The Rolling Stones
Let It Bleed

Ok, I know. "Let It Bleed" has already been commented on. Alright, fine. Don't get upset, stay calm, everything is fine. After all, reviewing the Rolling Stones (the four charming Anglo-Saxon oldies who sing and play much better than many pseudo low-level artists in their twenties with, alas, immense success: do the Blue mean nothing to you?) is always a source of pleasure and enjoyment.

Given that today these four lively and tenacious oldies have inevitably lost some of their edge and genius (their latest album, "A Bigger Bang", is neither great nor anything special), and that perhaps, musically, their last great album is "It's only rock'n' roll" dated 1974, I cannot say I don't love them or have never loved them. "Let It Bleed" is dated 1969 and represents a sort of watershed between the vibrant sounds of "Satisfaction" and the more complex and harmonious ones of "Angie".

"Let It Bleed" is a masterpiece, perhaps it is the best album by the Rolling Stones (certainly the most complex both musically and vocally) and it is composed of only six songs. Between a guitar riff by Keith Richards and a fake do-gooder scream of that devil Jagger, "Let It Bleed" pierces your heart and shreds your brain. The Rolling Stones, inhuman musicians descended from Heaven (or perhaps from Hell) to disrupt our rigor and our very banal daily life, choose to hit hard and leave a mark: scorching hot guitars, extremely powerful screams, ferocious drum rolls, breathtaking bass lines. The four frenzied Brits shatter, in one fell swoop, the certainties and fantasies of mid 20th century: a potent gesture of rebellion against the austere mediocrity of so many fake revolutionaries (see, for example, Jefferson Airplane).

"Let It Bleed" is epochal as much as it is grandiose. Have you ever felt a shiver down your spine after yet another listen to "Monkey Man"? Have you ever danced, (or perhaps twirled), to the pounding and vibrant notes of "Gimme Shelter"? And don't come to tell me that "Streets of Love" is better than "Let It Bleed"!

Noteworthy is the clever commercial ploy that the Stones implemented to facilitate the release of the album: in the UK, the Beatles had just released "Let It Be" in the record market (translated as "Let it be"), the Rolling, to exploit the success of the Beatles' record, decided to respond to the four Liverpudlian beetles with "Let It Bleed" (translated as "Let it bleed"). Provocation or commercial shrewdness?