Stones and their new album Blue and Lonesome

It's as if the spirit of Brian Jones has materialized and Bill Wyman has found his way back into the band. The only difference, perhaps, is that Blue and Lonesome isn't a quest to bounce back from the blues to a more distinctive expression, but purely an acknowledgement that the boys enjoy it, and are comfortable in the blues. Despite the fairly simultaneous sound in most of the songs, the nature of the musical experience is very retrospective. This studio album, which the Stones are releasing after more than a decade, has some features that set it apart from the others. Mick's bravura handling of the harmonica is certainly one of them. There's a lot of it on the record and it certainly doesn't matter. The occasional scratchy guitar licks (deliberately left in) on Blue and Lonesome and the slightly clunky phrasing of the other instruments on the same track are probably meant to add a sense of authenticity and respect from the songwriters' well of blues invention.

The album contains a total of twelve songs (on vinyl it is conceived as a double album) that are unreservedly taken from old bluesmen (Willie Dixon, Jimmy Reed, Eddie Taylor, Howlin' Wolf, etc.). It boasts versions that retain the original feel but add a stoner character that makes the seemingly trivial procedures an opus bordering on genius. Examples include All Your Love or Little Rain, which could easily have been on Let it Bleed (1967). Hate to See You Go brings to mind 1966 and the After Math album, specifically the track Going Home. Just Like I Treat You is a cut from the vinyl singles of the days when British bands were releasing blues-oriented stuff based on American models, often on both sides of small SP records. We can't forget the opener Just Your Fool, which clearly puts us into what's going to happen next, namely the blues at its most pure. The longest track is the closing I Can't Quit You Baby. It's a completely classic twelve, but it's Jagger who makes it a very emotionally intense event. The improvisational skills of the band's frontman are on display here in the same quality as before.

The Rolling Stones recorded this album a year before its release, in about three days, essentially live, and without any significant playback. In addition to Mick, Keith, Charlie, and Ron, the usual Darryl Jones on bass, Chuck Leavell on keys, and Matt Clifford also on keys. On two tracks you can hear the assistance of Eric Clapton, who was in the next studio making his record. In the discography of the Rolling Stones, this is an extraordinary work in the sense that it can be seen as a tribute to the main inspirations of their life's work. In that sense, it is a successful record that has a minimum of weak spots and manages to evoke the atmosphere of a blues experience spiced with Glimmer Twins. It probably also deserves a sequel, which has been the subject of some speculation. However, Blue and Lonesome is nothing groundbreaking in the Stones' oeuvre, though it probably isn't meant to be. I guess nothing provocative or innovative awaits us from these indomitable rockers. Too bad.