A Bigger Bang
Back to basics for the Stones is a more complicated equation than for most rock and roll bands. Urban blues, soul ballads, reggae, a hundred variations on the undying riff — any and all of these represent their musical roots. Only someone who forgets the mighty *Beggars Banquet* or the mightily underrated *Dirty Work* would be surprised that Mick and/or Keith want to comment on the current administration of a \"Sweet Neo Con,\" and likewise no one will fall into shock upon hearing a locked-down and engaged outfit on display here. They\'re perhaps not out to change the world this time, but that they\'re still playing this well should make us happy, even proud.
Rolling Stones' first studio album in eight years, it mark the closest collaboration between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in ages.
Eight years separate 2005's A Bigger Bang, the Rolling Stones' 24th album of original material, from its 1997 predecessor, Bridges to Babylon, the longest stretch of time between Stones albums in history, but unlike the three-year gap between 1986's Dirty Work and 1989's Steel Wheels, the band never really went away.
Now into their fourth decade it is inevitable that The Rolling Stones brand has become more prominent than the actual music.