Taking Sides: Let It Bleed VS. Sticky Fingers

Although Sister Morphine, Dead Flowers, and Moonlight Mile is a HELL of a way to finish the record. It's close but I definitely listen to and enjoy Let it Bleed more.

It's "Let It Bleed" all the way. I like "Sticky" a lot, but "Bleed" has more resonance, and yeah, "Monkey Man" is one of the half-dozen greatest Stones songs ever...

"Sticky Fingers" definitely has the better closing suite though. OTM about the middle section dragging.

But please, Sticky Fingers is magic.

(I'll vote LIB by a mile, myself)

it's on. if only there were some way of proving who was superior here....some trivia-based way...oh well.

the fact that you knew which song I was referring to says it all. It's like that scene in a cop show where the guy says "I don't know nothin' bout no murder" and the cop says "who said anything about a murder?" BUSTED.

xpost:
Sticky Fingers, possibly because Sticky Fingers is to Let it Bleed as Rocks is to Toys in the Attic.

Crappy movie and all, if "Moonlight Mile" was on "Let it Bleed" instead of Country Honk, it'd be a masterpiece.

in the four-album run, I think it goes like this:

Exile>>>Sticky>Let It Bleed>Beggars Banquet

i never liked sticky fingers much, i hate "can't you hear me knocking" and i'm pretty sick of the two big hits. whereas let it bleed just has this eerie, vaguely sinister atmosphere that i never get tired of.

Seriously dumm.

Let it Bleed is so awesome. Nothing they did later has the power of these tracks. Sticky Fingers is pretty bombastic in comparism, but I like it loads.

You Got the Silver, now there's a fine track.

That said, I am very fond of Sticky Fingers, too. That twaaannng during "Bitch" is prolly my favourite Stones lick. And I like the idea of a shipment of LPs wrecking itself due to the zipper in the cover artwork. (Apparently it was eventually decided to have the zipper pulled down before packing/shipping to have the zipper press into the label of the album in front of it instead of into the playing surface.) One does have to be choosey about where one stores it so as to not wreck an important LP.

But, yeah, rambling now. LIB.

Sticky Fingers on the other hand kicks like a mule.

Both great LPs, but "You Gotta Move" (which DOESN'T) was, I thought, the most embarrassing blues the Stones had ever recorded to that point in their career, so that tips the scales in favour of Let It Bleed, altho Sticky Fingers has the superior C&W tracks. (And FAR better album art!) "Monkey Man" is THE quintessential Keith Richards rhythm-guitar-as-lead-guitar riff. And yeah, I hate the "Can't Always Get..." children's choir, but then I hate 97% of all children's choirs, so I've learned to block 'em out by now. Stormy is essentially right: I'm not a Stones fan, tho I've liked & loved (& owned) a lot of their music over the years, and still do.
And finally, Beggar's Banquet remains the only (non-compilation) Stones album I love start-to-finish.

Anyway, those four albums are all great, I see very little difference in quality amng "Banquet," "Bleed," "Fingers" and "Exile." I'd rank 'em "Bleed," "Exile," "Banquet" and "Sticky" myself. And yeah, that live version of "Midnight Rambler" is superior to the studio version. But I also think that "Monkey Man" and "Gimme Shelter" are the two greatest Stones songs, as I always say, there's just something sorta extra-musical, super-musical, that happens there--some kinda shimmer or somethin'--that occurs in those two. And as a primer in understated rhythm guitar, "Monkey Man" is unbeatable. I'm busted.

Picked this up last weekend:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_I9xlha2mUw4/SxQr6gmHrGI/AAAAAAAABWQ/ofmUStGGufE/s400/Nicky-Hopkins-Jamming-With-Edwa-342616.jpg

Had never heard of this or seen it before, but looks like it's not exactly obscure. But it's Nicky Hopkins and Ry Cooder jamming with Jagger, Wyman and Watts during breaks in recording during the Let It Bleed sessions. Not nearly as good as that suggests, but there's something interesting about it, a lo-fi boogie/blues set, quite spare actually, nice grooves, kind of fun that it actually exists and was issued as a proper LP in the early 70s. Guess the Stones could put out whatever they wanted during that time.

Is it only me who finds Jagger's vocals on the title track of 'Let It Bleed' absolutely fuckin' hilarious?

nope. for some reason i love how unconvincing his southern accent is on that and other tracks. let it bleed is the clear winner for me in this poll, but i also love sticky fingers. whenever i listen to those two albums i am always struck by just how pleasurable they really are.

exile, i think, is better than both of these two albums.

LIB by a nose. mostly bc Sister morphine is pretty much the worst song

Sticky Fingers is better. Everybody knows that. You're not really a Stones fan if you're picking Let it Bleed.

so stupid

much much MUCH prefer beggars banquet to sticky fingers

I love "You Got to Move," I think that's far and away the best blues song the Stones ever did

this is very otm.

if i'm getting together with someone live with me is the funniest song ever but if i'm breaking up with someone it's dead flowers

so i go back and forth

dead flowers is one of my favorite songs ever. almost pushes sticky fingers ahead of let it bleed... but doesn't

let is bleed is pretty damn spectacular. but my four favorite stones albums at various points in my life have been sticky, exile, beggars and between the buttons, and i'd still take any of them over let it bleed.

yeah absolutely re dead flowers xp. top ten ever. does sit pretty sloppy against sister morphine, i guess.

yeah, sister morphine is pretty lame. marianne faithfull wrote it i think, so it's not even a stones song so it's a shame it's on the album. (i like marianne faithfull generally though.) between the buttons, xpost, is super classic too i agree. the cover is my favorite stones cover because it perfectly captures what the blue glow before a sunrise feels like after you've been awake all night

You can't like the Stones and dislike "Dead Flowers." Jagger's approach is exactly what makes the Stones.

most underrated stones album = the debut

As always, I apply the "Which album would Michael Morley sample?" standard, so Sticky Fingers.

^^^OTM

I couldn't get into Let It Bleed for ages, apart from two or three songs - I kept trying because my two favourites are BB and SF and all three are cut from the same cloth really. 'Midnight Rambler' was the song that opened it up for me in the end, there's just something about the murky mood of that one that clicked (I feel like it could be on Exile even). I'd still vote for Sticky Fingers though.

https://www.letitbleed50.com/

I sung my song to Mr. Jimmy
Yeah, and he said one word to me, and that was "dead"

For my entire life until today I've thought the word Mr. Jimmy said here was "damn."

DEAD. Currently processing this.

I've lost track of how many Rolling Stones songs this has happened with.

Sticky Fingers >>> Let It Bleed

hmmph...for my entire life I've thought that the one word Mr. Jimmy said was dirty. Likesay, a dirty word. And that would be just like Mr. Jimmy!

Some think Mr. Jimmy said, "bed".