CD Review: Flashpoint

1) Continental Drift
2) Start Me Up
3) Sad Sad Sad
4) Miss You
5) Rock And A Hard Place
6) Ruby Tuesday
7) You Can't Always Get What You Want
8) Factory Girl
9) Can't Be Seen
10) Little Red Rooster
11) Paint It Black
12) Sympathy For The Devil
13) Brown Sugar
14) Jumpin' Jack Flash
15) Satisfaction
16) Highwire
17) Sex Drive
Just because I'm a Beatles fanatic, doesn't mean I don't got no love for the Stones. You gotta respect these guys for continuing their dynamite live act, captured on this fine album. Also, extra points for not breaking up or dying...yet.
Flashpoint is a document of the band's 1989-1990 world tour. They weren't too old to rock. In fact, their many years of experience gives the old garage band tunes a beefier, more mature sound than the guys were capable of producing in the 60s.
Then again, the quintet's support from horns, keys, and back-up singers might have something to do with that, too. Oh, and some guy adds some extra guitar to the band's cover of Willie Dixon's "Little Red Rooster." Not that I'm complaining. This is a world tour, people, not a church basement show. By all means, have a big sound.
Also, give the people what they want. The Stones did that just fine, playing classics like "Start Me Up", "Miss You", and of course "Satisfaction", and some more obscure pieces like "Sad Sad Sad, "Rock And A Hard Place", and "Factory Girl". The set list is sure to please both casual and hardcore fans.
I have a few quibbles about the disc, namely the two forgettable studio tracks at the end and a few moments of crappy singing - beware of Keith Richards on "Can't Be Seen" - but come on, you can't be too hard on these guys. They're the Rolling Stones. They're 100 years old each and still playing stadiums. That's just bad ass.
****1/3 out of five