The Rolling Stones - Bridges To Babylon (1997)

SOLD! $30.97

Auction Link (ends September 17th)

VG++ Original U.S. Version

Virgin Records: 8 44712 1
Format: 2X12" LP, Standard Black Vinyl
US Version: Pressed in the U.K. but has "Virgin America" on back cover and "paste over" UPC Code.
Includes: Original Custom Lyrics/Liner Notes Inner Sleeves
Cover Condition: VG++! Nice copy! A couple of ever-so-slightly softened corners. No splits, cut-outs, ring wear, or discoloration. Hardly ever pulled from the shelf and always stored vertically in a protective poly sleeve.
Vinyl Condition: VG++! Very clean vinyl! Very minor paper scuffs on one side, a couple of minor hair-line marks. All-around very nice. There is a manufacturer's error on one disc, side D is missing it's label (see photo). All other lables are very nice.
The glossy heavy stock inner sleeves have very minor wring wear.

Release Info: Bridges to Babylon is the 21st studio 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's A Bigger Bang. The album was supported by a massive year-long worldwide tour that met with much success.

Following Voodoo Lounge, the 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 and brought in Rob Fraboni for his solo material, 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, #2 in France and #3 in the US, where it was certified Platinum by the RIAA in November 1997. As of January 2010, Bridges to Babylon has sold 1.1 million copies in the U.S. 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.

All songs by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, except where noted.

1."Flip the Switch" – 3:28

2."Anybody Seen My Baby?" (Mick Jagger/Keith Richards/k.d. Lang/Ben Mink) – 4:31

3."Low Down" - 4:26

4."Already Over Me" – 5:24

5."Gunface" – 5:02

6."You Don't Have to Mean It" – 3:44

7."Out of Control" – 4:43

8."Saint of Me" – 5:14

9."Might as Well Get Juiced" – 5:23

10."Always Suffering" – 4:43

11."Too Tight" - 3:33

12."Thief in the Night" (Mick Jagger/Keith Richards/Pierre de Beauport) – 5:15

13."How Can I Stop?" – 6:53