Description
The Rolling Stones – Blue and Lonesome – Compact Disc
The Rolling Stones’ Blue & Lonesome (released December 2016) is both a return and a reminder. Rather than chasing contemporary rock trends or attempting another polished studio reinvention, the band went back to the source: raw electric Chicago blues. It was their first studio album of original recordings in over a decade — and notably, it contains no new original songs at all. Instead, it’s a straight blues covers record, recorded quickly and with minimal overdubs.
The sessions took place at British Grove Studios in London and were completed in just a few days. Produced by longtime collaborator Don Was, the album was cut largely live in the room. That immediacy defines the sound — loose, urgent, and unpolished. There’s very little studio sheen. You hear the band playing together rather than assembling tracks piece by piece.
The material draws from artists such as Little Walter, Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon, Magic Sam, and Jimmy Reed — musicians who shaped The Rolling Stones’ earliest identity in the 1960s. Tracks like “Just Your Fool,” “Ride ’Em On Down,” “Hate to See You Go,” and “I Can’t Quit You Baby” reconnect the band with the electric blues framework that first inspired them. Mick Jagger’s harmonica playing is especially prominent throughout, bringing the focus back to their R&B roots.
Guitar work from Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood is sharp and unadorned — gritty rather than layered. The rhythm section, anchored by Charlie Watts, keeps the grooves steady and unflashy, emphasizing feel over complexity. Notably, Eric Clapton makes an uncredited appearance on two tracks, adding subtle additional guitar texture.
Blue & Lonesome debuted at No. 1 in the UK and performed strongly worldwide. Critically, it was widely praised as one of their most authentic-sounding releases in decades — not because it reinvented them, but because it stripped away excess.
Within The Rolling Stones’ vast catalog, Blue & Lonesome stands as a late-career roots project — less about legacy-building and more about honoring the music that started it all. It doesn’t try to modernize the band; instead, it reconnects them with the blues foundation that made them one of rock’s defining acts in the first place.
Brand new, never played and still in the factory plastic
Track Listing
Just Your Fool
Commit A Crime
Blue And Lonesome
All Of Your Love
I Gotta Go
Everybody Knows About My Good Thing
Ride ‘Em On Down
Hate To See You Go
Hoo Doo Blues
Little Rain
Just Like I Treat You
I Can’t Quit You Baby
