For Stones fans who have everything, why not give them the Let It Bleed 50th Anniversary Limited Deluxe Edition? The box set includes LPs and CDs in mono and stereo (remastered). There is also a seven-inch single of “Honky Tonk Women” b/w “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (mono in the original sleeve); a reproduction full-color Stones’ poster from 1969; an 80-page hardcover book (promising “never-before-seen-photos”); and—as the jingle goes—much, much more.
At the heart of it is the album itself, which represented the Stones in their second period of greatness (the first was achieved 1965-1967 with Brian Jones pushing the band toward the unknown). On Let It Bleed (1969), the first Stones’ album since Jones’ death, the band refocused and distilled their American influences into something new and distinct. “Gimme Shelter” opens the LP on a profoundly spooky note, less a plea for emotional security in an upside-down world than a command. It transitions gracefully into Robert Johnson’s “Love in Vain,” conveying ineffable sadness and loss.
Let It Bleed (the title spoofing The Beatles’ Let It Be) achieves a balance and flow unheard of in the past quarter century (and rare enough 50 years ago). The album’s casual decadence is gritty yet sophisticated, segueing comfortably between rural and urban, poetry and raunch, sincerity and sarcasm—often within the same tracks.
