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StonesCat

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BJPortugal
Bridges to Babylon is the last good Rolling Stones album. And, definitely, their best in the 90's.

IMO,Saint of Me and Out of Control are the last two great Rolling Stones songs.

Listened to it for the first time in ten years recently. Was amazed at how good it was. I always thought it was better than VL, and this only reaffirmed it. The only somewhat weak songs are the ballads. With a little less Keith songs it would be better. Saint of Me is better than the entirety of DW combined. The production, which was controversial at the time, makes it sound remarkably fresh today. About the only post Undercover album that I would spin more than once.

This ! Only one really weak track : "Always Suffering" and the production is "fresh", actually McCartney seems to have gone that same road of "multiple young producers" for his latest album and it's promising.

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IORR Links : Essential Studio Outtakes CDs : Audio - History of Rarest Outtakes : Audio

Actually the best ballad of B2B is Anyway You Look At It...

Keith's tunes make the album. Too bad there wasn't a fourth.

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kowalski
Actually the best ballad of B2B is Anyway You Look At It...

I love that one, but it is nothing compared to How Can I Stop, imo.

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GasLightStreet
Keith's tunes make the album. Too bad there wasn't a fourth.

I've always like the album...but it does come over as if Mick & Keith each made half a solo album [with the rest of the band a sessioners] and then cobbled it all togeter with a little help from the Dust Brothers.

If I had to release Bridges I would have left off Anybody seen my baby, Always Suffering. I appreciate Mick infusing some 90's elements. I love that fact that Keith "stole" Thief in the Night, re-recorded the vocals in a little studio on Long Island then shipped the masters out without telling anyone...hence 3 Keith songs.

Pretty good album. Love the live upright bass on Flip and Too Tight

<I love that fact that Keith "stole" Thief in the Night, re-recorded the vocals>

What happened?

EDIT: Found it! Nice story



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-10-09 17:29 by DandelionPowderman.

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Spud

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GasLightStreet
Keith's tunes make the album. Too bad there wasn't a fourth.

I've always like the album...but it does come over as if Mick & Keith each made half a solo album [with the rest of the band a sessioners] and then cobbled it all togeter with a little help from the Dust Brothers.

I forget the details but it seems the Mick and Keith songs are Flip The Switch, Out Of Control and Too Tight. The rest are obviously individual songs, with Keith clearly winning out in terms of the best songs, with one of the all time best one two with Thief In The Night right into How Can I Stop. You Don't Have To Mean It is brilliant as well.

What happened? Keith emerges with these brilliant tunes seemingly out of nowhere and then... nothing. Oh well.

Lowdown sounds like something Keith had leftover from MAIN OFFENDER! Mick's Saint Of Me is good yet it's borderline pedestrian. The ballads are not up to snuff, especially considering that Always Suffering is a hazy image of Already Over Me and is now third in line for their most drivel of a song (Following The River and Streets Of Love are and always will be ahead) although musically they have some interesting qualities to them. But that's it.

Gunface is funny yet so out of place. Might As Well Get Juiced is pathetic. If you're going to do something modern at least have a good song. The Stones are not going to ever sound as "current" as what the dudes did for RL Burnside.

I've always liked Anybody Seen My Baby. Perhaps because the video is great.

I can't stand Gunface. The only funny thing about it is Mick's guitar sound, which sounds like scraping an empty barrel with echo added and no tone...

I like Keith and Ronnie's guitar playing on Already Over Me, and the song starts promising, but can't deliver anything with its lame choruses.

Keith's playing on Always Suffering is fine (A bit Sleep Tonite-ish), but the chorus is (if possible) even lamer than that of AOM.

Juiced is a joke, and Out Of Control is poorly produced (compare it with the live versions).

Anybody Seen My Baby is the Stones playing high quality pop music.

Flip The Switch and LowDown are good. How Can I Stop is great, and I like Thief as well.

Too Tight is good for 15 seconds, and then Mick comes in with a horrible stolen melody, which makes it impossible for me to listen to. It has a good drive for a while, though.

Around 1999 I was in a studio in Long Island, Lyric Studios. One of the sound guys who worked there was a burned out old dude named Frank Rocco. He told me how he was involved in Thief in the Night, setting up mics and stuff..and that Keith Richards did vocal tracks, with a couple of other dudes, erasing Mick's vocals and then went back to Connecticut that night on a boat across Long Island sound, song done.

I listened, and went with his story at the time, but never really believed him because he was really burnt out and always high....more so because what would Keith Richards be doing in a little crap studio on Long Island? Then I read basically the same story in Richard's Life book.

incredible.

Keith must have liked the sound of the room

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Spud

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GasLightStreet
Keith's tunes make the album. Too bad there wasn't a fourth.

I've always like the album...but it does come over as if Mick & Keith each made half a solo album [with the rest of the band a sessioners] and then cobbled it all togeter with a little help from the Dust Brothers.

+1

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DandelionPowderman
I can't stand Gunface. The only funny thing about it is Mick's guitar sound, which sounds like scraping an empty barrel with echo added and no tone...

I like Keith and Ronnie's guitar playing on Already Over Me, and the song starts promising, but can't deliver anything with its lame choruses.

Keith's playing on Always Suffering is fine (A bit Sleep Tonite-ish), but the chorus is (if possible) even lamer than that of AOM.

Juiced is a joke, and Out Of Control is poorly produced (compare it with the live versions).

Anybody Seen My Baby is the Stones playing high quality pop music.

Flip The Switch and LowDown are good. How Can I Stop is great, and I like Thief as well.

Too Tight is good for 15 seconds, and then Mick comes in with a horrible stolen melody, which makes it impossible for me to listen to. It has a good drive for a while, though.

I agree with you generally, Dandelion. However, i do like 'Already Over Me', and feel it works pretty well from start to finish. It's not too often in more recent decades that the Stones manage to get all the elements working, in a way as to mould an effective song, but i think they pretty much achieve that with 'Already Over Me'. 'Anybody Seen My Baby' isn't a bad effort either, despite Jagger lifting the chorus from K D Lang's 'Constant Craving'. The only part of the song i dislike is the rap, which to me, just sounds too contrived. 'Out Of Control' and to a degree 'Saint Of Me' aren't bad efforts either, but to a large degree i think the strengths inherent within these songs are perhaps magnified out of proportion of their true worth, simply because what is left is overwhelmingly so distinctly unremarkable (aside from the odd Keith moments).

The strange thing is, when i first listened to BRIDGES TO BABYLON i hated the production, because i found it too modern, in a very typically 90s overproduced way. However, in a sense, the more contemporary production tends to work in the album's favour also, because it distinguishes BRIDGES TO BABYLON from the Stones more retro sounding other releases from the last 20 odd years (and there are actually not many of them). In a way, this slightly dampens the inclination to keep comparing it with the Stones earlier more classic releases, and consequently coming to the conclusion it is nowhere near as good. BRIDGES TO BABYLON, actually can exist a little more on its own terms, i believe, unlike VOODOO LOUNGE and A BIGGER BANG, which, perhaps are easier to dismiss after initial listens.

However, i believe ultimately, and behind all the surface gloss, BRIDGES TO BABYLON, despite a few minor highlights, is a very mediocre Stones album, venturing for most of its time, on being actually very poor. I find it hard to fathom that this is the same group that brought us so many great tracks through the years, the general song structure just seems so primitive and simplistic. The idea of it appearing on any 'best of' list seems so incredibly undeserving, i find it hard to take seriously.

Oh yeah, the lists of Rolling Stone magazine...

Really can't think of 75 better albums in the 90s than Bridges to Babylon.
And there are supposed to be at least 100 better than Voodoo Lounge, Wandering Spirit and Main Offender? Rubbish!

Pete.

I would put Stripped on the list before either Bridges or Voodoo.

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Pete66
Oh yeah, the lists of Rolling Stone magazine...

Really can't think of 75 better albums in the 90s than Bridges to Babylon.
And there are supposed to be at least 100 better than Voodoo Lounge, Wandering Spirit and Main Offender? Rubbish!

Pete.

To the point.

Rolling Stone magazine? LOL!!!

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DGA35
I would put Stripped on the list before either Bridges or Voodoo.

the man has a damn good point!

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windmelody
Bridges to Babylon belongs to the best nineties albums. Nirvana have become unlistenable to me. In the nineties bands like the Verve and Radiohead were hyped, their music did not age well. I loved Oasis back then, still listen to live recordings of theirs. But songs like Live Forever seem to be overwhelming for teenagers only. Bridges to Babylon features some great moments that did not age, so it is fair to say that it is ine of the best ninties albums.

Ah cmon. Nirvana is so much better that anything the Stones did in the 90s. Bridges is better than VL but of course it doesnt belong on that list.

Pierre De Beauport wrote the riff for thief in the night but did Keith "steal" it? I love the song. Anybody seen my baby, wasnt that Keith who took Constant craving?

Rolling Stone is a great magazine to have around, if you are training a puppy or need to line a bird cage floor, but besides that... it is worthless.

But everybody reads it online no?

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Redhotcarpet
Pierre De Beauport wrote the riff for thief in the night but did Keith "steal" it? I love the song. Anybody seen my baby, wasnt that Keith who took Constant craving?

Mick took craving and Keith pointed it out.

Keith took Thief and laid down the vocals, because he wasn't happy with Mick's vocals, obviously behind his back...

I loved B2B when it came out and thought it their best since Tattoo You, but in hindsight I come to 2 conclusions regarding that initial impression: 1) I was 17 when it was released and had been a Stones fan since around 1988; this was only the 3rd album they had put out since I was into them and at the time I thought it SMOKED those other two mediocre releases (Steel Wheels and Voodoo Lounge). I'm pretty sure that feeling alone made me elevate it to a height greater than it deserved. 2) They were trying a lot of new things all over this record, kinda like the underrated (and WAY better album IMHO) Undercover. Perhaps that helped me elevate it to that kind of height back then.

That said, I don't feel the album has aged well at all. I never get it out and in all honesty don't think it has almost any standouts outside of "Out Of Control" (which is way better live) and "How Can I Stop." I actually think "Thief In The Night" is completely bland and nothing special at all, and the rest of the songs are totally forgettable. I think I just wanted to feel like I was a part of a GREAT Stones album coming out in my own time, but I think that's truly an oxymoron. The last truly GREAT Stones album (and many will disagree)? Undercover. For some reason I've had the opposite experience with Dirty Work as opposed to B2B; didn't much care for it growing up yet it's grown on me tremendously overt the ensuing two decades and while I can't truly call it great (because it's uneven with crap like "Winning Ugly" on it), it's easily the last of their albums that moves me in the slightest. The four they've done since are all bogged down in D-sides (F-sides?) and not worth listening to very often.

This supports my personal opinion that in the last 50 years, the 90s have been the worst decade over-all for music. Far more enjoyable stuff in the 80s and 2000s (and whatever we call this decade).

[thepowergoats.com]

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DandelionPowderman
I can't stand Gunface. The only funny thing about it is Mick's guitar sound, which sounds like scraping an empty barrel with echo added and no tone...

I like Keith and Ronnie's guitar playing on Already Over Me, and the song starts promising, but can't deliver anything with its lame choruses.

Keith's playing on Always Suffering is fine (A bit Sleep Tonite-ish), but the chorus is (if possible) even lamer than that of AOM.

Juiced is a joke, and Out Of Control is poorly produced (compare it with the live versions).

Anybody Seen My Baby is the Stones playing high quality pop music.

Flip The Switch and LowDown are good. How Can I Stop is great, and I like Thief as well.

Too Tight is good for 15 seconds, and then Mick comes in with a horrible stolen melody, which makes it impossible for me to listen to. It has a good drive for a while, though.

Stolen from where? As a side note, your posts are generally more balanced ;-)

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IORR Links : Essential Studio Outtakes CDs : Audio - History of Rarest Outtakes : Audio

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gotdablouse

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DandelionPowderman
I can't stand Gunface. The only funny thing about it is Mick's guitar sound, which sounds like scraping an empty barrel with echo added and no tone...

I like Keith and Ronnie's guitar playing on Already Over Me, and the song starts promising, but can't deliver anything with its lame choruses.

Keith's playing on Always Suffering is fine (A bit Sleep Tonite-ish), but the chorus is (if possible) even lamer than that of AOM.

Juiced is a joke, and Out Of Control is poorly produced (compare it with the live versions).

Anybody Seen My Baby is the Stones playing high quality pop music.

Flip The Switch and LowDown are good. How Can I Stop is great, and I like Thief as well.

Too Tight is good for 15 seconds, and then Mick comes in with a horrible stolen melody, which makes it impossible for me to listen to. It has a good drive for a while, though.

Stolen from where? As a side note, your posts are generally more balanced ;-)

I know, gotdablouse. Thing is, I've tried so hard to like B2B, and I have listened to it a lot, mind you

The verse lines in Too Tight is taken from one of the biggest hits of the band Live. Can't remember the name of the song here and now - sorry.

As a side note: There are lots of good stuff in all the songs on B2B (with the exceptions of Gunface and Juiced, imo). I think Keith's playing on this album is fantastic, and Ronnie's dobro playing on AOM is really colourful. It's just that I feel some of these songs are falling apart, and I don't get the "Stones-feeling" of Saint Of Me (even though I like it) - more of a Waddy and Mick-feel - with Chuck backing them up...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-10-10 09:34 by DandelionPowderman.

If BTB had been made by any other band than The Rolling Stones it wouldn't have been on any list at all. The name sells even if the product is mediocre.

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Stoneage
If BTB had been made by any other band than The Rolling Stones it wouldn't have been on any list at all. The name sells even if the product is mediocre.

That is probably true, but hearing Mick sing and Keith play does something to you anyway - even though the songs may not be fully up to par. Hearing the songs hypotetically with other artists, would never be the same

I listened to 'Bridges To Babylon' at home yesterday (original CD) and thought it is fantastic when it comes to how it sounds...everything is perfect..guitar, bass, drums and vocal...Perfect!

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