CoronaVinyl Day 42 (British): Let It Bleed by The Rolling Stones

For an explanation of CoronaVinyl, click here.

Today's CoronaVinyl category is British bands or artists, and I have a ton to choose from, but figured I would go with one of the best.  Surprisingly, Let It Bleed is the only Rolling Stones album I have on vinyl.  The album cover is among the 32 that I have framed and hanging in my office.  Hence, the generic photo of the album cover above.

Released in December 1969 -- about five months before The Beatles released Let It Be -- Let It Bleed is a crossroads album for the Stones, and not just because they cover a Robert Johnson song on the album.  Founding member and guitarist Brian Jones was on the outs with the band, due to his heavy drug and alcohol problems, so he was fired while the album was being recorded and only played on two tracks.  Sadly, he would die before the album's release, becoming the first '60s rock icon to join the infamous 27 Club.  Mick Taylor was brought in to replace Jones, but Taylor only played on a couple tracks as well, so nearly all of the guitars on the album (lead and rhythm) were played by Keith Richards.

Stylistically, the album is at the same time an ode to the band's blues roots -- like on their stripped down cover of Johnson's "Love in Vain," the electric blues of "Midnight Rambler," and "You've Got the Silver" -- and a step forward towards darker themes with songs like the anti-war "Gimme Shelter" and the aforementioned grim "Midnight Rambler."  And then the album culminates with a song that not only became a signature song for the band, but has also been the inspiration for countless parents when their kids ask for something:  "You Can's Always Get What You Want."

Let It Bleed was the band's fourth #1 album in their native UK, and it went to #3 on the Billboard album chart in the U.S. to become their ninth studio album to crack the Top 10 in the U.S.  Depending on whether you want to include Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed was either the first album in one of the best three-album runs in rock history or the second in one of the best four-album runs ever, as the Stones' next two albums were Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Gimme Shelter"
The dark and brooding anti-Vietnam song "Gimme Shelter" kicked off the album, and it's one of the Stones' most-recognizable songs.  It also served as the title for the documentary about the band's performance at Altamont in December 1969, where the Stones thought it was a good idea to hire the Hells Angels as security for a free outdoor music festival and pay them with beer, which ultimately resulted in a man being murdered in front of the stage while the Stones played.  Anyway, the song is excellent, and one of my many favorite rock and roll Easter eggs is at about 2:59 to 3:02 mark in the song.  Guest vocalist Merry Clayton is belting out the "rape / murder / it's just a shot away."  Her voice famously cracks during one of the screamed "murders," and about a second later, you can hear Jagger and Richards in the background let out an exclamatory "whoa!"

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Midnight Rambler"
"Midnight Rambler" is one of my favorite Stones songs.  Clocking in at nearly 7 minutes, it's a haunting yet rousing bluesy number, supposedly about the Boston Strangler, Albert DeSalvo, who murdered 13 women in Boston in the early to mid '60s.  Jagger's harmonica is what sticks out to me most on this track.  It's the Glimmer Twins' attempt at Chicago blues, and I think they nailed it.