features in: Album Chart of 1971 ● Album Chart of the Decade: 1970s ● 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ![]() |

For their first of the new decade, released in the springtime of ’71, the Stones now lined up: Mick Jagger (27, lead vocals, guitars); Keith Richards (27, guitars, backing vocals); Mick Taylor (22, lead guitar); Bill Wyman (34, bass guitar) and Charlie Watts (29, drums). This was very much the start of a new era for the group, now freed from their obligations to Decca Records and to the dodgy management contracts with Allen Klein. The LP was the first to be released on their own label and featured the lips and tongue logo which would become absolutely synonymous with the Rolling Stones.
The album gets off to heavy-hitting start with “Brown Sugar”, their 70s equivalent of “Satisfaction” with a riff that resonates internationally. Jagger says: “The lyric was all to do with the dual combination of drugs and girls. This song was a very instant thing, a definite high point.” Drugs, in fact, are everywhere you look on this album – no wonder they’re skint. Paying no attention at all to this, I prefer to just let the music do the talking; “You Gotta Move” is the next song that strikes a chord with me, the album’s sole cover version. Jagger goes negro-spiritual! It’s got the wow factor and these cats prove to me, once again, they’ve still got a feeling for the blues that runs deep.
By contrast, the rockers “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” and “Bitch” leave me cold – I can’t escape the dreaded feeling that this is the new sound of the Stones that will take future precedence, all stodgy riffs, posing posture and soar-away solos. “I Got The Blues”, which recalls those terrific Stax ballads, gets me back onside. The best is saved ‘til last with the enigmatic “Moonlight Mile”, a lifestyle weary ballad of the Rock n Roller which is seems steeped in a real-life truth. Jim Price’s piano and Paul Buckmaster’s string arrangement lift this piece on to a high platform. The album was a major success, hitting top spot in both America and Britain, but their troubles weren’t over. Mismanagement and poor advice had led to their financial affairs being in a sorry mess – within months of the album’s release the whole group had decamped to the South of France where they would be out of reach of the tax authorities for a while. Life was never dull for the Rolling Stones…
The Jukebox Rebel
22–Dec–2007
Tracklist |
A1 | [03:50] ![]() |
A2 | [03:52] ![]() |
A3 | [05:44] ![]() |
A4 | [07:15] ![]() |
A5 | [02:34] ![]() |
B1 | [03:37] ![]() |
B2 | [03:54] ![]() |
B3 | [05:34] ![]() |
B4 | [04:05] ![]() |
B5 | [05:56] ![]() |