The Rolling Stones - Blue & Lonesome

The Rolling Stones
Blue & Lonesome
2016
Spotify

25 fucking albums. It is nuts to think just how long The Rolling Stones have been doing their thing and after all these years continue to sell out stadiums. Taking American blues and shoving it through the British rock filter was their original breakthrough and that continues on this new record  Blue & Lonesome. The album is even more of a throwback offering straight up blues rock, no frills. This really is old guy music made by old guys for a old guys but that does not take away from the fact that it still sounds good. When Keith Richards shreds on these blues tracks the band just feels so incredibly comfortable and happy with what they are doing. For the past few records The Stones have taken an almost "doing it because we have to" kind of vibe lots of Stones sound but very little Stones substance. This return to the sound that got them there is an awesome change of pace for both the fan and for the band themselves. They sound happy when they are jamming through these muddy Blues songs, the pressure is totally off and they are able to simply let it all hang out. The roughness of the album, sounding like it was recorded in the back of a smokey bar, is also another hugely fun thing. The piano on "All of Your Love" transports you right to that worn bar stool and the burn of that shot of your favorite cheap poison.

For all of it's warmth and kitch you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would call this record modern. It is not The Rolling Stones' take on these tracks it is literally just the Stones doing the track. You aren't going to find any of the Stones in the writing credits either and while that is nothing new for them it still feels odd. I doubt you would hear the Stones call these songs covers, but really that is what they are: high level covers. It seems like in today's world authenticity is more highly regarded than musical skill, something that has changed since the Stones began playing. The music is totally great to listen to, but if one of these tracks actually set the world on fire (they won't) something about that would feel wrong. Because the album is so Blues centricit ends up sound very much the same. With the later tracks this becomes a bit boring, because there are just zero sruprises. It is a great thing that these guys are still making music, and they do sound really great, but playing a bunch of old Blues songs and wrapping them up as your own does not a great album make.

7.2 out of 10