Released in the summer of 1975, in the down period between
Mick Taylor's departure and as
the Stones were auditioning guitarists during the recording of 1976's
Black and Blue (coincidentally, the '60s rarities comp
Metamorphosis also came out in the summer of 1975),
Made in the Shade offers a perfunctory summary of
the Stones' records from the first half of the '70s. With the exception of their 1974 cover of
the Temptations' "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" (presumably left off the LP so
Mick and
Keith would have all the publishing here), all the U.S. hits from 1971 through 1974 are here -- "Brown Sugar," "Wild Horses," "Happy," "Tumbling Dice," "Angie," "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)," "It's Only Rock 'n Roll" -- and they're balanced out with some sharp, hard-driving album tracks like "Dance Little Sister," "Rip This Joint," and "Bitch," the latter of which was played enough on the radio and in concerts to seem like one of their genuine hits. So, it's not a bad collection, but it's not a necessary one, either, since the albums it anthologizes are pretty great on their own terms -- 1971's
Sticky Fingers and 1972's
Exile on Main St. are two of the greatest albums of the 20th century -- and such latter-day anthologies as Jump Back and Forty Licks cover this half of the '70s, plus the second half of the '70s, in a more thorough fashion. Nevertheless, if you happen to have it lying around your house, or can pick it up for a couple of bucks,
Made in the Shade is pretty much guaranteed to give you a good time if you play it -- it's just that there are better ways to hear this terrific music. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine