"If you think that Mick Jagger will still be doing the whole rock-star thing at age 50, well, then, you are sorely, sorely mistaken," said Dennis Hope (Jimmy Fallon) in Cameron Crowe's “Almost Famous”.
The Rolling Stones once resided in the dreaded region of "has-been land." A career spanning five decades and 24 albums really leaves nothing more to prove. Yes, Mick Jagger, you rock, we get it, but please hang it up before you embarrass not just yourself, but Stones fans from Madison to Helsinki.
With the release of A Bigger Bang, though, Mick Jagger has shown us all that there is still something left to prove. A Bigger Bang might not be perfect, but it's the Stones playing their best new music in over a decade.
Hype touting the record as the best since Exile on Main Street might be a little too ambitious, but A Bigger Bang could be the most surprising album of the year. Although some songs seem built for light-FM pop stations, most of the tracks are full of face-melting tenacity. Instead of trying to develop a new sound full of electronica and weird or stupid effects, the Stones have returned to their roots by employing a more stripped down groove-rock style.
Jagger is one of the best songwriters ever, possibly the most underrated writer despite his legendary front-man status. Hell, look at his legendary musical peers. Jagger is the only one left who can still sing. You can't understand a word of Bob Dylan's, and this summer's Live 8 proved that Roger Waters sounds as if he is permanently underwater.
As for the rest of the band, Charlie Watts is returning from throat cancer and Keith Richards is still Keith Richards.
A Bigger Bang has 16 tracks, the most since Exile on Main Street. As high as the highs are on A Bigger Bang, the lows are as painfully low, thus rounding out the album as less than amazing, but worthy of a listen, at least for any classic rock fan.
The album delivers an instant punch in the gut with the first single, "Rough Justice." It is in this song that each band member is truly playing at his best. Richards creates a perfectly bluesy riff that gives the song its foundation. Jagger sings of how, "One time you were my baby chicken, now you've grown into a fox." There is a certain perceptible raw grittiness to "Rough Justice," which is a far better quality to have than being over-produced. Other high points on the album include "It Wont Take Long," (probably the most solid song on the album) and the sultry southern twang of "The Back Of My Hand."
But while the album succeeds, it suffers equally in the poorer songs. The most annoying song on the album has to be the 80's-sounding "Rain Falls Down." The guitar riff has almost a calypso feeling to it and the song never builds to anything, but continues with the same stagnantly obnoxious sound. Another blunder on the album is the appropriately named, "Biggest Mistake." Here, Jagger sounds a little like Tom Petty, straying from his characteristic "I don't give a shi-t" punk attitude. The Stones' strength is not in the slow ballad, but rather, when they simply play balls-to-the-wall rock.
Possibly the most controversial song on the album is "Sweet Neo Con." This song is not just controversial because its sole purpose is to knock President George Bush, but also because it is one of those songs that is extremely catchy yet has moronic lyrics. Jagger sings such scathing lines as, "You call yourself a Christian / I think that you're a hypocrite. You say you are a patriot / I think that you're a crock of sh-t." Sure it is understandable to add in your two cents about Bush, but such a straightforward brazen attitude seems like it is made more for the publicity than for what the band actually feels. Jagger continues, "How come you're so wrong / My sweet neo con." The lyrics might be bad, but the beat will stick in your head all day. Regardless of your feelings about the Stones, the songs, or Bush for that matter, there is no doubt that "Sweet Neo Con" is the catchiest song on the album.
How did the Stones stay good for so long? Their talent? Their legacy? Their unrelenting tour schedule? A constant supply of drugs and alcohol? The answer to this question is vague but most likely contains a healthy combination of all the above (with less emphasis on the drugs and alcohol these days). A Bigger Bang pretty much comes out to be half good and half bad. The beauty of the Stones, though, is that you can tell if one of their tracks is a bad song within the first five seconds of listening. Anything slow and somber, skip; anything loud with lots of guitar, crank it up.
Thus the Stones have returned to their throne of rock. They may not be exactly what they once were, but hell, who says you can't rock at 50?
Grade: B
