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"It´s easy to forget ...
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Martin
1098 posts
Dec 05, 2016
10:35 AM
... what a wonderful harmonica player he is," says a reviewer parenthetically in NME.com, à propos the new Rolling Stones blues album.
And it sure is. In fact his plying on the title cut is so extremely poor that it´s real easy to forget that he´s a harmonica player at all.
JustFuya
1004 posts
Dec 05, 2016
12:41 PM
... yet hard to remember."

I'd say more but I couldn't live with myself if any of my comments were to have a negative impact on a fellow musician's bottom line. I'm sure the Rolling Stones struggle with their music as we all do.
Thievin' Heathen
891 posts
Dec 05, 2016
8:42 PM
Maybe only harmonica players know what true proficiency on the instrument is, and even then there's a wide level of subjectivity and many varied tastes.
ted burke
513 posts
Dec 06, 2016
10:59 AM
Jagger is sometimes effects time on harp in short bits on certain songs like midnight rambler or gimme shlter. The arrangements and effects made musical sense. The blues they.want to play , though, requires a degree of real skill, actual musicianship.jagger has none of that and his amateur hour efforts are fantastically awful.



Km
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Ted Burke

tburke4@san.rr.com
Goldbrick
1704 posts
Dec 06, 2016
12:49 PM
I dont know the reviewer but I guess NME stands for
"no musical expertise"
Gnarly
2037 posts
Dec 06, 2016
12:50 PM
Who was responsible for the part on Gimmie Shelter?
That was effective.
I go back and forth.
6SN7
675 posts
Dec 06, 2016
1:22 PM
I read the review, its worth a look, and I think the author keeps things in context. I don't think there is any sense in dissing the Stones at this point, no more than one would piss on their grandma or granddad.

The band had a few days to play in a studio, they went in and had some fun. And yes, it sounds it. Enough on Jagger, the guitar playing is a bit more inspired and let's thank the Lord above they didn't do an embarrassing CD of Broadway show tunes like many artists their age do.

It doesn't matter whether his harp playing is not up to the caliber of many here at this site. I like the selection of tunes, it's a great nod towards Blues, more than any others that have done this over the years. I mean seriously, this is better than some of the blues stuff other rock acts have put out as a homage to their roots.

I hope it shoots to number 1 in the music charts. And how cool would it be if they played a tune at this years Grammy Awards. In the meantime, get a effing grip and delight in the fact at 70 they are still playing. I hope I am still playing at that age.

http://www.nme.com/reviews/album/rolling-stones-blue-lonesome
Gnarly
2039 posts
Dec 06, 2016
2:44 PM
"an embarrassing CD of Broadway show tunes like many artists "

Nilsson

Last Edited by Gnarly on Dec 06, 2016 2:45 PM
Willyis40
1 post
Dec 06, 2016
3:07 PM
Even though this may go against the grain here, but I do enjoy what he does with a harmonica. I'm a huge stones fan and it was going to see them live in 2015 that got me to pick up a harp. Since then, I've listened to other harp players and I can see why people dislike Mick Jagger's harp playing. Regardless, I like what he does with his band. And I think the new album will promote the blues a bit and have it reach a wider audience.

Last Edited by Willyis40 on Dec 06, 2016 3:08 PM
Gnarly
2041 posts
Dec 06, 2016
3:29 PM
"IT'S EASY TO FORGET" THAT HARMONICA IS MORE FUN TO PLAY THAN IT IS TO LISTEN TO!
Martin
1100 posts
Dec 06, 2016
3:48 PM
@Gnarly: You´re absolutely right. Jagger´s harmonica on "Gimme shelter" is the best he has ever done. (All two notes of it.)
Good, raw sound and to the point playing.

@6SN7: I´m not really sure what you mean here. If you think that I think that Sir Mick gives a rats ass about my opinion, or what folks say on a harmonica forum? Well, no. (And Keith thinks he´s among the best in the world.) So in that sense there isn´t any sense in dissing or pissing on neither the Stones nor their grandfathers (?), but surely, from a guy who has played the harp for half a century, couldn´t one expect a little more?
Frank101
197 posts
Dec 06, 2016
4:03 PM
Lot of posts in various fora along the lines of "Hey, they're just having fun, don't be so picky."

Well, okay. But I'm sure not going to help finance their fun.*

* That's the General Audiences version of what I really think.
Gnarly
2043 posts
Dec 06, 2016
4:40 PM
@ Martin All the way to the floor and back!
Goldbrick
1705 posts
Dec 06, 2016
5:41 PM
If this was an up and coming band , you wouldnt fart in their general direction
Why give a pass to guys who have been playing over 50 years and should be a better than when they started?

Makes me miss Brian Jones

"Its better to burn out than it is to rust"

Last Edited by Goldbrick on Dec 06, 2016 5:42 PM
Gnarly
2044 posts
Dec 06, 2016
5:53 PM
@Goldbrick It's good to miss Brian Jones--he was cute!
Goldbrick
1706 posts
Dec 06, 2016
6:43 PM
Well an interesting fact from the past is the Byrds hired Michael Clarke as their drummer ( even tho he couldnt really play drums ) because he resembled Brian Jones

Here Brian tells Mick to shut up ( and how drunk is that host?)

1847
3876 posts
Dec 06, 2016
7:53 PM
i think the first time you shut up, when we had howling wolf on stage.
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Barley Nectar
1275 posts
Dec 06, 2016
10:30 PM
"IT'S EASY TO FORGET" THAT HARMONICA IS MORE FUN TO PLAY THAN IT IS TO LISTEN TO!

Well, I have to disagree with that statement. I have too many people asking me to play, telling me how much they like the instrument, buying me a beer in appreciation. I'm just a jammer, not up to the caliber of many here but, people love to hear a good harp.

Now I'll shoot myself in the foot and say this. Stale old blues music will turn a crowd off faster then the US Coast Guard clearing a bar during spring thaw flooding!

It's not the instrument, it's what you do with it that counts....BN

Last Edited by Barley Nectar on Dec 06, 2016 10:37 PM
6SN7
676 posts
Dec 07, 2016
6:09 AM
@Martin - "couldn't one expect a little more?" C'mon Martin, this isn't "Exile on Main St" sessions, it's all in fun. The band have nothing left to prove, and all this hand wringing is just silly. All this comparison to Little Walter, including Sugar Blue in the mix, writing the band off as amateurs, etc., jeez, why all the "vinegar?" Don't want to finance their fun? Then don't buy it.
Honkin On Bobo
1393 posts
Dec 07, 2016
8:55 AM
What 6SN7 wrote. In spades.
1847
3877 posts
Dec 07, 2016
9:26 AM
you know what would sound great? have ron wood keith and mick play in unison.

have the guitars play the exact same notes mick is playing.
then we could discuss it on a guitar forum. now that would be fun.
dchurch
72 posts
Dec 07, 2016
9:58 AM
I guess the hiccup is with the reporter’s quote of "what a wonderful harmonica player he is". That's similar to a recent and arguable quote “ Carrie Underwood showed off a hidden talent… played the tiny instrument with passion and a clear knack for the bluesy style…”

It’s no surprise, a bunch of musicians would be critical of musicianship. Fair enough, it’s not great execution of challenging skills. But is that a requirement for good music? I am certainly in awe of great musicianship but some of my favorite entertainers never did have technical prowess or great voices…

Naturally it’s tough to watch old heroes lose some skills (our newbies lacking in them) but I think it’s pretty darn cool that these guys still have the 'stones' to put it on the line. Rock on Stones!


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It's about time I got around to this.
Frank101
198 posts
Dec 07, 2016
11:00 AM
"Then don't buy it."

Not gonna.

But all the "they're just having fun" crowd - are YOU going to buy it? If so - why?????
Willyis40
2 posts
Dec 07, 2016
11:42 AM
@Frank101- Yeah, already did in fact. It's a fun album to listen to with all covers of songs I already enjoy listening to. Like 6SN7 wrote, they have nothing left to prove.
Gnarly
2045 posts
Dec 07, 2016
12:01 PM
@Frank101- No.
"It´s easy to forget ...
Sundancer
67 posts
Dec 07, 2016
1:57 PM
Sounds like the crowd on this forum won't put Lonesome & Blue on their Best of 2016 lists. So I'm curious, what albums came out this year that y'all rate highly?
Martin
1101 posts
Dec 07, 2016
4:43 PM
Willyis40 wrote: "Like 6SN7 wrote, they have nothing left to prove."

But they do: As a *blues band*. As the rock´n´n roll heroes of the late 60´s early 70´s I think it´s fair to say that they proved their worth, but that´s another thing.
People here seem to take it very seriously, but I for one is not of the conviction that The Stones should be punished for bringing out a blues record. No harm in that. But this is a harmonica forum were we among other things discuss harmonica playing -- and Jagger´s harmonica playing is bad.
Adam Pritchard
114 posts
Dec 07, 2016
11:19 PM
I'm not a fan of Mick's harp playing, nor particularly the Stones however for many this album will be there first introduction to the blues and the harp played in that context. If it encourages anyone to seek out the original artists and hear the blues and harmonica played by the guys we revere then that can only be a good thing. If this album persuades a few more people to go out and see their local blues band play then I'm not going to criticise The Rolling Stones for bringing out an album of the music they clearly love.
MindTheGap
1925 posts
Dec 07, 2016
11:33 PM
This is the third thread of people putting the boot in about this record. It's true that the harmonica playing isn't of the high technical standard that some people have here. After doing a lot of listening to harmonica of all kinds over the last few years I've realised that I'd much prefer to listen to some gutsy harp than the filigree stuff.

Purely subjective, but I'd rather listen to this record than another attempt to play a well-known tune, chromatically, on a diatonic harp. When I play those recordings to my wife, who's not a musician, she'll say hmmm, but it's all out of tune isn't it?

Last Edited by MindTheGap on Dec 07, 2016 11:38 PM
Frank101
199 posts
Dec 08, 2016
11:58 AM
Here's the thing, as I see it.

Like it or not, for kids today the Rolling Stones are every bit as much "ancient history" as Little Walter. So why not start kids off with the real thing?
ted burke
514 posts
Dec 08, 2016
12:38 PM
what annoys me is for established stars, usually trolling for a gimmick to make a comeback move, use the blues as a "go to" move to get the attention of the critics again. some times it works okay: cyndie actually can sing the blues, eric clapton has blues chops to spare and it was good to hear them again after a long dormancy. aerosmith, though, was rather awful and minstrelsy, and the stones, in deed, is merely indifferent to the form. the stones never had blues chops, really, their moves in the form have always been tentative, mechanical, anything but natural and convincing of the pain and joy the artists they were imitating created with the original music. they were a brilliant, innovative, important, game changing, wicked, poetic, rocking,gritty ROCK AND ROLL and roll band, a form where attitude itself , attiudes like arrogance, rage, paranoia, sarcasm and other things emerging from a reactionary personality that is incorrigible and unable to feel at ease in the world, is the art . to that extent the stones are brilliant; they are fantastic when they are the authors of the personas they assume on stage and in the studio. for the blues, though, they are trying to retell the stories of other men who were much closer to the grit of the street and the crushing facts of applied racism of a daily basis; this record is a clown show . it's an awful record.
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Ted Burke

tburke4@san.rr.com
Bass410man
97 posts
Dec 08, 2016
2:13 PM
Looks to me like the album is doing exactly whats its suppose to be doing...
RyanMortos
1590 posts
Dec 08, 2016
5:46 PM
I think it's really cool a popular rock band is putting blues and harmonica out there. Maybe they'll get singles on some rock radio stations and some people who don't listen to blues or harmonica will get curious and start. Seems good to me. I only listened to blue and lonesome once so far, on stream, and already enjoy it more then a number of the Rolling Stones other recent studio albums.

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RyanMortosHarmonica

~Ryan

See My Profile for contact info, etc.

Sundancer
68 posts
Dec 08, 2016
7:05 PM
Yet again I find myself agreeing with the ever insightful MindTheGap. And being confused by Ted - by his standard it doesn't seem like anyone who didn't live tough in the Delta has any right to play the blues? Say all ya want about Clapton, but growing up in Surrey is a right bit easier than in Clarksdale.
OzarkRich
531 posts
Dec 08, 2016
9:08 PM
It sounds to me like basic biker bar harp, my favorite style!
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Ozark Rich

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bublnsqueak
68 posts
Dec 08, 2016
10:13 PM
Got the album as an early Xmas present. (I know, I know)

If I was walking home from the pub having spent the evening listening to this music I would have enjoyed the evening and would choose go and see the band again.

Not great but definitely good. Well you can't have everything all the time.

P
tomaxe
78 posts
Dec 09, 2016
6:43 AM
I'd rather hear Keith play a blues turnaround over Eric Clapton any day of the week.
Charlie Watts can still snap that snare, and I confess that I like most of what Mick does on harp. He's responsible for some of the most iconic harp lines in RnR (Gimme Shelter, Midnight Rambler, Sweet Virginia, etc., etc) and if he wants to fumble his way through Little Walter on some sour sounding Lee Oskar harps, I'll give him a pass. At least they get it. I understand it's not amazing, and I appreciate Ted Burke's very eloquent assessment, but I'm not sure it totally applies to The Stones for me...the version I heard of "Hate to See You Go" actually had some all important grit n' gusto to it that is often lacking in certain blues tributes by far more technically refined "bluesman" that so many people love on this site. The album is like a B- for me. I think people will enjoy it for the most part.


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