Anniversary Album: 55 Years of ‘Let It Bleed’ by The Rolling Stones

Just when The Rolling Stones found their groove again, they had to deal with one of the toughest events of their career. As it turned out, not even tragedy and turmoil slowed them down, as evidenced by the brilliance found throughout Let It Bleed, released in December 1969.

Let It Bleed can get a bit overshadowed because of how it sits in the middle of an incredible four-album stretch by the band. But it deserves its own spot in rock and roll history, as the Stones captured all the uncertainty and chaos of life at the end of the ’60s as only they could.

Carrying On

1968 proved to be a turning point year for The Rolling Stones. Following a two-year period where they tried to keep up with the baroque pop/psychedelic rock trends prevalent at the time, they made their way back to a more blues-based approach—in both their music and lyrics—on the single “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and album Beggars Banquet.

The music they released that year seemed to set a much more sustainable template for future success for the band, and the songwriting that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were doing for the follow-up was very much in the same vein. But the drama that’s always seemed to surround the band reared its ugly head to complicate what should have been a victory lap of a record.

Brian Jones, who essentially founded the Stones (it was his band Jagger and Richards joined), saw his position in the group mitigated by the shift to a more straightforward rock approach. His colorful instrumental touches on varied instruments like sitar (“Paint It Black”) and recorder (“Ruby Tuesday”) weren’t as much in demand. To make matters worse, Jones, always a mercurial character, had become less than dependable due to substance abuse issues and personal problems.

In June 1969, as sessions continued on the album that would become Let It Bleed, The Rolling Stones fired Jones. Early the following month, Jones was found dead in his swimming pool at age 27. The band had hired Mick Taylor as his replacement, but the guitar prodigy came aboard so late in the process he’s only found on two tracks on the finished album. Considering Jones also added minor parts to only two songs himself, the Stones were somewhat shorthanded while the record was being made.

They helped atone for this with a surfeit of special guests, from old friends like Nicky Hopkins and Ian Stewart to newer esteemed collaborators such as Ry Cooder and Al Kooper. Plus, Keith Richards was at the absolute top of his game, carrying the load as both lead and rhythm guitarist and general idea man on the musical side of the ledger. Meanwhile, the songwriting of Richards and Mick Jagger located all the chaos of the era and the general unease of those enduring it with a combination of bluesy despair and defiant abandon.

The Musical Legacy of Let It Bleed

All discussions of Let it Bleed have to start with the magnificent songs that begin and end the thing. “Gimme Shelter” is a stunning aural snapshot of the times, featuring Richards’ disorienting guitar, Jagger’s wailing about lover and war (accentuated by Merry Clayton’s howling backing vocals), and an unstoppable rhythmic crunch. Compare all that fury and fire to “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” a gospelized plea for something to soften all the blows being dealt at the time.

In between those two towering twin poles, the potency of the material doesn’t abate much. “Live With Me” gives a preview of the precision and power that Taylor would bring to the table on the albums to come. “Monkey Man” shows the riff rock of the “Satisfaction” days hadn’t abandoned them.

When the band slows it down (which they don’t do much here), they’re still exceedingly fine. They honor Robert Johnson touchingly on “Love in Vain.” “You Got the Silver” gives Richards a winning vocal showcase, a tactic the band would use again and again in years to come. Of the nine tracks, only the overblown “Midnight Rambler” outstays its welcome.

By the time the band made their next record Sticky Fingers, Taylor was fully incorporated into the band, and the end result was a genre-hopping masterpiece. Let It Bleed doesn’t go as far afield musically, But what it lacks in ambition, it compensates with its force and focus, the band’s momentum in no way stunted by all that transpired making the record.

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