Some great songs on Voodoo Loungs and Bridges to Babylon

Voodoo Lounge: Love is Strong, You got me Rocking, Sparks will Fly, Out of Tears,Sweethearts Together.Blinded by Rainbows, Thru and Thru…

Bridges to Babylon: Anybody seen my Baby, Already Over Me, You Don't Have to Mean It, OUt of Control. Saint of Me, Always Suffering, Too tight, Thief in the Night, How Can I stop

There are a lot of good songs here. I don't think we can just dismiss these two albums… The Stones did a lot of touring in the 90s which helped their songwriting and recording..And Darryl Jones gave a lift to the band as Keith has said...

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latebloomer

Did we lose a year somewhere?

Maybe it's "2005 & counting" - already 9 years now since the last Studio album ....

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Stoneage

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Witness
Attitudes towards tax issues do not exhaust attitudes towards all other political issues. To think that way, promotes political cynicism and vulgarism

I'm sorry Witness, that is not correct. Attitudes towards taxation is a key part in any political context. If not the only...

Only this: Individuals that want to pay low taxes, may obviously have a variety of attitudes to other political issues.

Sure, Witness.It looks like Sir Michael, albeit being a neo-liberal, is not a neo-conservative. I'm not sure how he gets voting on the Tories in that equation though. But that is Sir Michael for you...

bigger bang-or as i call it studio diarrhea part 3.

this is one of the many times digital helped destroy the rolling stones recording career.
in a very death by a thousand cuts way,mick and keith are walking on eggshells around each other so they cant have an argument or even a deep discussion about what songs to keep or leave off the record-well voila! digital recording is here. we can leave all the songs on,avoid conflict and "give the fans more music"-
never mind that your record is a long boring piece of crap with 16 songs,at least 6 of which should have never seen the light of day.

all of those records-voodoo, bridges and a bigger bang are an excercise in frustration.the talent was there to make a great record and they just misfired every time.

voodoo lounge- they used all of their great ideas on wandering spirit and main offender so of course voodoo had to have as many songs as a double album,because they had so many great ideas left......

bridges to babylon-i'm still trying to wade through this mess all these years later.i look at it and i cant even figure out what it is-from the 1973 santana cover on the cd to the looooong drawn out songs by mick and keith-
always suffering and already over me are the same song- yet jagger spends a combined TEN MINUTES on the two of them.

not to be out done keith has his own TEN MINUTES of snoozers-you dont have to mean it and how can i stop.these four songs would equal nearly an entire side of a vinyl lp.it also shows how a lack of competition hurts,they would've never put that stuff out against a who's next,dark side of the moon,abbey road or houses of the holy-like i said,death by a thousand cuts.

then bigger bang-they had maybe,and i mean maybe 8 good songs.they shouldve just worked on those and made a record like black and blue[8 songs]but instead we have epic,never ending digital dysentery.

its probably better they just gave up-too many c-list records were starting to make the catalogue look bad.

Great Album. LOVE IT!

So you mean it was better to complain that they released 7 songs instead of 8 on Bigger Bang then 8 to many.......I think your right...I think your right it's more frustrating to skip 8 songs then miss one

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NICOS
So you mean it was better to complain that they released 7 songs instead of 8 on Bigger Bang then 8 to many.......I think your right...I think your right it's more frustrating to skip 8 songs then miss one

yeah,cool-i agree with whatever the fck you just said...i think.

and could we stop throwing the word "great" around"-sticky fingers was a "great' record-axis bold as love was a "great" record. bigger bang even if you liked it...i mean,c'mon.

I don't know if this is just me, but I find every Stones studio album since Steel Wheels to be just really uninspired, both lyrically and musically. A Bigger Bang is no exception.

Voodoo Lounge, in my opinion, is the best out of the Steel Wheels, Voodoo Lounge, Bridges To Babylon, and A Bigger Bang foursome. The album is waayy too long (as is A Bigger Bang), and there are just too many clunkers on it for me to call it a "great" album. That being said, there are some really good songs. "Love is Strong", "Sparks Will Fly", "The Worst", "Out of Tears", and "Thru and Thru", while no means groundbreaking, are both lyrically and musically solid. If they had included "The Storm" and a few other outtakes, and cut a few songs, it would have been a fantastic album.

A Bigger Bang is very similar. That album does have a few highlights ("Rough Justice", "Rain Fall Down", and "Laugh, I Nearly Died" ), but outside of that, I find the album really boring and way too long. I think if the Stones ever record another studio album, they need a voice in the recording studio to tell them whether a certain song is really necessary. Basically to be an editor. Songs like "Driving Too Fast" and "Look What the Cat Dragged In" deserve to be no more than outtakes, IMO. I think "Doom and Gloom" show that Mick and Keith are still capable of coming up with good new material (at least Mick anyway). I would still LOVE to see an new album.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-09-06 02:51 by Sam4741.

The Stones albums of the CD era are all too long. But there are at least 10 good-to-great songs on each of them. I complained at the time, but I don't any longer. Now, I just wish for new material. Something, anything.

Great Album!!

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lem motlow
bigger bang-or as i call it studio diarrhea part 3.

this is one of the many times digital helped destroy the rolling stones recording career.
in a very death by a thousand cuts way,mick and keith are walking on eggshells around each other so they cant have an argument or even a deep discussion about what songs to keep or leave off the record-well voila! digital recording is here. we can leave all the songs on,avoid conflict and "give the fans more music"-
never mind that your record is a long boring piece of crap with 16 songs,at least 6 of which should have never seen the light of day.

all of those records-voodoo, bridges and a bigger bang are an excercise in frustration.the talent was there to make a great record and they just misfired every time.

voodoo lounge- they used all of their great ideas on wandering spirit and main offender so of course voodoo had to have as many songs as a double album,because they had so many great ideas left......

bridges to babylon-i'm still trying to wade through this mess all these years later.i look at it and i cant even figure out what it is-from the 1973 santana cover on the cd to the looooong drawn out songs by mick and keith-
always suffering and already over me are the same song- yet jagger spends a combined TEN MINUTES on the two of them.

not to be out done keith has his own TEN MINUTES of snoozers-you dont have to mean it and how can i stop.these four songs would equal nearly an entire side of a vinyl lp.it also shows how a lack of competition hurts,they would've never put that stuff out against a who's next,dark side of the moon,abbey road or houses of the holy-like i said,death by a thousand cuts.

then bigger bang-they had maybe,and i mean maybe 8 good songs.they shouldve just worked on those and made a record like black and blue[8 songs]but instead we have epic,never ending digital dysentery.

its probably better they just gave up-too many c-list records were starting to make the catalogue look bad.

Best analysis of ABB I have seen...

All the records from Steel Wheels on (I forgive them that one because they were back together and at least Bill was still involved) have been excercises in diplomacy as much or more than in making music. When you choose people based on the fact that they are the only ones whom Mick and Keith can agree on you get Don Was and Chuck Leavell, and even then you get sort of a neutered version of those people because no one will dare upset The Mighty Oz.

I loved the idea of A Bigger Bang - Mick & Keith working closely together, Mick even playig bass at times. Very cool. Unfortunatey the material they came up with for the most part fell short. Why they chose to finish and release so many inferior tunes is beyond me. There's no rule that says you have to fill up 70 minutes on a CD just because you can.

I still prefer ABB though to Bridges, which sounds like two half solo albums that share a few sidemen.

The last LP to get any respect world wide was a whopping two albums ago, BRIDGES TO BABYLON. Its songs got played on the tour, it sold pretty good and the videos were pretty good.

Can't say any of that about ABB.

This Place Is Empty is one of my favourite Keith tracks.

There's a great interview of him talking about writing it and he basically shrugs and says, " The old lady was away, yeah, this place is empty without you... I was feeling lonely."
It is so candid, always struck a chord with me. I loved that honesty, especially when you consider who he is. Beautiful song.

I find it eminently more listenable than Steel Wheels

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GasLightStreet
The last LP to get any respect world wide was a whopping two albums ago, BRIDGES TO BABYLON. Its songs got played on the tour, it sold pretty good and the videos were pretty good.

Can't say any of that about ABB.

But ABB had a song played on a daytime soap opera...B2B didn't

I liked this album - OK not the same as VL or EOMS, but some great stuff - in fact if you took the best 40 minutes (LP length), very good in my opinion.

But what is very very scary is that it was 9 years ago.... seems much less to me.... time waits for no-one

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treaclefingers

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gimmelittledrink
I was excited when I heard the Stones had done an anti-Bush song. Then I listened to it and thought, man, what a load of crap. It's just awful, one of their worst songs ever. Great idea but terrible execution.

gimmeanotherlittledrink...well put.

I'm also with treacle but it doesn't really matter whether you agree with the sentiments of the song or not, it really is dreadful.
Clumsy lyrics with a cod-reggae backing.
Mick is capable of so much better.


"As we say in England, it can get a bit trainspottery"

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thecitadel
I liked this album - OK not the same as VL or EOMS, but some great stuff - in fact if you took the best 40 minutes (LP length), very good in my opinion.

But what is very very scary is that it was 9 years ago.... seems much less to me.... time waits for no-one

Same for me, can you imaging that 9 years spans from '63 till '72.....took ages as kid.....and the last 9 years are gone as eye wink

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Been hanging out at this site for over a decade and although I don't post often I very much respect the knowledge and love of the Stones hardcore fans her, but I seriously don't understand why the track from Bigger Bang "Dangerous Beauty" is not liked by most of them, I absolutely love that song and hope to hear it played live sometime before the Stones hang it up for good.

What is it that you don't like about the track, seriously?

For those of you that love it as I do, please back me up here!

Rock On, NWSooner

One of my faves
Always thought the critics missed the point when they highlighted NeoCon as the 'controversial' song from ABB.
Dangerous Beauty just rocks.

I like I t, I don't think it's GREAT but it may work LIVE! Don't hold your breathe, there are far too many songs ahead of this one that they've actually practiced.

it was a stand out track for me too. i tell you NWSooner why i like it: #1-it has a great funky rhythm track of syncopation that nearly sounds dirty. #2-guitars have a nice grit on them. #3-the lyrics despite being current at that time have a wonderful bite to them with humor. #4-although the guitar solo could be fancier, it's very smooth and bluesy, nearly jazzy which cuts through the rough sound of everything else. #5-the fade out has some wonderful ad libs by jagger: "you're one bad apple in a box" and "I see the gloves are coming off".

easily one of the best rock tracks on the album besides the first 3 tracks and 'driving too fast'.

OK babe, I'm backing you up!
ABB is a worthwhile record.

DB is a fantastic track, it has a groove only the Stones can give you and Keith's solo is thrilling.

I agree, from the first listen when released, Dangerous Beauty was infectious; the Bigger Bang album is a solid testament of The Rolling Stones endurance but their catalog is far too extensive to include DB in their 2014 tour set list but one never knows...

It's a good track, with great guitar playing from Keith and absolutely brilliant Mick vocals.

The political contents of the lyrics might be one of the reasons for the lackluster reception among certain fans, I dunno?

Well, I don't like it.
The riff is third-rate, there is no groove, there is no melody, no special sound or chord-changes or anything. It reminds me of the worst songs on Dirty Work: just Mick Jagger screaming some gibberish over a background of grungy guitars without any kind of special lick of riff. And the lyrics..., I guess it's some tongue-in-cheek comment on the girl in the Abu Ghraib pictures, but I don't get what's so funny or sexy or ironic or God-knows-what he intends to bring across.

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matxil
Well, I don't like it.
The riff is third-rate, there is no groove, there is no melody, no special sound or chord-changes or anything. It reminds me of the worst songs on Dirty Work: just Mick Jagger screaming some gibberish over a background of grungy guitars without any kind of special lick of riff. And the lyrics..., I guess it's some tongue-in-cheek comment on the girl in the Abu Ghraib pictures, but I don't get what's so funny or sexy or ironic or God-knows-what he intends to bring across.

You could say the exact same thing about Start Me Up. And, imo, the songs are good because of the very same reasons: A good open G-riff and great vocals from Mick.

+ the BB King-esque solo by Keith is nice on DB.

EDIT: Just to make it clear, I'm not saying DB is as good as SMU, only that these songs' fortes are similar.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2014-09-22 14:43 by DandelionPowderman.

I think it is a great song from an excellent album!