Stones’ ‘Bridges To Babylon’ Passage To New Credibility

FOR THE RECORD: 9-23-97 The new Rolling Stones disc, “Bridges to Babylon,” is due out Sept. 30. A story in Sunday’s IN Life gave the wrong date.

The Rolling Stones “Bridges to Babylon”

The Rolling Stones come from a time when the rock universe was much smaller. Back in that seemingly pre-dawn era, the most important bands in the world were the Stones and the Beatles, with The Who, Led Zeppelin, the Doors, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience not that far behind. Rock fans breathlessly awaited new albums by these acts, but especially a new Stones album because that always meant something.

Today, of course, the rock universe is vast and splintered into so many subgroups and subformats that one needs a computer to keep track of them. The world no longer waits breathlessly for a Stones album. A Stones tour, yes, but an album, no. And given the confused, consultant-polluted state of radio, what station is going to play it anyway?

Into this environment comes the new Stones disc, “Bridges to Babylon,” due out Tuesday. It is far better than even Stones lobbyists might expect. It’s better than their so-called comeback albums, “Steel Wheels” and “Voodoo Lounge,” which hinted there was still octane in the tank. And if you still believe in melody, passionate vocals, and lyrics that don’t insult your intelligence, then darned if this isn’t one of the better discs you’ll hear this year.

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards - alias the Glimmer Twins - have dug deep to make an album that feels like a ‘90s “Beggar’s Banquet.” It’s got an organic feel similar to that 1968 Stones album, enhanced by some techno flourishes to make it seem current yet not ingratiatingly trendy. For example, the new song “Already Over Me” was originally going to be trendily constructed around drum loops and computer programs. But those were thrown out, and the Stones ended up recording it live in the studio.

Most of the record, in fact, was cut live. Chief producer Don Was, who orchestrated an army of producers from the Dust Brothers (their credits include the Beastie Boys, Beck, and Hanson) to Danny Saber (Black Grape, Michael Hutchence), says that “95 percent of what I saw was the band set up live and playing.”

Richards, who has cheated death so many times with his rebel lifestyle (or should we say “Rebel Yell,” for the liquor he loves), has been consistently impressive during the Stones’ long career. Jagger has been more spotty, but the new album contains not only superlative Jagger vocals but his most thoughtful lyrics in many years.

Jagger starts right out in first song “Flip the Switch” (which musically sounds like a sequel to Stones classic “Start Me Up”) with these position-paper lyrics: “I’m not going to burn in hell/I cased the joint and I know it well/Maybe my carcass would feed the worms/But I’m working for the other firm.” It is a terse rebuke to those political conservatives who still view the Stones as Satanists.

Not that Jagger has gone the saintly route, mind you. In fact, the standout cut on “Bridges to Babylon” is the Memphis-flavored “Saint of Me,” with Jagger declaring: “Oh yeah, you’ll never make a saint of me.”

What distinguishes the track, though, is Jagger’s grasp of religious history. Catch this: “Saint Paul the persecutor was a cruel and sinful man/Jesus hit him with a blinding light/And then his life began.” Or this: “Augustine knew temptation/He loved women, wine and song/And all the special pleasures of doing something wrong.” The song receives added nourishment from Billy Preston’s Hammond B-3 organ and Blondie Chaplin’s background vocals.

Jagger also shows his romantic poet side in greater detail. In the funk-driven “Anybody Seen My Baby?” he describes a lover this way: “She was more than beautiful/Closer to ethereal/With a kind of down-to-earth flavor.” Sly, droll, but completely open-hearted. It’s quintessential Jagger.

Fortunately, this is not just an album with lyrical insight but with plenty of rock ‘n’ roll to back it up. There’s an edgy revenge song in “Gunface,” with Charlie Watts pounding out a heavy drum attack and guitarist Ron Wood adding a searing texture reminiscent of Buffalo Springfield’s “Mr. Soul.”

The bad-boy side of Jagger also gets an airing, naturally. He reveals his elusive, bon vivant self in “Too Tight,” a revved-up rocker in which he tells a woman: “Baby, you’re far too tight for me/If you come around, don’t slap the cuffs on me … If you try to chain me, I’ll vanish like a broken dream.”

What else distinguishes the record? Well, how about a precedent-setting three lead vocals from Richards, who had never had more than two on a disc. And instead of his average of one of two songs being good, this time all three are compelling. The raspy-voiced Richards is never going to be mistaken for Caruso, but he’s a gutsy reggae singer on “You Don’t Have to Mean It,” which nods to the Studio One-style roots music from Jamaica. And his more patented R&B efforts on love songs “Thief in the Night” and “How Can I Stop” are soulfully engaging.

We don’t yet know what the “Bridges to Babylon” tour will be like, but suffice to say the new album builds a new bridge to credibility. Now if only radio programmers will wake up and play it.