It’s Only Rock ’n Roll by The Rolling Stones

It's Only Rock 'n Roll, the Rolling Stones' twelfth album, rolled out on their own Rolling Stones Records on 18 October 1974, and it's a band in transition whether they'd admit it or not. Jimmy Miller had gone, so Mick Jagger and Keith Richards produced it themselves as the Glimmer Twins, with Mick Taylor, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts on most tracks, Ian Stewart, Nicky Hopkins and Billy Preston pitching in, and Ray Cooper turning up on percussion for the first time.

The bedrock is still blues and greasy rock 'n' roll, with funk and reggae seeping in at the edges, and "Time Waits for No One" broods beautifully. It was Taylor's last Stones album, and the title track hints at who came next: its backing was laid down at a jam with Jagger, David Bowie, Willie Weeks and the Faces' Ronnie Wood and Kenney Jones. It went to number one in America and number two at home.

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