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The Rolling StonesA Bigger Bang Virgin/EMI For once, pre-release hype has been justified. Following two decades of increasingly indifferent studio efforts, the new 'Stones album 'A Bigger Bang' sees the veteran band playing with a passion and conviction that has long eluded them. Perhaps it was Charlie Watts' recent brush with throat cancer that has brought about the sense of dedication lacking since 1978's 'Some Girls'. This is a back to basics Stones' album uncluttered by studio effects, brass sections and backing vocalists, with Jagger and Richards writing and playing head-to-head, and primarily with Watts, Ron Wood and Darryl Jones. Interestingly, on the stronger tracks it is often only the trio of Jagger, Richards and Watts playing with Mick and Keef on guitars, bass and percussion. Whilst there is admittedly nothing to place alongside their classics of the 'sixties and early 'seventies, the material is classic Stones. From the opening misogynistic swagger of Rough Justice with its grinding guitar interplay, the album covers the usual terrain - the funk and Motown of the catchy Rain Fall Down and Laugh I Nearly Died, country-tinged ballads like Biggest Mistake, and a welcome return to the dirty Delta blues of Back Of My Hand (where Jagger surprisingly excels on slide). 'A Bigger Bang' does contain its fair share of filler though - you know, the odd five-minute song built around a single riff. Whilst it is lyrically challenging, the overtly political and anti-Bush Sweet Neo Con is musically weak (and Richards has understandably vetoed it from the band's current live performances). However this generous (64 minutes) album presents the band in its most gloriously sloppy glory since the early 'seventies. Keef chugs away as though his life depends upon it; Wood plays energized dirty slide licks. Charlie reasserts his position as anchor in the band and Jagger's the strongest he's been vocally for many years. In short, the band plays with a passion often found lacking in bands half their age. Welcome back!  |
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