Today we have the Rolling Stones' eleventh studio album Sticky Fingers. Released in 1971, the album has since gone on to be one of the Rolling Stones' most acclaimed works and is often a fan favorite. The cover art, which included a working zipper on the vinyl, was designed by Andy Warhol.
While the Stones lean into their bad-boy persona on "Bitch" and "Sister Morphine" (and obviously the cover), musically they lose some of their edge--Jagger sings a tad too endearingly on "Wild Horses" and the saxophone on "I Got the Blues" is unnecessary at best. The often slick production also dampers Richards's and Taylor's guitar achievements, which is otherwise the best guitar work on any Stones' record yet. Luckily for the Stones, these flaws only make the album a small step down from Beggars Banquet. Now, let's bring it back around to "Sister Morphine," a beautiful acoustic blues which is the first of a nearly perfect three song knock-down finale that closes the album. And in case you were wondering, I like "Dead Flowers" because of the lyric "I'll be in my basement room with a needle and a spoon/And another girl to take my pain away" and, of course, because Mick sings it funny. A-
