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Rating:
Already being here, in 2005, to review a new Rolling Stones album, is quite a thrill. It is for those who love rock and its history, it is for those who love the power and the whines of Jagger's voice, it is for those who love the sharp riffs of Richards' guitar, and for those who love the sound of Watts' drums, always there, just a step away from oblivion, from absence. And here they are, coming back periodically to remind us that time is essentially a fiction. And they tell us this with their usual album, with the horrible cover and the divine content. Yes...: because the Stones are part of the classic music of the late twentieth century, and I urge you to distrust those who deny it.
But let's get to the album itself, in concrete terms. The parallel, if you want to be daring, is with “Pezzi” by Francesco De Gregori. Neither of these albums are truly masterpieces of composition (the respective protagonists didn't put much effort), they are deliberately lacking in post-production, they sound "raw," not too polished, both with a feeling of "first take" that hasn't been heard in so, so many years. Some songs, here as there, are very good, others are more modest but still sound great. The evaluation of such albums should be done – forgive the Latin, and I accept all the insults that will follow... – hic et nunc, not in absolute terms, as if we were in the seventies or even earlier.
“Wild Horses”, like “Alice” are unrepeatable moments, historically before musically. Today we must evaluate great artists who, instead of retreating to a comfortable little island to sunbathe and live off their income, have decided to continue to challenge themselves, facing both the stage and studio fatigue, and, most importantly, the Olympian challenges of the blank paper and pen to write something upon it. And they must do so without the "hunger" of their twenties.
In this perspective, albums like the ones mentioned, or even like “Devils And Dust” by the Boss, can be comfortably considered masterpieces.
Going down a bit, but the dissection of the album track by track is very subjective, often useless and always tedious…, I can tell you what I think are the best moments of this "Bigger Bang". Certainly the single, a classic Jagger ballad as there are many in his solo albums, but with the inclusion of an ultrastones chorus, in falsetto, worthy of the best moments. Just like Richards' ballad, "This Place Is Empty", is objectively beautiful (with an unusual lineup: Jagger on slide guitar and backing vocals, and Keith practically doing everything else except the drums…). Then highly commendable is the verve of “Let Me Down Slow” and the polemical force of “Sweet Neocon”, although certainly not the best track on the album.
I'll stop here: the rest is pure Rolling Stones, unmissable for those who love rock, and thus the Stones, or the Stones, and thus rock. Noteworthy, not without melancholy, is that these four grandpas, even when trying little, are infinitely better (from every point of view: compositional, interpretative, harmonic, etc...) than all the young imitators who, alas, they happen to have. Jovanotti and Oasis, maybe, in twenty years might understand something about De Gregori and the Stones, by listening again to the albums of this year, but by then, for them, it will certainly be too late.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
08 Biggest Mistake (04:07)
When love comes so late, it'll really hit hard
It slams through the gate, it'll catch you off guard
Everyone said, "What a perfect love match
'Cause she is so smart, she's a hell of a catch"
I was drinking in love, gulping it down
Drifting for months on a billowing cloud
But after awhile I stopped to rebel
I'm back in the past and I'm raising up hell
But I think I've just made the biggest mistake of my life
And I think I've just made the biggest mistake of my life
We'd been living together for over a year
The harmony's perfect, it rang loud and clear
But then very slowly, my nerves start to fray
The little things big, that's what they say
I acted impatient, I acted unkind
I took her for granted, I played with her mind
She didn't deserve it but it was too late
I walked out the door and left her to her fate
But I think I've just made the biggest mistake of my life
And I think I've just made the biggest mistake of my life
(WhoooWhooo Whooo....)
Now I'm down in a slump and I'm eating alone
I ruined the day with some friends on the phone
I never go out, I'm becoming a grouch
I just watch the TV and I drink on the couch
But if love comes again, I'll be really surprised
I'll grab it real fast, keep it right in my sights
'Cause I think I've just made the biggest mistake of my life
Well I think I've just made the biggest mistake of my life
11 Dangerous Beauty (03:48)
In your high school photo
You looked so young and naïve
Now I heard you got a nickname
The lady with the leash
Was it funny on the midnight shift
I bet you had your fair share of stiffs
There were onerous odors
I've got to admit
'Cause you're a dangerous, dangerous
A dangerous beauty
It's so plainfully plain to us
You're doing your duty
Who you got there in that hood, you look so fancy in those photographs
With your rubber gloves on you're a favorite with the Chiefs of Staff
You're doing such a wonderful job
You're a natural at working with dogs
Keeping everyone awake at night
With a touch of the prods
Well you're a dangerous, dangerous
A dangerous beauty
Yeah, disdainfully, painfully
A bit of booty, yeah
You're a dangerous, dangerous
A dangerous beauty
Beauty
Well you're a dangerous, dangerous
A dangerous beauty
If I was your captain, would you salute me
What I say
Yeah everybody
Beauty
Everybody now, yeah
Are you one bad apple in a box
Yeah, dangerous
Dealing out electric shocks
I've seen the gloves coming off
Dangerous
If looks could be killing, I bet you shoot me now
12 Laugh, I Nearly Died (04:55)
I've been travelling but I don't know where
I've been missing you but you just don't care
And I've been wandering, I've seen Greece and Rome
Lost in the wilderness, so far from home
Yeah, yeah
I've been to Africa, looking for my soul
And I feel like an actor looking for a role
I've been in Arabia, I've seen a million stars
Been sipping champagne on the boulevards - yes
I'm so sick and tired
Trying to turn the tide, yeah
So I'll say my goodbye
Laugh, laugh
I nearly died
I've been down to India, but it froze my bones
I'm living for the city, but I'm all alone
I've been travelling, but I don't know where
I've been wandering, but I just don't care
I hate to be denied
How you hurt my pride
I feel pushed aside
But laugh, laugh, laugh
I nearly died
Been travelling far and wide
Wondering who's going to be my guide
Living in a fantasy but it's way too far
But this kind of loneliness is way too hard
I've been wandering, feeling all alone
I lost my direction and I lost my home...Well
I'm so sick and tired
Now I'm on the side
Feeling so despised
When you laugh, laugh
I almost died
(Been travelling far and wide
Wondering who's going to be my guide)
I hurt my pride, hurt my pride, hurt my pride (Been travelling far and wide)
Been travelling, yeah
(Been travelling far and wide
Wondering who's going to be my guide)
(Been travelling far and wide)
16 Infamy (03:47)
Don't you know you've got it in for me
I knew it right from the start
I'm still learning my lines baby
Since you've rewritten my part
Oh why have you got it in for me
Things they are not what they seem
You're living in a nightmare baby
But I mistook it for a dream
Yeah just for a dream
But I mistook it all for a dream, yeah
You've got it in for me
I know you've got it in for me
You didn't miss a thing
It's you that wrote the song, baby
But me who's got to sing
I knew you had it in for me
Where you take it from here?
We got along so famously
This time you made it clear, yeah
You made it very, very clear
You made it abundantly clear
You've got it in for me
I knew it right from the start
You've already convicted me
Why are you hard on my heart
Ooh you're right on my heart
Oh yes so hard
So hard on my heart (you got it in for me)
Ooh in for me, baby (you got it in for me)
Why, baby, why baby why? (you got it in for me)
All you want to do is wipe the floor with me (you got it in for me)
Come on - why, baby, why? (you got it in for me)
Hummm (you got it in for me)
Right from the start (you got it in for me)
Yes you've got it in for me (you got it in for me)
In for me right from the start (you got it in for me)
I should have seen it coming (you got it in for me)
Fine, fine heart (you got it in for me)
Ooh yeah... (you got it in for me)
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Other reviews
By jodo
It no longer matters to hear the Stones, but rather to be sure, to see that they are still alive and moving (like puppets).
Welcome ‘A Bigger Bang’ to be listened to without even turning up the volume knob from 0.
By Torre Ste
Music has returned to planet earth.
Many years have passed since Sticky Fingers, but the group seems unfazed by them.
By Adil
The disarming lack of inspiration that permeates this album should depress those who loved them and keep away (at least from this work) those who have never listened to them.
The only ones unwilling to surrender to the inexorable passage of time are still them.
By JeyTonMan
That riff of 'Rough Justice' with which Richards wakes us up, strong sounds, daring lines, more like cannon thunder than notes.
‘Infamy’ and ‘Let Me Down Slow’ break no taboo now, it feels like reheated porridge and you exclaim: 'What a bore!'
By aza@virgilio.it
The riffs are rock solid, the blues is very bluesy, and the heart-wrenching ballads make you want to find a soulmate, lose them, find them again, and have 25 kids together.
'Rough Justice' is sharp and ironic, with Mick making fun of himself; 'Streets of Love' is sad but with a catchy melody.
