The ROLLING STONES
“Doom and Gloom” (4:07)
Interscope/UMe
Density, a quality producer Don Was avoided seven years ago on “A Bigger Bang,” distinguishes the Rolling Stones’ new single “Doom and Gloom.” With a sonic emphasis on the boom of Charlie Watts’ drumming and the roar of rhythm guitar, “Doom and Gloom” has just enough of trademark Stones touches – short bursts of Keith Richards’ riffs, a touch of exotica at the midpoint, a swell of string sounds at the conclusion – to connect the song with their 1970s and 80s output. The steady rhythm and lack of airiness are uniquely digital-age qualities that the Stones have largely avoided, and here provide a rumbling urgency underneath Mick Jagger’s whoops and hollers. There’s no riff for Jagger to weave his way around, and no jousting between guitar and vocal; in fact, “Doom and Gloom” is one of the Stones’ simpler songs in terms of construction. Uses of verse, chorus and bridge are straightforward, and while Jagger drops in a bit of political thought, the allusions to drunks, swamps and a light in the dark make it feel like so many Stones songs we’ve heard before.
