Review Summary: Sticky Fingers is a great album filled with bluesy riffs and beautiful acoustic songs that make it very easily enjoyed by any Rolling Stones fan.
A long, long time ago, back in the 70s, before the Internet, before Nirvana, before rap and all of its wonders, The Rolling Stones were a rock and roll machine. Few people hadn’t heard Mick Jaggers signature vocals and Keith Richards rocking guitar riffs packed into the killer quintet known as The Rolling Stones. After the downfall (breakup) of their rivals, The Beatles, they were even further able to dominate the charts and establish themselves as one of the greatest bands alive. In 1969, they struck big with Let It Bleed and went even bigger with 1973s Exile On Main Street. Dropped in between these huge albums was the almost equally good, Sticky Fingers. Sticky Fingers has it all. From the blues influenced tunes to the classic rock and roll riffs, the stones fail to disappoint. As of most Rolling Stones albums, Sticky Fingers displays the amazing songwriting that Keith Richards and Mick Jagger are capable of and put plenty of enjoyable songs into this record. Through jams and solos, beautiful melodies and rocking tunes, Sticky Fingers is simply great and pretty much the true definition of a wonderful Rock and Roll record.
The Rolling Stones hold dozens of classic songs in their catalog, one being Brown Sugar; the perfect opener to Sticky Fingers. The second this rocker blasts out of the stereo, with its undeniably awesome riff and lead guitar it rocks like theres no tomorrow. Unique vocals and a memorable saxophone solo and chorus make this a song to remember. The stones could not have possibly opened this album better. The energy on Brown Sugar is truly amazing. Similar to Brown Sugar is Bitch. Bitch has an equally stunning riff and guitar solo that is easily enjoyable. Brass instruments help to add a much needed effect to the music repeating the riff in a more kick ass fashion and taking the lead in the song. Overall, with Bitch and Brown Sugar Sticky Fingers has definitely got the rockers the stones are so famous for.
As there are rocking songs on Sticky Fingers, there are mellow songs too. The most famous and well known one would be Wild Horses. Wild Horses is just one of those songs that make you feel and think. Its beautiful. The acoustic strumming and mellow lead guitar under Micks vocals create emotions that will make this your new favorite Rolling Stones tune. Although Micks vocals can become a little bit unenjoyable or annoying at times, it does not take away from the beauty of the song. Even the lyrics are meaningful. Another quiet, relaxing song is I Got The Blues. I Got The Blues is your fairly average track. Not a lot happens during the song and it, in many instances, becomes boring, but a nice, jazzy organ solo tends to help this song have some replay value and spices things up a bit. Like Wild Horses, there is Sister Morphine, another acoustic track that can be found to be quite beautiful with its Bob Dylan like vocals and acoustic strumming. Some interesting guitar work is displayed here that adds a more haunting or depressing feel to the song as a whole. Sister Morphine is a good example of the stones trying to keep things interesting. Some strange piano work before the drums kick in shows that the stones know how to try something different. In conclusion, as The Rolling Stones provided wonderful upbeat tracks to this album, they also can fit in wonderful acoustic melodies to this short LP.
The great thing about this record is its large variety of songs. Take Cant You Hear Me Knocking and You Gotta Move for example. They are both clearly blues influenced, but one (the first) is more of a stones styled rocker with a long instrumental jam towards the end where the Rolling Stones show their full potential as musicians, while the other, You Gotta Move, is much like an old bluesy track with a slide guitar and strange vocals. Though while Cant You Hear Me Knocking is a great song with a nice riff and groovy beat, You Gotta Move can become annoying easily with the unfamiliar vocals and boring structure. Another song that shows variety is Dead Flowers. Dead Flowers is a relaxed, but upbeat track with a very heavy country feel to it. Although it is nothing too special, it helps keep you entertained and satisfied with the album as a whole before the slightly less exciting Elton John like closer, Moonlight Mile. In general, Sticky Fingers provides a wide variety of songs that keeps the album interesting and from becoming boring.
Generally speaking, there are a lot of excellent things about this album. The instrumentation is great and Keith Richards and Mick Taylors guitar playing is truly wonderful. The riffs in songs such as Bitch are awesome and the lead guitar in many of the mellow tracks makes them much more entertaining. Mick Jaggers vocals, while rough, work well in many places and are sung with high energy that shows the young singer enjoys what hes doing. Though with good things, there is always the not so good. Micks vocals arent always enjoyed by everyone and in songs such as You Gotta Move and Sister Morphine his vocals seem out of place and sometimes irritating. Also, I Got the Blues and You Gotta Move arent quite as good as some of the other songs on the album and can be easily labeled as average, but overall, if you weigh out the pros and cons, the pros easily dominate making this album another great addition to the stones long catalog.
The Rolling Stones have been around for a very long time and have produced dozens of albums. It can be hard to tell which ones are the essentials. Sticky Fingers, with its bluesy riffs and mellow tracks, is almost certainly one to obtain for any stones fan and lovers of 70s rock in general. It has bits of Exile On Main Street and Let It Bleed all over it creating a record that has a nice variety of songs. From the bluesy You Gotta Move to the rocking Brown Sugar, the stones send the listener on a roller coaster ride of cool jams and beautiful acoustic melodies. While Sticky Fingers is by no means perfect, there are few apparent flaws to the album and almost all the songs are great. Overall, while creating this album, The Rolling Stones were on a roll and it is no surprise they created an album that is fully enjoyable to almost any standard.
4/5 Excellent
Recommended Tracks:
Brown Sugar
Wild Horses
Cant You Hear Me Knocking
Bitch
Sister Morphine
Please Comment and Enjoy
Flea is Godly
Odd
