Nearly fifty years after its release, the Rolling Stones’ Black And Blue finally gets the deep-dive reappraisal it’s always deserved. The band’s 1976 studio album, the first to feature Ronnie Wood as a full-fledged Stone, returns in a sprawling Super Deluxe box set that reframes it not as a transitional record, but as one of the group’s more adventurous and underrated moments.

Black And Blue was a portrait of a band in flux. Mick Taylor was out, Ronnie Wood was in, and the Stones were stretching their sound in every direction, from funk, disco, and reggae to soul and slow-burning balladry. At the time, Billboard hailed it as “one of their most purely enjoyable albums of the ’70s.” Decades later, Uncut would call it “super-tight, bone-dry, hi-fi rock and soul.” With this 2025 reissue, the album finally takes its rightful place as the groove-soaked bridge between the sprawling Exile On Main St. and the sleek swing of Some Girls.

The package is loaded with four CDs, a Blu-ray featuring Steven Wilson’s new Dolby Atmos mix, a complete 1976 Earls Court concert, unreleased outtakes, and a live TV performance from Paris that’s never seen the light of day. There’s also a 100-page hardcover book packed with rare photos, a new essay by Rolling Stones historian Paul Sexton, and a fresh interview with Ronnie Wood, the man whose arrival changed the band’s chemistry forever by injecting new energy.

With Wilson’s new mix, Black And Blue feels reborn. “Hot Stuff” snaps and slithers with disco-era funk.“Hand Of Fate” explodes with the kind of guitar interplay that made Wood an instant fit. Ballads like “Fool To Cry” and excellent “Memory Motel” reveal a rare vulnerability beneath Jagger’s bravado, one that’s confessional and more human.

When Black And Blue came out in 1976, it was a glimpse of a band experimenting in real time, unafraid to fail spectacularly in search of something new. The grooves were deeper, the purpose was deliberate, and the crisp, modern sound pointed toward the next decade of Stones dominance. This Super Deluxe edition is a reminder that Black And Blue was the Rolling Stones testing their limits by refusing to gather moss.  Five decades later, the verdict is clear. Black And Blue wasn’t a detour, it was the foundation of the Stones’ next act.