The Rolling Stones are like weather. Entire generations of comedians have made their bones on Stones jokes, and entire genii of bands have have been built from the black artists whose style they ripped off and re-packaged. That’s …not a great place to start, to be honest. But somewhere around their fourth victory lap, the Stones punched out the other side into something they could start to call their own. Doom & Gloom is big stompy and raucous, Ghost Town spoke to a very dark moment with darker humour and Angry is the funniest song about being an octogenarian Dionysus I’ve heard. When you’re at the top of Rock Mount Olympus, the best thing you can do is have fun and their last three or four albums have all been exactly that.
Shower Thoughts: Fake Passes for Rock Olympus and Different Kinds of Power
Spotlights: Connie Kang‘s beautiful personifications of San Francisco landmarks
Playout: We Are Back by Gavin Brivik