Bridges to Babylon

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Bridges to Babylon
The Rolling Stones studio album

Publication
(s)

September 29, 1997

Label (s) Virgin Records

Genre (s)

skirt

Title (number)

13

running time

62:27

production

Don Was and The Glimmer Twins with Rob Fraboni, Danny Saber, Pierre de Beauport and The Dust Brothers

Studio (s)

March 13 - July 1997

chronology
Rock and Roll Circus
(1996) 		Bridges to Babylon No Security
(1998)

Bridges to Babylon is a music album released in 1997 by the rock group The Rolling Stones . It is the band's 21st studio album.

The recordings

The first demo recordings for the album were made in the summer of 1996 in collaboration with producer Don Was . Even if Don Was was to remain the main producer of the Rolling Stones, the band decided, at the urging of Mick Jagger , to work with the Dust Brothers on the production of the album . Keith Richards in particular resisted this involvement. In the end, only three pieces from this collaboration were put on the album. These are Anybody Seen My Baby , Saint of Me and Might as Well Get Juiced . In addition, other producers were involved in the recordings in spring 1997.

In contrast to many other Rolling Stones albums, only a few songs were recorded live on Bridges To Babylon . According to Charlie Watts , this brought additional stress and tension to the band.

Release of the album and the first single

The release of the album and the first single ( Anybody Seen My Baby ) was celebrated at a press conference under the Brooklyn Bridge in Manhattan . On this occasion, the band's biggest tour to date was announced. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had a lot of fun in anticipating the question many journalists would ask about the "last Rolling Stones tour". Richards responded to this question posed by Jagger in a mock interview with "this and the next five" and with a loud laugh.

Bridges to Babylon reached the first place in the charts in Germany and Austria and held this position for four weeks.

Allegations of plagiarism and issues with Anybody Seen My Baby video

There were two problems with the first single Anybody Seen My Baby and the accompanying video: On the one hand, the proximity of the chorus to kd lange Constant craving could not be eliminated, so that she and her co-composer Ben Mink are included in the credits recorded. On the other hand, given its content and special effects, the video led to censorship and an ethical debate, especially in the USA. Still, the single was a success, especially since the song was played very often by the radio stations.

More single releases

Saint of Me was the second single released from the album. It had only moderate commercial success. At the time the single was released, the Rolling Stones were on their major "Bridges to Babylon" tour. There they initially had to struggle with logistical problems ("where's that fucking bridge?").

Out of Control was then released as the third single from the album . This piece was an integral part of the set list during the tour.

Track list

  1. Flip the Switch (Mick Jagger / Keith Richards) - 3:28
  2. Anybody Seen My Baby? (Mick Jagger / Keith Richards / KD Lang / Ben Mink) - 4:31
  3. Low Down (Mick Jagger / Keith Richards) - 4:26
  4. Already Over Me (Mick Jagger / Keith Richards) - 5:24
  5. Gunface (Mick Jagger / Keith Richards) - 5:02
  6. You Don't Have to Mean It (Mick Jagger / Keith Richards) - 3:43
  7. Out of Control (Mick Jagger / Keith Richards) - 4:43
  8. Saint of Me (Mick Jagger / Keith Richards) - 5:15
  9. Might as Well Get Juiced (Mick Jagger / Keith Richards) - 5:23
  10. Always Suffering (Mick Jagger / Keith Richards) - 4:44
  11. Too Tight (Mick Jagger / Keith Richards) - 3:33
  12. Thief in the Night (Mick Jagger / Keith Richards / Pierre de Beauport) - 5:16
  13. How Can I Stop (Mick Jagger / Keith Richards) - 6:54

occupation

The Rolling Stones:

Other musicians:

As can be seen above, there were nine bass players alone.

particularities

In addition to the plagiarism allegations described above, Keith Richards was represented with 3 song numbers on Bridges to Babylon . This is a relatively high number for Rolling Stones albums. Some of the published songs are based on demo recordings from sessions by Jagger and Richards.

An album with live recordings was also released from the Bridges-To-Babylon tour. Richards is actually strictly against the publication of live recordings. In the opinion of the band, however, the concert recordings were so good and the so-called "guest spots" so interesting that they decided to publish them. The live album was released under the title No Security and the tour was extended by a good 9 months under this name.

Web links