Best Albums !: Rolling Stones. Voodoo Lounge (1994)

13 May, 2008

Rolling Stones. Voodoo Lounge (1994)

Voodoo Lounge is an album by The Rolling Stones and was released in 1994. As their first new release under their new alliance with Virgin Records, it ended a five-year gap since their last studio album, Steel Wheels in 1989. Voodoo Lounge is also The Rolling Stones' first album without founding bassist Bill Wyman, who departed the line-up in early 1993.

Following the release of Keith Richards' Main Offender and Mick Jagger's Wandering Spirit in 1992 and 1993 respectively, both leaders of The Rolling Stones began composing new songs in April 1993, deciding upon Don Was as co-producer for the upcoming sessions. In November, after rehearsing and recording at Ronnie Wood's house in Ireland that September, The Rolling Stones shifted their gear to Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin and began cutting Voodoo Lounge. Although not joining the band officially, Darryl Jones would be taking Bill Wyman's place as the group's regular bassist.

In early 1995, while the Voodoo Lounge Tour was still in full force (not finishing until August that year) Voodoo Lounge won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. Although it is not considered to be a truly outstanding piece of work on a par with Let It Bleed or Some Girls, many observers consider Voodoo Lounge to be more of a comeback than Steel Wheels was touted to be.