Let it Bleed

As the '60s drained into the '70s, the Rolling Stones went on a creative run that rivals any in popular music. Beggars Banquet (1968), Let It Bleed (1969), Sticky Fingers (1971) and Exile on Main Street (1972) routinely turn up on lists of the greatest albums of all time, and deservedly so. All done with American producer Jimmy Miller – "an incredible rhythm man," in Keith Richards' terse description – those records shake like the culture itself was shaking.

As the Stones were working on 1969's Let It Bleed, Brian Jones mysteriously died, and the band replaced him with Mick Taylor, a profoundly gifted guitarist whose lyricism and melodic flair counterbalanced Richards' insistent, irreducible rhythmic drive, adding an element to the band's sound that hadn't been there before. Like its groundbreaking predecessor, Let It Bleed was once again produced by Miller and it's also similar in that both sides of the LP open with two stone cold classics, "Gimme Shelter," with Merry Clayton's wonderful backing vocal, and "Midnight Rambler," songs that have been a part of Stones live shows ever since.

In another similarity to the band's previous studio album it also features a blues cover, this time, "Love in Vain," written by the King of the Delta Blues Singers, Robert Johnson. The last track on the record is the ambitious and divergent "You Can't Always Get What You Want" featuring the London Bach Choir arranged by Jack Nitzsche and Al Kooper, of Blood Sweat & Tears on keyboards and French horn.

1. Gimme Shelter
2. Love In Vain
3. Country Honk
4. Live With Me
5. Let It Bleed
6. Midnight Rambler
7. You Got The Silver
8. Monkey Man
9. You Can't Always Get What You Want