The Rolling Stones have a new album out titled 'Blue & Lonesome'. Pictured: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Photo supplied for use in TimeOut.
Blue & Lonesome is exactly the sort of low down dirty blues record that you want to hear from the Rolling Stones.
It's unfussy, uncomplicated and unbothered by any trends going on in the wider world of music.
Surprisingly, after a decade-long absence, there's no original material on here, it's
all covers of songs by blues greats like Howlin' Wolf and Willie Dixon. The record was reportedly whipped out in a mere three days. That frantic pace belies how casual it all feels.
You have to dig far back through their catalogue to find a record where the band sounded this great. They deliver this sweaty and swampy blues so authentically that it feels like you've stumbled upon the ultimate blues band playing in some backwater pub somewhere.
They also sound like they're having fun for the first time in a long time. Charlie Watts' swaying drums setting up a loose bar room groove for Keith Richards' superb guitar licks to riff over.
But it's Mick Jagger who steals the show - his harmonica wheezing and rocking throughout while his voice now has the grizzled age and experience to properly inhabit the songs.
