Fifty Years On, The Rolling Stones’ ‘Black and Blue’ Still Earns Its Keep

The Rolling Stones made Black and Blue in 1976, a record that trades the polish of their earlier albums for a rougher sound and a looser shape. Eight tracks, 41 minutes, no plan laid out ahead of time — just songs put together in the order they came out of the studio. It is not the band’s best record, but it holds more life than its reputation suggests.

Track by Track

“Hot Stuff” opens the record at 5:21, a long song built around a repeated riff and a steady beat that keeps going past the point where most Stones tracks stop. It sets the tone for what follows: less neat, more worn-in, played for feeling rather than form.

“Hand of Fate” runs 4:28 and sits somewhere between blues and rock, a guitar line that winds through the middle of the song without ever settling down. “Cherry Oh Baby,” at 3:57, is the record’s high point — a tight, driving track that earns its place among the best songs here.

“Memory Motel” is the longest track on the album at 7:09, a slow, heavy piece built on repeating chords and a thick bass line that carries the whole weight of the song. It asks patience of the listener, and it rewards it.

“Hey Negrita” comes next at 4:59, a steady rocker that builds from a simple riff into something bigger by the last verse. “Melody” follows at 5:50, a quieter, more patient song that lets the guitars breathe instead of pushing them forward.

“Fool to Cry” runs 5:06 and drifts through several different moods before settling into a steady close. It is the most uneven track here, held back by a chorus that never quite lands.

“Crazy Mama” closes the record at 4:34, a loose, rolling track that plays like the band letting go of any plan at all and just playing until the tape runs out. It is not the strongest song here, but it ends the record on a note that fits its rough shape.

What Holds It Together

The record’s strength comes from the band’s willingness to let the songs move where they want, without forcing them into a single shape. That means some tracks feel loose and unfinished, and others feel like the best things the band had recorded in years.

The production is self-made throughout, which gives the record a raw sound that stands apart from the polished records that came before it. The guitar playing across the album stands out as a major part of what makes this record work.

Nobody’s favorite Stones record, but, in hindsight, it’s also underrated.

That is a fair reading of the record — it is not a masterpiece, but it holds up better than its reputation suggests.

Where It Lands

The record’s weaker moments come from the same place its strengths do: a refusal to follow a plan. “Fool to Cry” drags because the band lets the song wander without a clear ending in mind. “Melody” and “Crazy Mama” are pleasant but minor, easy to forget once the record ends.

What stays with you is the record’s high points, listed in order of how much they stand out:

1. “Cherry Oh Baby”
2. “Memory Motel”
3. “Hey Negrita”
4. “Hot Stuff”
5. “Hand of Fate”

Those five tracks carry the weight of the record. The rest fills space without adding much to it.

The Verdict

Black and Blue is not a great Rolling Stones record, but it is a real one — full of energy, rough edges, and moments that still hold up decades later. It earns its place as a solid, if overlooked, entry in the band’s catalog.

7 of 10.

1976 · album review · classic rock · music history · Rolling Stones