A Bigger Bang - Rolling Stones

I appreciate this album. Everybody that knows me knows I enjoy my music best when an artist takes risks. The Rolling Stones have taken lots of risks over the years, and for the most part have succeeded, whether it be going pop with Ruby Tuesday, going Psychedelic a year later, going Country Rock, going Disco, going back to simple Rock & Roll (but I like it), etc, etc. This album doesn't take risks, but I am still enjoying it. Maybe it's simply old age.

But I figure there's three paths of risks these guys could have taken based on current trends.

One would be to put out a pure rap album - something I'm sure they could do, but I'm glad they didn't.

The second would be to have lots of guest stars a-la Willie Nelson or Santana. It's ironic that my least favorite song by both those artists was when they recorded together. Well, maybe it's a little bit better than when they recorded with Opera stars. Anyway, back to the Stones. The company could have convinced them to do a "duets" album with an opera star, Cheryl Crow, a few rap artists - and my bet is I woulda hated it.

The third thing they coulda done that I woulda hated is the Stones doing American Standards a-la Rod Stewart. Everybody seems to be on this bandwagon these days. Still waiting for Bruce Springsteen to do one. Believe it or not, I thought he did a wonderful job singing a Frank Sinatra song. Who woulda guessed? Back to the Stones...

So, they avoided all the traps of modern marketing and made the best choice - making a Stones album =:-) The good news is that while it's instantly "stones" to the ears, I don't hear too many exact cops from old tunes. I'll start with saying there's 16 tunes here, and every album has a share of filler in 12 cuts, so this one will simply have a few extras. 5 are decent sounding, but nothing special fillers. Not bad. 2 others I consider filler, but deserve special mention because one is a hard-rockin' jam a la star star - Oh No, Not You Again; and the other is a cool rockin' filler - Look What The Cat Dragged In.

Okay, now to the good stuff. Three totally cool start-me-up dance tunes: Driving Too Fast; Dangerous Beauty; and deserving special mention - Rough Justice - pure Stones - a welcome sound!!! You know I'll never break your heart =:-)

Two sweet mood pieces in the vein of Ruby Tuesday or Angie: This Place Is Empty and Streets Of Love. Excellent listens. Another favorite mood piece rocks with a great beat: Rain Fall Down. Near to this on my fave list is Biggest Mistake - old fashioned 60's R&R -love it. Cool lyrics.

The last two I guess are the top two faves in my ears, at least today. I'm sure the album will grow on me and I'll have different faves every day, but what good is a Stones album without one blues? Back Of My Hand fits the bill beautifully - good, old fashioned blues, with feeling (I seen love, I seen misery...). And #1 with a bullet - a great Saint-Like-Me thought provoker: Laugh, I Nearly Died.

So, yes, a worthy investment.