Review of 40 Hot Licks by The Rolling Stones ****

Contains All The Necessary Rolling Stones Standards
Keith Richards is the secret to the Rolling Stones success.  Without Keith Richards, this would be a band of tone deaf zeros.  However, Keith Richards was able to elevate the Rolling Stones, and forge new sounds in rock.  Though they are far from being sophisticated it’s hard not to like these songs.  Simple, but good!  Even a beginner could probably play them, or have a better sense of pitch, but I won’t let that bother me because there are 40 songs on this double disk and all of them are good.  Although, the Rolling Stones have been around for so long that it would be pathetic if they couldn’t put together two disks of really good and memorable songs.  You could almost say that the Rolling Stones invented rock n’ roll.  The Rolling Stones were definitely different from their predecessors, like Elvis Presley.  And, it does say quite a bit about the talent of a musician when they are able to create a new sound.  Also, I will add that one of the secrets of this band is that they used the limitations of their equipment to their advantage.  Their earlier songs come across very crudely, but the production is crude, so it all fits.