Maps of Music

Bridges to Babylon (1997)

Where the lyrics of Bridges to Babylon take you, and where it was really made.

The lead single's chorus was found to resemble a 1992 k.d. lang hit, so Lang and co-writer Ben Mink were credited on the new song alongside Jagger and Richards.

Key places

Recording at Ocean Way Studios, Los Angeles (1997)

Recording site Ocean Way Recording — The band arrived in Los Angeles in March 1997 and started recording sessions at Ocean Way Studios. The recording continued until July that year. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Bridges to Babylon: 21st British and 23rd American studio album by the Rolling Stones
• Released in 1997 through Virgin Records
• Producers include Don Was, the Dust Brothers, Danny Saber, Rob Fraboni and Pierre de Beauport
• Every track was also produced by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards as 'the Glimmer Twins'
• Mixes rock and roll, blues, reggae and electronic music
• Jagger wanted to blend the band's traditional sound with the contemporary styles of the day

Background

• Jagger and Richards began writing together in summer 1996
• Demos followed as they met in New York in November and London the following month
• Another writing session took place in Barbados in January 1997
• Came after the Voodoo Lounge Tour (1994 to 1995) and the album Stripped
• In March 1997 the band arrived in Los Angeles to start recording at Ocean Way Studios
• Recording continued until July 1997
• Don Was produced again, while Jagger sought local producers first
• The Dust Brothers' contributions were cut from five to three, the only Stones songs with sampling

Recording

• Many sessions ran as all-nighters until Richards tired by morning
• Jagger and Richards were kept in separate rooms during work with Was
• Working in a big city let various musician friends of the band contribute
• Four-month production made it one of the band's most concise recording periods in years

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in London in 1962 as an English rock band; their first stable line-up was Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts.
• Jones named the band after a Muddy Waters song; they were rooted in blues and rock and roll.
• Manager Andrew Loog Oldham encouraged them to write their own songs, and the Jagger–Richards partnership became their main creative force.

Members

• Current: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood (joined 1975).
• Former: Brian Jones (died 1969), Mick Taylor (1969–1974), Bill Wyman (1962–1993), Charlie Watts (1963–2021, died 2021).
• Steve Jordan became their drummer after Watts' death.

Career

• Hits included "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (1965), "Paint It Black" (1966) and "Start Me Up" (1981).
• Their 1969 Hyde Park show and Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St. are key points of their career.
• Formed Rolling Stones Records in 1970, whose tongue-and-lips logo became their band logo.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989; the band has sold more than 250 million albums.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone writer Mark Kemp found most of the album sounded feral without seeming forced, and contemporary without chasing modern-rock trends
• Kemp praised the collaboration with contemporary producers and the new sounds, and singled out three Richards vocal tracks as stronger songs
• NME's Paul Moody praised the 'bizarre brilliance' of 'Saint of Me', 'Thief in the Night' and 'Might as Well Get Juiced'
• Rockpile's Lorraine Gennaro said the record has everything Stones fans have come to love
• Hits said the album has magnitude to match its cover art
• Stereo Review's Ken Richardson considered it the band's best since Tattoo You (1981)
• Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker called it a frantic, scattered work and found the latter part of the record strongest
• Select was more positive than toward Voodoo Lounge, with Andrew Perry praising the ballads as uniformly excellent
• Robert Christgau gave a one-star honorable mention
• The Los Angeles Times review was negative, calling the ballad-heavy collection bland

Reappraisal

• AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine rated it positively and cited its solid, craftsmanlike songwriting
• Tom Hull gave it a B+ when revisiting it in 2018
• Ultimate Classic Rock's Nick DeRiso found it hampered by dated experimentation, though he praised Richards' contributions
• NME ranked it second-to-last among the band's albums

Records

• Reached No. 6 in the UK, No. 2 in France and No. 3 in the US
• Certified platinum by the RIAA in November 1997
• Sold 1.1 million copies in the US as of January 2010

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The first million copies came in a specially made filigree slipcase that made the lion on the cover look embedded in the design.
• Jagger told art director Stefan Sagmeister to find inspiration in Babylonian art at the British Museum.
• Sagmeister was most impressed by a Lamassu sculpture, and Kevin Murphy painted a similar Assyrian lion in an attack stance.
• The lead single's chorus resembled k.d. lang's 1992 hit 'Constant Craving', a problem Richards' daughter Angela pointed out.
• Drummer Charlie Watts relieved the tense sessions by working with percussionist Jim Keltner.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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