10 Underrated Albums By Huge Bands

When you reach 40 years and counting and are solidified as all time greats, as The Rolling Stones were in 2005, you’re not expected to deliver a great deal on your new album. Look like you’re making an effort, and it’ll be applauded by an audience of a certain age, at least.

With A Bigger Bang, though, the Stones went above and beyond. Or rather: they went backwards, giving up the attempt to chase a modern sound and reverting to their rock ‘n’ roll best. The likes of “Rough Justice” and "She Saw Me Coming" fit in with peak material, playful, swaggering, hard edged blues played brilliantly.

Better still, though, are the ballads. “Streets Of Love” was a reasonable hit at the time, and third single “Biggest Mistake” is a great country crooner. While the record falls down compared to their late ‘60s/early ‘70s run, it apes the tricks of their best LPs, mining a lot of variety from a small selection of genres and influences.

The Stones have seldom been a particularly experimental band, but by sticking resolutely to what they know works and upping the songcraft quality, they produced a remarkably good album this late in a career.