The only ''average'' track by any standards on this album is ''Anybody Seen My Baby'', I guess Mick tried too hard to make it sound current.

But all the other tracks - just amazing.

Some people will always pull out their predictable criticism about Mick and Keith not working together and this and that. But actually, If they'd created everything together the result would most likely been a forced ''compromise'', and an album without any real direction. Now instead we got a fresh, exciting album with filled with loads of different impressions.

Now in 2017, this album still feels much more exciting and relevant than ''A Bigger Bang'' or the disappointing 2012 single.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-04-07 03:32 by TheBlockbuster.

It is a pretty solid record that has aged very well. Keith says it is one of his all time favorites. Thief in the Night is totally cool.

I think it's a very good album. I enjoyed the incorporation of modern (for the time) production techniques, and the melding of electronica, sampling and drum loops into their sound was successful for the most part.

Yes, I even enjoy Might As Well Get Juiced. I think it's an interesting as hell experiment and it works for me.

Imo, the most horrible songs on B2B are Always Suffering, Already Over Me, Out Of Control, Saint Of Me & Thief In The Night. That´s a lot of "horrible" songs, more than on any other Stones-album and that makes B2B an album below average for me. But without these aforementioned clunkers it would be a very good album, better than VL or SW. The remaining 37 minutes are great, imo:

01 Flip The Switch
02 Lowdown
03 Gunface
04 Anybody Seen My Baby
05 How Can I Stop
06 Might As Well Get Juiced
07 You Don´t Have To Mean It
08 Too Tight

01-04 & 06 have a dark/aggressive/mysterious mood I like very much, 05 is a bit boring but it´s not the worst Keith-song ever, YDHTM has a sunny island feeling contrasting the dark mood of the other tracks and the typical Stones-rocker Too Tight is a perfect album-closer. I would rate this B2B-version 8/10 whereas the original is a 4/10 (at best).

B2B is for me far better than Steel Wheels, Voodoo, or ABB, and I probably listen to it more than most Stones albums other than Exile and Sticky Fingers. I always wanted to take a stab at re-sequencing it slightly:

1. Intro - the beginning of How Can I Stop, which fades after the first electric guitar phrase into the electric keyboards of Juiced
2. Juiced
3. Flip the Switch
4. ASMB
5. Lowdown
6. Don't Have to Mean It
7. Already Over Me
8. Gunface
9. Saint of Me
10. Out of Control
11. Too Tight
12. How Can I stop (brings full circle to intro and "rounds out" the diversity on the album)


Would leave off Thief and Always Suffering - not that they're bad, but they don't add much to the overall composition and cause the album to get a little long. That said, I like it as it is - an album only the Stones could've made at that time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-04-07 21:32 by voodoodrew.

If you like it, it is a good album.

But I don't rememeber the last time I've played it.

how can anyone seriously claim that out of control and saint of me are killer songs.

i know opinions vary and a lot of stones fans would never agree on everything but saint of me a killer song, i just dont see it, its a crap song which should never had been released as a single.

Yep. Saw them opening night Chicago, when they first did OOC on stage for 1st time!

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BamaStone
Yep. Saw them opening night Chicago, when they first did OOC on stage for 1st time!

Me too ! Wasnt that fun!
That was before they dropped the cage Jagger broke out of...
and the first time they used the extendo ramp to middle stage.
It was also the first time I saw those industrial confetti shooting machines,
they kind of went overboard with those filling the whole place with 2 inch strips of floating fun

We happily missed the harmonica act opening the show as we tried to sell off our extra tickets (the best offer we got was $25.00)(I still have those tickets) But is was fun, a nice night to walk around outside Soldier Field checking the people and sight... like the mobile T-shirt screen printing press they had going full speed. Those were good times. It seems like 5-6 years ago.

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buttons67
how can anyone seriously claim that out of control and saint of me are killer songs.

i know opinions vary and a lot of stones fans would never agree on everything but saint of me a killer song, i just dont see it, its a crap song which should never had been released as a single.

I think Out of Control is a killer song, no doubt. Saint of Me is good, not great. I think the two of them back-to-back are very effective.

Saint of Me .... a Killer song?
I SAID YEAH!!! OH YEAH!!! OH YEAH!!!! [www.youtube.com]

Funny how we remember the album but we totally forgot the two "wizards" du jour(the Dust Bros) who were supposed to reinvent the Stones' sound.

Keef was right in scorning these two talentless upstarts (he must have told them sth like "you little turds don't you dare messing with my band...")

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Monsoon Ragoon
Good album, but worse than most Stones albums (except maybe It's Only Rock'n Roll & Between The Buttons; Satanic Majesties does not count).

Yes, BeTB is HALF a masterpiece (She Smiled Sweetly, Connection, maybe Back Street Girl...). The other half is trash.

yes

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HankM

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BamaStone
Yep. Saw them opening night Chicago, when they first did OOC on stage for 1st time!

Me too ! Wasnt that fun!
That was before they dropped the cage Jagger broke out of...
and the first time they used the extendo ramp to middle stage.
It was also the first time I saw those industrial confetti shooting machines,
they kind of went overboard with those filling the whole place with 2 inch strips of floating fun

We happily missed the harmonica act opening the show as we tried to sell off our extra tickets (the best offer we got was $25.00)(I still have those tickets) But is was fun, a nice night to walk around outside Soldier Field checking the people and sight... like the mobile T-shirt screen printing press they had going full speed. Those were good times. It seems like 5-6 years ago.

I remember that VH-1 aired the first two songs from opening night at Soldier Field. I watched it in my dorm room with some friends. It must have been freezing that night and Mick was out of breath by the second song (IORR)...my buddies were all busting my chops, saying oh look, Mick's out of breath, he's too old to perform!

Cut to 20 years later...

Not a good album,one of the worst.
All Keith,s songs are very boring,and it,s only 3 or 4 good songs there

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keefriff99

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HankM

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BamaStone
Yep. Saw them opening night Chicago, when they first did OOC on stage for 1st time!

Me too ! Wasnt that fun!
That was before they dropped the cage Jagger broke out of...
and the first time they used the extendo ramp to middle stage.
It was also the first time I saw those industrial confetti shooting machines,
they kind of went overboard with those filling the whole place with 2 inch strips of floating fun

We happily missed the harmonica act opening the show as we tried to sell off our extra tickets (the best offer we got was $25.00)(I still have those tickets) But is was fun, a nice night to walk around outside Soldier Field checking the people and sight... like the mobile T-shirt screen printing press they had going full speed. Those were good times. It seems like 5-6 years ago.

I remember that VH-1 aired the first two songs from opening night at Soldier Field. I watched it in my dorm room with some friends. It must have been freezing that night and Mick was out of breath by the second song (IORR)...my buddies were all busting my chops, saying oh look, Mick's out of breath, he's too old to perform!

Cut to 20 years later...

Yeah, dummies have been saying they are too old since at least Steel Wheel chairs... maybe it has been a blessing and has given them stiff upper lips to prove all the dummies wrong and keep on rocking until all their fans have passed away... and they will still be ready to play.


I may have just been dressed right, but I remember the night in Chicago being quite nice, not cold at all.... and I know Chi-town can be cold and windy... I have been in Chicago when has been cold... cold cold cold Chicago niiiiight... but she was hot

<Yeah, dummies have been saying they are too old since at least Steel Wheel chairs>
Hell, I heard people say they were positively ancient on the 1981 tour!

"Gonna find my way to heaven ..."

It’s a very good record



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-04-08 03:12 by James Kirk.

I love it. My favorite out of all the latter day albums, not counting B&L. I always say it's a cousin of Some Girls. Some Girls was a love letter to New York and I see B2B as kinda the same. Both albums are a patchwork of different styles and have that NY vibe to it. Of course Some Girls is also made in the late 70s, with all the debauchery that follows. B2B is also a victim of its own mid to late 90s digital age emergence times.
It has quite a few great songs on it. Out Of Control is still the best latter day Stones song. Flip The Switch is going places and it's certainly a good opener. Saint Of Me is all Mick, and one of his absolute best all-Mick songs. There's filler too of course, but even Exile has that. Herein lies the biggest problem with B2B: It's too long (and that can be said about all their latter day albums). It should have been cut down to ten songs. I like that they tried some new stuff like MAWGJ, but I'd cut it if I was to decide. There's better fillers on it like Gunface. I'd even keep Too Tight for that marvelous solo.
I like it, but it should have been shorter.

Good on the Stones to take OOC back into the setlist. One only have to watch Havana Moon to see how great it is. I don't get why they don't open the shows with it. Imagine that lighting they used for the opener at Brixton '95. The backlights. And then have the stage explode at the chorus.

JumpingKentFlash

It is not a good album

BUT


Juice is one of the best and risky things they have ever done.


Keith is always talking about how improve songs through the years, Satisfaction for instance...but Juice is the furthest place they have reached...and I love it.

Again, one of the best things they have ever done.

Personal opinion. Mine is, yes it's a fine album. Not their best. Not their worst. A great listen that a bit of editing may have improved. But I like to play it.

Rod

I guess I'm in the minority. I like all of the albums after Dirty Work. If you sit here and measure BTB to Let It Bleed then yes of course you will be disappointed. But BTB to my ears is a strong effort. I can listen to the album all the way through and the only track I don't care that much for is Might As Well Get Juiced. I love the Keith songs. It went in a different direction than Voodoo Lounge did. Mick tried to make the Stones sound modern whereas on VL they went retro. Saint Of Me is a modern day classic even though its 20 years old now. I have it in playlists with their best stuff and it holds up well. I think we all want another EOMS and that is not likely to happen. If you never listen to SW, VL, BTB, ABB and Blue & Lonesome you are cheating yourself out of some good music. Okay the output since 1989 is not a lot of work but what they have done has merit.

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emotionalbarbecue
It is not a good album

BUT


Juice is one of the best and risky things they have ever done.


Keith is always talking about how improve songs through the years, Satisfaction for instance...but Juice is the furthest place they have reached...and I love it.

Again, one of the best things they have ever done.

I'll see your MAWGJ and raise you a Continental Drift.

JumpingKentFlash

No, it's not a good album. But from the post-Undercover albums, this and Steel Wheels are the only ones I occasionally listen to.
I am not sure which is better, Bridges to Babylon or Steel Wheels.

I love "Thief In the Night". Actually, I also love "Anyway You Look At It", the b-side of the "Saint Of Me" single. A pity they didn't put that one on the album, I think it's a very good song.
I like "Saint Of Me", "Out of Control", "How Can I Stop", "You Don't Have To Mean It".
"Anybody Seen My Baby" I can tolerate and sort of see some appeal in it.
The rest I skip.

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matxil
No, it's not a good album. But from the post-Undercover albums, this and Steel Wheels are the only ones I occasionally listen to.
I am not sure which is better, Bridges to Babylon or Steel Wheels.

I love "Thief In the Night". Actually, I also love "Anyway You Look At It", the b-side of the "Saint Of Me" single. A pity they didn't put that one on the album, I think it's a very good song.
I like "Saint Of Me", "Out of Control", "How Can I Stop", "You Don't Have To Mean It".
"Anybody Seen My Baby" I can tolerate and sort of see some appeal in it.
The rest I skip.

Yeah Anyway You Look is a sweet collaborative piece, thanks I need to listen today

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Maindefender
Yeah Anyway You Look is a sweet collaborative piece

Anyway You Look At It is even more boring than Thief In The Night, but what is so sweet about it is that AYLAI is much shorter than TITN. Keith and Mick collaborating doesn´t mean the result is automatically good. But I rather listen to AYLAI than Saint Of Me, Always Suffering, Already Over Me, Out Of Control. Nevertheless the song is easily in the top-5 boring Stones-songs ever.

It´s not a good album. And Thief in the night...for god´s sake...Two chords and Keith mumbling för five minutes...WTF? He will NEVER play that song live again...ever!

Try to sing along to "Thief In The Night" and you will see the light. It's perfection.
As for "Anyway You Look At It", listen to the guitars and how Mick sings the perfect melody lines against the chord-changes. It's subtle, but give it time and it will grow on you.

I still like it.
Good album.Best of the last 3(with J./R. songs) for shure.