A Bigger Bang

Nobody expects much of the Rolling Stones these days. They haven’t released anything approaching a decent album in nearly 25 years and their bloated tours are an embarrassment. So it’s tough to tell if A Bigger Bang is a genuinely respectable return to form or just a triumph of supremely low expectations. Punchy rockers like “Rough Justice” and “Oh No, Not You Again,” argue pretty persuasively for the former: Keith Richards dashes off sweaty riffs that he’s seemingly had locked in a time capsule since the late '70s, while Mick recovers a good deal of his old swagger. Elsewhere, a subtle country twang lifts “Let Me Down Slow,” the gritty “It Won’t Take Long” sports a nasty groove, and the potent “Sweet Neo-Con” finds Mick snarling invectives at the Bush Administration. All this is balanced with equal helpings of boring junk—dull ballads, toothless rockers, and not one, but two, Keith Richards vocals. But so what if A Bigger Bang is a flawed album by a bunch of dudes trying to act half their age—at least they’re trying to act half their age again.