There is no shame in releasing an album of 10-12 songs with a run time of 45-55 minutes. Reasonable people can argue the degree to which quality songs are diluted by filler but it does happen. It happened to the Stones’ more recent efforts and it happens to many other artists working today- this is one of many factors behind the success of the iTunes Music Store. Fans are getting tired of paying for filler and too many artists find their ambitions stretch beyond their reach- they cannot go the distance.
If anyone has gone the distance, it is the Stones. Here’s to hoping A Bigger Bang is more like the all-time classic Exile than the worthy, but bloated Voodoo Lounge.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Barry Stoller
I picked up a used LP copy of "England's Newest Hitmakers" last night - whoa, one of the best things I've heard all year. The whole evil magic is there, pure.
2 - DJRadiohead
Barry, it is so funny you mention England's Newest Hitmakers. I listened to that album yesterday. Allow me to make a suggestion: if what you picked up is not from the remastered series [SACD Hybrid in DigiPak], do yourself a favor and get one of those. The sound is much improved (to my ears) and the material absolutely deserves.
England's Newest, 12x5, and Now! are the foundation of rock. Listening to those albums reminds me of why I still listen to the Stones. Their classic 'original' albums would not come until later, but those first three records are magic.
3 - Barry Stoller
Hell, I got the worst version, the US faux "stereo" LP. For $3. I'll have to get at least "Tell Me" on remastered file, for sure. Foundation of rock no doubt, I thought side 1 WAS friggin' Exile. I'm sure the next one or two are good, too - especially the Chess session. Ever read the second ALO autobio - man, there's some GREAT stories in that book.
4 - DJRadiohead
I have not read that bio. I will have to pick up a copy. I am so behind in my reading it is pathetic.
I would have done the same thing for $3. When cash flow allows, it is worth the upgrade. Those first three records are revelations in the remastered form (especially 12x5. It sounds unbelievably good!!).
5 - t-roy
I live in L.A. and have had a chance to either 1) hear bits of this album or 2) talk to people who were there in the studio when Mick and Keith and Don Was wrapped it up off of Sunset Blvd at the old A&M studios. The general consensus is that 1) this is a very hard rocking album 2) it is a considerable step up from every record the Stones have released post Some Girls and 3) The Stones were fully aware of the expectations everyone had and delivered. Big Time. You heard it here first- this album WILL be the comeback.
6 - Andrew
The Stones have loads in their UNRELEASED archives - Start Me Up was originally a reggae song but they bluesed and rocked it up before they released it, a good few years after they had originally wrote it. Most of us know that Sympathy for the Devil was originally a Country & Western song! God and the Stones only know what GEMS we have yet to hear.
7 - DJRadiohead
T-Roy, I am one of the devoted and I hope this album delivers the goods. As I said in the story, I have enjoyed the Latter Day Stones albums. I just think they have been weakened by being overly long.
Very little would make me happier than to have this album be a stunner. I believe they still have the chops to do it.
8 - DJRadiohead
Andrew, I wish the Stones would do what Dylan has done with the Bootleg series. There is so much in the vaults that we should hear. I know some of it is off-limits due to legal hassles, but the rest should be released. And soon. At one time, Ronnie Wood said they were considering releasing a box instead of or in addition to '40 Licks.' It would have been great.
I hope the new album has the goods. It certainly could. I would have been a bit more encouraged at the possibility if the news release reported an 11-song album as opposed to a 16-song disc. We shall see. I will be there opening day, that's for sure.
9 - Giorgio
It amazes (and amuses) me to read about people discovering "England's Newest Hitmakers" and the subsequent Stones LPs released in the US, "12x5" and "Now." I bought these when they were originally released, and it's no exaggeration to say they changed my life. "Hitmakers" to me is the first punk rock LP, raw, full of youthful energy, attitude and sexuality. "12x5" and "Now" are hardcore R&B and blues recordings. Jagger and Richards hadn't yet come into their own as songwriters on these disks, and the few original numbers are imitative of their influences and not especially remarkable. But the band back then had great taste in the tunes they chose to cover, and they unearthed some obscure numbers that were only regional R&B hits in the US, like the priceless "Down Home Girl" ("Lord I swear/the perfume you wear/was made outta turnip greens/and everytime I kiss you girl/it tastes like pork 'n beans.") A real hoot, especially considering that back then these limey longhairs probably had never made the acquaintance of either turnip greens or US-style pork and beans.
10 - DJRadiohead
Girgio, the first Stones' album I ever bought was Voodoo Lounge. It was released a year or two after high school and I really liked "Love is Strong" (still do).
From there, I started slowly collecting the albums that made the band's reputation. I don't have all of their albums (I am still missing a couple of the late 70's live albums and Satanic...Request (if Jagger doesn't like that album, I refuse to pay full price for it). :)
11 - DJRadiohead
Andrew, the band seems ready to dip into those bountiful archives.
Can you say, "Cocksucker Blues?"
12 - t-roy
DJRadiohead I agree with you all the way Voodoo Lounge would have benefited from a few of the throwaways being thrown away ("baby break it down?" outta here!) Interestingly enough I am also one of the few people out there who thinks Exile on Main Street was too long (guess who else agrees with me? One Mr. Keith Richards, who has always been on the record as saying it could have been a single album) There is ONE new song I've heard where the vocals are a little repetitive (She Saw Me Coming) But everything else is a mindblower. If you like hard rocking Stones this IS your record. Stay tuned.
13 - Al Barger
They should be able to come up with a full length CD full of material, considering that it's been eight frickin' years between albums. Is two songs a year too breakneck a work pace?
14 - Magoo
I agree, I agree - give us quality not quantity.
throw those sub-standard extras on the old "B-sides plus extras" cd's / lp's us tragic fans love to collect (but rarely play - ABKCO's Metamorphosis anyone?)
Or give us a Ronnie Wood style output at great speed as Pearl Jam do with their live stuff. You've got the legacy, got the money, give us the good music! We'll most probably buy up the intermediary stuff as well - at a cheap price!
15 - DJRadiohead
T-Roy... you are building me up big here. I want very much that this album should deliver. I am going into this as a fan. I want to love the album but I will not be an easy sell. These are the Stones. They do not get free passes.
You seem to have had some access to things. Any word on why Ronnie is apparently absent from much of the record?
I think Exile could have been shortened to a single disc- most double LPs really could. Exile just happens to be one of the few that works as a double as well. I might explore my 'single' version of Exile... just for grins.
16 - t-roy
You are correct Radiohead, the Stones DO NOT get a free pass. Check out Keno's Rolling Stones website and you will see my SAVAGE reviews of Bridges to Babylon (too many producers, too many bass players, Waddy and not Ronnie?) and No Security (crap in my opinion). So I don't want YOU to think it's the best thing since whole wheat bread. But I CERTAINLY think this album kicks butt, and if you go to www.rollingstones.com you can download or sample 3 tunes (Rough Justice, which is a full on rocker, and Back of My Hand which is old school dark blues) and you tell me!
Why no Ronnie? The rumor mill is alive and well (1) continuing rehab after a relapse, 2) the boys wanted it to be a Mick/Keith thing because they really haven't collaborated in ten years- you can ALWAYS tell who wrote what...until now! but the deep dark secret about the Stones is that Ronnie Wood has always been treated as a sideman (financially, he was still a HIRED HAND until Babylon came out- now think about that for a second- for TWENTY YEARS he was paid just like any other hired gun) and even then Jagger allegedly voted AGAINST him getting a piece of the Stones financial pie.
The Stones have always been VERY protective about songwriting credits Mick Taylor wrote I'm Going Down and Keith does not even play on it, but it reads Jagger/Richard. Mick Taylor wrote half of Goats Head Soup too (keith does not play on HALF the ALBUM) but didn't get credit. So Ronnie's absence may have to do with money or just maybe Mick and Keith wanted to go back to 1965 and lock themselves in a room. Who knows?
Check out the tunes and get back at me.
17 - diehardstonesfan
i'm downloading the new album on emule:
i hope i can listen to the whole album before it's released.
18 - DJRadiohead
T-roy, I hope I did not sound like I was suggesting you were too much of a 'homer' to know the difference between good and bad music. Incidentally, I agree with you about No Security, although "Corrina, Corrina" makes me happy for some reason. I actually like Bridges but agree it has a few flaws (mostly the ones you noted).
As to the Ronnie rumours, they have been all over the place. Booze, emphysema, etc. I actually read in the Stones' coffee table book and in a RS mag interview that Ronnie got cut in before the Steel Wheels tour. In the book, Ronnie said it was Bill and Charlie who went to bat for him. He did not come out and say that Mick opposed the idea, but that inference was a safe one to draw. Either way, Ronnie was a 'hired hand' for a very long time. I had heard the songwriting credits and Mick Taylor being frozen out on some money/credit issues.
I love the idea of Mick and Keith going back into a room and writing together again. I think it bodes well for the album. I am really looking forward to this one.
19 - SheSaidYeah
long-time stones die-hard, though i am only 27. Exile is my musical bible; but i too love the older and newer stuff: all the way from the mod-60's stuff (Aftermath baby!!) to the golden era (LIB, BB, Exile, SF go without saying, Goat's head soup is way underrated) to the beginning of the ronnie years (Black and Blue is also grossly underrated) through Voo Doo Lounge.
as far as these new tunes go:
Streets of Love is terrible, sounds like a throw away from mick's last crapy solo album
Rough Justice is more like it, very rocking and stonesy
Back of My Hand is nice but had unreached potential, i kept waiting for the big explosive blues cresecendo that never came, sort of musical blue balls. Overall, I am very excited for this record, i am confident it will be better than steel wheels, voo doo, and B2B, but doubt it will be better than their last "great" record (Tattoo You in my opinion).
It is too bad they can't produce the golden years magic like Dylan; Love and Theft and Time Out of Mind are truly breathtaking.
20 - Chris
I have been a Stones fans since the late 1970s. This new CD (I have heard about half of it) is good. Nothing more to be said. They are pure musicians and have stood the test of time. In fact, for guys all more or less in their 60s they still kick ass; and the music is still better than most of the junk that passes from the newer, over-produced, politically-correct, poser bands of today. They can barely play their instruments, and they are too busy trying to appear sensitive to little girls.
21 - t-roy
I agree with Chris. The Stones are better than bands ONE THIRD of their ages. Is anyone really going to tell me that the Killers or the Kaiser Chiefs kick butt like the Stones? No. Unlike Clapton and Rod Stewart and most of their contemporaries who don't still rock out, the Stones still deliver the goods, as is evidenced by ther fact that they have two of the top attended tours of all time.
Just picked up my tickets for ther November 13th show, with Metallica as the opener. Would any other "old" band dare to have Metallica OPEN for them? No. But the Stones are NOT just any other old band. Lars and Hetfield will have their hands full that night. Guaranteed.
22 - Rialcal
Ok... I have been listening to the Stones for an amazing 17 years... Then again, I'm only 17 and am very blessed to have been exposed to the Stones unlike so many of my friends who listen to Cold Play and Green Day. I have to say this new album is a blast for me, to see this legend come alive again. Rough Justice is amazing, and Back of my Hand and Street of Love are not half as bad as the post-Punk crap the is jamming up ClearChannel airwaves.
Props out to them, and may the Stones never stop Rolling, and rocking...
23 - SheSaidYeah
there is a secret club gig at the phoenix concert theater tonight in toronto for the stones to warm up for the tour. goddamn why must i live so far from toronto. tix are only $10 to get in. now THAT is the bargain of the century.
24 - JR
DJRadiohead: I think Exile could have been shortened to a single disc- most double LPs really could.
I'd do a remix, so we could hear the actual tunes behind that muddled mess of horns and keyboards and shit. That mix is almost as bad as All Things Must Pass
25 - Scottt
Just downloaded the 3 new songs from the forthcoming CD. I've listened to these several times because 2 out of 3 are stunning. Back Of My Hand is chilling and dark, the very best blues composition I have heard from the Stones since Exile. It's raw, but not contrived. This song is channeling the spirit of Muddy Waters like nothing you've ever heard before.
Rough Justice is another Exile/Stick Fingers romp, fast paced, machine gun drums and Mick screaming through just like the old days. If this is the Stones last harrah, then they are truly going out with a 'bigger bang'.
Streets Of Love, on the other hand, sounds unfinished and not at the level I would expect from a Jagger/Richards ballad. I think most of what bothers me about the song is the lyrics are too simple and cliche, and Mick's vocals are a bit too warbly and unbalanced. I know he can still hit the high notes and deliver delicate vocals (as heard on his last solo CD), but he really misses the mark on this one.
Can't wait to hear the whole album!