I might have made a minor mistake in my selections for the best
\nof 1997. In that column (which just ran its course here on “The
\nDaily Vault”), I declared the latest release by The Rolling Stones,<\/p>\n
Bridges To Babylon<\/i>, to be one of the best of last year.<\/p>\n
No, I’m not changing my mind about that declaration, but I think
\nI didn’t go far enough. Allow me to make this modification: If not
\ntheir best album in the past two decades, The Rolling Stones might
\njust have made the best album of their career.<\/p>\n
\nBridges To Babylon<\/i> symbolizes a shift in the center of sonic
\npower for the British blooze-rock band. Long noted for centering
\ntheir songs around one guitar riff from Keith Richards or Ron Wood
\n(and promptly mashing that chord to death by playing it over and
\nover), the center of attention now is the drumming of Charlie Watts
\n(itself sounding revitalized) and the bass work of any number of
\nsession musicians. (Darryl Jones, who was used extensively on
\nVoodoo Lounge<\/i>, is criminally ignored on this album,
\nappearing on only three or four tracks.)<\/p>\n
This is not a knock on Richards or Wood; despite the fact I said
\noff-the-cuff that Richards looked a healthy shade of pale, in fact
\nnone of the Stones have looked better since the days of
\nTattoo You<\/i> and “Start Me Up,” and all of their contributions
\nsound like they have been rejuvenated. Mick Jagger has learned that
\nthere is more to a song than sneering or screaming through it; the
\nfirst single “Anybody Seen My Baby” is proof of that.<\/p>\n
A logical choice for the first single, “Anybody Seen My Baby”
\n(based partially on a k.d. lang riff – for which she got a
\nsongwriting credit) displays the power the Stones can have when the
\nenergy is focused right. With a killer bass line laid down by Jamie
\nMuhoberac and a solid drum pattern from Watts, the song is allowed
\nto slowly build into the crescendo of the chorus. (The gentle,
\njangling guitar work is further evidence that, when placed in the
\nright settings, they sound great.)<\/p>\n
But don’t think that The Rolling Stones (undoubtedly the world’s
\noldest teenagers) have gone politically correct. “Flip The Switch”
\nis a lighthearted look at death by lethal injection (and a damn
\nfine track at that). And who else but The Rolling Stones could
\nwrite a killer song with a killer title like “Might As Well Get
\nJuiced”?<\/p>\n
It’s especially refreshing to hear on
\nBridges To Babylon<\/i> a salute to some of their musical roots,
\nmany of which are sung by Richards (who continues to impress me as
\na singer). “You Don’t Have To Mean It” features a light reggae beat
\nthat almost makes it sound Carribean, while “How Can I Stop” is as
\ngood a rhythm-and-blues track as they come. A third Richards vocal,
\n“Thief In The Night,” is another powerful song with a more gentle
\ntouch.<\/p>\n
Occasionally, though, a minor flaw or two pokes its head into
\nthe mix. “Already Over Me” is an attempt to recreate the ballad
\nmagic they captured on “Out Of Tears” back on
\nVoodoo Lounge<\/i>; however, there are not many moments like this
\non
\nBridges To Babylon<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Some critics of the band might say that it’s time for these
\nroad-scarred veterans to call it a day, that their glory years are
\nbehind them. One word: wrong. If anything, the Stones might just
\nhave put behind them the disaster of the ’80s (remember
\nEmotional Rescue<\/i>? “Harlem Shuffle”? Not one, but
\n
\ntwo<\/i>
\n<\/b> half-assed live albums?) The rebirth started on
\nVoodoo Lounge<\/i>; on
\nBridges To Babylon<\/i>, it appears to come into full-bloom.<\/p>\n
I doubted the possibility of this album being so good myself – I
\ndidn’t buy it until it had been out for two months. Boy, what a
\nmistake I made. Don’t be a doubter like I was;
\nBridges To Babylon<\/i> is an incredible effort that seems to
\nmake the past 30-some years an exercise leading to the ultimate
\nwork. Pick it up – pick it up now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5665],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-38674","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-rolling-stones","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38674"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38674"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}