The Stones took their time making this album. Faced with the departure of bassist Bill Wyman, they relocated to Ronnie Wood's Dublin studio with producer Don Was and recorded and recorded.
In the end, 14 songs made the cut (15 on CD). The album opens brightly with the dirty, fuzzed-up blues harmonica of 'Love Is Strong' married to some great low-slung Keef'n'Ronnie riffing, while second track 'You Got Me Rocking' is a traditional Stones rocker, all Charlie tom-toms and Richards' staccato chords.
However, there are plenty of surprises in store. 'New Faces' recalls the mid-60s period sleaze of tracks like 'Lady Jane' and 'Out Of Time'. This time, however, it's Jagger who's on the receiving end of infidelity, 'There's a new guy in town/He's been hanging round/He's the figure of youth' he moans. What a refreshing change.
'Moon Is Up' contains more Charlie fireworks, the echoey drums having been recorded in a stairwell for added resonance, and also features some lovely slide work from Ronnie.
The album's greatest moment, 'Out Of Tears', melds all the things that made Stones ballads like 'Angie' and 'Memory Motel' so timeless. Jagger's voice reaches heights of emotion you thought he was incapable of scaling again, while the haunting piano motif crashes into another great slide solo in the middle. Vintage stuff.
After that height, though, the album falters. 'I Go Wild' and 'Brand New Car' are Stones-by-numbers - the former a rocker featuring some great drumming but a plethora of lyrical cliches and uninspired riffing, while the latter is the old 'car-as-sex' blues motif rehashed again.
Meanwhile, token political track 'Blinded By Rainbows' is atrocious, hackneyed observation at its worst, in this case about the situation in Northern Ireland. It's up to Keith to salvage the last half with 'Thru And Thru', his regular closing torch ballad.
In all, the best Stones album since 1981, but after the first eight songs promised so much it's a pity the band ran out of creative steam.
CLICK HERE to buy this album.
