Bridges to Babylon

Release type:
studio album
First released:
Sep 27 1997

Overview

Bridges to Babylon is an 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. 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 went platinum. 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.

This particular version Edit

Record label:
Catalog number:
44909
Release dates:
  • Sep 30 1997
Classic Rock, Album-Oriented Rock (AOR), Hard Rock, Pop, Rock, Blues, Dance, Rock and Roll, Traditional R&B. Vote on Genres

What do Amazon.com customers think?

5 stars 35 Years and Still Rolling
Having read all the previous reviews slamming the Stones for their age and lack of feel, I am compelled to defend the Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World. I think it is widely agreed upon that the Stones' prime was '68-'72 (Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street). With that in mind, every album before and after has been inferior. Bridges to Babylon, being a good 25 years after their prime, cannot be compared to the greatness of the Great Four. The fact that a gr…
Written by B. L. Vor Broker "blv721"
3 stars Pretty good album
I wish everybody would just stop bad mouthing the Stones because I don't think this album is that bad and I'm not goin to be a disloyal jerk and put it down just because they're getting a bit old. True its not as good as Exile(what could be?) But you don't have to act like they should commit suicide or something. I thought Anybody Seen My Baby was an excellent song. The rest of the songs were also pretty good, especially Keiths. I don't like Bridges quite as much as I like Voodoo Lounge but I do…
Written by "nobodyanybody"

Track listing Edit

  • CD

    format:
    number:
    title:
    number name artist hh:mm:ss
    1
    Flip The Switch
    ?:??
    2
    Anybody Seen My Baby?
    ?:??
    3
    Low Down
    ?:??
    4
    Already Over Me
    ?:??
    5
    Gun Pace
    ?:??
    6
    You Don't Have To Mean It
    ?:??
    7
    Out Of Control
    ?:??
    8
    Saint Of Me
    ?:??
    9
    Might As Well Get Juiced
    ?:??
    10
    Always Suffering
    ?:??
    11
    Too Tight
    ?:??
    12
    Thief In The Night
    ?:??
    13
    How Can I Stop
    ?:??

Credits Edit

  1. performer

    1. Darryl Jones [Bass]
    2. Wayne Shorter [Soprano Saxophone]

Other versions Edit

Bridges to Babylon 13 tracks format: 1 x CD
record label: Virgin
catalog number: 44909
release dates: Sep 27 1997 in United Kingdom
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12 tracks format: 1 x CD
view details
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