The Rolling Stones
A Bigger Bang

THE REVIEW

The return of the "Rolling Bones," as some irreverent journalist dubbed Jagger & Co., about eight years after the previous album "Bridges To Babylon" has something miraculous, or if you prefer, given that it's the Stones, something satanic. Many critics, as usually happens when their favorites are involved, love to divide over the judgment to be given to the latest effort of the world's most famous rock'n'roll band (even if only for their scandalous longevity), yet they seem to agree on one aspect: "A Bigger Bang" is anything but the explosive burst of vitality these four spry old men would like to claim.

The pretentious controversies over the controversial song against the Bush administration (the explicit and impudent – like the good old days? Of course, sure! – "Sweet Neo Con") did not even excite those media outlets that, eager for any news, would even pay for a fake scoop. The production, entrusted to the experienced Don Was, is tasked with making presentable a handful of songs that calling "already heard" would be a ridiculous understatement; the opening "Rough Justice," musically speaking, is an excellent calling card... Too bad Jagger opens with a verse ("once you were my little chick, now you’ve become a fox") that sounds so much like a premature epitaph.

The only ones unwilling to surrender to the inexorable passage of time are still them. The Rolling Stones know how to play the blues ("Back Of My Hand") with the undeniable authority of those who have chewed on those chords for years, and for a moment, it feels like watching a jam session on the banks of the Mississippi. The magic of a moment, however, in the case of the Stones, is called "craft" and has very little magical about it. 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. An album to set aside, in anticipation of being able to sing out loud "I can't get no satisfaction" at one of the countless concerts that, it’s a sure bet, the Stones will hold in the coming months around the world.