The Rolling Stones have basically two types of fans:die-hards who feel the band has cheated the hands of time by still creating important rock records after more than 30 years in the business; and rock n’ roll purists who feel the Stones peaked in 1972 with their masterpiece album Exile On Main Street and should mercifully call it quits.
October 11, 1997
Regardless which type suits your opinion of the Stones, Bridges to Babylon serves up some of the best songs the band has had since before its mediocre 80s releases.
The new album opens with the ripping Rocks Off-ish Flip the Switch. The song answers the When are these guys gonna quit? question right away with some of Mick Jagger’s honest subtlety. What would it take to bury me? Jagger wails. I can’t wait. I can’t wait to see.
The bluesy Anybody Seen My Baby? finds Jagger and Keith Richards maintaining their capacity for writing catchy choruses. Track co-producers, the Dust Brothers, even throw in a rap sample of Biz Markie, which will probably sicken purists. Die-hards might see the sample as a fresh highway of creativity for the band.
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Purists and die-hards alike, though, will find Richards’ reggae attempt an absolute gem. The song utilizes the tongue-in-cheek humor and double-edged lyrics (Sweet lies/dripping from your lips/in the darkness/sweet sighs/you make me cry) reminiscent of the Stones’ classic cut Let It Bleed.
The critics and skeptics of the 90s give the band more to prove than ever before, and Bridges to Babylon shows the Stones have what it takes still. There’s fever in the funk house now.
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