ROLLING STONES/IT'S ONLY ROCK'N'ROLL COC 59103 (-74) UK

Up to and with the previous "Goat's Head Soup" I was all in with Rolling Stones. This album was the first I couldn't connect to 100%. The title is a damn lie - a couple of mushy ballads, disco funk, a Temptations cover and a raggae. So however you turn it it's not only rock'n'roll. Two good rockers - title track and "If You Can't Rock Me" - but both with introspective lyrics (rock about rock) showing on a growing distance to the craft. For me this is the album where the Stones started to loose that special "it" factor. Maybe it had to do with the absence of Jimmy Miller, deep down on drugs at the time, forcing them to be more in charge, or a kind of awakening to the situation. Or maybe it's just the band adapting to new circumstances - the seventies music scene with posher studio equipment and a number of other genres masquerading as rock. In any case it's not dirty enough for me. Title track, "If You Can't Rock Me" and "Luxury" still has it, but the rest doesn't do it for this old sixties fan of the band. 1974 issues all over the world on vinyl, cassette and 8-track. Premiere UK had label as shown here, matt cover and stiff pic/credit inner. (RÅ*)