Number 32: Let it Bleed

Album: Let it Bleed

Artist: The Rolling Stone

Year: 1969

Information: This album doesn't exactly have any notable history recorded, or at least of what I've been able to find. However, one interesting snippet is that "You Can't Always Get What You Want" predates the sessions for this album and even predates Beggars Banquet's release.

High Points: One of the greatest rock recordings ever made, "Gimme Shelter" is the Mt. Everest in an album with other large, daunting mountains. Every time I hear this song, I get goose bumps, which is one of the greatest compliments I can give to a song. The parts that really gets me is when Merry Clayton is singing. Specifically the point where her voice cracks when practically screaming "Rape, murder" and you can hear Mick Jagger in the background yelling "Whoo" in response to how emotional she was being. Even in the beginning, the song is great. The building guitar solo, percussion, and Mick's nearly impossible to understand lyrics bring about an air of the coming apocalypse. A truly great song.

Low Points: The forgettable song, to me, on this album is "Live with Me." I cannot remember this song at all, and that's usually a fair indicator of how I feel about a song.

Is it Great? I really love this album.

The song has two other great songs, "Midnight Rambler" and "You Can't Always Get What You Want." 

"Midnight Rambler" is a very bluesy song, recounting the escapades of an ubiquitous murderer. It builds up to great peaks and crumbles down to deep valleys, practically getting down to just a harmonica. The song ends in the middle of a large arch, getting bigger and bigger to the point where the murdered finally catches you and he'll "stick my knife right down your throat, baby, and it hurts!" I have one complaint with the song, however. The harmonica is very prominent on this song and bubbles under the surface practically throughout the entire song. This song could have reached new heights if the harmonica were to break out from behind the rest of the music and deliver a very strong, bluesy attack.

The other is "You Can't Always Get What You Want." Now, I understand that the phrase has become cliche, but you can't blame the song for that happening. In fact, I would say that it is quoted so often because the song is so impressive. It starts off quiet and tender, with very high-pitched singing, provided by a choir. Then it goes silent for a moment, and then starts off again with Mick singing with maraca and acoustic strumming accompaniment. It goes on like this for a bit until the rest of the band kicks in and the song just becomes really fun to listen to.

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"Love in Vain" is another great song, a heart breaking tale originally written by Robert Johnson, credited under his pseudonym Woody Payne. It's a very slow, blues song and exceptionally written about the sadness of a recently lost lover. 

"You Got the Silver" is similar to "Love in Vain." It's another touching song, this time it's sung by Keith Richards, who I feel did this song great justice. It also features Brian Jones on autoharp, which is the last recording of Jones to be released. The song also ends on a peak, with Keith eschewing the chorus for a very passionate, near-screaming vocal delivery.

"Country Honk" and "Let it Bleed" are two country-rock songs. Contrary to popular feeling, I actually quite enjoy "Country Honk." It's how the song was originally written and I like it, especially the line "But I just can't seem to drink you off my mind." However, the song is weirdly muddled and it can be hard to make out. "Let it Bleed" is an okay song, but I wouldn't say it's great.

"Monkey Man" is an interesting song. It has good parts and bad parts. The vocal delivery and music on this song is really entertaining and powerful. However, some of the lyrics can be stupid "I'm a cold Italian pizza, I could a lemon squeezer." But, it does get a little weird at the end when Mick sings "I'm a monkey!"