It begins with 40 ominous seconds, dangerous seconds; 40 instantly intriguing seconds that capture the imagination of listeners desperate to find out what happens. It begins with 40 seconds that are more warning than music and the sense of danger is real. When Mick Jagger sings of fire sweeping through the streets “like a red coal carpet” and Merry Clayton’s amazing background vocals crack on the words “rape” and “murder” two-thirds of the way through “Gimme Shelter” the danger seems very real. That’s what makes The Rolling Stones’ 1969 masterpiece Let It Bleed so riveting. Every note of it sounds so damn real.

In 1968, with the release of Beggar’s Banquet, The Stones proved that they were not just another rock band; they were masters of the form. Beggar’s Banquet was the first of what could quite possibly be the four best successive rock albums released by any band in the history of rock and roll. The album was a work of startling simplicity, a collection of songs built around American blues and roots music that invented the concept of what it meant to be “The Stones”. With 1969’s amazing follow up, Let It Bleed, The Stones began to add to this concept. If Beggar’s Banquet is a masterpiece of simplicity then Let It Bleed is a masterpiece of authenticity.

It’s pretty ballsy to call yourself the world’s greatest rock and roll band, but the Rolling Stones have got the talent, and the back catalog, to back such a boast up. They began their careers as eager teenagers with a love for American blues music and found themselves, upon tasting their first success, being compared to the Beatles because the Beatles had tasted success first. However, the Rolling Stones were more than just another British band to crash through in the Beatles’ wake. From 1968-1972, they were the world’s greatest rock and roll band. They were masters of the form who recorded what could quite possibly be the four best successive rock albums released by any band in the history of rock and roll, four discs that became blueprints for generations of aspiring rock bands to follow: Exile on Main St., Sticky Fingers, Let It Bleed and the album that started the impressive run, Beggar’s Banquet