The Rolling Stones didn’t end up touring the U.S. in the immediate wake of the April 1976 release of “Black and Blue”. However, the band still managed to cause controversy in the States, thanks to the album’s ad campaign and a Sunset Boulevard billboard promoting the record.
The ad featured model Anita Russell sitting atop an unfolded copy of the “Black and Blue” LP. She’s bound with rope and wearing dark makeup, to make it look like she was bruised by a beating. The giant billboard was even more controversial, as it contained the same image of Russell and the LP, but added the text, “I’m ‘Black and Blue’ from the Rolling Stones – and I love it!” in giant script.
Reaction to both the ad and billboard was fierce. “This campaign exploits and sensationalizes violence against a woman for the purpose of increased record sales. The ad contributes to the myth that women like to be beaten and condones a permissive attitude towards the brutalization of women.”
Five stealth women “armed with buckets of fire-engine-red paint” visited the billboard one night and triumphantly defaced it, scrawling “This is a crime against women” near the text and also painting over Jagger’s face, the stealth artists also painted the “women’s movement symbol” next to the Stones’ iconic tongue logo.
Atlantic Records took down the billboard soon after, “It was not the intention of Atlantic, Mick [Jagger] or the Rolling Stones to offend anyone.”
The Rolling Stones recorded “Black and Blue” while auditioning Mick Taylor’s replacement, so it’s unfair to criticize it, really, for being longer on grooves and jams than songs, especially since that’s what’s good about it. Yes, there are two songs that are undeniable highlights “Memory Motel” and “Fool to Cry,” the album’s two ballads and, therefore, the two that had to be written and arranged, not knocked out in the studio; they’re also the ones that don’t quite make as much sense, though they still work in the context of the record. As the Stones work Ron Wood into their fabric. And the remarkable thing is, apart from “Hand of Fate” and “Crazy Mama,”. They play with reggae extensively, funk and disco less so, making both sound like integral parts of the Stones’ lifeblood.
Rolling Stone magazine wrote at the time: “In a way, “Black and Blue” is an admirable
album just for its refusal to bow to the past. A few songs here try to sound like “Brown Sugar” and “Tumbling Dice” and those few aren’t the best ones. Still, the Stones have problems. Keith Richard recently has seemed to run out of melodic ideas altogether and, like the majority of their post-Exile on Main Street repertoire, the new numbers are based on loose riffs rather than tight song structures. Like the Who or any rock band, the Stones are obsessed in their way with age and time, but unlike the rest, they’ve matured with confident gracefulness. For Soul Survivors, I guess, dying before you get old is simply not relevant.”
The band that made “Black and Blue” isn’t the same one that made “12 x 5” or even “Aftermath”. But that doesn’t mean today’s Stones are not a great band playing great music. They’re a different sort of band, playing a different kind of music. Too much of “Black and Blue” picks up the trail of “Fingerprint File.” “Hot Stuff,” which opens side one, and “Hey Negrita,” which opens side two, are intricate funk jams, fusing reggae, Latin rhythms and the Meters’ brand of funk without achieving the focused mood of “Fingerprint File.” Some of the playing is exceptional — on “Hot Stuff,” Charlie Watts might be playing .44 magnums instead of drums.
There is plenty of good stuff left, although all of it is marred by the need for fuller, firmer instrumentation. “Hand of Fate,” which isn’t as melodic as the Stones riff usually is, is brought to life by a blistering Wayne Perkins guitar solo and Jagger’s incredibly live vocal. “Crazy Mama,” the wild little rocker that closes the set, is hot stuff. It sounds as out of control as the Faces, although Wood doesn’t play on it. (He’s “in the band,” but he only plays on two songs.) The lyrics are marvelous: “‘Cause if you really think you can push it/I’m gonna bust your knees with a bullet.” Those two are the only hard rockers on the album, and the only time Jagger pulls the standard macho-demonic act, too.
Since the “Memory Motel” was the only place in the area with a pool table and a piano, The Stones would occasionally come by and hang out at the bar. The owners at the time were not impressed…they hated The Stones. The Memory Motel is in Montauk on Long Island. It’s near The Church Estate, which Andy Warhol bought in 1972. Arthur Schneider, who owns the Memory Motel, said that The Stones stayed at Warhol’s estate when they were on tour in 1975-’76.
“Memory Motel,” a sort of return to “Moonlight Mile,” the stops are all pulled out. Once more, Watts propels the tune with his drumming. The story begins when Mick meets a girl before last summer’s tour. (The real memory motel is near the house in Montauk, Long Island, where the band rehearsed.) But it soon becomes entangled with his recollections of the tour.
But “Memory Motel” is more than just a vignette or two. In the end, it becomes the perfect agony-of-the-road song, for it dwells not just on the difficulties of touring, but also on the ultimate joys: As Watts moves in like a locomotive, pushing the song upward, Jagger explains in one brief flash what it’s worth to him, what keeps him coming back for more: “What’s all this laughter on the 22nd floor?/It’s just some friends of mine/And they’re bustin’ down the door!” There’s no way to capture the exhilaration he expresses as his pals roust him from his reverie, lifting him away from his cares. For that one moment, at least, Jagger feels his music as deeply as he ever has. Jagger’s voice swooping and snaking around Preston’s piano and harmonies. If “Black and Blue” leaves us nothing else, it is the knowledge that Jagger has become a total pro in a way that, of rock’s great white vocalists, only Rod Stewart and Van Morrison can match. With Mick Taylor gone, The Stones were auditioning lead guitarists while recording “Black And Blue”. Harvey Mandel from Canned Heat played lead on this while session man Wayne Perkins played acoustic, but Ron Wood eventually got the job.
It has a haunting melody and lyrics that stick with you. Some say the Hannah in the song is referring to Carly Simon and some say it’s Annie Leibovitz. Whoever the muse was, they inspired a beautiful song.
It’s widely speculated that “Hannah Honey” with the curled nose is none other than Carly Simon. Jagger had been romantically linked to Carly around this time, and her physical traits are eerily similar to the song’s descriptions. One theory is that Simon wrote “You’re So Vain” after a one-night-stand with Jagger at The Memory Motel. Simon has never said who that song is about.
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards duet on vocals. Richards did not play guitar on the track – a rarity. Jagger played the acoustic piano, Richards the electric piano, and Billy Preston the synthesizer.
On their live album version “No Security“, Dave Matthews duets with Jagger in place of Richards. Matthews joined The Stones onstage from time to time and also sang this with Jagger on a televised St. Louis concert in 1997
The Rolling Stones
- Mick Jagger – lead vocals (all tracks), backing vocals (1, 3, 4), percussion (1), piano (4), electric piano (7), electric guitar (8)
- Keith Richards – electric guitar (all but 4), backing vocals (1-5, 8), electric piano (4), bass guitar (8), piano (8), co-lead vocals (4)
- Bill Wyman – bass guitar (all but 8), percussion (1)
- Charlie Watts – drums (all tracks), percussion (1)
Additional personnel
- Billy Preston – piano (1, 2, 5, 6, 8), organ (5, 6), synthesizer (4), percussion (6), backing vocals (1, 4, 5, 6)
- Nicky Hopkins – piano (7), synthesizer (7), organ (3)
- Harvey Mandel – electric guitar (1, 4)
- Wayne Perkins – electric guitar (2, 7), acoustic guitar (4)
- Ronnie Wood – electric guitar (3, 5, 8), backing vocals (1, 2, 4, 5, 8),
- Ollie E. Brown – percussion (1-3, 5, 8)
- Ian Stewart – percussion (1)
- Arif Mardin – horn arrangement (6)
The Fat Angel Sings 