The Rolling Stones: Bridges To Babylon version on vinyl 2LP in Remastered edition. This particular edition was published in Europe and USA in publishing company Rolling Stones Records on 26. June 2020.

Product information The Rolling Stones' twenty-first studio album was recorded in Los Angeles in the first half of 1997. It shows that the band and its stellar production team took note of current musical developments and decided that it was best and most positive to get right to it. The Rolling Stones are making a point. Their work ethic is as remarkable as it is admirable. They could have decided long, long, long ago not to bother making new music - plenty of others have done that - and just go on tour, which provides their incredible back catalogue. But they didn't. "We're not the Beach Boys," Keith said in late 1997. "We're not a nostalgia band..." Apparently not. Bridges To Babylon was the Rolling Stones' last album of the '90s, their 21st studio recording, and for eight years it was their last record. If anything, it's a Mick record, whereas Voodoo Lounge was a Keith record. Bridges To Babylon took a look at the musical world around them and decided to drill right down into it. Overall production duties once again fell to Don Was, with the album also featuring the dedicated production team of the Dust Brothers - known for their work with the Beastie Boys and Beck - and Danny Saber, whose work with Madonna, Bowie and U2 is widely admired. As a result, samples and drum loops were introduced into Rolling Stones songs for the first and probably last time. "It's full of fanfare," Keith said at the album launch. "It's funk and dance together." Ronnie likened it to Beggars Banquet or Let It Bleed, which, while combative talk, were certainly from the heart. The album went live in January 1997 when the trio of Mick, Keith and Charlie were in New York recording demo material. In March, the band - plus the bumping services of a rather large retinue of other musicians, including Jim Keltner, Me'Shell Ndegeocello and jazzman Wayne Shorter - moved to Los Angeles, where official recording began. Early songs like I'm Cured and the much-updated Young Love (a Rico Cartey and Carole Joyner song the group first recorded in 1964) came to nothing, but a rich supply of others began to emerge. The album opens with the typically Stones-esque culminating track Flip The Switch, an ode to hitting the road and chasing the fun that includes the timeless couplet: "I had the turkey, and the stuffing too, I even saved a little bit for you..." Keith described it as "the fastest song the Stones have ever cut". It's even better than Rip This Joint..." Soon it was at the front of the set. Featuring a sample of rapper Biz Markie, a synth bass line and Keith's gently strummed guitar figure, Anybody Seen My Baby? is a distinctly 90s pop record and there's nothing wrong with that. kd lang gets an original credit for the unintentional similarity of the chorus to her own Constant Craving, which, given how popular the tune is, may have been unnecessary. Low Down starts with a classic Keith and Ronnie tug-of-war, while Mick's vocal is one of the best on the record, a seriously controlled aggression, all backed up by an awesome soul chorus. In the lyrics of the single Saint Of Me, Mick reflects on people who have converted to Christianity throughout history - people like St Paul and St Augustine - while admitting that he himself will never be a saint. And you're right, that guitar doesn't sound like Keith. In fact, it's session legend Waddy Wachtel performing in his stead. Sugarhill Gang and Living Colour bassist Doug Wimbish played most of the bass lines on the record, but turned down the opportunity to join the band on the big world tour that followed the LP's release. Perhaps if he had known that Keith was taking a mobile studio called The Baboon Cage, designed for adults only, with him on the road, he might have changed his mind. Keith sings three numbers. How Can I Stop is a gorgeous ballad sung in a deliciously cut-glass manner that Keith likens to lush old soul like the Chi-Lites and Stylistics, You Don't Have To Mean It has a rock-steady shuffle that boils down to a suitably tart dub, while Thief In The Night is an anthemic, softly bluesy moan undercut by a throwback hi-hat. Slightly more aggressive is the funk-tinged blast of Mick's Gunface, which tells the story of a man intent on killing his girlfriend's lover, while Too Tight is a plea for a little more space on the relationship leash. In one of the record's best put-down verses, he sings: "Don't try to wind me up, with all those charming schoolboy looks, I've seen it all a thousand times, I sang that song, I wrote that fucking book...". Might As Well Get Juiced is the most overtly electronic track on the record, a thumping country blues riddled with myriad Dust Brothers sound FX boxes and stretched over several screeching analogue synths. Keith has said that he thinks they "ruined" this song, which seems a bit harsh, but it certainly has more than a heady charm. But as Mick said at the time, "Keith doesn't often get on with people. In fact, he pits himself against people...". The album received mixed reviews, but the band embarked on the Bridges To Babylon tour in 1998. It grossed $250 million from 108 concerts in 74 cities. In case anyone was wondering, there really was a lot of life left in this band. (rollingstones.com)

Album spans genres Rock, Pop Rock and Rock & Roll. 180g Remastered Half Speed Master Master. Vinyl. Vinyl.