Disco de The Rolling Stones: “Voodoo Lounge”

I may be a tad sentimental in my appreciation of the STONES '94 effort VOODOO LOUNGE. I was about to be a senior in high school, beginning to appreciate the STONES, and about to go see them live. Obviously, I have fond memories that go alongside this CD.

Sentimentality aside, I still think that this is an exceptional album that surpasses its glossy, over-produced predecessor, STEEL WHEELS (1989), and the intermittently listenable BRIDGES TO BABYLON (1997), which was to follow.

There are many who feel that the last amazing STONES album was TATTOO YOU (1981), or even SOME GIRLS (1978). While VOODOO LOUNGE is not quite up to par with either of those works, it's undoubtedly the best thing they have done since then.

VOODOO LOUNGE has all the elements of a great STONES album: great uptempo rockers like "Love is Strong" and "You Got Me Rocking," and surprisingly moving ballads like "Out of Tears."

Even Keith gets some fine moments on this album like "The Worst" and "Thru and Thru."

My personal favorite track on here is "New Faces," which finds the STONES getting back to their roots and could easily pass for something they did back in the day with Brian Jones.

While VOODOO LOUNGE can in no way eclipse anyones memories of LET IT BLEED, STICKY FINGERS or EXILE ON MAIN STREET, it is still an excellent collection of well-written songs that finds Mick, Keith, Charlie, Ron and company at a late peak of sorts. Eleven years on and they are still at it!

After just three years without a new Stones release, "Steel Wheels" was hailed as a comeback. But after that, it took the Stones five years to come up with "Voodoo Lounge".

So is it a better record than its predecessor?

Well, perhaps not..."Steel Wheels" was actually pretty good.

But "Voodoo Lounge" could have been better, it is just too long. In the "old days" it would have been a double LP, and it seems that many artists feel that with the longer playing time of the compact disc, they have to come up with more material.

If the Stones had cut five songs and put out a lean, mean ten-track CD instead, "Voodoo Lounge" would have felt like a much stronger album, but forgettable mediocrities like "Baby Break It Down" and "Suck On The Jugular" drag it down a little.

That's not to say that it doesn't have its share of excellent songs, however. "You Got Me Rocking" is one of the best, toughest rockers the Stones have done for many long years, all raw electric guitars and thundering drums, and a great lead vocal from Mick Jagger.

The opening song, the grinding "Love Is Strong", is great as well; Jagger plays some excellent, bluesy harmonica, and new bassist Darryl Jones contributes a deep, rumbling bass line.

Other highlights include the lean, up-tempo hard rock of the sleazy "Sparks Will Fly", the slow, acoustic "The Worst" (sung in a hoarse whisper by Keith Richards), the lovely ballads "Out Of Tears" and "Sweethearts Together", and the funky, swaggering blues-rocker "Brand New Car".

And fans of the "Sopranos" TV series will probably recognize Keith Richards' quietly menacing "Thru And Thru" as well.

The band recorded several of Charlie Watts' drum parts in a stairwell, resulting in the biggest, most powerful drum sound since Led Zeppelin's apocalyptic "When the Levee Breaks", and the neo-classicist production by Don Was is simply excellent, clear and uncluttered.

All in all, "Voodoo Lounge" comes off as one of the Stones' best albums of the 80s and 90s for sure, alongside "Steel Wheels" and "Bridges To Babylon".

voodoo lounge is the greatest stones album of the nineties and contains terrific songs like you got me rockin and sparks will fly.hugely recommended.get this but avoid all albums by kylie please.

The Stones revamped and updated their sound on this record -- which has more polish than some of their previous records.

I'm really rather surprised at some of the vitriol spewed in some of the reviews of this record...I guess when you are a legend, some people are going to be disappointed when every song isn't "Satisfaction."

I could have done without some of the vulgarity, but hey, folks, this is the Rolling Stones, not Musak.

As far as the songs, the only ones you are likely to have heard on the radio are Love Is Strong -- a solid hit -- and You Got Me Rocking -- a workmanlike Rock song.

Sparks Will Fly is a hard-driving sexually-charged rocker with one over-the-top vulgar line.

The Worst is a county-style Keith Richards take on a lost love. I never thought Richards could sing this emotionally. "I said from the first, I am the worst kind of guy for you to be around."

New Faces -- A lament of losing a love to another, sung well with the acoustic guitars in the background...

Moon is Up -- More emotional stuff. "Where did you go when I needed you?"

Out of Tears -- A quiet lament.

I go wild -- Another rocker. A minor hit. Otherwise unremarkable.

Brand New Car -- A tired sexual metaphor. Kinda [weak], except for a catchy guitar hook.

Sweethearts Together -- The Stones get syrupy on us. Is this for real? You could play this at proms.

Suck on the Jugular -- Funky.

Blinded by rainbows -- Lament of all the violence in the world.

Baby break it down -- A good rocker.

Thru and thru -- An overlooked but very touching Richards ballad that builds up slowly to a great fanale...

Mean disposition -- Jagger just having fun.

Surprisingly enough this album was actually a little bit better than most of the garbage that the Stones have been bombarding us with recently. Okay, so its not Exile but its actually more listenable than Steel Wheels or (shudder)Undercover and Emotional Rescue. I actually kind of like love is strong, the worst, and through and through. Odd though that two of the best are by Richards.Anyway, this album is okay but dont expect anything great or original. Theres still the standard rockers about sex,three of which sound the same,and one dumb song which compares a girl to a car(thats really a new idea!)and one awful ballad called Sweethearts Together.Whats annoying about most of the songs is that they are so OBVIOUSLY TRYING to be macho, and they are in a kind of cartoonish and unrealistic way. It seems that back when Mick was androgonous and bisexual the Stones had more of an edge. Now it all seems to just be pretend.