Word: jagger
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...first look at "Voodoo" comes, of course, from the jacket. The cover shows a primitive, zombie-like figure in the midst of a Mick Jagger-like shake of the hips. Inside are red-tinted, run-of-the-mill candid shots of Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ron Wood, looking about as old as the Moody Blues. Then again, Keith has looked like that for the last twenty years...
...songs, though, are only influence by the three decades of Stones music. The first and perhaps the most highly touted song, "Love Is Strong," finds Mick Jagger more low and guttural than ever before. The repetitive and harsh guitar work and drumming brings to mind Keith Richards' "Wicked As It Seems," which he sang with his solo project, the Expensive Winos. "The Worst," the fifth song on the album, also smacks more of Richards' style. It marks the Stones' most definitive return to their beginnings in the Blues...
Meanwhile, "Sparks Will Fly" contains guitar riffs that hark back to "It's Only Rock and Roll," one of the Stones' major hits of the 70s. One wonders, on "Sparks Will Fly" and especially on "New Faces," what has happened to the screaming, cajoling Jagger that beat past Stones concerts into hurricanes. He sounds like some washed-out country singer (did someone say Johnny Cash?) on these tracks...
Plenty of both, it turns out. On Voodoo Lounge, Jagger and company have recaptured the spontaneous verve of a great working band. You Got Me Rocking, a full-tilt stomp built on Charlie Watts' brick-solid drumming and Richards' saw-toothed guitar lines, has the frayed, unrehearsed ending of a live performance, as does Moon Is Up. Producer Don Was has avoided trying to update the band's sound with trendy hip-hop or techno touches. Instead, he helps serve up a classic collection of rockers and semisweet ballads...
...Jagger's yowls and Richards' riffs are more than a tad familiar, the duo launch into their trademark grooves with such brio that the results are still scintillating. By showcasing what the Stones have always done best, Voodoo Lounge, while not breaking any new ground, secures their status as rock 'n' roll's reigning survivors...