The Rolling Stones: Voodoo Lounge - 1994
"There were a lot of things that we wrote for 'Voodoo Lounge' that Don steered us away from - groove songs, African influences and things like that. He steered us very clear of all that - and I think it was a mistake" - Mick Jagger on producer Don Was
It is an unfortunately popular cliché to condemn this album, comparing it to Let It Bleed or Exile On Main Street and saying that it is one of the worst Rolling Stones albums. I have to say I disagree. I think it is a reasonable album. Comparisons with their outstanding past work are actually pretty pointless. Just listen to this album and decide whether it rocks or not. In my view, it does.
It had been five years since Steel Wheels, their previous album and the first two lead off tracks are seriously powerful. It was a great return from The Stones, whatever anyone says. That said, many of the tracks are homogenous in their sound, so there is precious little that I can say about them, individually, compared to earlier Stones albums, those from the late sixties and early seventies, for example. Incidentally, this was the first Stones album without Bill Wyman on bass, amicably replaced by American Daryl Jones.
Sparks will fly....
A powerful, robust, bluesy and nicely leery rocker to open with in Love Is Strong, laced with some class Jagger harmonica. This is immediately giving off superior vibes to the material on Dirty Work or much of Steel Wheels. You Got Me Rocking is a riffy, absolute corker. It has been a great early track in their live set ever since, and rightly so. Jagger's voice is on characterful top form and Keith Richards' riffage is as fresh and invigorating as ever. A great track.Sparks Will Fly has received a fair amount of opprobrium over the years for its relatively "slack" sexually oriented lyrics - "I want to fuck your sweet ass" for example. Personally, I haven't got a problem with it. It's The Rolling Stones in class latter era rocking, riffy mode. I'm glad to hear they are still naughty boys! Also, it's a copper-bottomed rocker.
Keith's laid-back, sadly yearning slowie, The Worst, is a lovely track actually, although his voice is sounding older and older. It has a few country airs to its backing and in its lyrical self-pity - "I'm the worst kind of guy to have around".
New Faces sees a return to that Lady Jane Elizabethan vibe that the band used in the sixties on the melodic keyboard refrain and Jagger's vocal is excellent. I love this track, particularly the vocal and the folky mid-song guitar solo.
Moon Is Up is a menacing, grinding, bassy mid-paced rocker. It grinds away with a nice, slightly mysterious and suitably after-dark ambience. Charlie Watts' drumming is melodically insistent too. He makes it sound so effortless. Benmont Tench from Tom Petty's Heartbreakers adds some fine background accordion and Chuck Leavell's harmonium sound is interesting. these instrumental embellishments make a seemingly ordinary song stand out a bit.
Out Of Tears has another great hook and convincing Jagger vocal. It was similar to some of the material found on his recent solo albums. With a winning chorus, it is actually quite an underrated Stones ballad in the style of Coming Down Again from Goats Head Soup.
With a great typically Stones riffy opening, I Go Wild is a track that ploughs the same furrow as Sparks Will Fly, although is not quite as risqué. Again, it has a fine Jagger vocal and a rousing singalong chorus, something that is common to a lot of the songs on the album. I have to say again that I really like it. We're eight tracks in now, and one problem with albums after the year 1990 or around there, is that the age of the CD meant that bands were filling them up with 75 minutes' worth of music, so, on occasions, they included some filler and can go on a bit too long.Another mid-paced, lusty number, Brand New Car is full of blatant sexual imagery, equating a woman's performance to that of a car, such as
Good old Mick, eh? He can't help himself, can he? Musically, its has a great, suitably throbbing bassline and a bluesy mid-song guitar solo. Yes, the lyrics are corny and some would say banal. Me, I say that the song drips with sex. I'm easily won over.
Sweethearts Together is a plaintive, slightly Latin-influenced Jagger love song, but there are better tracks on the album. Once again, though, its hook is quite a memorable one. The two of them seemed to be able to knock off songs like this with ease.
The old Stones shuffling, sleaze is back on Suck On The Jugular. Driven along by Charlie's swinging drums and Ronnie Wood's wah-wah guitar, it is staccato and funky, with a nice, dodgy line in "all get together and fuck all night". While I like both of these last three tracks, I have my personal feeling that the album would not suffer if they were not there. Another with a captivating hook and a great chorus, Blinded By Rainbows is a deadly serious song about terrorism, with some genuinely harrowing lyrics, but the effect of these gets somewhat overshadowed by the catchiness of the chorus. Jagger sings with proper emotion, though, and it is one of The Stones' most hard-hitting songs.
Baby Break It Down is a pretty average one, but again featuring a nice hook. Similar to the previous track, its credentials as a memorable song are affected by its position in the running order. It has a killer of a riff introducing it, a warm bassline and a country-ish pedal steel mid-song solo. I like it more and more with repeated listens - it has hidden qualities.Richards' lengthy and moody grinder Thru And Thru is just great - a lovely, atmospheric slow burner with a superb, powerful rock ending. When the drums and full guitar attack kicks in it's pretty damn impressive. One of Richards' best songs for a while. When he sings "now I've got those fucking blues" you really believe it.
Mean Disposition was a fantastic, frantic rocker to end the album with. Once more, its merits have been completely and perhaps unfairly overlooked as the album has now passed the hour mark. I like it on first listen and still do, particularly the line "I'm going to have to stand my ground like Crockett at The Alamo" and the song's general rocking ebullience.
Although I feel the album is maybe few tracks too long, I can honestly say that I like all the tracks on there. When I say there is not a real duff track on it, in my opinion, I actually mean it. I know many, many people will not agree and I fully understand why, but, for me it is a good album, that I enjoy listening to. Of course, it isn't as good as some of those earlier albums, but very few albums are.
