I'm probably a bigger fan of A Bigger Bang than most Stones fans are; for me, it's their best album of original material since Tattoo You and I rank it in the Top 10.

Other than maybe Black and Blue, I can't think of a more unfairly underrepresented Stones album. It's got some absolutely killer songs and lots of crunchy playing from Keith, including some of his better riffs of this century.

"Rough Justice," "Oh No Not You Again," "Dangerous Beauty," "She Saw Me Coming," "Look What the Cat Dragged In," "It Won't Take Long," and "Rain Fall Down" are great Stones rockers. I think "This Place is Empty" is an incredible Keith ballad. "Laugh, I Nearly Died" has one of the most unique musical atmospheres for any era or Stones songs. Remove four or five of the weaker tracks and you've got a pretty killer 11-12 song Stonea album.

I thought the ones they regularly performed all went over well live on the tour; even "Streets of Love" was elevated beyond the schmaltzy studio version. And yet aside from one lone "Streets of Love" in 2014, the album has been entirely discarded. They don't even play them in rehearsals. I don't get it; if "You Got Me Rocking" and "Out of Control" can still survive all these years, and they can bring back "Mixed Emotions," "The Worst," and even fucking "Anybody Seen My Baby" on at least one occasion in recent times, I don't see why at least "Rough Justice" can sub in for another turgid "YGMR" every so often.

Not sure if anyone is as passionate as me about this, and certainly it's easy to write it off as another symptom of the band's general aversion of anything post-1981 that isn't "Start Me Up," but I thought it was worth discussing.

I like it, but largely for sentimental reasons.

I arrived home in the French Quarter, New Orleans on the first day evacuees from Katrina were allowed home. I had my copy mailed to me in Atlanta, but for lack of a CD player in my car I had to wait to get home to hear the new album.

Very few were back in the neighborhood, so I opened the windows and cranked up the volume. It didn't take long to draw a small crowd, including several members of the military.

That's a day I'll never forget.

Edith Grove wrote on Aug 9^th, 2020 at 4:35pm:

And now... check the reactions 10 years after here:

http://rocksoff.org/cgi-bin/messageboard/YaBB.pl?num=1441584697

Egon wrote on Aug 12^th, 2020 at 8:37am:


I don't think I have referred to that by its original title since it came out. It will forever be Streets of Shite.

Stoned In Staten Island wrote on Aug 9^th, 2020 at 9:26am:



ONNYA and Sweet Neocon contain probably the most inane lyrics Jagger has ever written. Something you'd expect from a 12 year old.

Most of the record is pretty solid. I'm not sure what you mean by it being 'under represented' or 'deserving a better fate' - it got a lot of critical acclaim when it came out. With hindsight, maybe a bit more than it deserved. It should have sold better, considering they performed one of the songs at the Super Bowl and did a two year tour to follow it.  Cold reality is that their target audience demographic largely stopped listening to new music three decades earlier. An album being promoted with a tour and then being largely forgotten about the next time they go on the road is nothing new. Standard practice for the last 30 years. 


It has too much filler to be a classic Stones album and Keith doesnt really contribute much composition wise but theres about 10-12 good to very good songs on it.

And 'Dangerous Beauty' is a fucking monster of a track. Love it.

Voodoo Chile in Wonderland wrote on Aug 9^th, 2020 at 5:45pm:



That's right, Voodoo !

I directed and produced my own Stones show, and without any warhorses.

I like Dirty Work for all the reasons I don't like ABB.

Dirty Work, minus Winning Ugly and Back to Zero, plus all the bootlegged outtakes, is some great Stones.

ijwthstd wrote on Oct 7^th, 2020 at 7:45pm:


Laugh, I Nearly Died, is a close contender - It's the kind of self-indulgent bathos that belongs on a third-rate Jagger solo like Goddess In the Doorway.  The chant section is interesting, but would have been brought off better by female back-up singers. (And has anybody noticed how few of those there are on Stones songs, and how subdued in the mix they end up?)

ABB suffers from CD-age programming: the need to put 15-plus songs on a record to justify CD playing length, and take the sting out of high CD prices.  These guys - and their record companies - were always great at delivering a focused 10- to 12-song LP, and they didn't need to alter that formula, as their fan base would purchase a CD of LP length.  They were able to pull off the long form with success on Voodoo Lounge and Bridges to Babylon, but when the songwriting grew strained in the ABB period, the record failed.  (And this from the band that splattered 18 turds-on-the-run across the two LPs of Exile on Main St., and made a genius record that seems immortal.)  The 12-song, 45-minute Blue and Lonesome proved the wisdom of sticking closer to the LP-length formula, as did Steel Wheels.

The proof of the concept is in your statement that there's a solid 10-song album within ABB, but you can't remember what songs those might be.  I can't, either, because there's too much forgettable stuff on the platter. 

Maybe the RO membership should try compiling versions of a shorter ABB (10 songs or 12) on this thread.

Have to be cut: Laugh, I Nearly Died; Sweet Neocon; Back of My Hand
Have to be kept: Rough Justice; Rain Fall Down; Streets of Love

So what are the other 7 to 9 keepers?

And how good a record do we end up with?  I'd set Steel Wheels as a comparison baseline.
 

andrews27 wrote on Oct 8^th, 2020 at 11:12am:



Let Me Down Slow
It Wont Take Long
Back Of My Hand
Rain Fall Down
She Saw Me Coming
Biggest Mistake

Dangerous Beauty
Under The Radar
Look What The Cat Dragged In
Driving Too Fast
This Place Is Empty
Laugh I Nearly Died

10-song album in that order. I'd add the two songs in italics if you're making it a 12-song record.


andrews27 wrote on Oct 8^th, 2020 at 11:12am:



The balance of ABB (and Voodoo Lounge before it) also suffer from the compulsion to add extra songs because it was their first new album in many years. Its understandable and honourable in a way but in the end some of those songs were b-side material.  (BTB didnt have the same problem IMO - at 13 songs, it didnt feel over-long)

By this yardstick, the next album will probably have about 40 songs on it at this rate

1 Rough Justice
2 Let Me Down Slow
3 It Won't Take Long
4 Rain Fall Down
5 Streets of Love
6 Back of My Hand
7 Biggest Mistake
8 This Place Is Empty
9 Dangerous Beauty
10 Laugh, I Nearly Died

Can I post this link here?

https://www.guitars101.com/forums/f145/rolling-stones-ocean-way-recording-studio...

Thanks for the track info.