Search - Rolling Stones :: It's Only Rock & Roll (O-Card)

It Isnt Only Rock And Roll!

Morton | Colorado | 04/20/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It's Only Rock And Roll isnt the best album The Rolling Stones ever recorded but it's still a very good rock and roll album. I mean its got the classic Stones line up of Jagger/Richards/Watts/Wyman/Taylor. The albums is packed full of classic Rolling Stones songs. There is no reggea crap on the album just good old fashioned bluesy influenced rock and roll! The guitar playing through out the album is top notch and probley this, It's Only Rock And Roll is the best guitar album The Rolling Stones created, which is sad because Mick Taylor, the virtoisic guitar player and arguably the best guitar player the Stones ever had left after this album.



The album opens opens with it's best song, 'If You Cant Rck Me' which to this day has been a concert staple for the band. A true classic in The Rolling Stones catalog. If You Cant Rock me is concedered one of The Rolling Stones' all time best songs! As we roll along we come into another Temptations cover by the boys, 'Aint To Proud To Beg' which is my all time favorite temptaions song, and The Rolling Stones version is pretty good but doesnt have the same soul and passion as the orignal, but still a good cover. Next is the title track and the big hit single off the album and one of the classic songs ever recorded. 'It's Only Rock And Roll is easily one of the better songs The Rolling Stones have ever recorded, with brilliant slide guitar by Mick Taylor, and Mick Jagger's vocal swagger over self whorshiping lyrics, it makes the ultamite rock song!

'Till The Next Goodbye' is a southern fried country flavored song that is somewhat repetitive but yet in someway still a good song. I'm not really sure what to say about the song you'll just have to hear it for yourself. 'Time Waits For No One' is one of the all time best songs ever recorded. This song features Mick Taylor's all time best guitar solo, any real guitar player can apreciate this song ever if they hated The Rolling Stones. It's dark and mysterious and a truly amazing song. Good old Keith Richards steps up to the plate and sings on the next track. Like all of the songs Keith sings lead on 'Luxury' is a great song full of rough vocals and great guitar playing. Keiths riff on this song is one of his all time best. Most people say that the next song is just filler but I have to disagree, 'Dance Little Sister' is one of the better songs on the album. It's a harder rocking song the If You Cant Rock Me and it has a very catchy hook, I think this is way better then Till The Next Goodbye, and most people say thats one of the best songs on the album. The guitar alone on this song puts it as one of the better tracks. 'If You Really Want To Be My Friend' is a slower ballad as only The Rolling Stones could do. Nice piano and backing vocals give this already beautiful song a great atmosphere. The next song is done in true Rolling Stones form, nice blues driven rock and roll with amzing guitar playing thrown in for accient. 'Short And Curlies' is a cool blues song that not many people like and I dont understand why, I absolutley love the song, it's one of my favorite songs on the album. The album comes to a close with 'Fingerprint File' which is the perfect song to close the album and really was a sign of things to come next in The Rolling Stones' carrear. It's kinda disco but not, it's kinda funk but not, which were two arears that The Stones were not afriad to explore on the albums that followed It's Only Rock And Roll.



So with only one minor blunder on this album I cant see why people give it such a bad rap. Like I have stated it's full of Rolling Stones classics and even the songs that are not classics are still great rock and roll songs, with the exception of their country attempt Till The Next Goodbye, Which is strange because usually when The Rolling Stones would make a country song it was usually good. So with all this in mind, the next time you are in a record store do yourself a favor and pick up this classic album by one of the all time greatest bands ever! After all it's only rock and roll!"

Average

Steve | Virginia | 05/11/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Great idea, Joshua Downham! His take on combining the best of this album and Goat's Head Soup was inspired. I'm going to add Black and Blue to the mix and create one fantastic album. Before boring you with my take on that concept, let me get to the album at hand.

First of all, I picked up the cd to replace my ancient album when the flashy re-packaging of the red/white/blue sleeve caught my eye. Sadly, there is nothing else noteworthy about it - no extra tracks or anything like that, so that was a bit of a downer. It's purely a pipe dream to think that we'll ever get more out of the Stones than they wish, and with the key to the vaults clenched tightly between Mick's fingers, it'll take the death of a significant member and the break-up of the band before we ever get the real hidden treasures still out there.

The songs aren't bad, but some songs have an unfinished quality to them and may very well have ended up as out-takes with a bit more time to consider their value. "If You Can't Rock Me" and "Time Waits For No One" (even though the solo goes on a bit too long for me) are the highlights. Some of the songs are earnest if nothing else and show some willingness to explore new areas; "Luxury" and "Fingerprint File," and I'm mixed on "If You Really Want To Be My Friend," which sounds like the Billy Preston audition tapes, (along with "Melody" from the album after this one) as well as "Till The Next Time We Say Goodbye." I don't care much for their cover of "Ain't Too Proud to Beg." The Stones can do a lot of things, but I don't find much of value in their Motown/pop-ish r'n'b covers, even going back to their first few albums. The remaining numbers are tired sounding, including the title track, "Dance Little Sister," and "Short and Curlies."

Now, getting back to the super-album...I would take "Coming Down Again," "Winter," "Star Star," "Angie," "Heartbreaker," "If You Can't Rock Me," "Time Waits for No One," "Hey, Negrita," "Fool to Cry," "Memory Motel," and "Crazy Mama." These are my faves from the uneven trio of mid-late seventies recordings."