Black and Blue was the first studio album by the Rolling Stones to be released with Ronnie Wood replacing Mick Taylor. Wood had played twelve-string acoustic guitar on the track “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It)” from the album It’s Only Rock’ n Roll and appears on half of the tracks on Black and Blue, mainly on backing vocals, with Wayne Perkins and Harvey Mandel playing guitar on the remaining tracks.

The band incorporated a traditional rock and roll style with strong influences from reggae and funk music on the album. Although recorded at a transitional time for the band, the album received mixed reviews, with the music overshadowing the song in terms of tempo.

In December 1974, the Rolling Stones returned to Munich, where they had recorded their previous album, “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll”, and began recording their new album at Musicland Studios, with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and the Glimmer Twins again producing. Aiming to release it in time for their Tour of the Americas in the summer of 1975, the band went on holiday and returned to Rotterdam, Netherlands in January to continue recording, while also auditioning new guitarists. Among the promising names were Steve Marriott, Harvey Mandel, Wayne Perkins, Peter Frampton and Ronnie Wood, although only Mandel, Perkins and Wood appeared on the final album. The legendary Rory Gallagher and Jeff Beck dropped by for a jam with the band just “to see what was going on”, but both showed little interest in joining the band, being happy with their solo careers. Jeff Beck even stated that “I played three chords in two hours, I need a little more energy than that”.

With a lot of work to do to finish the album, it was decided to delay its release, reschedule it for next year, and release the Made in the Shade compilation instead. “Cherry Oh Baby”, a classic version of Eric Donaldson’s 1971 reggae song, would be the only song from the upcoming album to be played sporadically on their 1975 Tour of the Americas.

After the tour concluded, the band went to Montreux, Switzerland in October to record additional material for the album, returning to Musicland Studios in Munich in December for the same purpose. After some final arrangements, Black and Blue was completed in New York City in February 1976.

That same month, the Stones went to Sanibel Island Beach in Sanibel Island, Florida, to be photographed by fashion photographer Hiro for the album’s cover.

Musically, Black and Blue embraces hard rock with “Hand of Fate” and “Crazy Mama”, funk with “Hot Stuff”, reggae with a cover of “Cherry Oh Baby” and jazz with “Melody”, featuring the talented Billy Preston, one of the album’s key collaborators. Various musical and thematic styles are fused on the seven-minute “Memory Motel”, with Jagger and Richards singing a love song embedded in a life story.

The album was released in April 1976, reaching No. 2 in the UK and No. 1 in the US, where it remained for four weeks and went platinum with the single “Fool to Cry”, becoming a top 10 hit worldwide.

From this excellent album I select “Hot Stuff”.

Tracklist

1. Hot Stuff 5:21
2. Hand Of Fate 4:28
3. Cherry Oh Baby 3:54
4. Memory Motel 7:06
5. Hey Negrita 4:58
6. Melody 5:48
7. Fool To Cry 5:02
8. Crazy Mama 4:3