Tuesday, October 18, 2005
A Bigger Bang, then. It took me a while to track this down. I looked in the albums chart, assuming it’d be near the top, but it was nowhere to be seen. I can only assume it is selling so well it has been given its own chart to swim in. Now this is the album that is claimed as a return to some kind of form, the best since Some Girls. Let’s see then, shall we?
The cover design does not bode well. Presumably it’s a nod to An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump. This is an inauspicious start.
To stand comparison with Some Girls, there needs to be a few standout tracks. I doubt we'll find anything like Shattered or Miss You here, but just perhaps...
Rough Justice
A bluesy opening, indeed, almost a false start. Sounds fairly raw.
One time you were my baby chicken/Now you’ve grown into a fox/Once upon a time/I was your little rooster/But now I’m just one of your cocks.
This seems to be a list of animal double-entendres. Nothing wrong with that. No, these lyrics are weak. It rocks along OK – if at school a group of geeks you didn’t know too well got up and played this at assembly it’d go down well. You’d be impressed with their audacity.
Let Me Down Slow
A gentler one, this. Nice descent in the verse. You’d catch yourself singing along to this. “There’s a swish in your step.” Bonus marks for “swish”. They don’t sound like old men, which is in their favour. It’s the kind of thing Jonathan Ross would play. Make of that what you will. Blues guitar. Fine. Sure.
I Won’t Take Long
Stones song type 7a from the introduction. Sounds like Mick’s solo stuff. Frankly, I’m already looking forward to Sweet Neo-Con. Oh, the chorus is quite good, although the lyrics seem to be busked over the top – “it’ll be over in a minute… er… it won’t take long… will that do?” So far, nothing embarrassing, but no Love is Strong either.
Rain Fall Down
You know, this morning I was mopping my kitchen listening to some Stones. I am not ashamed to say that I strutted and pouted, in my mind a triumphant karaoke performance. Unfortunately I can’t mimic Mick’s drawl. I was using the mop handle Freddie Mercury-style: a case of mistaken front men. Right, this song, bit of narrative from Mick, doing a little slumming in a “filthy flat”. It’s ok, like one of their ‘70s album tracks. Probably my favourite so far.
NB Mick is incapable of making any love other than "sweet".
Streets of Love
Ah! Now this is good. You can’t help joining in on the chorus. In fact, while in Brighton the other week a fat lad sang along to this on the radio as he served us pasties. Verse about Jerry Hall, don’t you know? Probably. Whatever. Points deducted for use of word “Rubicon”.
Back of My Hand
From the title I’m expecting some misogyny here, not entirely out of character. It’s very bluesy, like Little Red Rooster, or Love in Vain. He hears a “preach-ah” on the “corn-ah”. Can’t be bothered with this one.
Note: it’s about reading events like the back of his hand, not slapping anyone about.
She Saw Me Coming
You don’t need to tell me that there’s a play on words on “coming” here. It’s good though. If I didn’t know who this was I’d quite like its cheek. I’d give a little cheer the second time I heard it. "Burgalised"! Brilliant!
Biggest Mistake
Ballad time. I must apologise for the dreariness of this post. G4 was more fun for two reasons:
1) It was G4. They don't do much, but they give with both hands.
2) I’m not drunk.
Nothing needs to be said about this song.
This Place is Empty
Who's this creaky bear? It's Keith!
Skip.
Oh No Not You Again
Rock again. It's spirited, I'll give it that. What time is it? Half eight. Fine. Ooh, he said "fuck". Crazy.
Dangerous Beauty
Intro sounds like Kiss. He's talking about someone's "high school photo". It's the usual, you think you're hot stuff. And there's a mention of "the Chiefs of Staff". Can this be the same man who wrote Let it Loose? Weak.
Laugh, I Nearly Died
One of the stronger tracks. The vocal actually sounds relatively sincere. They should probably stick to songs of heartbreak rather than the priapic stuff.
Sweet Neo-Con
Yes! The one we've all been waiting for... I can barely wait. Play.
Now if you're sixteen, high on the NME and Chomsky and you wrote this under your covers, your face flushed in revolutionary fervour... I'll let you off. But... And imagining their smugness as they recorded this, believing themselves to be sticking it to The Man makes it all the worse. They also make the classic error of not really understanding what a Neo-Con is. I don't think it is typical cynical power play, I think they mean it maaaan. That may scare you more, and art could show this sincerity as terrifying. This is not artful. Nice harmonica though. Without the lyrics this would be alright.
Look What the Cat Dragged In
The beginning sounds like INXS. This seems to be about an old guy asking where his gadabout ladyfriend - or possibly children - have been. He's having a coffee, reading the papers and who turns up? Only this stop out! And you know what? It's pretty good.
Driving Too Fast
A youthful-sounding band again. Mick sounding very un-Mick. Waiting for the chorus... Yes, I'd listen to this again.
Infamy
Keith again, right at the end. Curious. Now, it's inconceivable that they haven't seen Carry On Cleo, so the Infamy/In for me pun I'm taking as a nod to Kenneth Williams. Well done, gentlemen. For a Keith song it's alright. He sounds lucid, and the voice isn't too shot. Once again though, the lyrics need work - it sounds like he's making them up at the time. I'm enjoying the harmonica, and the strange, boing boing boing noise in the background.
Conclusion:
If you like the Stones this is worth having. It's certainly alright. On first listen, 6/10, but I could see it rising as high as 7. I have no idea why there are so many tracks. If they'd dropped four or five of them, they'd have a decent album. Although I didn't enjoy this process as much as before, I think there's life in the formula, I just have to make sure I drink first. I could do it with today's other purchase, "Come Swing With Me", but I suspect there'd be little more than "Great!", "Magnificent!", "Brilliant!"
UPDATE: Listening to Look What the Cat Dragged In again... You know, it might just be fantastic.
UPDATE 2: It is fantastic.
|
The cover design does not bode well. Presumably it’s a nod to An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump. This is an inauspicious start.
To stand comparison with Some Girls, there needs to be a few standout tracks. I doubt we'll find anything like Shattered or Miss You here, but just perhaps...
Rough Justice
A bluesy opening, indeed, almost a false start. Sounds fairly raw.
One time you were my baby chicken/Now you’ve grown into a fox/Once upon a time/I was your little rooster/But now I’m just one of your cocks.
This seems to be a list of animal double-entendres. Nothing wrong with that. No, these lyrics are weak. It rocks along OK – if at school a group of geeks you didn’t know too well got up and played this at assembly it’d go down well. You’d be impressed with their audacity.
Let Me Down Slow
A gentler one, this. Nice descent in the verse. You’d catch yourself singing along to this. “There’s a swish in your step.” Bonus marks for “swish”. They don’t sound like old men, which is in their favour. It’s the kind of thing Jonathan Ross would play. Make of that what you will. Blues guitar. Fine. Sure.
I Won’t Take Long
Stones song type 7a from the introduction. Sounds like Mick’s solo stuff. Frankly, I’m already looking forward to Sweet Neo-Con. Oh, the chorus is quite good, although the lyrics seem to be busked over the top – “it’ll be over in a minute… er… it won’t take long… will that do?” So far, nothing embarrassing, but no Love is Strong either.
Rain Fall Down
You know, this morning I was mopping my kitchen listening to some Stones. I am not ashamed to say that I strutted and pouted, in my mind a triumphant karaoke performance. Unfortunately I can’t mimic Mick’s drawl. I was using the mop handle Freddie Mercury-style: a case of mistaken front men. Right, this song, bit of narrative from Mick, doing a little slumming in a “filthy flat”. It’s ok, like one of their ‘70s album tracks. Probably my favourite so far.
NB Mick is incapable of making any love other than "sweet".
Streets of Love
Ah! Now this is good. You can’t help joining in on the chorus. In fact, while in Brighton the other week a fat lad sang along to this on the radio as he served us pasties. Verse about Jerry Hall, don’t you know? Probably. Whatever. Points deducted for use of word “Rubicon”.
Back of My Hand
From the title I’m expecting some misogyny here, not entirely out of character. It’s very bluesy, like Little Red Rooster, or Love in Vain. He hears a “preach-ah” on the “corn-ah”. Can’t be bothered with this one.
Note: it’s about reading events like the back of his hand, not slapping anyone about.
She Saw Me Coming
You don’t need to tell me that there’s a play on words on “coming” here. It’s good though. If I didn’t know who this was I’d quite like its cheek. I’d give a little cheer the second time I heard it. "Burgalised"! Brilliant!
Biggest Mistake
Ballad time. I must apologise for the dreariness of this post. G4 was more fun for two reasons:
1) It was G4. They don't do much, but they give with both hands.
2) I’m not drunk.
Nothing needs to be said about this song.
This Place is Empty
Who's this creaky bear? It's Keith!
Skip.
Oh No Not You Again
Rock again. It's spirited, I'll give it that. What time is it? Half eight. Fine. Ooh, he said "fuck". Crazy.
Dangerous Beauty
Intro sounds like Kiss. He's talking about someone's "high school photo". It's the usual, you think you're hot stuff. And there's a mention of "the Chiefs of Staff". Can this be the same man who wrote Let it Loose? Weak.
Laugh, I Nearly Died
One of the stronger tracks. The vocal actually sounds relatively sincere. They should probably stick to songs of heartbreak rather than the priapic stuff.
Sweet Neo-Con
Yes! The one we've all been waiting for... I can barely wait. Play.
Now if you're sixteen, high on the NME and Chomsky and you wrote this under your covers, your face flushed in revolutionary fervour... I'll let you off. But... And imagining their smugness as they recorded this, believing themselves to be sticking it to The Man makes it all the worse. They also make the classic error of not really understanding what a Neo-Con is. I don't think it is typical cynical power play, I think they mean it maaaan. That may scare you more, and art could show this sincerity as terrifying. This is not artful. Nice harmonica though. Without the lyrics this would be alright.
Look What the Cat Dragged In
The beginning sounds like INXS. This seems to be about an old guy asking where his gadabout ladyfriend - or possibly children - have been. He's having a coffee, reading the papers and who turns up? Only this stop out! And you know what? It's pretty good.
Driving Too Fast
A youthful-sounding band again. Mick sounding very un-Mick. Waiting for the chorus... Yes, I'd listen to this again.
Infamy
Keith again, right at the end. Curious. Now, it's inconceivable that they haven't seen Carry On Cleo, so the Infamy/In for me pun I'm taking as a nod to Kenneth Williams. Well done, gentlemen. For a Keith song it's alright. He sounds lucid, and the voice isn't too shot. Once again though, the lyrics need work - it sounds like he's making them up at the time. I'm enjoying the harmonica, and the strange, boing boing boing noise in the background.
Conclusion:
If you like the Stones this is worth having. It's certainly alright. On first listen, 6/10, but I could see it rising as high as 7. I have no idea why there are so many tracks. If they'd dropped four or five of them, they'd have a decent album. Although I didn't enjoy this process as much as before, I think there's life in the formula, I just have to make sure I drink first. I could do it with today's other purchase, "Come Swing With Me", but I suspect there'd be little more than "Great!", "Magnificent!", "Brilliant!"
UPDATE: Listening to Look What the Cat Dragged In again... You know, it might just be fantastic.
UPDATE 2: It is fantastic.
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