Finally it can be said. This is the Rolling Stones album we’ve all wanted them to make (‘we’ meaning those of us who care, or cared, about the Stones at any point, that is): a blues album that gets back to the band’s bedrock rhythm and roots foundation. An album made quickly — not too fussed over or fidgeted with —  and played with verve and guts and heart and feeling. (Call it soul if you wish). An album more scuffed than shiny. An album constructed from chemistry and genuine, old fashioned inspiration rather than the misguided calculation that modern and sleeker is better. That may work when plotting gargantuan world tours, but rarely does it work well for Stones records. (When I read that “Blue & Lonesome” was cut in three days I felt something akin to excitement begin to stir inside me). 

Even taking into account that the…