by Mott the Dog
5
Stars *****
The Rolling Stones come back with ‘A Bigger Bang’
(2005) and a new world tour taking them right the way through to the
summer of 2006. Who would have thought that when the band were formed in
1962, that forty three years later they would be still going and even
more incredibly the biggest grossing rock ‘n’ roll band in the
world? The Stones hold the record for the top 2 most attended North
American tours of all time.
It’s been a long, sometimes arduous, but mostly
magical journey. Including many internal fights, mostly between the self
titled Glimmer twins Jagger and Richards, although sometimes involving
the others. The dapper Charlie Watts was once summoned from his bed as
Mick Jagger wanted his drummer at one of New York’s prestigious
parties. Charlie got dressed, arrived at the party, decked Jagger with
one punch and informed him that Jagger himself was purely the singer in
Watt’s band.
Founder member Brian Jones was fired from the band,
and then mysteriously found drowned in his own swimming pool soon
afterwards; marriages and divorces have been commonplace, except for the
long lasting marriage of Mr and Mrs Watts. Original keyboard player Ian
Stewart met an untimely early death. Charlie Watts has recently
recovered from throat cancer. As well as to many runs in with the law to
mention.
Mick Taylor replaced Brian Jones on lead guitar but
after five years just faded away, to be replaced in turn by Ronnie Wood
who, after over thirty years in the ranks, is still looked upon as the
new boy. The bass player retired.
When the band hits the road these days, there are
over thirty active musicians on stage, with a support crew of hundreds.
All the world tours are sold out, and all albums go straight to number
one, and are certified platinum, although all efforts at solo albums
have met with disastrous commercial results. To cap it all, to the
world’s disbelieve, particularly that of Keith Richards, the singer in
the band is now officially known as Sir Michael Jagger.
Which brings us to ‘A Bigger Bang’, The Rolling
Stones 27th Studio album. There have, of course, been dozens of
compilation albums, live albums, and exploitation albums from their
Decca days. But this is their first since ‘Bridges of Babylon’
(1997); before that there was ‘Voodoo Lounge’ (1994), both of which,
although selling well, were poor albums by the Stones own standards.
(Try and name one song from either album...)
In 2002 the Stones went back on the road supporting
the release of a double album of greatest hits - ‘Forty Licks’ (with
two rather patchy new songs). The tour was enormously successful, and
the Stones were in top form, as can be witnessed by watching the
‘Forty Flicks’ ‘DVD. But over 80% of the songs were more than 30
years old. Which proved the point that the Stones could still cut the
mustard without having any new product to show off. As three of the main
participants were all well into their seventh decade, where also was the
point?
Then at the beginning of 2005 a new tour and album
were announced. Everybody immediately gets excited by the news of a
Stones tour: would this be the last one? Except for us here in Thailand
who of course know even if they book a concert it will only be cancelled
without reason on the day of the event!
But a new Stones album did not at first generate the
same buzz. That was until people started to hear it. The Stones have
come out with an absolute corker of a rock ‘n’ roll album. “A
Bigger Bang’ is going to rank along side other great Stones albums
such as ‘Sticky Fingers’ (1971), ‘Let It Bleed’ (1969) and
‘Emotional Rescue’ (1980). It is also the longest Stones album since
‘Exile On Main Street’ (1972) and, importantly, their most rock
‘n’ roll album since ‘Some Girls’ (1978).
Don Was, who has almost become the fifth Stone,
produced the album, keeping the sound very live and in your face. “A
Bigger Bang’ is an ambitious wide-ranging collection of songs, hard
hitting rock and blues, running to sixteen Jagger/Richards originals.
There is not a filler amongst them; all of the songs here could easily
fit into the present world tour set.
The album begins exactly as any Rolling Stones album
should with a smack straight between the eyes from the guitar of Keith
Richards with the testosterone calling card explosion of ‘Rough
Justice’, a ribald licentious rocker with Sir Mick getting all bawdy,
and Keith Richards’ incendiary bottleneck sliding around like an
aroused python. You can hear the sweat running down the frets of the
combined guitar necks. Charlie Watts of course commands the rhythm
section giving the others a rock solid base to work from.
It is to the Stones credit that they still sound like
the most rowdy ramble rousers on the block, and certainly the guys you
want to keep your daughters away from. There are plenty of highlights,
including the classic blues of ‘Back Of My Hand’, the first single,
‘Streets of Love’, and Jagger sounds fantastic on songs like the
bitchy rocker ‘Look What The Cat Dragged In’ or like the dumped sad
case on the jilted love tale of ‘She Saw Me Coming’. Only Mick
Jagger could sing the ballad ‘Streets Of Love’ with his over
pronounced English.
Quite what a bunch of lads from Dartford England are
doing preaching to the American President for on ‘Sweet Neo Con’ I
am not sure but it is a good tune. Perhaps it is a bit of a sign of the
times when rocker ‘Driving Too Fast’ sounds a bit like a cross
between ‘Jumpin Jack Flash’ and a lecture on road safety. Just for
good measure there are also two Keith Richards sung songs. Keith
resurrects one of Kenneth William’s finest wordplays on ‘Infamy’
and steals the show with the best lyric on the album “Come on honey
bare your breasts and make me feel at home” on ‘This Place Is
Empty’.
The Rolling Stones have been top of the tree for
touring rock ‘n’ roll bands for forty years now. ‘A Bigger Bang’
will put them back on the top of the recording artists as well. Many a
good tune played on an old fiddle.
The Rolling Stones
are:
Sir Michael Jagger: Vocals, Harmonica, and a little Guitar
Keith Richards: Guitars and Vocals
Charlie Watts: Drums
Ronnie Woods: Guitars
Songs
Rough Justice
Let Me Down Slow
It Won’t Take Long
Rain Fall Down
Streets Of Love
Back Of My Hand
She Saw Me Coming
Biggest Mistake
This Place Is Empty
Oh No, Not You Again
Dangerous Beauty
Laugh, I Nearly Died
Sweet Neo Con
Look What The Cat Dragged In
Driving Too Fast
Infamy
Another
new book from Christopher G Moore, the prolific Canadian author, but
resident in Bangkok for many years. Gambling on Magic (ISBN 974-92942-5-4,
published by Heaven Lake Press) is due to be released in paperback in
October this year, so you can be first in the queue if Moore is one of
your favorite authors.
Mott’s CD review: The Rolling Stones - A Bigger Bang