Uploaded October 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
In a special extended edition of my regular 'Revisiting' series, I look back on the records the Rolling Stones made in their so-called 'doldrums' period of 1973 - 1976. With their critical reputation having peaked a year or so before, the band worked some new angles on their sound and style, Jagger in the ascendent and Keith Richard sinking further into a drug haze. Across the course of three albums they explored a more lyrical style, creating elaborate ballads alongside their usual rockers, and employing fleets of session players to flesh out their sound. The fans gamely lapped it all up, but critical reaction was mixed and very few of the songs recorded during this period ended up as live set-list staples. Was this genuinely the 'Stones in the doldrums' as at least one US music journalist coined it, or a brave new direction for the bad boys of rock?
In a special extended edition of my regular 'Revisiting' series, I look back on the records the Rolling Stones made in their so-called 'doldrums' period of 1973 - 1976. With their critical reputation having peaked a year or so before, the band worked some new angles on their sound and style, Jagger in the ascendent and Keith Richard sinking further into a drug haze. Across the course of three albums they explored a more lyrical style, creating elaborate ballads alongside their usual rockers, and employing fleets of session players to flesh out their sound. The fans gamely lapped it all up, but critical reaction was mixed and very few of the songs recorded during this period ended up as live set-list staples. Was this genuinely the 'Stones in the doldrums' as at least one US music journalist coined it, or a brave new direction for the bad boys of rock?
