The Rolling Stones

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The complete works of The Rolling Stones

Album Index
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The Rolling Stones - First Album The Rolling Stones 2 Out of Our Heads Aftermath Big Hits, High Tide and Green Grass Between the Buttons Their Satanic Majesties Request Beggars Banquet Through the Past Darkly

Let it Bleed Get Yer Ya Ya's Out Sticky Fingers Exile on Main Street Goats Head Soup Its Only Rock n Roll Black and Blue Some Girls Love You Live

Emotional Rescue Tattoo You Undercover Dirty Work Steel Wheels Voodoo Lounge Bridges to Babylon A Bigger Bang Shine a Light

The Rolling Stones - Bridges to Babylon Click Here for Popup Music Player Back to Album Index

Bridges to Babylon is the 21st studio album by The Rolling Stones and was released in 1997. It would prove to be their final studio album of the 1990s and their last full-length release of new songs until 2005's A Bigger Bang. The album was supported by a massive year-long worldwide tour that met with much success.

Following the Voodoo Lounge, Voodoo Lounge Tour, and Stripped projects of 1994/1995, the Stones afforded themselves a brief respite from their recent spate of prolific work before leaders Mick Jagger and Keith Richards began devising new numbers together in the summer of 1996 with demos to follow at the end of the year. Although the band would use Don Was as a producer again, Jagger—impressed with their work on Beck's Odelay—wanted to bring The Dust Brothers in to work with the band. Richards, typically, wasn't keen on the idea, thus the only tracks that would bear their influence would be "Anybody Seen My Baby", "Saint of Me" and "Might as Well Get Juiced"; it was thus the first, and so far only, Stones album to feature sampling. A few extra producers would also contribute to give the project a more rounded feel.

Bridges to Babylon was recorded during the spring into summer months of 1997 in Los Angeles in a matter of four months—one of their most concise periods of recording in years—and was being mastered just as projected lead single, "Anybody Seen My Baby?", was discovered to sound like another famous song. Richards' daughter, Angela, brought it to her father's attention that The Rolling Stones' new song bore a striking resemblance to k.d. lang's 1992 hit "Constant Craving" in its chorus. Seeking to avoid any possible future legal entanglements, lang and her co-writer Ben Mink were credited with Jagger and Richards on the potentially offending song. Upon its release, it would reach #22 in the UK and become a US radio rock hit.

Bridges to Babylon, containing an unprecedented three solo moments by Keith Richards, was released to mixed reviews and it reached #6 in the UK and #3 in the US, where it was certified Platinum by the RIAA in November 1997. As of January 2010, Bridges to Babylon has sold 1.1 million copies in the U.S. Further singles "Saint of Me" and "Out of Control" were also minor hits.

Eight different musicians played bass on the album: Jeff Sarli, Jamie Muhoberac, Blondie Chaplin, Don Was, Danny Saber, Darryl Jones, Me'shell Ndegeocello, and Doug Wimbish.

The Stones had become a touring phenomenon by this point. The Bridges to Babylon Tour in 1997 consisted of 108 shows, making it the second largest grossing North American tour of all time.

Cover art by Stefan Sagmeister.

In 2009, Bridges to Babylon was remastered and reissued by Universal Music.

The Rolling Stones - A Bigger Bang Click Here for Popup Music Player Back to Album Index

A Bigger Bang is the 22nd studio album by The Rolling Stones. It is a follow-up to their previous full-length studio album, 1997's Bridges to Babylon, and like Bridges to Babylon and its 1994 predecessor Voodoo Lounge, the album was again produced by Don Was and The Glimmer Twins.
The album features a more basic, stripped-down style reminiscent of Some Girls, but with a harder, more contemporary edge. Many of these songs were recorded with just the core band of Richards, Jagger, and Watts. Ronnie Wood was absent from some of the sessions, playing on only ten of the 16 tracks, with only very occasional contributions from outside musicians comprising the recording of the album.

Although initial reports stated that the Stones had "returned to their roots" with the record, the minimal instrumentation, rough mix, and tough blues and "garage" rock hybrid bear certain similarities to the aesthetic of contemporary artists like The White Stripes and The Black Keys.

Critical reaction was positive. A Bigger Bang was touted as the best Rolling Stones album since 1981's Tattoo You and found the band in a revitalized state. Nevertheless, all of the Stones albums since 1989's Steel Wheels had been similarly lauded, and many critics and fans felt that the Stones had yet to record a late-period album truly up to their high standards, though the rock-oriented nature of the record certainly appeased the Stones' loyal fanbase.

The first single, "Streets of Love/Rough Justice" reached #15 in the UK singles chart, while A Bigger Bang entered the UK charts at #2 and #3 in the U.S. However, like all of The Rolling Stones' studio albums from Undercover onwards, its commercial performance was not enormous, as its singles failed to become major hits in the US. Nevertheless, A Bigger Bang went platinum and sold about as well as its predecessor, Bridges to Babylon (perceived as a considerably more commercial record), indicative of the Stones' enshrinement as a ceaselessly popular rock band rather than immediate pop contenders, and of a commercial security derived from a huge, devoted fan base (which may have been one of the band's realizations in recording this less calculated, rawer, and fairly uncommercial record).

As of March 31, 2006, the album had sold over 2.4 million copies worldwide according to EMI.

In August 2005 the Rolling Stones embarked on the A Bigger Bang Tour in support of the album. The 90-show phenomenon is the largest tour in North American history and was met with sold-out tickets at every destination, usually within minutes of opening. The tour was extended into 2007 because Keith Richards fell out of a tree in Fiji. It concluded in August 2007 at the O2 Arena in London.

The album is the first on which Jagger also plays bass on some tracks. This results from Ronnie Wood's lesser participation.

This album was chosen as one of Amazon.com's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005. It was ranked the second-best album of the year by Rolling Stone magazine, behind rapper Kanye West's Late Registration.

Even before the singles were released, A Bigger Bang was noted for the song "Sweet Neo Con", which was critical of both President George W. Bush and American politics in general, and caused much controversy.

The CD is a single album, the LP a double.

In 2009, A Bigger Bang was reissued by Universal Music.

The Rolling Stones - Shine a Light Click Here for Popup Music Player Back to Album Index

Shine a Light is the soundtrack to The Rolling Stones concert film of the same name, directed by Martin Scorsese. It was released on 1 April 2008 in the United Kingdom by Polydor Records and one week later in the United States by Interscope Records. Two different versions were released, one a double disc and the other a single disc.

Shine a Light is the ninth concert album to be released by The Rolling Stones. This collection—like the two 2006 shows it was culled from—features no performances of songs from their 2005 album A Bigger Bang. The two-disc version features all but two of the songs played on the two nights; the missing numbers are "Undercover of the Night" (included as a bonus track on the Japanese edition and as a download on iTunes Store) and "Honky Tonk Women."

Shine a Light features several guest performers: Jack White, of The White Stripes, performs on "Loving Cup"; Christina Aguilera appears on "Live with Me"; and bluesman Buddy Guy performs on Muddy Waters' "Champagne and Reefer."

The album was very well received, especially in the UK, where it debuted at number 2, selling 23,013 copies in its first week - the best chart position for a Rolling Stones concert album since 'Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!' in 1970. In the United States, it debuted at number 11 on the Billboard charts with 37,117 copies sold—the band's highest US debut for a concert album since 1995's Stripped.

The Rolling Stones - Singles 1963-1971


A full collection of Rolling Stones singles, A-sides and B-sides, from 1963-1971


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The Rolling Stones - Singles 1971-Present


Complete songlisting for tracks released on singles 1971-present


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