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After Aftermath, which had confirmed the songwriting talents of our band, the Stones lose themselves in psychedelic territories that are a bit tight for them. It will take a masterpiece like Beggars Banquet to bring them back on the right track.
But the subsequent Let it Bleed is an even more important album because it marks a period of changes for the band. Especially tragic ones, like the death of Brian Jones and the Altamont murder.
Never has a cover been so emblematic, a cake that should symbolize a party is literally devastated. But musically speaking, while Beggars Banquet seems to resurrect the spirit of Robert Johnson and his unsettling ghosts, this album presents the dawn of the typical Stones sound that will carry them to the present day.
If Exile On Main Street is the creative peak, Let It Bleed lays the groundwork for that indestructible pillar that never seems to fade. Especially because from this album, Keef (Keith Richards) starts to get serious. From a country version of Honky Tonk Woman (as a testament to his affection for Gram Parsons), to the ghost of Johnson that reappears here too (Love In Vain).
But in Monkey Man, the sound is harsher and tighter than ever before, and in Live With Me, Bobby Keys appears on the saxophone, another Stone who will sign other commendable textures in the subsequent works.
If you really want a starting point for the Stones that you are used to hearing, you have no choice but to start here, taking care not to overlook the rest.
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