The Beat Surrender

The Rolling Stones have now released three albums, although this technically is a soundtrack album from the Martin Scorsese film Shine A Light, I haven’t heard the other two albums so i’m afraid I don’t have a comparison.

I’ve never seen the Stones live before aside from the odd song at an awards ceremony, a couple of things do instantly come across from listening to this album though. The first is that despite the advancing years of the group, they still sound pretty damn good, don’t get me wrong i’m sure Mick Jagger’s voice was much better when he was younger, but it’s still pretty good. The second thing is that their concerts sound like the band and in turn the audience have a fair bit of fun and that is always a good thing.

Their are a couple of downsides to this album though as well. As it’s recorded over two nights (and possibly the way it’s been put together) it doesn’t flow as you would expect a live album to, the second is a couple of the collaborations on here don’t add much, Jack White and Christina Aguilera in particular. Things do go up a notch though with Buddy Guy on a brilliant Champagne & Reefer cover.