I Got Nasty Habits, I Take Tea At Three

Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing and still not find the power or will to cut back.  With financial needs pressing and a desire to lighten my load of heavy personal items, I've done a bit of culling from my personal book and record collections over the last year.  Oddly enough, the books have been the hardest to let go of for sentimental reasons.  I considered culling some copies of one of my favorite albums of all-time, but I ultimately nixed that idea. 

I'm not 100% positive what year I first bought The Rolling Stones Let It Bleed but I believe it was 1980.  I do remember I bought it at a flea market in the summer, and I am positive I knew the album before they released Emotional Rescue.  I absolutely loved that old copy of Let It Bleed.  It was well worn with plenty Rice Crispies action going on -- snaps, crackles, and pops.  But the songs had an impact regardless of the high noise level.

At some point in the mid-80's I picked up a new pressing of the album and absolutely loved being able to hear such a clean sound.  I could finally crank up the volume without being pelted with noise.  This was followed by an early digital remaster released on virgin vinyl in the 80's that blew me away.  Several years later when I was living in Virginia I was able to score an original US pressing in beautiful condition complete with the glossy poster.  Of course, there are the remastered CDs.  I should, by any reasonable stretch of the imagination, be able to let some of these copies go.  But I just can't bring myself to do it.

I still have the ratty old copy I bought over 30 years ago, but I just feel too sentimental about it to let the damn thing go, split seams and all.  It was the copy I fell in love with.  The original release I found in Virginia is just one of those "nice" things I can't muster the will to let go of and quite frankly, the two 1980's re-issues just sound too good to let go of, even compared to the CD remasters.  I play the virgin vinyl copy sparingly but on one occasion I played it for a friend with an audiophile's predisposition and even he was duly impressed with the sound.

Exile on Main Street may get the higher reputation, but for my money Let It Bleed was their best and most powerful album.  I believe the real secret to this album's success is not in Richards' or Taylor's guitar work, as impressive as they are.  It isn't even Jagger's vocals, which he seemed to finally be able to masterfully manipulate at this point.  Lyrically it's one of their strongest albums.  What seals this album's greatness lies in the grooves made by Wyman and Watts.

Wyman's walking bass lines are really lively and drive all through the album, my favorite being on Live With Me.  He's aggressive but not once is he obtrusive.  There is no sense that the bass is climbing all over the song, trying to find a groove or just exploit what's going on.  He's pulling the groove along, like a locomotive.

Charlie Watts..no question this was his greatest work with the band.  After all these years I am still impressed with just how well he played on this album.  He alternately plays in front of the beat, behind the beat, and on the beat.  He never pushes the song hard, doesn't throw out a cliched fill and sounds understated even though he's laying a groove with Wyman that the rest of the band dances upon.

It's the groove.  You have to listen for the groove and follow what the rest of the band are doing with it to grasp the power of the album. It's the sort of thing Booker T and the MGs mastered, get the groove moving and hang on for the duration.  This is much more raw than Booker T and the MGs and this was the essence of the Stones as the decade closed.  Raw.

Pure brilliance.