Voodoo Lounge

The Rolling Stones

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 12, 1994)
• Original Release Date: July 12, 1994
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Virgin Records Us
• ASIN: B000000W6L
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (95 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #34,469 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Recorded in Dublin and in Los Angeles, and produced by Don Was, Voodoo Lounge topped the British charts on its release in 1994. The rockers Love Is Strong - featuring Jagger on harmonica - You Got Me Rocking and I Go Wild all performed strongly in the UK Top 40, while Out Of Tears continued the group's fine tradition of late-night, soul-searching, soul-infused ballads and featured a killer vocal performance by Jagger. The singer also excelled on the equally contemplative Blinded By Rainbows, a forgotten gem in their repertoire, and the swaggering Sparks Will Fly, driven by the ever-excellent Charlie Watts on drums. Voodoo Lounge deservedly won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album in 1995. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best Stones album post-Tatoo You., August 26, 2005

By	J. Chasin (NYC, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Rolling Stones are a victim of their own magnitude. It has long been far hipper to dismiss them as aging, wealthy dilitantes than it has been to admit to liking their work. And too, The Ronnie Wood years do not have the cache that the Mick Taylor early 70s work or the Brian Jones Britpop 60s work had-- even though Wood has been a Stone for 30 of their 42 years. Voodoo Lounge is, I think, unchallenged as the high point of their output post-1980, and it is a strong album from start to finish.

The best thing about Voodoo Louge is that is doesn't have a "sound"-- which is to say, it sounds like the Stones. Ronnie Wood is an outstanding guitrist and the perfect foil for Richards, and this is a guitar album first and foremost (well, it is a song album, but then a guitar album.) "Love is Strong" and "You Got Me Rocking" are radio-ready (or iPod-ready) classic riff-rockers in the best Stones tradition. "Brand New Car" is snaky and groovy and beguiling, with Jagger's nasty vocal implying far more than he actually puts in the lyric, and Woody and Keef dancing their magic weave together. "Sweethearts Together" is reminiscent of "Indian Girl" from Emotional Rescue (another underrated album with which this shares some groove and spirit.)

As is the case on most of the last 7 or so Stones albums, the Keith songs are highlights. "The Worst" is one of those poignant anti-ballad ballads he does, his ravaged and coarse voice belying the sentiment of the lyric and the quality of the songwriting. And "Thru and Thru" is just simply outstanding; used to great effect to conclude season 2 of the Sopranos cable series, it is a snarling, gritty rocker that by itself makes this album noteworthy.

The Voodoo Lounge sessions were productive ones, and there are many bootlegs floating around of outtakes, demos, and alternate versions. It is worth noting that one of these bootlegs contains an alternate version of the album, in sequence-- supposedly "Keith's mix"-- that actually surpasses the released version.

If you want to check out a later-period Stones album, this is the one. Every one has at least one or two or three tracks that make it worthwhile, but this is clearly the strongest and most consistent. From here, Bridges to Babylon is good too, less consistent but worth the effort, especially the deeper you get into the record (past the radio hits and into the art.) Steel Wheels sounds tinny to me, although there too the last few songs are worth the effort (especially Keith's gorgeous "Slipping Away.") Undercover and Dirty Work are probably the last post-1980 studio releases you need, although there again, each has a gem or three.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Try It....You May Just Like It, August 27, 2005

By	Jon M. De Benedictis (Fairfield, CT United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I may be a tad sentimental in my appreciation of the STONES '94 effort VOODOO LOUNGE. I was about to be a senior in high school, beginning to appreciate the STONES, and about to go see them live. Obviously, I have fond memories that go alongside this CD.
Sentimentality aside, I still think that this is an exceptional album that surpasses its glossy, over-produced predecessor, STEEL WHEELS (1989), and the intermittently listenable BRIDGES TO BABYLON (1997), which was to follow.
There are many who feel that the last amazing STONES album was TATTOO YOU (1981), or even SOME GIRLS (1978). While VOODOO LOUNGE is not quite up to par with either of those works, it's undoubtedly the best thing they have done since then.
VOODOO LOUNGE has all the elements of a great STONES album: great uptempo rockers like "Love is Strong" and "You Got Me Rocking," and surprisingly moving ballads like "Out of Tears."
Even Keith gets some fine moments on this album like "The Worst" and "Thru and Thru."
My personal favorite track on here is "New Faces," which finds the STONES getting back to their roots and could easily pass for something they did back in the day with Brian Jones.
While VOODOO LOUNGE can in no way eclipse anyones memories of LET IT BLEED, STICKY FINGERS or EXILE ON MAIN STREET, it is still an excellent collection of well-written songs that finds Mick, Keith, Charlie, Ron and company at a late peak of sorts. Eleven years on and they are still at it!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A lot of good stuff here, October 1, 2003

By	Docendo Discimus (Vita scholae) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

After just three years without a new Stones release, "Steel Wheels" was hailed as a comeback. But after that, it took the Stones five years to come up with "Voodoo Lounge".

So is it a better record than its predecessor?
Well, perhaps not..."Steel Wheels" was actually pretty good.
But "Voodoo Lounge" could have been better, it is just too long. In the "old days" it would have been a double LP, and it seems that many artists feel that with the longer playing time of the compact disc, they have to come up with more material.

If the Stones had cut five songs and put out a lean, mean ten-track CD instead, "Voodoo Lounge" would have felt like a much stronger album, but forgettable mediocrities like "Baby Break It Down" and "Suck On The Jugular" drag it down a little.

That's not to say that it doesn't have its share of excellent songs, however. "You Got Me Rocking" is one of the best, toughest rockers the Stones have done for many long years, all raw electric guitars and thundering drums, and a great lead vocal from Mick Jagger.
The opening song, the grinding "Love Is Strong", is great as well; Jagger plays some excellent, bluesy harmonica, and new bassist Darryl Jones contributes a deep, rumbling bass line.

Other highlights include the lean, up-tempo hard rock of the sleazy "Sparks Will Fly", the slow, acoustic "The Worst" (sung in a hoarse whisper by Keith Richards), the lovely ballads "Out Of Tears" and "Sweethearts Together", and the funky, swaggering blues-rocker "Brand New Car".
And fans of the "Sopranos" TV series will probably recognize Keith Richards' quietly menacing "Thru And Thru" as well.

The band recorded several of Charlie Watts' drum parts in a stairwell, resulting in the biggest, most powerful drum sound since Led Zeppelin's apocalyptic "When the Levee Breaks", and the neo-classicist production by Don Was is simply excellent, clear and uncluttered.
All in all, "Voodoo Lounge" comes off as one of the Stones' best albums of the 80s and 90s for sure, alongside "Steel Wheels" and "Bridges To Babylon".