The Rolling Stones' first album without Bill Wyman on bass and with Don Was as producer could have been disappointing. Instead, it won the Grammy for Best Rock Album in 1995.
'Voodoo Lounge' came at an inopportune time for the Rolling Stones. In the 1980s, the band had lost cohesion and direction in the eyes of many fans, and people began to doubt the band's viability. Personal side projects seemed to take precedence over the work of individual or most of the band members. Rumors about Mick and Keith's working relationship began to circulate.
The undisputed commercial success of 'Steel Wheels' (1989), both the tour and the album (including the European offshoot 'Urban Jungle'), had convincingly debunked these rumors. Then, in 1992, Bill Wyman announced his retirement from the band, and the question of whether the Rolling Stones could carry on without him was inevitably raised again.
'Voodoo Lounge' was the Rolling Stones' answer to this question: a decisive "Yes, as long as we want to".
For although Bill's departure marked the end of a 30-year era, 'Voodoo Lounge' stood for a new beginning, for a new band with a new producer. The four band members had been playing together for twenty years - three of them for over thirty - but the loss of the bassist could have been a disaster, and a new producer is always a risk, especially for a successful group with familiar habits and credentials.
The situation was used as an opportunity by the Rolling Stones, and the result is audibly inspired, authentic and widely admired. (Conventional wisdom, then and now, has it that 'Voodoo Lounge' is the best Stones album since 'Some Girls' - which in turn is "the last great Stones album" since... well, the one before that ;-) The album was hugely popular by any measure, going double platinum in the US and spawning several UK hit singles, although the success of the US singles proved elusive. (The thirteen-month tour of six continents to promote the album grossed $320,000,000, the band's second most successful tour after "A Bigger Bang")
'Voodoo Lounge' will never be as accessible as the Stones albums that made it possible in the late '60s and early '70s because it's a direct descendant of them - like trying to be your own grandfather - not just like him, but really him. But in terms of the style of black and white blues that the Stones helped invent, 'Voodoo Lounge' is entitled to classic status.
This exclusive edition includes a bonus 10-inch white vinyl record with the unreleased tracks "I'm Gonna Drive", "So Young", "Jump On Top Of Me" and "The Storm".
Limited 2LP red and yellow vinyl pressing, with bonus white vinyl 10"
Tracklisting:
Side A:
1. Love Is Strong
2. You Got Me Rocking
3. Sparks Will Fly
4. The Worst
Side B:
1. New Faces
2. Moon Is Up
3. Out of Tears
Side C:
1. I Go Wild
2. Brand New Car
3. Sweethearts Together
4. Suck on the Jugular
Side D:
1. Blinded by Rainbows
2. Baby Break It Down
3. Thru and Thru
4. Mean Disposition
Bonus 10"
1. I’m Gonna Drive
2. So Young
3. Jump On Top Of Me
4. The Storm
