermath is a modest album. The music is unpretentious and conservative, and never extravagant. It gets the job done. Rock and roll has been moving away from its blues roots. This album brings the blues back to the fore.

The lyrics on Stupid Girl and Under My Thumb seem a bit sexist. It seems strange alongside Mother's Little Helper which shows some sympathy toward the suffering of housewives.

This album is reliable. You can always listen to it and expect to be entertained. It doesn't break new ground or push the boundary and it never pretends to; it simply strengthens the foundations.

All of the songs are great; the more notable ones are Mother's Little Helper, Under My Thumb, Goin' Home, High and Dry, Out of Time, I Am Waiting and Think.

★★★★★★★★ ☆☆

46. The Rolling Stones | The Rolling Stones (1964)

Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Route 66
2. I Just Want to Make Love to You
3. Honest I Do
4. Mona (I Need You Baby)
5. Now I've Got a Witness
6. Little by Little
7. I'm a King Bee
8. Carol
9. Tell Me
10. Can I Get a Witness
11. You Can Make It If You Try
12. Walking the Dog

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The Rolling Stones is quite good. It's energetic, but not exciting. The songs consist mostly blues covers, but they have been given a rock and roll treatment that has a much harder edge than anything that has come before.

This album didn't appeal to me the first time I heard it, but I've come to appreciate it. It's not just unpolished, it's raw. The role of the lead guitar is a novel one on Mona (I Need You Baby), Tell Me and Walking the Dog and that's what makes this album worth listening to. Besides those three songs, the other stand outs are: I Just Want to Make Love to You, Honest I Do, Little by Little and King Bee. 
★★★★★★★★☆☆