This album has been slagged by some of the community, but I'm listening to it right now, and I don't think it deserves the scorn heaped on it. For a bass lover, this is a great recording, especially with the use of the standup on "Flip the Switch" and "Too Tight", and the techno-treated mix of swamp-bottom blues with "Might As Well Get Juiced". Hell, Keith gets three tracks, which is an automatic plus, and I swear, Mick even sounds like Keith on the first verse of "Always Suffering".

Let's see, we also have two setlist staples from the B2B tour--"Saint of Me" and "Out of Control", and a radio hit with "Anybody Seen My Baby".

As always, the band is not afraid of exploring new territory, and sonically experimenting.

The sound quality is outstanding, with crunchy guitars, punchy bottom end, and Charlie is up in the mix. What more could you want?

I give it honorable mention in the stones catalog
but not much more

I agree with bassplayer617. I think it's really well crafted and a great album. I didn't love it at first, I actually hated it a bit. But after a year or two something clicked and I fell in love with it.

I think Bridges To Babylon suffers from a great many problems.
Generally there is a lack of vitality in many of the uptempo performances. I am referring to the lack of variation within each song. The song starts at a certain tempo and then plods along until it is time to finish. There is very little guitar interplay or spontaneity.
This was brought to light when i went back and listened to Dirty Work which seems to have so much more room for the songs to breathe. I don't think there is any need to fill every available gap but the production values result in this.
Unfortunately the album has the hi-tech feel of many modern rock albums - high on clever production techniques but really lacking any of the rawness,soul or intimacy found in the Stones earlier work.
It's almost like listening to an Oasis album - music built for stadiums but the Stones were at one time much much more than that.
On the positive side Keith songs at least sound a little more genuine as if he is not trying to keep up with the modern trends. I like his reggae song it's less superficial and it sounds like Keith is having a great deal of fun.
Bridges To Babylon lacks many of the characteristics that made the Stones such an incredible group in their prime. Primarily their strengths along with great songs is musicianship particuarly it's vitality. Unfortunately on this album the Stones have put this to one side and have jumped on the high - tech bandwagon in an attempt to sound like every other modern group.
This album is not genuine Stones.

The album is not finished at all. Listen to songs like OOC, FTS etc. They should have used more time on this one.

hi, i didn't like this one at first either. but over the years i have come to love it.even all the stones liked this album.. they seemed more alive on this album and pushed the bar higher on this effort than on any of the past albums..
ron wood compared it to their let it bleed and beggars b. albums..
charlie seemed to have fun and it sounds that way.. his drums sounded better on this album. flip the switch, saint of me, how can i stop are the gems of this album. out of c., mawgj, anybody seen my baby, they show they can be experimental and write new music. they are great..they put together a great jazz sound in theif in the night. and fun music like you don't have to mean it.
its funny both mick, keith, charlie and ronnie think it was their best album since before steel wheels..
it has life.. the stones show how truely great they are with this on.. in fact i think its their 6th best album they have ever done...
thank god it didn't sound like just another stones album. which i think a lot of their fans wanted and were sad that it wasn't the same as v.l.. but thats what i think makes the stones so great.. they didn't just copy their last album, voodoo lounge.. in fact it is a much better album.. i really look forward to their new album. i think they are getting better after each album!
don was, said " this album has an adventurous spirit and a lot of diversity. every song sort of has its own little world."
if you don't like this album.. just play it again and listen to it..let it rock!

It ain't awful, but it sure ain't one of their better ones. I give VL the nod over B2B for best since '83 (a whole 4 albums!)....but that ain't sayin' that much either. Anybody Seen My Baby is just gawd-awful drivel...sounded bad at the time and it's only gotten more embarrassing as the years have gone by. It was THE single worst live song they've ever done...really made me cringe. Keith must've lost a bet to allow Jagger to put that crap on the album.

I think this album is very solid, not as good as VooDoo but not bad either. One song I like which many here bash is Gunface. Very loud guitars and a great overall sound IMO. Saint of me, Flip the Switch and Out Of Control are great songs and played very well live. One song I truly can't listen to is Might As WEll Get Juiced, I know there is a blues song in there behind all the techno effects but I am really embarassed with this Stones song when I play this to friends. I have also been given a lot of shit by friends because of the Stones sounding techno on this song. It reminds me of that song with Townsend on Mick's Goddess in the Doorway, another song I can't listen to. Overall I think BTB is a very good album.. better than Dirty Work, Steel Wheels or even Emotional Rescue.

HI HOUND DOG, i agree with you on might as well get j. a lot of people like this track .. i listen to it over and over again in my car and i don't think its that great.. its ok for me... i skip this track most of the time...
low down, is another one i never liked.. i didn't like jaggers vocals. but i found if you put the volume lower it sounds great.. jagger is too up front on the mix.
anyway, with stones albums a lot of it is mood music. sometimes if your in a mood for some hard rock you will want to listen to low down, gunface, and couldn't listen to ,always suffering.. as i said before it has a song for every mood...

I love this disc. Gunface is a great Stones song as is Low Down, and Too Tight. I like the overall theme of the disc. An older man getting dumped by a younger woman--been there. Always Suffering and Already Over Me have a desparate feel to them. I think this was a very strong sounding disc and I wouldn't be dissapointed if the new disc is a follow up of B2B

I like it overall. But the thing about it is the production. It's not the best I think. It's the incoherent feel of it all that makes me dislike the production. And of course if the production is bad it drags down the rest of the record.

JumpingKentFlash

Hysterical how opinions can so vary. Juiced is the ONE SAVING GRACE of the album. Best song they've done since Some Girls.

Just wondering if the people here who like Juiced also like techno. Because I don't like techno at all, maybe if I did then I would like that song but to me its like the Stones trying to do a song that sounds like rap, which I also hope never happens. Mixing blues roots with disco, country, reggae and punk is one thing. But I don't think they should venture into the world of techno, rap or whatever else is involved with the current electronic/computer state that music is currently in.

Juiced is a great song.Cool slide and harp in that one

I don't fully agree... It maybe a good album, ... but A Stones album?? no no...

not into techno in the least - and I don't regard Juiced as anything but a slinky blues tune - and a great one at that! So there's a synth on it - who cares? There's a synth on Won't Get Fooled Again, y'know....

I'm a little confused about why people don't like this disc. I mean, it is better than Undercover, it is better Emotional Rescue...and it crushes Steel Wheels. Of course , everyone tastes are different which is a good thing or all we would do is talk about Mick Taylor all day. (Which would bring out the razor blades and the cyanide)

i like the album tracks like out of control brill live and saint of me and gun...the only down side 3 tracks by keith far to many one track per album by keith is more than enough.

Barney Hoskins interveiw with Keith Richards MOJO #48 November 1997

BH: I heard that you weren't too enarmoured of the Dust Brothers' approach to recording,but Might As Well Get Juiced really Cooks

Keith: Yeah, but I got a monster version of Juiced that really cooks like a mother, maaaaaaaan. It's still an interesting trip, if you dunno you got another in the can that burn the @#$%& outta that one! y'dig? Actually, I had very little to do with them. I'm like, "Whaddya want me to do?" And they're like, "Oh, just do what you always do." I'm thinking, That's producing?!?


Love to hear this stuff....ROCKMAN

Hi Glenn

Good to see you've been fairly active around here mate!
As for Bridges - I love it.

Strong songs with good production. Great variety.
SOM, Gface, OOC, AOM, TITN are a few of my faves.

Just glad they moved along with the times.
I don't want Exile again.
That sounds great for an album made in 1971.

Bridges sounds great for one made in 1997.

Here's to the one made in 2005!!

)

kyle m

Have you ever lent somebody $20 and never seen them again? It was probably worth it.

Musical insincerity is a real problem for Mick. I find his efforts on Bridges To Babylon hard to swallow. If he spent a little more time trying to make music to the best of his ability he may find he achieves a little more commercial success.Eyeing up latest fads and trends and trying to incorporate it into his music in a bid to remain top of the heap isn't the answer - the general public can tell when something doesn't ring true - it's reflected in mediocre sales.
Mick's cold and calculating attitude to music is reminiscent to entering and withdrawing money in stocks and shares hoping for a windfall.
Mick's fans are generally not young and impressional teenybop types they are mainly mature if not always in age certainly in musical taste and i think it's about time he started treating them with the respect they deserve.

< mean, it is better than Undercover, it is better Emotional Rescue...and it crushes Steel Wheels.>

It might be slightly better than Emotional Rescue, but better than Undercover and Steel Wheels? No way!

Undercover is a class album and Steel Wheels is a mediocre + stones album, which B2B is far from being...

I'm surprised that some stones fans love Micks fumbling with the guitar on GunFace (IMO, wrong sound, awful timing), The (already in 1997) dated MAWGJ, the weak melody lines (The verse is a rip-off from Love) on Too Tight, the totally unfinished (listen live!) Out Of Control and Flip The Switch (falls apart).

IMHO, the only good tracks on this album are:

How Can I Stop
LowDown (wouldn't have made it on Undercover though)
(The beginning of) Already Over Me
Anybody Seen My Baby
Saint Of Me

In comparison - Undercover (good tracks):

Undercover
She Was Hot
Tie You Up
Wanna Hold You
Feel On Baby
Too Much Blood
Pretty Beat Up
Too Tough
All The Way Down (OK)

"Eyeing up latest fads and trends and trying to incorporate it into his music in a bid to remain top of the heap"

Incorporating new trends into their music is what the stones have always done: the same happened with the blues (which was a new trend in England) flower power, funk, reggea, disco, glam, punk etc etc

This is absolutely normal. They are musicians and they love music, differnt styles, whatever. I don't understand why if you don't use only vintage fenders or gibsons you can't be a genuine rocker.

Lenny Kravitz and Oasis (or to a certain extent Voodoo Lounge) are good examples that good ingredients (vintage instruments) are not enough to make a good pie.

C

DandelionPowderman said
"I'm surprised that some stones fans love Micks fumbling with the guitar on GunFace (IMO, wrong sound, awful timing)"

I think its sounds unique as far as timing and sound, and this if they wanted it to sound sounded different than they would not have released the song sounding like this. Sort of reminds me of something Lenny Kravitz would do.

On Gunface, there are some different, almost grungy chord patterns, but the choice of sound and the choice of letting Mick's rhythm guitar dominate the song destroys it all for me. Also, I think the melody lines/verses are way too weak...

Songs like FTS and OOC could have been great songs, but the mix and guitar takes etc. leaves the impression of "unfinished business". Listen to the difference in Keith's riffing on FTS from the beginning and the end - it's like he's testing which take which will work. On OOC the chorus is remarkably weaker than that of the live version etc.