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Paranoid Android

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Bridges To Babylon...Revisited
May 6^th, 2015 at 6:12pm

I road tripped this past weekend 1100 miles round trip...NC to NY and back...in 60 hours.

I grabbed a variety of CDs for the car...among them, B2B.

What an amazing album!! Flip The Switch is god-awful and a horrible opener...and the closer "How Can I Stop?" is slightly out of place, a bit awkward even, but a nice Keef ballad...but the rest of that album is done right!!

OOC, and SOM are two songs that deserve to be among the RS canon as much as any other war horse or Stone's masterpieces.

Gunface and Might As Well Get Juiced are The Stones moving out of their comfort zones and I think they pull it off effortlessly.

"Anybody Seen My Baby" a great single (sans Biz Markie would have been better), "Too Tight" a great little ditty.

2 other stand outs are "Always Suffering"...Jagger singing almost aCapella like in Lady Jane and the Ska influence of Keef's "You Dont Have To Mean It" are pure jewels.

and the rest....

Dust it off...Give it a good spin or two...I think you might find it a good listening, refreshing even. I know it made my 1100 miles a lot more enjoyable!!

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« Last Edit: May 6^th, 2015 at 7:49pm by Paranoid Android »

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Gazza

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Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited
Reply #1 - May 6^th, 2015 at 7:45pm

I think its a terrific album and has stood up as their best post-Tattoo you effort.

The fact that it was conceived and gestated in less than ideal circumstances for a Stones album (two solo album projects evolving into a Stones record, multiple producers, several bass players, Mick and Keith working on songs simultaneously in different studios, Waddy Wachtel playing on more or less every song) doesnt matter a damn if the end product works out - and it does.

Disagree with you on the opening and closing songs though. Love 'em both. Especially 'How Can I Stop' - in fact, I'd go as far to say it's the best song on the record.

'Saint of Me' and 'Out of Control' when played live in 1997-99 totally disproved the theory that the Stones could no longer wow an audience with a new song. Both were absolute showstoppers, night after night. Its a shame that they've given up trying to capture that magic again since then.

(the version from 'No Security' from a different night in Buenos Aires is even better - the guitar duel near the end of the song is fabulous)

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Paranoid Android Rocks Off Regular Offline The Rocks Off Ladies Rule You Bastards!! Posts: 6,158 Chapel Hill, NC Gender:	Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited Reply #2 - May 6^th, 2015 at 7:53pm So Gazza...let me get this straight...you think B2B is the BEST Stones album of the last 33 1/3 years?!? Is that what I am taking away from all of this??
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Holden

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Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited
Reply #3 - May 6^th, 2015 at 8:15pm

Ooc kills so hard live that listening to the record version is kind of a disappointment. Saint of me and too tight are two of my faves. Gunface and lowdown are cool and I like anybody seen my baby quite a bit, but have yet to hear a live version I like. Juiced blows. And the ballads, while ok, sound way too similar to be on the same record. But yeah it's a great record!

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Holden Rocks Off Regular Offline Rocks Off Rules You Bastards Posts: 1,315 Tampa Bay Gender:	Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited Reply #4 - May 6^th, 2015 at 8:17pm I don't think I've ever managed to finish might as well get juiced
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Gazza

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Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited
Reply #5 - May 6^th, 2015 at 8:21pm

Paranoid Android wrote on May 6^th, 2015 at 7:53pm:

So Gazza...let me get this straight...you think B2B is the BEST Stones album of the last 33 1/3 years?!? Is that what I am taking away from all of this??

Yes. They've only made six. And one of those was Dirty Work.

So, it's not as dramatic a statement when you look at it in that context.

Its a very solid album with several very good songs, a couple of gems and no duds at all. And as often with Stones albums, when they pushed themselves musically and experimented a bit the results were generally pleasing.

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Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited
Reply #6 - May 6^th, 2015 at 8:24pm

Holden wrote on May 6^th, 2015 at 8:15pm:

Ooc kills so hard live that listening to the record version is kind of a disappointment. Saint of me and too tight are two of my faves. Gunface and lowdown are cool and I like anybody seen my baby quite a bit, but have yet to hear a live version I like. Juiced blows. And the ballads, while ok, sound way too similar to be on the same record. But yeah it's a great record!

there arent any. I loved the studio version (especially the last couple of minutes and Waddy's magnificent outro) but when played live the song went down about as well as a fart in a space suit. It absolutely plodded and Mick couldnt get the vocal delivery right at all.

No Stones song has ever been performed so poorly on such a regular basis.

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sirmoonie Rocks Off Regular Offline Posts: 3,478 Gender:	Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited Reply #7 - May 6^th, 2015 at 9:00pm I did the same thing about a year ago, road rip and put in Bridges for some reason. Probably had not listened to it in 10 years prior. Great album, one song after another has some nice piece to it. Jagger singing and writing like he hadn't in a long time. I'm going to go listen to it now!
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Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited
Reply #8 - May 6^th, 2015 at 9:46pm

This album is decent, but in no way better than Voodoo Lounge. Here is my ranked list of albums post Tattoo You:

1) Voodoo Lounge
2) Bridges To Babylon
3) A Bigger Bang
4) Steel Wheels
5) Undercover
6) Dirty Work

I suppose I haven't thought about this topic all that much, but as I'm looking at this list of records I feel that it's pretty fucking pathetic to be honest. I love Voodoo Lounge, but other than that and the DVD sets they haven't really put much effort into really stellar new releases since 1981. That bums me out.

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Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited
Reply #9 - May 6^th, 2015 at 10:13pm

The magic of the Stones, at its true core, are Mick and Keith's songs. Bridges sounds like what it was, a disjointed set of separate songs. There are moments I enjoyed tremendously, but I really can't put the album on and listen to it straight through, unlike every post Tattoo You effort apart from Dirty Work. A Bigger Bang I can't really get straight through either.

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The Wick Rocks Off Regular Offline Posts: 1,005	Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited Reply #10 - May 6^th, 2015 at 10:13pm Gazza wrote on May 6^th, 2015 at 8:24pm: No Stones song has ever been performed so poorly on such a regular basis. Mixed Emotions
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gypsymofo60 Rocks Off Regular Offline Rocks Off Rules You Bastards Posts: 491 Gender:	Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited Reply #11 - May 7^th, 2015 at 1:17am Undercover. Not so's you'd notice; more of a nice accident really. Like not stepping in the dog's DIRTY WORK. I hate that album.
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Paranoid Android Rocks Off Regular Offline The Rocks Off Ladies Rule You Bastards!! Posts: 6,158 Chapel Hill, NC Gender:	Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited Reply #12 - May 7^th, 2015 at 6:15am I am a huge Undercover fan. Not sure if they were trying to be shocking...relevant, become relevant, or what...but for me, it works and the album RAWKS! But lets leave that for another thread!
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andrews27 Rocks Off Regular Offline Wake up Bowie or we all through!! Posts: 1,613 Pittsburgh, PA, USA Gender:	Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited Reply #13 - May 7^th, 2015 at 8:24am The thing about the studio version of Flip the Switch is that they tweaked the speed and pitch so it would play frenetically fast, artificially. I remember that when I put B2B back on after listening to 1997 live CDs for a couple months, hearing Flip the Switch made me panic that the CD player was broken.
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Some Guy Rocks Off Regular Offline Posts: 15,896 Atlanta Gender:	Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited Reply #14 - May 7^th, 2015 at 9:10am not ready to revisit.
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job

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Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited
Reply #15 - May 7^th, 2015 at 11:54am

Lately I like this record a lot. I hated it when it came out and didn't listen to it again until this year.

That said, I'm not even sure it's as good as A Bigger Bang, never mind the best in the last 30 years.

I'll go with this (with very little separation between 3-4-5):

1) Undercover
2) Voodoo Lounge
3) A Bigger Bang
4) Steel Wheels
5) Bridges to Babylon
6) Dirty Work

Oh and I actually like the Biz Markie bit.

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MrPleasant Rocks Off Regular Offline Posts: 2,677 Xalapa, Veracruz, México Gender:	Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited Reply #16 - May 7^th, 2015 at 2:30pm I love Flip The Switch, and I love these late eighties-nineties albums. Some of them could have been better, if Jagger and Richards had't had that infamous split by the middle eighties, but I can declare that I do like Dirty Work. And "Flip The Switch" is great.
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Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited
Reply #17 - May 7^th, 2015 at 4:42pm

I've said this many times, many years ago, all the way back to Black And Blue. People, and I mean fans, critics, reviewers, LesterfuckwitBangs, the punks, and contemporaries, all expected too much of the Stones. They're not the messiahs. They are very naughty boys. All the albums hold up, with the exception of EMORES 1980, and DIRTYWORK '86.

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Paranoid Android Rocks Off Regular Offline The Rocks Off Ladies Rule You Bastards!! Posts: 6,158 Chapel Hill, NC Gender:	Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited Reply #18 - May 7^th, 2015 at 5:50pm Emotional Rescue holds up just fine...in my Top 5 and usually in my Top 3
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Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited
Reply #19 - May 7^th, 2015 at 6:06pm

been listening to everything on a massive playlist of all the studio stuff and studio boots…, BTB is a strong record… The only thing different from it and Voodoo, is the writing and production that pushed the band experimentally… VL is a Stones record… BTB is a different kind of Stones record… more or less a tie on which I like ore, but like them a lot, I do!!!

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leonid Rocks Off Regular Offline Rocks Off Rules You Bastards Posts: 515	Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited Reply #20 - May 8^th, 2015 at 3:22am Paranoid Android wrote on May 7^th, 2015 at 5:50pm: Emotional Rescue holds up just fine...in my Top 5 and usually in my Top 3 Emotional Rescue is a great fucking album. The song is incredible too. Any doubters need to listen to it outside on a late summer night.
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andrews27

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Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited
Reply #21 - May 8^th, 2015 at 6:58am

leonid wrote on May 8^th, 2015 at 3:22am:

Paranoid Android wrote on May 7^th, 2015 at 5:50pm:

Emotional Rescue holds up just fine...in my Top 5 and usually in my Top 3

Emotional Rescue is a great fucking album. The song is incredible too. Any doubters need to listen to it outside on a late summer night.

Something that you can't do with A Bigger Bang. At my house, people asked me to take it off.

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That guy that punched Mick at Altamont...and all the Hell's Angels...all that bad acid let them hear A Bigger Bang!!

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Some Guy Rocks Off Regular Offline Posts: 15,896 Atlanta Gender:	Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited Reply #22 - May 8^th, 2015 at 7:44am Emotional Rescue does more before 9am than most albums do all day.
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Paranoid Android Rocks Off Regular Offline The Rocks Off Ladies Rule You Bastards!! Posts: 6,158 Chapel Hill, NC Gender:	Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited Reply #23 - May 8^th, 2015 at 8:39am Paranoid Android wrote on May 7^th, 2015 at 5:50pm: Emotional Rescue holds up just fine...in my Top 5 and usually in my Top 3 Hijacked my own thread...
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job Rocks Off Regular Offline The last of the hard core troubadours. Posts: 191 Orange County, California Gender:	Re: Bridges To Babylon...Revisited Reply #24 - May 8^th, 2015 at 10:44am Some Guy wrote on May 8^th, 2015 at 7:44am: Emotional Rescue does more before 9am than most albums do all day. This.
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