Rolling Stones and the making of Let It Bleed

by Sean Egan

With a central spotlight on the creation of what many consider the Stones' masterpiece, 'Let it Bleed', Sean Egan draws a picture of where the band were at in the bleak aftermath of Brian Jones' death, and how the making of the album catapulted them to the next stage of their extraordinary career.

Genres: Music, History

206 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 31, 2007

About the author

A freelance journalist, author and editor who writes about arts and entertainment (music, film, TV, comics and literature), social history (20th and 21st centuries) and sport (soccer and tennis history).

Reviews

[Bill McFadyen]

Sean Egan published this book in 2005 and since then Keith Richards has shared his thoughts with us on many of the topics covered here. However his insights from the studio recordings and those who were there in the capacity of session musicians or engineers makes this a great read. The sections on Brian Jones are , to me sad, if he had not been killed by his builder Mr Thorogood, I am certain he would have joined up with many of the other musicians in late 60s London and gone on to make some interesting stuff.
The dissection of the Let it Bleed tracks is worth the book alone , his comment that Brian Jones and John Lennon would have been happier if the had stopped bands worth thinking about.
The Stones helped to change the world , many of their songs sound dated and misogynistic today but in 1969 were above the parapet.
A good read if you have an interest in the Rolling Stones and the 1960s.

[Jonathan Rice]

The author has some whack opinions about some of the tracks on Let it Bleed. Whack opinions and omissions: failure to even mention the ragged riff that drives "Monkey Man" -- and then saying the song was too slickly produced; dissing the fiddle solo on "Country Honk" and not appreciating the propulsive force achieved on acoustic guitars is totally bogus. And he gets a couple of small things wrong (there's a photo that is described as being at Altamont; it definitely was not taken at Altamont, as any nerd could have told him).

[Ben McCarthy]

It's a good solid read for stones fans who want to peruse something while spinning their albums. Refreshingly it's not entirely a puff piece - the author is much more rigorous than you'd expect with his appraisal of the tracks and more or less says LIB is not even in the stones top 5 albums. A lot of contemporary sources also provide interesting angles. A fun read.

[Jim]

Well researched and laid out, but it felt like the author didn’t much like the album and spent a lot of time worshipping Brian Jones. It begged the question: why did he write this book on an LP he seemed ambivalent on?

[Jonny Brick]

Near the end of this survey, which features interviews with session players and producers, Egan admits to much of the album not being any good. He's right, but in the context of the time (band struggles and personal problems), it's amazing it got made to the standard it did.

[Allan Heron]

Enjoyable overview of the making of Let It Bleed, the second in the run of the five classic albums on which the legend of the Rolling Stones as the greatest rock'n'roll band in the world is founded.

[Nick Reeves]

A pretty comprehensive poke around beneath the stones. A solid read.

[William Reid]

OK read lost it a bit in the last chapter.