The Rolling Stones, Black and Blue [Super Deluxe Edition]
The album the Stones made while auditioning guitarists gets a new Super Deluxe version featuring unreleased jams with Jeff Beck, as well as a full concert from '76 featuring Billy Preston.
The Rolling Stones, Black and Blue [1976]
★★★
Black and Blue [Super Deluxe Edition] [2025; 1975-1976]
★★★
It’s hard to believe anybody would call Black and Blue their favorite Rolling Stones album.
Neither a classic nor a dud, Black and Blue captured the band at a moment of transition, figuring out how to move forward without Mick Taylor, the guitarist who left the band late in 1974. Among other things, Taylor grew frustrated with the songwriting stranglehold Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had in the band. They, in turn, viewed him as a hotshot guitarist who added flash and color to the Stones. So, it makes perfect sense that when they needed to replace him, they auditioned a host of guitarists that fit that description. There was Harvey Mandel, who joined Canned Heat in time for their set at Woodstock in 1969; Wayne Perkins, who was fresh from playing on Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark; Memphis young gun Robert A. Johnson; and Jeff Beck, a fellow veteran of the British blues scene who spent the early 1970s struggling to find his footing in a series of hard-rock combos.
Another guitarist showed up at these sessions: Ronnie Wood