The Rolling Stones – It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll (1974)

Although The Rolling Stones had passed their heyday by this point, they kept rolling on. This album is another of theirs in the 1970s, an era seemingly fitting for a group such as The Rolling Stones, given the musical themes and attitude of this point in time. The album cover itself suggests the zombie apocalypse for the group was there, although in many aspects, was so. In any case, let’s take a listen to this album and see how well (or not) it has aged over the years.

We begin with If You Can’t Rock Me which begins with some straightforward guitars and sounds here. Vocalist Mick Jagger puts in a very animated performance here, and the group sounds pretty decent here, although it is pretty obvious by this point that this not as good as earlier releases by The Rolling Stones. Still, an entertaining listen all the same, and sounds pretty quirky by The Rolling Stones here. A good and fun listen all the same. Energetic and powerful for a musical statement, however.

Next along is Ain’t Too Proud To Beg which begins with loud guitars, pounding drums and piano here, as The Rolling Stones try to live up to their image here. A good piece of music, that, despite sounding very dated, is fun to hear. The piano is quite upfront here, and drives along this piece nicely. It’s still very lacking as a piece of music, and is only really recommended for hardcore fans of the group. Really good listening all the same, just a little lacking.

It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It) comes along next and begins with strummed acoustic guitar, overdriven electric guitar and some decent Rock and Roll singing. This is a decent song, and sounds actually quite good here, despite the fact the music here on the album is pretty ordinary and forgettable. Quite clearly the standout track here, it is good fun, without being great listening. In any case, The Rolling Stones don’t sound like they really care too much about musical quality at this point, which is sad. Still, a good listen here all the same. Mick Jagger yelps throughout the breakdown, proving his career’s worth here. Weird sounding, and fairly ordinary music here. It builds up towards a loud climax towards the end here, nice stuff.

Till The Next Goodbye follows and begins with some nice acoustic guitar and Mick Jagger sings without energy and passion here. It seems that the group are not putting in 100% here, which is rather quite sad, and are simple churning out music merely for the sake of it. In any case, an okay listen, just nowhere near as good as what The Rolling Stones used to be. There is a good slide guitar solo in the middle here, but apart from this, is largely forgettable. Ordinary music, and barely passable here as okay. The outro is quite redeeming, however.

Next up is Time Waits For No One which has a good drum intro, before going into another cheesy and lacking piece here. This is the longest track on the album, and quite honestly doesn’t sound that good. Still, it’s listenable, just not memorable. It sounds a lot like Soul music here, and The Rolling Stones struggle to find their direction here. Some good guitar playing is here as well, but not much else can be said about this ordinary number. These guys could have done better, but have not. The guitar solo in the middle is different, however. Still, not a great piece of music, just a good one. Lacking emotion and craft, this is a routine record by the group, nothing hugely special here. The piano at the end is really good, mind you. It ends with a lone drum part.

Following is Luxury which is a shorter piece, at five minutes long. It sounds like The Rolling Stones are really struggling to find their musical mojo here, and this record sadly, comes across as a bit of a failure. A good song without being great, this has some good guitar work. Aside from that, is nothing special all the same. Mick Jagger’s yelping and the guitar parts here are quite good, but still, sounds like a lazy effort. Neither a great effort nor catchy, this is disappointing. Pretty drivel stuff, there is no real passion or energy here on this album.

Dance Little Sister sounds like the title of a song by The Beach Boys. It’s not, and is actually somewhat better sounding and mixed here. Still, it has a pounding energy and a good sound about it, but nothing that says instant classic here. A good listen without being a great listen, this sounds a bit better than the other songs on this album due to the mixing. Decent music, and has a more traditional sound by The Rolling Stones here. Good and a more concise listen here, it fades out nicely.

If You Really Want To Be My Friend begins with an odd intro, before launching into quite a good ballad here. It sounds much more like a classic piece by The Rolling Stones here than anything else on this album. A really excellent and great listening experience, this song is a nice listen all the same. Not bad for a six minute minute plus piece, it sounds like a proper effort here and a nice sort of love song. Good without being great, this is a nice listen. The backing vocals here sound quite different as well, before going into a very 1970s guitar solo here. Interesting listen as well, this is a good sounding piece of music. A bit long though for this sort of song, could have benefitted from some editing.

Next along is Short And Curlies which obviously refers to sexual terms in the song title. It is a rather awful piece of music, however and doesn’t sound really good at all. Some typically profane terms by The Rolling Stones are here, and is an interesting listen here for that. Once again, this quite clearly falls flat, but is somewhat entertaining as well. Lacking all the same.

The last track here is Fingerprint File which begins with some wah-wah guitar before launching into a mediocre piece of 1970s Rock here. It’s another six minute long piece here that probably shouldn’t be recorded, but is so anyway. Good and entertaining, but pretty awful compared to earlier songs by The Rolling Stones. Pretty terrible to hear, and easily could have been dropped from this record. The multitude of sections here don’t serve a great purpose either, and despite this song being interesting, it really lacks as a piece of music. Even Goats Head Soup was better than this, sadly. Largely forgettable, avoid if you can. A weird and pointless musical exercise, this is trash. It goes gradually quieter towards the end, with Mick Jagger putting in a solo vocal performance before things wrap up.

As you may have guessed, this is not a great album by The Rolling Stones, and is barely passable as a good album. It continued the group’s creative downward spiral here, and is worth binning this album, if you haven’t heard it already. Goats Head Soup was quite good, this one is pretty pointless, however. Good but by no means great.

Disappointing.

6/10