Keno's ROLLING STONES Web Site
BRIDGES TO BABYLON
Released - 1997, Virgin Records. Produced by The Glimmer Twins, Don Was and others.
Personnel:
Mick Jagger - Lead and Backing
Vocals; Harmonica; Keyboards; Percussion; Guitars.
Keith Richards - Rhythm, Lead and Acoustic
Guitars; Piano; Backing and Lead Vocals.
Ronnie Wood - Rhythm, Steel and
Slide Guitars.
Charlie Watts - Drums.
Additional Personnel:
Waddy Wachtel, Jim Keltner, Darryl Jones, Jeff Sarli, Joe Sublett, Bernard Fowler, Blondie Chaplin, Jamie Muhoberac, Darrell Leonard, Billy Preston, Doug Wimbish, Benmont Tench, Pierre de Beauport, Wayne Shorter.
(Click on song for lyrics)
| SONG | 1998 RATING | 2005 RATING | 2019 RATING* |
| FLIP THE SWITCH | 6.4 | 6.3 | 7.6 |
| ANYBODY SEEN MY BABY | 6.5 | 7.2 | 8.8 |
| LOW DOWN | 6.5 | 6.4 | 6.8 |
| ALREADY OVER ME | 6.1 | 6.5 | 6.2 |
| GUNFACE | 6.7 | 6.7 | 6.9 |
| YOU DON'T HAVE TO MEAN IT | 6.1 | 6.8 | 7.1 |
| OUT OF CONTROL | 6.3 | 6.5 | 6.7 |
| SAINT OF ME | 9.2 | 9.0 | 9.4 |
| MIGHT AS WELL GET JUICED | 6.1 | 6.1 | 6.6 |
| ALWAYS SUFFERING | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.1 |
| TOO TIGHT | 5.4 | 6.0 | 6.5 |
| THIEF IN THE NIGHT | 5.5 | 5.8 | 6.0 |
| HOW CAN I STOP | 4.9 | 5.0 | 5.1 |
| Ave Rating | 6.28 | 6.48 | 6.91 |
MINI REVIEW
This album is nowhere near as bad as some fans make it out to be, in fact, I like it. Mick Jagger's voice still sounds great after all these years. "Saint Of Me" is a true classic, with an excellent guitar played by Waddy Wachtel. I also dig the song "Gunface" a lot too, plus "Low Down" and "Anybody Seen My Baby" are also real good.
There are three problems with this album. One being that there's too many cooks in the kitchen. The Stones need to get back to their old ways, why did they use so many different producers on this LP? Two, the album is too long, with Keith Richards' last tune, "How Can I Stop", sounding too much like 1980's "All About You", and sadly it isn't any better. I'm not crazy about "Too Tight" either, both songs could have been dropped. Finally, the last thing I don't like about B2B is no Bill Wyman on bass. Please come back Bill, you don't have to tour if you don't want to fly, but at least return to the studio and add that special touch on bass that's missing.
- Keno 1998
*Old Ratings vs. New Ratings
The oldest ratings that you see here are from back in 1998 when I first rated the album for this site. Since time does change one's point of view, I decided to listen to and rate the album again, doing so in late 2005. In January, 2019, 20 plus years after the first ratings were made, I rated all of the songs for a third time. Also note that I did not look at the old ratings from 1998 until after I placed my new ratings here in both 2005 and 2019. One last note: New 2019 mini review can be found here.
To listen to some sound clips from BRIDGES TO BABYLON or to buy, click on:
Bridges To Babylon [Reissue]
To read others reviews about this album go here.
To see how Bridges To Babylon's songs were voted on by fans, go here
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