The Rolling Stones continued their torrid pace of (at least) an album a year, dropping It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll in October of 1974. The album was produced by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards under the pseudonym “The Glimmer Twins.” The pair would go on to produce or co-produce every subsequent Stones album.

This was the band’s final release to feature Mick Taylor on guitar. He left after a dispute with Jagger over songwriting credits. All of the album’s original tracks are credited to Jagger and Richards, while Taylor maintained he made significant contributions to several songs, including today’s SOTD. Taylor is behind the mesmerizing guitar solo that closes out this epic track.

I like this album a lot more than Goats Head Soup. Following the glossy production of that record, this one sounds organic and gritty again. It’s not quite cohesive (its ten tracks run the gamut from classic R&B to country rock ballads to, in a real left turn, the dance funk of ‘Fingerprint File’) but the band sounds like they mean every note.

I particularly like the two long ballads at the album’s center. ‘Till the Next Goodbye’ and ‘Time Waits For No One’ are as earnest as The Stones get, and it’s a good look on them.