The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed

Released in late 1969, Let It Bleed was recorded during one of the most turbulent periods of the Rolling Stones' history — founder Brian Jones, increasingly unable to contribute due to drug use, was fired during sessions and replaced by Mick Taylor, and died shortly after the album's completion. Widely considered one of the band's finest records and a high-water mark for late-sixties rock, it captures a group returning to blues and country roots just as that decade's optimism was collapsing, and features two of the era's most enduring songs in Gimme Shelter and You Can't Always Get What You Want.

The Rolling Stones formed in London in 1962, built around the songwriting partnership of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and quickly became one of the defining bands of the era through their blues-rooted, raw approach to rock and roll. By the time of Let It Bleed they'd already weathered lineup changes and controversy, and were entering the run of albums — Beggars Banquet through Exile on Main St. — now regarded as their creative peak.