preview : SuperHeavy

SuperHeavy

SuperHeavy

A&M/Universal Republic

Rolling Stone: star rating

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Comment12

At this point, it would seem that Mick Jagger's only burden is having to be Mick Jagger all the time. The terrifically fun SuperHeavy solves that problem. Jagger passes frontman duties around like a spliff, with a spectacularly motley crew: reggae royalty Damian Marley, son of Bob; New Wave survivor Dave Stewart; also-ran U.K. soul diva Joss Stone; and Bollywood singer and composer A.R. Rahman.  Imagine an awards-show-scale revue on the floor of the U.N. General Assembly with musical direction by M.I.A., and you've got some idea of the glitzy craziness here.  On "Satyameva Jayathe," Jagger and Rahman trade Hindi verses over Celtic-Indian fiddle. On "Energy," a U2-style synth-pop jam with a leadoff by Marley, Jagger raps – raps! – and sounds positively hot-wired. On "One Day One Night," Jagger comes on like a broken hearted drunk in a Bukowski novel, smearing vocal vibrato all over.  If the songs sometimes feel a bit undercooked, the spirit is dazzling. On "I Can’t Take It No More," Stone yells, "Whatthe fuck is going on?" which pretty much sums the album up.  That song – where Jagger shouts, "I can’t fake it no more!"- may or may not be an answer to Keith's shit-talking memoir.  One thing's for sure: SuperHeavy is the wildest thing he's ever done outside of the Stones. 

Pearl Jam

Twenty (Soundtrack)

Columbia

Rolling Stone: star rating

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B

Click here to listen to Pearl Jam's two-disc 'Pearl Jam Twenty'

One of the most stunning moments in Cameron Crowe's new Pearl Jam documentary comes near the end, when the band plays "Better Man" at Madison Square Garden and the audience euphorically screams along to every word. The soundtrack to the film – which contains that "Better Man" – is for those hardcore fans. There's no "Jeremy," "Daughter" or "Even Flow" here. But there is a gorgeous demo of "Nothing as It Seems" from 1999, a demo of the 1990 Temple of the Dog track "Say Hello 2 Heaven" and an early version of "Alive," from Pearl Jam's second show, in December 1990. The emotional high point may be "Crown of Thorns," from a gig in 2000. The song was first cut by Mother Love Bone shortly before their frontman Andrew Wood died; the group recruited Vedder and changed its name to Pearl Jam. Wood always dreamed that his band would be hugely famous, and in Vedder's hands his greatest song is reborn as the arena-rock anthem it was meant to be.