Word: mick
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...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...
...Moon Is Up" ushers Mick in as a Tom Petty sound-alike. Maybe the fidelity on these new-fangled recordings is too high, but Jagger just isn't the same when he's not whining, yelling or being ground into dirt by Richards' hard-driving guitar. The pure, intense noise of concert lightning such as "Start Me Up" and "Sympathy for the Devil" is certainly and sadly gone...
...Baby Break It Down" doesn't have much to offer except some nice fills by Watts. Richards' vocals and guitar on "Thru and Thru" don't quite live up to his success with the recent insta-classic "Eileen," though. "Mean Disposition" brings back Mick the way he is remembered; you can practically hear him strutting. There's no acoustic guitar or accordion nonsense on this track, just guitar, bass, piano and drums pushed along by the blaring voice we all know and love...
...VOODOO LOUNGE" CLEARLY indicates that Richards controls the band's overall direction more than anyone else. It appears to be no coincidence that Mick Jagger hasn't had a real solo smash-hit since "Lucky at Love." The problem is that Jagger just doesn't sound right fronting the Expensive Winos...