[Harp-L] Mick Jagger's harp playing on new Blue and Lonesome album of blues covers?

[martin oldsberg]

Michelle is probably right on the amount of harmonica practising time Mick J has put in over the years. That it does not suffice is painfully evident from the title track -- he´s simply out of tune, wrong, bad and what have you.  Thinking this does in no way make me a better player, a busybody, a smartass or an obnoxious figure in general -- just a guy who has been playing some harmonica and defends his right to find this an instrument that should be played with a certain amount of skill. (Of course I might very well be all of the things above -- it was hinted that criticism on this topic was seriously indicative of certain charachter shortcomings -- but that´s entirely another matter. If I ever were to meet Sir Mick I would avoid the subject of harmonica, that would be the polite thing to do.) A trumpet player, say, who had assaulted this song in similar fashion/on a similar proficiency level would immediately have been carried out of the studio.  No bigger deal, I had no higher expectations so can´t say I´m particularly excited by him showing that he´s on the same level as usual. All in all, I think the entire record is a little bit less bad than I expected. 
  If it´s "good for the blues" that this record was made is something that´s very hard to gauge, and moreover, even if suddenly thousands of blues bands were to emerge as an assumed effect of it, that does not raise the artistic level on "Blue and lonesome" one bit. (A few years back there was a Golden Age for the harmonica predicted since a pop guy played it on a television show, but I think it takes more than that. Also, the world probably has enough of harmonica players as it is.)/Martin