Monday, April 29, 2024: 12pm ET: Feature LP: Rolling Stones – Voodoo Lounge (1994)

Voodoo Lounge is a studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on July 11 1994. As their first new release under their new alliance with Virgin Records, it ended a five-year gap since their last studio album, Steel Wheels in 1989. Voodoo Lounge is also the band’s first album without their original bassist Bill Wyman; he left the band in early 1991, though the Stones did not announce the departure until 1993. In 2009, the album was remastered and reissued by Universal Music. This album was released as a double vinyl and as a single CD and cassette.

After the departure of Wyman, the Stones chose not to officially replace him as a band member and continue as a four-piece with Mick Jagger (vocals), Charlie Watts (drums), Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood (both guitars). Wyman was unofficially replaced by Darryl Jones, who would perform with the Stones in the studio and on tour as a contracted player. Keyboards were provided by Chuck Leavell. Jones and Leavell, though not band members, would remain collaborators with the group from that point on. Don Was was brought in to produce the album alongside Jagger and Richards.

Voodoo Lounge sold well, reaching either gold or platinum status in several countries, but failed to produce a US top 40 hit. The song “Love Is Strong” did peak at No. ⁠14 in the UK, and “You Got Me Rocking” (which reached No. 23 in the same country) became a staple on most subsequent Stones tours. The album received some good reviews and won the inaugural Grammy Award for Best Rock Album in 1995.

Sections of the Keith Richards song “Thru and Thru” from Voodoo Lounge are woven throughout the HBO television series The Sopranos’ second-season finale “Funhouse” (episode no. 26 overall), and plays in its entirety during the episode’s closing sequence and end credits.

  1. “Love Is Strong” 3:46
  2. “You Got Me Rocking” 3:34
  3. “Sparks Will Fly” 3:14
  4. “The Worst” 2:24
  5. “New Faces” 2:50
  6. “Moon Is Up” 3:41
  7. “Out of Tears” 5:25
  8. “I Go Wild” 4:19
  9. “Brand New Car” 4:13
  10. “Sweethearts Together” 4:46
  11. “Suck on the Jugular” 4:26
  12. “Blinded by Rainbows” 4:33
  13. “Baby Break It Down” 4:07
  14. “Thru and Thru” 5:59
  15. “Mean Disposition” 4:09

Mick Jagger – lead vocals, guitars, harmonica, percussion
Keith Richards – guitars, backing vocals; lead vocals on “The Worst” and “Thru and Thru”
Ronnie Wood – guitars, pedal steel, backing vocals on “Suck on the Jugular”
Charlie Watts – drums, percussion
Darryl Jones – bass
Chuck Leavell – keyboards, backing vocals
Bernard Fowler – backing vocals
Frankie Gavin – fiddle, pennywhistle
Mark Isham – trumpet
Luís Jardim – percussion, shaker
Flaco Jimenez – accordion
Phil Jones – percussion
David McMurray – saxophone
Ivan Neville – backing vocals, organ
Benmont Tench – organ, piano, accordion
Bobby Womack – backing vocals
Max Baca – bajo sexto
Lenny Castro – percussion
Pierre de Beauport – acoustic guitar
David Campbell – string arrangement