As I was listening to IORR last night, it dawned on me that the best Stones albums are the one's where they stick close to their 2 closest musical influences,black music (soul, R&B, blues) and country music. I started to think about their last few discs and realized that they really haven't been sticking to this format.
I thought it maybe is because the direction black music has taken...one that is steeped in RAP...is not something the Stones can/will/or want to do. In the 70s and 80s they were able to "keep up" the the current black music trends as evidenced by Hearbreaker, IYRWTBMF,Miss You, Dance etc..
They tried to add in a little rap piece in Has Anybody Seen My Baby and it didn't really work. Now it seems that they are relying on reggae as their "black music" format.
Country music for the most part today is over-produced crap and the Stones probably don;t want to keep up with that either.
Maybe this is why everything after Tattoo You has been a little disappointing.
Maybe I don't know what the hell I'm talking about
Keith of course is completely straight