The Rolling Stones

Let It Bleed (1969)

 

  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
  

The Stones did the unthinkable here—they topped themselves. As great as Beggars Banquet was, Let It Bleed somehow pushes even further. Many fans point to this as the band’s best overall work, and it’s hard to argue. This was right in that golden stretch when everything they touched seemed to turn to rock and roll gold. On the surface, it doesn’t appear too far removed from its predecessor—the themes are similar, the sonic foundation still steeped in R&B, sleaze, country-fried grit, and enough chaos to light a small city. But where Beggars Banquet was raw and stripped, Let It Bleed is richer, deeper, and much more fully realized.

The textures on this thing are astonishing. We get mandolins, fiddles, French horns, saxophones, gospel choirs—you name it. This is also the first album to feature Mick Taylor on guitar, stepping in after Brian Jones began to fade into the background for good. Jones appears on a couple of tracks, but his contributions are minor. Tragically, he wouldn’t live to see the album’s release.

They kick things off with Gimme Shelter, and there’s no turning back. The song sets a menacing, urgent tone—a swirling, apocalyptic snapshot of a world unraveling. It mirrors Sympathy for the Devil in some ways, and like Beggars Banquet, the band follows up the opener with a slow burner—in this case, a cover of Robert Johnson’s Love in Vain. Then comes Country Honk, a twangy, tongue-in-cheek reimagining of Honky Tonk Women, which didn’t make it onto the album. Same DNA, different wardrobe.

Everything else is just as good. The title track, Let It Bleed, is equal parts sleaze and swagger, complete with lyrics about drug use and sticky lust that only the Stones could pull off without blinking. Monkey Man feels like a mission statement—wild, unhinged, and proudly autobiographical. Keith Richards gets his first lead vocal on You Got the Silver, and while he’s not what you’d call a technically skilled singer, the gravel in his voice carries its own sort of beauty.

They close with a masterpiece. You Can’t Always Get What You Want is the band’s most ambitious track up to that point, opening with the angelic London Bach Choir before sprawling into a gospel-laced, piano-driven epic. The guest list is a who’s who—Leon Russell, Nicky Hopkins, Ian Stewart, Madeline Bell, Ry Cooder. It’s the kind of record that feels big, but never bloated. They didn’t just make another good album—they made the album. The one that would go down as the high-water mark in a sea of greatness.

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