Bridges to Babylon
| Bridges to Babylon | ||||
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| Studio album by The Rolling Stones | ||||
| Released | 29 September 1997 | |||
| Recorded | March–July 1997, Los Angeles, California | |||
| Genre | Hard rock, blues rock | |||
| Length | 62:27 | |||
| Label | Virgin | |||
| Producer | Don Was, The Glimmer Twins, with Rob Fraboni, Danny Saber, Pierre de Beauport, and The Dust Brothers | |||
| The Rolling Stones chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Bridges to Babylon | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Entertainment Weekly | B |
| NME | 7/10 |
Bridges to Babylon is the 21st British and 23rd American studio album by British rock band The Rolling Stones, released by Virgin Records on 29 September 1997. It would prove to be the band's final studio album of the 1990s and their last full-length release of new songs until 2005's A Bigger Bang. Released as a double album on vinyl and a single CD, the album was supported by the year-long worldwide Bridges to Babylon Tour that met with much success.
Following the Voodoo Lounge Tour, and Stripped projects of 1994/1995, the Stones afforded themselves a brief respite before Mick Jagger and Keith Richards began composing new songs together in the summer of 1996 with demos to follow as they met in New York in November and London the following month. Another writing session happened in Barbados on January 1997.
In March 1997, the band arrived in Los Angeles to start the recording sessions at Ocean Way Studios. After many albums recorded in isolated islands, working in a big city allowed for the contribution of various musician friends of the band. Bridges to Babylon was recorded until July, and the four month production made it one of their most concise periods of recording in years. The sessions would frequently be all-nighters that lasted until Richards got tired by the morning.
Although Don Was would be the producer again, Jagger arrived before the other Stones to seek local producers. First were The Dust Brothers, who had impressed Jagger with their work on Beck's Odelay and the Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique. The Dust Brothers' contributions were initially five, but were reduced to three, which mark the only Stones songs to feature sampling. Danny Saber and Babyface were also brought in by Jagger, though the latter's contributions to the track "Already Over Me" were eventually discarded. Richards was not keen on the idea of working with "loop gurus", going as far as expelling Saber from the studio once he found him overdubbing guitars. Richards brought in Rob Fraboni for his solo material, and Was made sure to work with Richards and Jagger in separate rooms. Drummer Charlie Watts would relieve the tense environment by working along with percussionist Jim Keltner, who he would later draft for a solo project. By the final week of recording, the Stones were not in speaking terms, with Jagger boycotting sessions arranged by Richards' crew and Watts leaving Los Angeles as soon as he finished his contributions.
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