Flip the Switch is great.
Saint of Me is great.

It's not bad, but it has the usual problems that's been going on since VL. Too many songs, the songs and arrangements have not matured enough, the sound is flat and lacks depth. They try too much and too little at the same time.

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GravityBoy
Flip the Switch is great.
Saint of Me is great.

On the studio version, it annoys me a lot that Keith is playing the riff sloppily towards the ending - and totally different than on the rest of the track.

On some songs, there is stuff like that that bothers me on B2B.

I would add How Can I Stop in the great-category as well.

Saint Of Me is a near perfect recording. Good work by Waddy. Keith and Ronnie don't play on it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-09-04 10:34 by DandelionPowderman.

Time to review BRIDGES TO BABYLON again? Okay.

It has mostly grown on me of the late day Stones albums, since it has something, for example, VOODOO LOUNGE and A BIGGER BANG terribly lack: namely good, memorable songs. "Saint of Me", "Out of Control" and "How Can I Stop" are easily the best songs they have released since re-union in 1989 (I skip the EXILE/SOME GIRLS bonus material here), and I am not sure if UNDERCOVER, DIRTY WORK or STEEL WHEELS actually contain any better ones either. "Anybody Seen My Love" and "Too Tight", and "Flip The Switch" are okay in their own rights. The problem, like mentioned by someone here, is that the album is rather uneven, and leaves somehow an impression of hastily made compilation of songs just put together, and the dynamics within the songs doesn't work very well. It is not a well working artistic statement over-all (but that's typical to digital age, though). They might try some new ideas there - probably due it is based on two solo albums - but still that sounds finally more like a make-up (thinking especially of "Juiced" which I think is one of their worst products ever). Keith's "Mean It" works finally though, as "How Can I Stop" obviously. But in the end it doesn't really sound so much different than VOODOO LOUNGE - the players and they manners, the song structures and artrangements are rather obvious sounding, and do not actually surprise 'trained' ear. Jagger's ballads are so 'by the numbers' as they ever can be.

But it is the highlights that makes this album above the rest in modern age. But it is with those songs - especially "Saint of Me" and "Out of Control"- that I somehow miss the last nail in the coffin to really make the songs blossom. They still tend to sound like works in progress without the full potentia coming out. Like that last gear missing in making them really top class Rolling Stones songs. Maybe the hunger was not there any longer to really inspire their creative brain cells. I don't know if the problem lies in the original ideas (that were not inspiring enough), or were they too lazy to really make them work. I really miss that little extra, that last gear, that I hear so clearly missing.

- Doxa

Anybody Seen My Baby plagiarism







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-09-04 10:24 by DiscoVolante.

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Bärs
It's not bad, but it has the usual problems that's been going on since VL. Too many songs, the songs and arrangements have not matured enough, the sound is flat and lacks depth. They try too much and too little at the same time.

Very well put.

- Doxa

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Doxa

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Bärs
It's not bad, but it has the usual problems that's been going on since VL. Too many songs, the songs and arrangements have not matured enough, the sound is flat and lacks depth. They try too much and too little at the same time.

Very well put.

- Doxa

Be careful, or you'll both be accused of being old grumps who are close-minded and have unhappy lives. Or maybe

yep - too many songs.

Saint of Me is the best IMO...and their best since Tattoo You !!

I'll sign the petition: WAY too many songs on B2B.

Imagine this:

Flip The Switch
Anybody Seen My Baby
Lowdown
Already Over Me
Saint Of Me
Out Of Control
You Don't Have To Mean It
Thief In The Night
How Can I Stop

Mick would have had to sing a couple of Keith's numbers, though

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Eleanor Rigby
Saint of Me is the best IMO...and their best since Tattoo You !!

[SORRY - I thought you were talking about "How Can I Stop"!]

This might be even true... the song has depth, and realizes its all potentia. Very focused work. I would even put it to the rank of the 'classical' Richards tunes from the past ("You Got The Silver", "Happy", "Before They Make Me run", "All About You", "Little T&A").

- Doxa



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2012-09-04 10:49 by Doxa.

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71Tele

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Doxa

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Bärs
It's not bad, but it has the usual problems that's been going on since VL. Too many songs, the songs and arrangements have not matured enough, the sound is flat and lacks depth. They try too much and too little at the same time.

Very well put.

- Doxa

Be careful, or you'll both be accused of being old grumps who are close-minded and have unhappy lives. Or maybe

Grumpy or not, just trying to be honest (but I understand that is hard for some people accept different opinions). Keep up the good work, Tele!

- Doxa

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DandelionPowderman
Saint Of Me is a near perfect recording. Good work by Waddy. Keith and Ronnie don't play on it.

I agree, the idea of Mick singing about religion, St Paul and blinding lights is brilliant. Blues and religion, great combination, produced some great songs.

This is a GREAT Mick song AND it sounds like the Stones.

The video is also great in my opinion.

(Even if Keith is miming someone elses guitar part).

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GravityBoy

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DandelionPowderman
Saint Of Me is a near perfect recording. Good work by Waddy. Keith and Ronnie don't play on it.

I agree, the idea of Mick singing about religion, St Paul and blinding lights is brilliant. Blues and religion, great combination, produced some great songs.

This is a GREAT Mick song AND it sounds like the Stones.

The video is also great in my opinion.

(Even if Keith is miming someone elses guitar part).

Agree, it's a good one - and it was really good live as well.

When it came out I loved it, the tour was really good, and they played a lot of it live. Now I would call it decent. I do not like to be a whiner, but along with Bridges an album called Time out of mind was released. I know which album is better.

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whitem8
A great album! One of my favorite later day releases. I agree that many people close their ears after '81. BTB is a daring album in many ways, yet also finds that familiar groove of classic stones. Some great writing and melodies on the disc. Full of sleazy rock, some great ballads, and some good gospel rock as well. Everything about the album I like, and the tour was fantastic. They seemed very energized by the release and the numbers got a good response from the audience. And it has three, THREE, great Keith songs on it. One if his best reggae numbers, and two hauting torch songs. I think when Mick and Keith are at each other's throats it makes for more compelling songs. Seems to fit, by all accounts they were arguing quite a bit over BTB, and then ABB was a love fest and it seemed languid and heartless in many ways...

Yep. It seems many bands reach a point where people decide to close their ears regardless of what the band puts out. Personally, I love BTB and I maintain that had it been released at the height of their youthful popularity, it would have been celebrated as a great album. So what if they experimented with some newer production and mixing methods? It worked! Mick said a long time ago that perhaps one reason for the Stones longevity is that they were willing to be influenced by things but not to the point of slavishly following trends. Lots of great songs. Already Over Me moves me more than Wild Horses. Keith's ballads are stellar. Down in the groove rockers that get my foot tappin'. Great album and great tour in support of it. As to closed ears, I've mentioned anolder brother who plugged his ears after Aftermath. God, what a lot of great music he's missed!

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Send It To me
Ranking the last 30 years...

1. Steel Wheels
2. Undercover
3. A Bigger Bang
4. Bridged to Babylon
5. Voodoo Lounge
6. Dirty Work

1. Bridges to Babylon
2. Voodoo Lounge
3. Undercover
4. A Bigger Bang
5. Steel Wheels
6. Dirty Work

1. Undercover
2. Steel Wheels
3. Dirty Work
4. Voodoo Lounge
5. A Bigger Bang
6. Bridges To Babylon

Both album and tour were very good!
My favourite late album. A lot of good songs on BTB and what other later album had such concert-highlites and so many songs played live?

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CousinC
Both album and tour were very good!
My favourite late album. A lot of good songs on BTB and what other later album had such concert-highlites and so many songs played live?

None, except for Steel Wheels.

The production of Steel Wheels is questionable, but imo there is no doubt that songs like Almost Hear You Sigh, Terrifying, Sad Sad Sad, Mixed Emotions, Rock And A Hard Place and Slipping Away were highlights in concert.

The best songs from B2B, however (OOC and SOM in particular) were even better than the best from Steel Wheels, though.

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DandelionPowderman

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CousinC
Both album and tour were very good!
My favourite late album. A lot of good songs on BTB and what other later album had such concert-highlites and so many songs played live?

None, except for Steel Wheels.

The production of Steel Wheels is questionable, but imo there is no doubt that songs like Almost Hear You Sigh, Terrifying, Sad Sad Sad, Mixed Emotions, Rock And A Hard Place and Slipping Away were highlights in concert.

The best songs from B2B, however (OOC and SOM in particular) were even better than the best from Steel Wheels, though.

That's what I mean. Both were highlites even. Thats not very often in the later Stones' . .

BTW. Imo it could have been even better with lesser songs. But these days you just can't do such short albums as a big act.

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DiscoVolante
Anybody Seen My Baby plagiarism

Apparently it wasn't plagiarized but thought of independantly. Keith's daughter then advised him that she'd heard something very similar before and then played him Constant Craving. But......they liked the tune and so phoned KD Lang, told her about ASMB, asked her if she would be OK with it if she was credited, she said yes. That's what I read anyway.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2012-09-04 14:40 by EddieByword.

I would say their best album since Tattoo You.

However, Might As Well Get Juiced is just dreadful! The production on that song sucks.

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LastStopThisTown
I would say their best album since Tattoo You.

However, Might As Well Get Juiced is just dreadful! The production on that song sucks.

Add Gunface and Mick's guitar on it to that list...

When I popped this in the player for the first time, it was 2am,
I had a bottle of Comfort and a pair of headphones. I followed it
with James Brown's "In the Jungle Groove". My head exploded.
I didn't go to sleep 'til 7am, playing "Bridges ..." over
and over. Fave track? "Lowdown". Great groove.

I listened to this album the other day, it's great.

Some really good stuff on there. I love Keiths songs on this one.

_____________________________________________________

What's your favourite flavour?...........Cherry Red!!

I like a lot of the songs on this album, and agree that more though went into constructing the songs - more attention to bridges, key changes, intros etc.

i don´t i´ve ever been able to sit and listen to the Keith songs all the way through though. Yawn.

I loved this album and still listen to it. I tend to listen to their albums as self-contained snippets of what was going on at that time instead of comparing them to past albums. Keeps me sane! But overall for me there was more to like than not and Saint of Me, Out Of Control, How Can I Stop, Flip the Switch, You Don't Have To Mean It and Too Tight are highlights for me. There were a few duds for me but that's my personal taste.

As for the BTB tour, it was fantastic. I had seen them in Buffalo in '81 but refused to see them on Steel Wheels and Voodoo Lounge as they were playing the horrendous Olympic Stadium here in Montreal. For BTB they played the Bell Centre for 2 nights because the Big Owe had a ripped roof and it was the best thing that could have happened. I was lucky enough to get passes and great seats and the show was fantastic from beginning to end. Saint of Me live was great and to me it is a modern era classic.

But hey, that's just me. What I find fascinating reading this thread is that so many people liked so many different songs on the album. That probably says something about the quality of the music. Was it disjointed? Yes. Was it one side Mick, one side Keith? Sure. Is it an enjoyable listen? Absolutely.

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MightyStonesStillRollin50

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whitem8
A great album! One of my favorite later day releases. I agree that many people close their ears after '81. BTB is a daring album in many ways, yet also finds that familiar groove of classic stones. Some great writing and melodies on the disc. Full of sleazy rock, some great ballads, and some good gospel rock as well. Everything about the album I like, and the tour was fantastic. They seemed very energized by the release and the numbers got a good response from the audience. And it has three, THREE, great Keith songs on it. One if his best reggae numbers, and two hauting torch songs. I think when Mick and Keith are at each other's throats it makes for more compelling songs. Seems to fit, by all accounts they were arguing quite a bit over BTB, and then ABB was a love fest and it seemed languid and heartless in many ways...

Excellent comments. You are giving me goosebumps. I expect the next album to be just as good.

i expect the next album to be 48 old reissues and two new tracks

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lunar!!!


i expect the next album to be 48 old reissues and two new tracks

Christ...please, no...