Let It Bleed is the eighth British and tenth American album by English rock band The Rolling Stones, released in December 1969 by Decca Records in the United Kingdom and London Records in the United States. Released shortly after the band’s 1969 American Tour, it is the follow-up to 1968’s Beggars Banquet and the last album by the band to feature Brian Jones as well as the first to feature Mick Taylor.

[edit] History

Although they had begun the recording of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” in November 1968, before Beggars Banquet had been released, recording for Let It Bleed began in earnest in February 1969 and would continue sporadically until early November.^{[citation needed]} Brian Jones performs on only two tracks, playing the autoharp on “You Got the Silver“, and percussion on “Midnight Rambler“. His replacement, Mick Taylor, plays guitar on two tracks, “Country Honk” and “Live With Me“. Keith Richards, who had already shared vocal duties with Mick Jagger on “Connection“, “Something Happened to Me Yesterday” and “Salt of the Earth“, sang his first solo lead vocal on a Rolling Stones recording with “You Got the Silver“.^[3]

[edit] Release and reception

Released in December, Let It Bleed reached No. 1 in the UK (temporarily knocking Billboard Top Pop Albums chart in the US, where it eventually went 2x platinum.

The album was released in US as an LP record, reel to reel tape and 8-track cartridge in 1969, and as a remastered CD in 1986. In August 2002, it was reissued in a remastered CD and SACD digipak by ABKCO Records, and once more in 2010 by Universal Music Enterprises in a Japanese only SHM-SACD version.^[4]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
BBC	(favourable)[5]
Entertainment Weekly	(A)[6]
The Daily Vault	(A)[7]
PopMatters	(favourable)[8]
Rolling Stone	[9]

In his 2001 Stones bio, Stephen Davis said of the album “No rock record, before or since, has ever so completely captured the sense of palpable dread that hung over its era.”^[10] Indeed, the day after its 5 December release is the date of the infamous Altamont Free Concert. But the album was critically well received.

Let It Bleed is the second of the Stones’ run of four studio LPs that are generally regarded as among their greatest achievements artistically, equalled only by the best of their great 45s from that decade. The other three albums are Beggars Banquet (1968), Sticky Fingers (1971) and Exile on Main St. (1972).^[11]

In 1998 Q magazine readers voted Let It Bleed the 69th greatest album of all time, while in 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 28 in its list of “The 100 Greatest British Albums Ever”. In 2001, the TV network VH1 placed Let It Bleed at number 24 on their best album survey. In 1997 it was voted 27th greatest album by The Guardian. In 2003, it was listed as number 32 on the “List of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time“.^[12]

[edit] Cover

	You Can’t Always Get What You Want A sample of The Rolling Stones‘s “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” from Let It Bleed
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The cover displays a surreal sculpture designed by [16]

The [18]

[edit] Track listing

The track listing on the back of the album jacket did not follow the one on the album itself. According to Brownjohn, he altered the track listing purely for visual reasons; the correct order was shown on the record’s label. Additionally, “Gimme Shelter” is rendered as “Gimmie Shelter” on the jacket.

All songs written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, except where noted.

†Early US editions of the album credit the song using Johnson’s pseudonym Woody Payne.

[edit] Personnel

The Rolling Stones

• harmonica on “Gimme Shelter” and “Midnight Rambler”
• backing vocals on “Gimme Shelter”, “Country Honk” and “Monkey Man”, lead vocals on “You Got the Silver”
• autoharp on “You Got the Silver”
• slide guitar on “Country Honk”, guitars on “Live with Me”
• drums (except “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”)
• vibes on “Monkey Man”

Additional personnel

• piano on “Let It Bleed”
• organ on “You Got the Silver”
• fiddle on “Country Honk”
• Merry Clayton – backing vocals on “Gimme Shelter” (credited as “Mary Clayton” on the LP and 2002 CD remaster)
• mandolin on “Love in Vain”
• tenor saxophone on “Live with Me”
• tambourine on “Monkey Man”
• arrangement on “Live with Me”
• choral arrangements on “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
• French horn and organ on “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
• Nanette Newman as credited on the LP)
• Doris Troy – backing vocals on “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
• Madeline Bell – backing vocals on “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
• Rocky Dijon – percussion on “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
• The London Bach Choir – vocals on “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”^[19]

[edit] Sales chart performance

Album

Singles

[edit] Certifications

[edit] References