Hi! After something like 8 monthes without posting, I will, due to a happy coincidence: the day before ABB was released, I eventually got internet at home! So cheers to all the IORR'ers.
And now let me put it straightforwardly: i think ABB is GREAT. And, BTW, I do not say this every time something comes out. BTB I hated from the start; Stripped was so very disappointing and never grew on me; Goddess I disliked very much, although I now think it's a very decent record; and even VL, which I now consider a Stones' masterpiece ranking along any other, gave me mixed feelings for....years. So no systematic self-generated enthusiasm here.

My review, starting from the weakest points:
- Streets of love could have but doesn't, due primarily to the atrocious guitar+synth part, heavy, flat, repetitive, pompous, atrocious, due also to the banal melody of the verses. Also it seems to me poorly structured, with 2 unecessary bars between 2nd chorus and guitar 'solo'. to definitely ruin it, Jagger's final ad lib, which should be the strong point in a Fool To Cry fashion, is untidy, does not catch me and so the song drags and drags, quite a relief when it finally ends. What to save? Well perhaps Jagger's solitary falsetto chorus, for those who, like me, enjoy his mannerisms, and also the simplicity, almost austerity of the song. Had it not been wasted by the aforementionned weaknesses, it could have been some sort of "think I'm going mad", a haunting half-talked ballad. All in all, a failure all the way.

- As so many have said, the lyrics to "Sweet neo-con" are utterly ridiculous. A Clash fan as a teenager, I'm quite sure I would have written something better in five minutes while waiting for the bus. A hypocrite? A crock of shit? P-lease... This, regardless of my political opinions of course (that been said, I still am a Clash fan! :-) ). By the way, without wanting to raise controversy, I'll say something that might please neo-cons: doesn't Jagger seem to imply that it would be OK if JW Bush was not a hypocrite but a true "Christian patriot"? Wonder what Joe Strummer would have thouhgt of that.

- The riff to Dangerous Beauty is really too banal.

But now, let's come to what matters: the strong parts. And there are sooo many!

1° People, get in the groove! The Stones have got their groove back! Ideally served by the great sound of Charlie's drums (so relieved that they took a step backwards from the awful shilk-shlack of BT, both guitars interract magnificently throughout, and especially on Rough Justice, Driving too fast, well all the way through really. Hot! especially a fabulous Berry-meets-Phelps Collins solos on Look What the Cat. The band works as a whole, especially on the magnificent ending of Let me down slow , when Mick, Keith and Ronnie toss with the descending phrase, passing it around in a laid back manner, as if passing spliff.

2° ahhh... at last, the IDEAL singing masterclass by Sir Mick Jagger! I have written many times here that I believe Jagger sings much better since the nineties than he ever did before, i.e. that he has a much wider range of nuances, colors, intonations, phrasings, breathings, than he ever had before. That is one reason why I listen to VL more than I do to Beggars or Bleed: although the quality of inspiration is stronger in the latters, they are much less interesting as vocal works. But I had a reservation: I often thought Jagger indulged in his facilities to the point of sounding ridiculously mannered (which wasted almost all of BT.
Jagger was never the kind of singer about which I thought "man, he poured his heart out on this song", rather: "man, what a great job he does on this song, how subtle and clever". Well on ABB, it's clever, brilliant all the way (but for SOL), with an energy, a vitality unmatchable. New standards for each and every rock singers: go study the fragility of Biggest Mistake, the raggedy style of She saw me coming, the timing and phrasing of Rain Fall Down, the blues etc. Jagger proves that he has not only been gifted with the most varied vocal abilities ever seen (and, apparently, with an ever-lasting voice), but that he is the most intelligent singer around, and a true music connoisseur. Out of this world.

3° I read here and there that the songs are weak (and that the riff to "Cat" was on an INXS song - well if that is so, welcome back home! Makes no sense to complain if the Stones ressemble those who they half-invented). But, in one sense, that is not true; in another sense, it doesn't matter.

It is clear that the Stones are not interested in writing complex pieces any more. It seems to me that they dropped a certain ambition of the sixties and seventies: then, rockers aimed at a certain artistic scope and wanted to raise their game above the down to earth aspect of RnR. Stones did so. But now they're back to the roots.
By the way, many wanted the Stones to go back to the roots, i.e. put emphasis on guitars etc. But THAT is certainly not their roots (the first albums are Stones infancy rather than "true stones"). The roots of the Stones, to me, is a certain way of writing very simple songs (in terms of chords progressions, for instance) and twisting them around tumbling etc), often by using instruments in an unexpected spot. (sax solo on a country song: sweet virginia).

The roots are precisely writing as they do on ABB. And investing every simple thing so that it TAKES OFF.

To my ears, they do so magnificently. I can listen to Driving too fast for 48 hours. It's a simple song which has what matters. Same for She saw me coming, and ONNYA.

Well well this is already too long and I'll end it right here. But a positive prophecy to all those who are disappointed with ABB: I wonder if, at first, you wouldn't have been disappointed in the same way by Live With Me, Parachute Woman,Rip this joint or Dead Flowers. If now you think these are masterpieces, I'm sure you'll come to think the same of 13 tracks out of 16 on ABB.

Salut Olivier!

Great Post,

I just think that Sweet Neocon, beside the lyrics is a good song!

Hi Marquess! I also like Sweet neo-con, apart from the lyrics.

Welcome back, Otonneau!

C

Hey Olivier! Just yesterday I talked about you with Limbostone! Good to see you back!
And thanks for the interesting review!


Belgrade-Bucharest-Budapest-Brno

Hi Olivier!

Good to see you're back and in form. I'm not so enthusiast about the album as you are, but your review is so infectious it almost makes me ;-)

Now don't you dare to dissapear without a reason for so long again. Hang in there, mate!

Ps., you know I'll always be grateful for steering me to the Rabbit tetralogy. His collected stories 1953-1974 are equally great, btw.


----------------------------
"Music is the frozen tapioca in the ice chest of history."

"Shit!... No shit, awright!"

Olivier, it was about time you got back. I doubt if you'll enjoy it though. The board has been a mess lately. To much whining about politics. A lot of people seem to know a great deal about it :-)
ABB is really cool though. It Won't Take Long transfers me back to the seventies. What about Driving Too Hard.. it has that WTWCD groove and punch.

Rutger, ABB must be really mind-altering for you, as far as I know you hadn't even been born in the seventies



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-09-06 18:48 by Lorenz.

Trust me Lorenz... I was there! It might have something to do with the green vegetables in the Netherlands, but that doesn't bother me though. Lets consider this to be our seventies, allright? :-)

Completely agree with Otonneau - though Sweet Neo-Con is not too bad a song musically...

Lyrics.... don't always care about the lyrics / care about the music...

Good review BUT......you start from the 'wrong' premise....because.....

ABB is better than VL, but not as good as B2B.

The drums make it sound better than VL for a start. There were many weak songs (and lyrics) on VL.

B2B did not depend on a 'hot' drum sound to give the songs life. There were good songs there anyway. Nearly all of them, including Keith's three, (all better than anything on ABB and much better than Thru and Thru). I would say Jagger's vocal's on ABB are closer to B2B than to VL, (fake).

But ABB reminds me more of VL in style and production. So, if you like VL you are bound to be biased towards ABB.

I don't know about that Four Stone Walls. A song like LIND is much more like Already Over Me than for example out of tears. B2B had some gritty rockers... Flip The Switch, Low Down... which had the same kind of feel as Rough Justice.
I don't think ABB sounds like VL at all.

The drum sound is totally different - but much of the production is similar - especially sound of Dastardly Darryl's bass.

One of the track's guitar-sound is incredibly similar to that of YGMR. Will remember which one later.

btw, opening to Let Me Down Slow, cf I'm Gonna Drive.

Yes, I like B2B and its rockers - and I agree, there are similarities there too. One song on ABB sounds incredibly similar to Lowdown: It Won't Take Long.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-09-06 20:30 by Four Stone Walls.