Black and Blue by The Rolling Stones

Black and Blue, released on Rolling Stones Records on 23 April 1976, is the sound of the Rolling Stones holding auditions with the tape running. Mick Taylor walked out in December 1974 just as the sessions were getting going, so the band spent the making of the album sizing up would-be replacements, Wayne Perkins, Harvey Mandel and Ronnie Wood among them.

Through all the comings and goings, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts hold the floor on almost every track, with Nicky Hopkins and Billy Preston on keyboards and Ollie E. Brown adding percussion here and there. The real news is the groove: the Stones' rock and roll gets loosened up with heavy doses of reggae and funk, a band in transition stretching its legs and finding a looser swing. "Fool to Cry", the lone single, made the top 10 in both the US and the UK, though the critics were split. "Memory Motel" has lingered longest with rock radio's listeners.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.