The Rolling Stones
Bridges To Babylon

What memory remains today, more than ten years after its release, of this controversial album by the Rolling Stones? The opinions regarding "Bridges To Babylon" have always been diverse and contrasting. Some judge it as a rather unsatisfying and disappointing work compared to the previous "Voodoo Lounge" album, the latter rich with great songs and excellent performances (listen to "Suck On The Jugular") with a fresh sound. Others benevolently consider it a true turning point in the group's sound, a work of modern rock'n'roll. Let's say that, even in this case, the truth is probably right in the middle.

Surely the exaggerated cover, depicting the image of the Babylonian god Baal, does not hide an exacerbated tendency towards megalomania, an aspect that the band has shown to appreciate in recent years by setting up tours with pharaonic stages. But fortunately, the Stones are always the Stones and they are forgiven for everything because their experience, class, and musical attitude will remain unmatched for millennia to come.

"Bridges To Babylon" is nonetheless a reasonably successful work that has the merit of growing over time, like almost all Stones albums post "Exile On Main Street". Veteran Don Was's production is very attentive to highlight the typical characteristics of the band. The sound is at times clean, too perfect, but fortunately, there are episodes with a dirtier and darker sound. The work of master Keith Richards is always indispensable, and it is his surges of pride that elevate the quality of the work. Just a riff, a whisper, or a groove from him is enough to forgive the group even the most evident slips. The scorching start of "Flip the Switch" with its tight and raw rock destined to spark live, is all his doing. Following on the same tracks are the edgy and canonical "Low Down" and the breakneck run of "Too Tight" with a Ron Wood in great shape. Keith even offers, within the work, three personal vocal performances where I personally find him reminiscent of a Tom Waits soaked in soul and wetted by Jack Daniel's. The Pirate may not have a great voice, but when Mick Jagger hands him the microphone, throws away the millionth cigarette, and starts singing, the emotions are always guaranteed. The soul of the Stones never betrays. In his three performances, the guitarist takes us to Jamaica with the relaxed reggae of "You Don't Have To Mean It", teaches us what a low-fi piece is with "Thief In The Night", and moves us with the melancholic "How Can I Stop", cradling us at the end.

Jagger, on his part, plays it safe with catchy songs like the romantic "Already Over Me", "Always Suffering", and the easy gospel-rock of "Saint Of Me". Nothing transcendent but everything, in the end, turns out to be damn enjoyable. Among the tracks, "Out Of Control" is pleasantly memorable, a throbbing, obsessive, nocturnal voodoo rock, with an insistent chorus and an engaging musical part. More or less of the same substance is the hard "Gun Face" with a nasty text and a wall of dissonant and at times heavy guitars. On "Might As Well Get Juiced" and its technological quest wanted in the production phase by the Dust Brothers, it is better to skim over just like the first single released from the album, that "Anybody Seen My Baby?", a black ballad that many found to be a clever and involuntary rewrite of a piece by K.D. Lang, "Constant Craving". A track perhaps more suited for an aperitif commercial than for blues venues or rock arenas.

The memory that remains today of this work is that of a certainly successful record but, at times, with a polished and overly elaborate sound. Not all the songs live up to the group's fame but, as in each of their works from the past thirty years, the Stones manage to slip in those five tracks that make the difference and that other young bands can only dream of composing. Inferior to "Voodoo Lounge" and the latest "A Bigger Bang", "Bridges To Babylon" proudly displays a lion on the cover. A lion, however, that at times struggles to deliver the winning swipe and that scratches with little conviction at times. Conviction that the group will brilliantly find during the grueling tour following the album's release, which will keep the Rolling Stones busy for almost two years.