The Rolling Stones – A Bigger Bang

Artist: The Rolling Stones

Title: A Bigger Bang

Label: Virgin

Rating: 5/10

FILE UNDER: Bringing the dead rockers back from the dead.

CORPORATE LINE: The Rolling Stones new CD, A Bigger Bang , will be released September 6, 2005 on Virgin Records. Continuing their historic songwriting partnership, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards began the creative process last autumn and were later joined in the recording studio by Charlie Watts and Ron Wood. A Bigger Bang features all new songs, and is the first studio album by The Rolling Stones since the 1997 platinum-certified Bridges to Babylon. While in the studio recording the album last year, the band came up with the title “A Bigger Bang” reflecting their fascination with the scientific theory about the origin of the universe.

A Bigger Bang is an ambitious, wide-ranging collection of hard-hitting, high-powered rock and blues songs. Running a full sixteen tracks, it is the band’s longest new album since 1972’s Exile on Main Street. Key cuts include “Streets Of Love,” the first international single; “Rough Justice,” which will be targeted to U.S. rock radio formats; and “Back Of My Hand,” a raw, rough-edged new song in the classic Rolling Stones blues style. Other titles include “It Won’t Take Long,” “Laugh, I Nearly Died” and “Rain Fall Down” as well as two tracks featuring Keith Richards’ lead vocal, “This Place Is Empty,” and “Infamy.”

THE GREAT:
“Let Me Down Slow” – Easily the best song on the album. This song brings down the tempo but the hook is fantastic. It’ll have you singing all day long.

THE AVERAGE:
Rough Justice- A strong kick in the ass. The Stones prove they can still rock but this isn’t going to be confused as a great Stones song. Ditto for “Oh No Not You Again.”
“It Won’t Take Long” – Filler.
“Rain Fall Down” – Funky but you start to wonder when the Stones are going to wow us. It’s not that the beat is weak—it’s that the lyrics are awful.
“Laugh I Nearly Died” – Sweet and lovely—yet again they fall short of anything resembling greatness.
“Sweet Neo Con” – It’s too bad the Stones don’t muster up a better song for this political track. It’s hard to take it serious when it’s so awful.

THE BAD:
“Streets of Love” – Mick’s vocals and emphasis on certain notes is grating. It’s a shame because the hook isn’t bad.
“This Place Is Empty” – Keith please give up the singing. His voice is shaky and the lyrics are pathetic. Stick with what you do best; writing hot licks.

FRANKLY: It should be no surprised to Rolling Stones fans that A Bigger Bang is a mixed bag. There are a few songs that are quite good and just as many that are bad. Mick commits most of the offenses. Even when he has a good song he tortures listeners with attempts at changing up his vocals. The last three tracks are purely filler. Should they call it quits?

+ Rae Gun