The album--It's only Rock and Roll-- was a hit and miss affair as the Rolling Stones slipped into rock star excess and addiction. The music never really catches fire and there is too much filler. The album marks the end of a very creative era for the Rolling Stones both in terms of commercial sales and artistic creativity. It's a return to a quintessential Stones album after the poor critical reception that Goat's Head Soup had received.

This was Mick Taylor's last LP with the band. In retrospect, Taylor ended up being the perfect guitarist to replace the late Brian Jones. Taylor was a very essential and integral cog in shaping the music the Rolling Stones created in the early to mid 1970s. Taylor's lack of a co-credit on the album's second best song, "Time Waits For No One," was reputedly the last straw that ensured his departure.

This version of Tumbling Dice shows what the band was were capable of circa 1973.

The 1973 Brussels recordings showed the band at their peak. Ladies and Gentlemen...The Rolling Stones --based on their concert in 1972 and the music from Exile from Main Street--- shows the stripped down band raw and energetic. The band looking or sound better here than there more recent outings.This is a musical unit at its peak-- and they know it----which they then translated into celebrity status.