Your first impression?
The "fillers"
The great-ones?

In my opinion its a very strong album.
Fillers?----hmmm---maybe Sweet neo con
Strong: RJ--O.N.N.Y.A---S.O.L.--Laugh, I nearly died---Infamy--ohhh---i think all others are also great.

thanx-Stones-For this "bigger Bang"!

It Won't Take Long is a sleeper and excellent!

filler:

IWTL
Biggest Mistake
RJ
TPIE

less than filler:

SOL

It would have been a solid 11-song album...which is about what I figured they were capable of.

I gotta listen a few more times but first impression is very good. It's funny but nowadays it seems like you gotta decide right away if you like an album or not.

I find of lot of albums get better with repeated listenings and while I'm not vacillating on this one I want to really digest it before making any big pronouncements.

When I was a kid and a new Stones Album came out I would get lost in it for months.


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Ultimate Rock Music Poll
[www.squidoo.com]

Leave out Laugh, Sweet and Rain and I think you have a damn good album.

well, hutz - we're all obviously dealing with first impressions. t'aint nothing wrong with that. it would be one thing if someone offered a first impression of Sticky Finges right now...but we're all on the same page with ABB.

hutz13:

I just wanna know your first impression.
I didnt liked "Exile"--when it was released in may 1972--but now its in my top 5.
Well, i still like the 1963-1966 stuff most!!!

"Great ones":
Rough Justice
Biggest Mistake
Infamy
This place is empty
Driving too fast
Back of my hand

"ok":
Oh no..
Laugh...
It won´t take long
Let me down slow

"filler":
sHE SAW ME COMING
DANGEROUS BEAUTY

"less than filler...":
SOL
Look what the cat...
Rain fall down
Neo con

You can't be serious when you say Laugh is a filler !!

Best track sinds start me up

if you're interested here's may take on the album after a dozen of complete listenings

first the things that don't work for me
yes the album is too long as someone anticipated when we knew we would get 16 songs
i will burn my own edited copy of ABB without:
Streets of Love
Rain Fell Down
Let Me Down Slow
Biggest Mistake

SOL and RFD because of the overpruduction that destroyed the guitar sound. RFD is really disappointing because it is a good song if it were treated "matter of fact" as a new Hot Stuff or, to take Keith side, Big Enough, if you know what i mean. Lately on the record they got a dirty funk with Sweet Neocon.

LMDS because is too easy. Country meets pop but it does not work for me. Stones know or knew how to rewrite country being straightforward (Faraway eyes, Sweet Virginia) or melting it with r'n'r or other influences (HTW, half Beggars, a lot of Exile). To me country needs to be twisted to be good stones and not make it even easier and mellow. BM is an example in that. First it starts awfully with the chorus. Then it goes as a countish pop ballad too straight for my ears. Mick, later in the record take a sweet revenge working gospel and r'n'b' in what is the best track of this record for me and one of their best ballad ever, Laugh? I Nearly Died.

I know that many people like Dangerous Beauty but I am somehow puzzled by it and think of it as maybe the only real filler of the album. The song gets better in the second half when the boys loose their guitars/vocals but in the end it does not take off for me.

So my ABB goes like this:
1) Rough Justice
2) It Wont Take Long
3) Back Of My Hand
4) She Saw Me Coming
5) This Place Is Empty
6) Oh No! Not You Again
7) Laugh? I Nearly Died
Sweet Neo Con
9) Look What The Cat Drag In
10) Drive Too Fast
11) Infamy

This, IMHO,is 42min of Stones as good as they were at the end of the seventies.
The whole album, IMHO, marks a good point in being more solid than BTB and VL, with, in general, stronger songs and a stronger identity in terms of sound.
So, in my personal historical rating at the moment it stays slightly behind SG, B&B and TY.
That is a 7/8 out of 10 or a B- if you prefer.

RJ rocks loosely as they always should (that, IMHO, does not happen with D (8/10)
With IWTL Stones try to quote Stones'69 (they don't dare to do it very often)...and they got it right! The song is strong. Maybe even too strong as I feel the need of...i don't know a break with harp or organ or something. But it's a keeper (7.5/10)
BOMH fits perfectly in the tracklist (sure in mine!! hi hi) as they know how to play the blues. The song is maybe too "flat" as someone pointed out but here the most important thing is how they play it and they play it great (7.5)
What many people think of DB I think of SSMC. To me, the perfect single. A great wild riff, a shade of reggae that reminds me of Luxury, Keith on backing vocals as he should ever ever be, Mick crawling and not dictating the lyrics, no guitar solo as greatest stones songs don't need it. Highlight (9/10)
If IWTL quotes Stones'69, ONNYA is Stones'78 and god knows if it works. A soundflood with a great chuckberrysolo. I like when guitar/bass/drums and voice are melted like this. This is stones to me. (8/10)
LIND is something else. Here I am not afraid of any kind of comparison. The sound reminds me a lot of TY side 2, but this song would have been a highlight in LIB or SF, not to speak of B&B. It is top class r'n'b with a gospel soul. You don't get anything better. (10/10)
SNC is funk as i like the stones to funk: dirty and mean, with guitar sounding as Dance, Hot Stuff or Hey Negrita and obsessive and not decorative keyboards. Good harp, nice turn in the end. Unfortunately lyrics are pretty lame. I am not a neo con supporter but I think that Mick delivers a pretty childish political sermone here lacking all the ambiguities of great stones political songs (SFTD, SFM). (7.5/10)
I love LWTCDI. This song is way more than "Undercover + INXS" as someone said. Great song where guitars and percussions fight till the end to take over and you don't know who wins. The song fpr sure. The guitar solo is fantastic, the rhythm is smoking, mick is crawling again, thank god sometimes he forgets how to spell words. (8,5/10)
DTF is Stones'78 again and, again, it works. Strong r'n'r without compromise. Here is the rhythm guitar fighting with bass and then no "beautiful solo" (thank god) but dirty and mean slide again as in the beginning (RJ). (7/10)

Then there's Keith
First thing i want to say is that his songs are both good but, differently from the rest of the album, i think Thief in the night and How can I stop were slightly better. At least this is the case for TPIE for me. A beautiful countryish ballad (i like it better than The Worst) but nothing extraordinary. A good break in the middle but piano, guitar and voice are too sharply separeted for my ears (7/10).
Much better with Infamy. A nice turn at he end of the record with great mick and a groove that, for me, is the trademark of this album (connect this with SSMC and SNC). (8/10)

To sum it up. I got what i was hoping for: a strong album that is for sure a step beyond their latest efforts. With an identity that could be even stronger had they limited the number of songs and/or been guided in that direction by some kind of good producer.

This is GREAT!, sounds like this album has something for everyone here (the stones fans). That to me is a great album. Best new stuff for over 20 years. I became a fan in '88 at 11 years old for me this is sooo cool to put on NEW material hear it for the first time and have it pound my soul like the first time I heard JJF. Been dreaming of this for 17 years.

I Always Have An Unmade Bed....

I agree with many (not all) of your points, Maurizio. Thanks for taking the time.

"Great ones":
Rough Justice
Biggest Mistake
Laugh I Nearly Died
This place is empty
Back of my hand
Let Me Down Slow
SOL


"Very Good":
Oh No!
Neo Con
It won´t take long
Dangerous Beauty
Rain Fall Down
Infamy

"filler":
sHE SAW ME COMING
Look What The Cat...
Driving too fast

Have you heard an album with no fillers??? This album is goddam the best album they've ever made. In ten years we'll still discover something new. My favourite track yesterday was Laugh, I nearly died, today it's Let me down slow, tomorrow maybe Biggest Mistake. What an album!!!!

I don't hear any obvious fillers although some songs are immediately catchy and others take a little time to grow.
The album has a mixture of styles from the typical rocky Stones sound of Rough Justice and Oh No Not You Again to the catchy pop of Let Me Down Slow and Biggest Mistake. These last two songs are very similar in feel with immediately attractive melodies and a very similar singing style from Mick.
Rain Fall Down and Sweet Neo Con are very Mick influenced - they are the type of songs (and style) Mick would use on his solo albums. Sometimes i find when Mick records in this style it can sound a little slick and sterile but here the production keeps it just on the right track.
Look What The Cat Dragged In is a nice funk rocker.
Laugh I Nearly Died is probably the most effective song on the album. I find it a little unusual sounding but completely authentic. It's refreshing to hear the Stones covering new ground at this stage in their career in such an effective way.
The good news for me is the fact this album didn't send me longing for 1972 era Stones like many of their more recent releases have. I don't think A Bigger Bang will ever share the affections of the fans like the earlier eras but it does stand on its own as a very impressive piece of work. There are also a number of potential hits which will no doubt raise the Stones profile even more.

s-asla Wrote:
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> Have you heard an album with no fillers???

I can think of five right off the top of my head....

Hey, people, STOP, and keep cool! The album isn't really out and you treat it like a goddam testament or something like that! Let's just wait and develop things....

Let me tell you, the first Stones album I heard was a German compilation called "Rolled Gold", my uncle (god bless his soul) gave me to my 15th birthday. Short after my first real contact to the Stones' music I've bought "Black And Blue" at releasing date 1976 and thought - oh, what a crap of shit - Later, B'n'B became one of my favourite Stones albums, as "Some Girls" did later, "Tattoo You"....

A Bigger Bang for me, and the tour as heard so far, ist the Stones really being "stonesy" again. One might prefer one song or another - looking through the posts there are many differences, I won't tell my favourites cause it's getting kinda boring, it's personal favour in my opinion! But all in all, we've got the first real Rolling Stones album since 1978!!!! It has all we love, since they started up in 1962: a mean Jagger, an even more mean Keith, killing his axes, and the background musicians where they should be- in the background! Rolling Stones chemistry rolling again -I tell you - in 20 years A Bigger Bang is among the classics! By the way, be honest, "Sway", "Jig-Saw Puzzle" or "Sole Survivor" f.i. standing alone are no 'killers', thea fit in there where they are and have to be there, but for me one shouldn't stop gloryfying stuff like that! And, before I close, live, I'd prefer a f...ing good version of Tumbling Dice in comparison to boring Moonlight mile.


Truth is stranger than fiction

stoned greetings
G. The Cock

As a 20th century guy, I decided to forget downloads, and I am waiting to buy the CD next Monday and have that special feeling of rushing to my living room and put the new Stones´s album in full blast on my stereo...

untill now I have managed to only hear RJ, SOL and ONNYA...!

:-)

marquess, I wish you a nice listening party monday! Enjoy!!!!



Truth is stranger than fiction

stoned greetings
G. The Cock

I've gotta say that theres no obvious filler, I've always thought of the stones as a great band when it comes to both singles and albums, It has got some fantastic stuff on this album like Oh No Not You Again, She Saw Me Coming, Infamy, Back Of My Hand, Look What the Cat Dragged In etc. I can't find any I really dislike...

Keith_1986 Wrote:
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> I can't
> find any I really dislike...


then you must keep trying....

I read a lot of reviews of ABB and what surprises me is the difference of appreciation among the so called "hard core fans".
It won't be long is rated from 10/10, best song in 25 years to "a filler".
Even Streets of love got his rates from 2/10 to 6.5/10
Imagine a work for an exam noted from 2 to 6!!
It would be interesting to ask to everyone : keep only 12 songs, which ones?
Maurizio left:
Streets of Love
Rain Fell Down
Let Me Down Slow
Biggest Mistake

but kid kilowatt votes for
SOL
Look what the cat...
Rain fall down
Neo con

For sure i'll keep Let me down slow and Sweet neo con and leave Rain fell and She saw me...
Conclusion : everybody got his own satisfaction.

I'm glad someone started this. I've been listening for a couple of hours and I think it's the best since Exile on Main Street - I really do!

There's nothing I really dislike but so far about six really stand out to me as outstanding songs:

It Won't Take Long
Rain Fall Down
Streets Of Love
Back of My Hand
She Saw Me Coming
Laugh I Nearly Died

To narrow that down I kept going back to Back Of My Hand, She Saw Me Coming and Laugh I Nearly Died.

Absolute favourite at the moment? That would be hard as I really think the above three are classic Stones but I've listened to She Saw Me Coming more than anything.

I just love the riff master!

Thats why this Album is really strong.
I personal prefer the blues-ones
My oldest child (22) the rockers
and my youngest played SOL--the whole day

Brilliant. best since EXILE!

My wife prefers Rough Justice - she's cool, isn't she?



Truth is stranger than fiction

stoned greetings
G. The Cock

I prefer A Bigger Bang to Some Girls - there's more variety.
It's the best since Goat's Head Soup (possibly!).

Tell me... Sister M... Wrote:
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> You can't be serious when you say Laugh is a
> filler !!
>
> Best track sinds start me up


AGREE 100%! Great vocals, guitars, background vocals, groove, everything is just perfect!

so lets say----another great Rolling stones-Album----like their 29 before.

My opinion: Its in the top 5

Actually I prefer ABB to Tatoo You or Some Girls..... TY and SG also have fillers and they have only about 10 songs.....

ABB is a strong album, very good sound, lots of good songs, Jagger sings very well (LIND - fantastic), lots of good instrument playing.....

They are developing their music style.... in fact they have done so over the years.... don't understand people saying they are not developing....