Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brooding genius, 20 Nov 2001
This album, alongside Exile on Main Street is probably the best Stones LP- sheer Rock 'n' Roll. You can see how the LP represents a sign of the times- the death of the Sixties spirit, later reflected by the horrific Altamont Stadium concert. 'Gimme Shelter' perhaps represents the brooding darkness of the album the best, whilst there's a bit of a country-thing goin' on with 'Country Honk', which can only be matched by 'Dead Flowers' on Sticky Fingers. A must for any music fan.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Classic!, 12 Oct 2000
Is there a better opening song to an album than Gimme Shelter! I don't think so. Let It Bleed has Keith Richards playing 95% of all guitars due to the exit of Brian Jones. Listen to Love in Vain, Monkey Man, You Got The Silver, to name but a few, to show what a versatile guitarist Keith is. (Keith discovered Open G Tuning which was used by old blues guitarist's. Keith turned it into a whole new way of playing guitar, which changed the sound of rock 'n roll for ever) If you appreciate excellent guitar work and want to buy a great blues-rock album, you'll love this. Total Quality!
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Perfect Album, 31 Oct 2005
Released on December 6, 1969, on the very day that Meredith Hunter was murdered by Hells Angels at Altamont, Let It Bleed marked the headstone to the Swingin' Sixties. With Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King assassinated and Nixon in the White House, the Manson murders and Vietnam coming home with National Guardsmen shooting at student protesters, a bad moon was rising over the Age Of Aquuarius. Let It Bleed would be the soundtrack. The albums opener, Gimme Shelter, is the apocalypse according to Mick Jagger. Against a backdrop of shimmering Keith guitars, Jagger sings of rape, murder and war. His message was both a warning and a cry for escape. If war was "just a shot away", then so too is love but "a kiss away". The greatest rock and roll recording ever made. Song two is a slow take on Robert Johnson's, Love In Vain. Mick sings mournfully over some sterling mandolin work from Ry Cooder who also showed Keith the Sears Roebuck guitar tuning which, banjo-style, the bottom string was removed and the guitar tuned to an open G. The slide guitar mimics the sound of that long, black train pulling out of the station. Amazing. Next song, Country Honk, was a country and western remake of the peerless Honky Tonk Women. Opening with the sounds of car horns, Keith joins in with a strummed acoustic, joined by the tender fiddle playing of Byron Berline. It also marks the first Stones album appearance by Mick Taylor, who plays slide. A restrained Jagger is joined on a rousing chorus by Richards and Nanette Newman, presumably over a jug of moonshine! Live With Me was a clue to the future. Listen and you'll hear the sound of Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main Street. Here was everything that would epitomize the Stones circa '71: Jaggers nasty rasp, the wailing sax of Bobby Keys, Keith's relentless rhythm. It begins with an aggressive bass line played by Keith before Charlie joins in as keyboardists Nicky Hopkins and Leon Russell trade bar-room melodies. Jagger meanwhile taunts a would be lover, "I've got nasty habits...Don't you think there's a place for you in between the sheets?" A magnificent rocker. Even surrounded by an ocean of decadence, violence and drugs, there's nothing in the grooves of next track, Let It Bleed, to suggest any regret. Vintage Stones. Mick the Lick may be drowning in blood and decay, but it's merely some warmth and comfort - "a little coke and sympathy" he seeks, yelping across a blissful acoustic boogie-woogie tune. Midnight Rambler, the downright scary epic based on Boston Strangler Albert De Salvo, is next up. Over rocking Keith work, a steady Charlie beat, and magnificent blues harp, the song oozes menace. The best bit is when it slows to a stop in the middle before speeding into a grand stand finale. Superb. You Got The Silver, the first song to be carried entirely by a Keith vocal is next. A tender love song, no doubt inspired by Anita Pallenberg, his new lover. Easily the weakest track on the album. The track marks the final Stones contribution of Brian Jones on autoharp. Monkey Man is introduced by a sneaky Nicky Hopkins piano balanced by a subtle Bill Wyman bass line. Then Keith and Charlie take over and it's transformed into a full on sleazy rocker in which Jagger tosses in heroin and Satanic references. A superlative rocker. Vintage Stones. The close of Let It Bleed, You Can't Always Get What You Want, remains one of the Stones' most famous epics. And rightly so. The song starts with the heavenly voices of the London Bach Choir, before a simple strummed acoustic and forlorn French horn by Al Kooper take over revealing a quieter, darker message that touches on the desperation of the drug life and the unsettled times. With super-producer Jimmy Miller sitting in on drums, Jagger goes on to describe his meeting with the hipster junkie "Mr Jimmy" above the beautiful racket of a gospel chorus and rollicking electric guitar. For many listeners, the message of the song went no further than the title, a metaphor to the era's continuing disappointments. Profound or not, the song put a close to the optimistic Sixties dream. The Stones at their best. The greatest band in the history of music. As the liner notes said: "THIS ALBUM SHOULD BE PLAYED LOUD". Indeed. Buy it now!
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