What could a modest reviewer of a modest e-zine write about the new album of probably the most famous active rock band in the world? This is a question that popped up in my head more than occasionally in the past week. Every time I gave “A Bigger Bang” a spin I found myself wondering why it’s so hard to write a review of an album that is so easy to listen to. Describing the music on the new album is amazingly simple: the sixteen tracks are more and more of the same old formula that almost everybody seems to appreciate.

The main thing that kept me wondering is how a band like the Stones finds the will to continue to record new albums and keep touring the world, without ever seeming to change its direction in any way. OK I do understand that the directions you can take when you’re on top of the world are limited to going downwards, but man being on top of the world should become a bore after all those years. I for one wouldn’t have mind if the band showed a little bit more guts and had tried to explore some unknown grounds. Let’s face it, if there’s one band in the world that can afford a little risk: The Rolling Stones are it!

Seen from a commercial perspective I have no doubt that “A Bigger Bang” will prove to be yet another successful Stones release.

I’ll guarantee you that there won’t be a single Stones fan displeased with the bands latest effort. The sound is familiar and the quality of the songs is beyond doubt. Although most of the songs are pretty basic, there are a few that stand way out. I love “Laugh I Nearly Died”, which is probably the best track on the album. I absolutely dig its very subtle and gentile guitars ingenious combined with the solid laid back rhythms and the fragile slightly trembling vocals of Jagger nicely building up to a climax.

Another absolute highlight is the incredible “She Saw Me Coming” with Jagger singing on top of his reach and a classic Stones guitar riff. “Streets Of Love” is a track in the vein of “Out Of Tears”, a track I’ve always considered to be one of my favourite Stones tracks. Another track alone worth buying this album is “Driving Too Fast”, not the ultimate driving song, but damn they came close!
Despite the fact that “The Bigger Bang” is rather predictable, one must admit that The Stones again managed to release an album of the self set high standards.