THE ROLLING STONES: LET IT BLEED Original 1969 LONDON RECORDS LP
$
20
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Description
Original 1969 LONDON RECORDS pressing of THE ROLLING STONES album, LET IT BLEED (NPS-4 STEREO)
Includes custom inner sleeve.
AMG 5 STARS: "Let It Bleed," the title track of the Rolling Stones' 1969 album of the same name, was also one of the strongest LP-only songs the band released in its career. The Stones were better than anybody else at making a slightly sloppy approach work for them rather than against them, and "Let It Bleed" could be the best illustration. The amiable, highly hummable blues-rock tune has a jerky, somewhat uneven rhythm slightly suggestive of a tipsy party guest who's imbibed just enough booze to make him less inhibited and more entertaining, but not enough to make him a truly annoying drunk. The backing track is similarly woozy, particularly in Keith Richards' slide guitar, Ian Stewart's carefree piano, and Bill Wyman's autoharp, with some really hard to define squeaky note-noises. The musicians too sound like they've gotten heavily into the punch bowl, like a band only good for one or two more songs in the waning hours of a party, before both they and the party fall apart. Mick Jagger gives the track one of his best vocals, with a supremely lazy approach that seems to be both affectionate and mocking at the same time, really chewing into the words "lean on" like a bemused master of ceremonies. The Stones had always been in the vanguard of pop artists taking chances with controversial and risqué song lyrics, but as society loosened up ever more at the end of the 1960s, they were starting to get even more outrageous than they had previously dared, particularly in the sex and drug references. There are plenty of playful, creative ones throughout "Let It Bleed," including the invitation by the woman for coke and sympathy (though probably relatively few listeners in 1969 knew that "coke" could stand for cocaine); Jagger's declaration that we all need someone we can cream on; the mention of a junkie nurse; and Jagger's own invitations for us to bleed, cream, and (most shockingly of all, this was 1969 after all) come all over him. Despite all this, "Let It Bleed" does not rely on gratuitous shock value for its impact. For at its core, it's a song about emotional dependency, the narrator making it clear that he's willing to good-naturedly put up with a partner who leans on him for emotional support. Yet it also acknowledges the dark side of the equation by observing how that can cross the line from codependency to damaging leeching and debasement.
Condition: the sleeve grades VG with splitting along the top (5") and the spine (1") see photos. No writing or tape. The record grades VG+. Original inner sleeve included; the record ships in an anti-static, dust free, archival sleeve.
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