It's Only Rock & Roll - Rolling Stones (The) (CD 1994)

I had this record when I was a kid. It was a great time rock music wise. In 1973 we had Zeppelin's Houses Of The Holy, Pink Floyd's Dark Side, and the New York Dolls. With the bar raised so high the Stones gave us their best album. Billy Preston's contributing work is superb.

The Rolling Stones punch you in the face right off the bat with this album. If You Can't Rock Me, Ain't Too Proud To Beg, and It's Only Rock N' Roll start it off running with tasty guitar licks from Keith Richards and Mick Taylor. Mick Jagger's vocals are in top form. The under-appreciated Charlie Watts also puts on a top performance especially on the goofy beat of the title track. I would think that this would be a hard tune to cover for a drummer. It starts out so goofy on drums (I'm sure intentionally) that I wounder if that was his purpose, to make it hard to copy exactly. Charlie Watts has done this before, adding in goofy fills and off-beats, showing why he's one of the better drummers, even though you don't hear as much about him as a lot of other legendary drummers like John Bonham. After these three opening tracks, they slow it down a bit on Till The Next Goodbye, Time Waits For No One, and Luxury. They speed it back up on Dance Little Sister, which is kind of a generic rocker, but it's also kind of catchy. If You Really Want To Be My Friend is a nice heartfelt ballad that has Mick showing off his emotions. The Stones usually pull off ballads pretty nicely, and this one is no exception. Short and Curlies is next and I think this is one of the highlights of this album. It's got a cool blues and the lyrics make you listen. It starts off "She's Got You By The Balls" and you're hooked into the rest of the song. Fingerprint File finishes the album off with a flangy guitar tune with some cool bass playing by Bill Wyman. It's a cool disco sound that'll have you moving to the music.

I enjoy every album that I listen to from the Stones, because I never know what I'm going to hear from them, whether it's listening to them album to album or track to track. They keep changing their genre and they keep you guessing, making them one of the most versatile bands ever. The album as a whole is pretty good. There isn't a bad song on the album. It drags a little in the middle, but it's still very listenable. The best part of the album though is the first three tracks. I love when the Stones decide to come out and punch ya with their hard hitting sound. They start it off with hard hitting rock and roll. And I like it.