When Critics Compared 'Bridges to Babylon' to the Stones' 1970s Peak

Rolling Stones’ 1997 album Bridges to Babylon arrived with the weight of their own legend. Critics almost universally measured it against the band’s 1970s run—Exile on Main St., Sticky Fingers—and found it wanting. Most reviews conceded that, at age 54, Jagger and Richards could still muster a few solid grooves, but the album lacked the messy vitality and danger of their prime.

The metacritic score settled around 71, which is solid but not classic. Jon Pareles in The New York Times called it “defiantly contemporary” while noting it “doesn’t pretend to match the band’s mid-70s peak.” Others dismissed the hip-hop-influenced production as a desperate lunge at relevance. The overall reception: a respectful but firm second-tier ranking in their catalog.