They're right, this really is only rock n' roll....by Anonymous

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October 10, 2004: ....and I don't mind it. It's Only Rock N Roll is a fairly enjoyable Stones album, and it does boast the fun title track and the spectacular funk work-out of 'Fingerprint File', but a lot of what's on here ranges from okay to pretty weak. 'Dance Little Sister' is filler, 'Luxury' is a so-so foray into reggae, there's a listenable cover of 'Aint Too Proud to Beg' and 'Short and Curlies' is about as throwaway as the Stones ever got. Still, there are a couple of sweet ballads in the form of the autumnal, nice 'Till the Next Goodbye' and Mick Taylor calls it quits with the band with a decent swansong in the form of 'Time Waits for No One', although the latter does drag on a bit. Opening rocker 'If You Can't Rock Me' is one of the better things here, though it's a bit sloppy and lumpen and could have done with tightening and more funk. More funk is what we indeed get with the aforementioned 'Fingerprint File', the best song by the band to incorporate a dance element into their sound, and it's over six minutes of excellence, proof that the band still had some of the old magic left in them. There's some great bass playing and very cool guitars on this track, and due to its presence on one of the band's most so-so albums, it's one of their most underrated songs. The title track is a real pleasure too, though it was a real blatant statement from the Stones that they were going to mostly stick to the sound they'd already created, which meant a descent into self-parody and not much room for new ideas, which made a lot of their later output so very unexciting. Pity, but this tune's great all the same. Following a run of fantastic albums that started with Aftermath and ended with Goats Head Soup, It's Only Rock and Roll turned out to be the first Stones album in nearly a decade that wasn't too great, but there's still fun to be had here now and then.

This review was written about the CD edition.