A Bigger Bang (2005)
1.Rough Justice
2.Let Me Down Slow
3.It Won't Take Long
4.Rain Fall Down
5.Streets of Love
6.Back of My Hand
7.She Saw Me Coming
8.Biggest Mistake
9.This Place is Empty
10.Oh No Not You Again
11.Dangerous Beauty
12.Laugh I Nearly Died
13.Sweet Neo Con
14.Look What the Cat Dragged In
15.Driving Too Fast
16.Infamy
Just when you think it’s all over, they go and prove you wrong. Eight years after their last studio release—long after most had written them off as aging legends content to coast—they returned with a full-length album. And not just any album: sixteen new tracks, enough to qualify as a double LP in the vinyl days. Even more impressive? A Bigger Bang turned out to be quite satisfying.
The opening cut, Rough Justice, hits like a swinging hammer, powered by one of Keith Richards’ signature riffs. And from the moment Mick Jagger snarls, “One time you were my baby chicken / Now you’ve grown into a fox,” you know they haven’t lost their bite—or their adolescent sense of metaphor. No, they haven’t grown up, and it’s fairly clear they have no plans to. But to their credit, the sleaze is mostly restrained this time around. What they’ve recaptured here is something more vital: their own sound. Gone are the flirtations with contemporary trends that coloured their last two albums. This is the Stones as they were meant to be—loud, raw, and gloriously loose.
If there’s a criticism to be made, it’s that the record can blur at the edges. With such a consistent tone across sixteen tracks, individual songs can begin to merge into one long groove. But when every groove is this strong, it’s difficult to complain. Unfortunately, radio in the 2000s was no place for this sort of music, and with fans packing arenas primarily for the old hits, there was little space left for new material to stake its claim. As a result, A Bigger Bang is widely acknowledged as a late-career triumph—yet filled with songs that even devoted fans might struggle to name twenty years later (by which time, no doubt, the band will still be touring... but I digress).
There are, however, genuine standouts. Back of My Hand finds them knee-deep in grimy blues territory, their dirtiest since the early days. Biggest Mistake is remarkably radio-friendly—though bafflingly, it never saw a proper single release. Keith turns in his usual pair, crooning his way through the weary This Place Is Empty before closing things out with the swaggering Infamy. There’s even a nod to the band’s darker thematic corners with Dangerous Beauty, which manages to sneak in a little S&M, because of course it does.
Some might argue that sixteen tracks is too much, and they wouldn’t be entirely wrong. But with no real filler and the whole thing fitting neatly onto a single CD, it’s hard to hold that against them. To everyone's surprise, they weren't done. It would take more than 15 years for a new album, but they weren't done. Maybe not to everyone's surprise.
Go back to the main page
Go To Next Review