Stones release A Bigger Bang
2005-09-06 11:15
Paris - The Rolling Stones, still rocking and still rolling after four decades on stage, released A Bigger Bang on Monday, their first studio album in eight years.
Even if this seemingly indestructible foursome of sixty-something rockers are no longer on the cutting edge of pop music, critics say, the band still know how to conjure up a hard-driving, danceable tune.
And to poke a politician in the eye.
One song in particular, Sweet Neo-Con has created a small firestorm of comment and controversy because of its fierce attack on US president George Bush and his coterie of neo-conservative policy advisors.
"You call yourself a Christian, I think your a hypocrite, You say you are a patriot, I think you're a crock of shit," begins the uncharacteristically political tune, replete with references to Halliburton, and Brown and Root, US companies with highly lucrative infrastructure contracts in Iraq.
"It's liberty for all, Democracy's our style, Unless you are against us, Then its prison without trial," the song continues, in apparent reference to the suspension of civil rights, in the US and abroad, for terrorist suspects.
Bush is never mentioned by name, and lead singer Mick Jagger told CNN in early August that the lyrics were aimed at his policies and not the man himself.
The band and their album
Besides this political zinger, the 64-minute album's other 15 tracks are standard Stones fare. Lead singer Mick Jagger, 62, belts out tunes with the same voice and an enthusiasm that helped make him a star, backed by guitarists Keith Richards, 61, and Ron Wood, the junior member of the group at 58.
Drummer Charlie Watts, 64, appears to be in high form after recovering from throat cancer in 2004.
The release - on Monday in Europe, on Tuesday in the United States - is timed to coincide with the Stones' current world tour, which kicked off in the United States on August 22.
Even before it was available in music stores, A Bigger Bang was being illegally downloaded from several internet websites, British newspapers reported.