10 Most Underappreciated Rock Albums
9. The Rolling Stones - Blue & Lonesome
The Stones’ artistic heyday was around 1968-1972. There have been good records since then and there have been bad ones, but most sit somewhere in the middle. A fine product to sell a tour, but that’s about it.
Out of nowhere, in 2016, after having not released a studio record since 2005, the band dropped Blue & Lonesome. It’s a covers album that harkens back to the group’s roots as a blues/R&B band. They have been playing these songs their whole lives (which have been excessively and astonishingly long – RIP Charlie), and it was the love of this music that brought these men together and, as music is capable of doing when nothing else is at hand, has kept them together through more trials and tribulations than you or I could or would endure.
It is fitting, therefore, that, like Metallica before them, returning to these songs and playing them with the gusto of human beings half, or even a quarter, their age, rejuvenated the band into making their best record in 40 years. Jagger, in particular, with his voice and a badass harmonica, seems to be having more fun than ever, and you can see his hips shaking and arms swinging along with every word.
Standout Tracks: Just Your Fool, Commit A Crime, Blue & Lonesome, Ride ‘Em On Down, I Can’t Quit You Baby.