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The Voodoo Lounge sessions are the kind of recording adventure that practically invites bootleggers to bring out the magnifying glass. Exceptionally well documented through professionally packaged releases and detailed sleeve notes, the sessions reveal a Rolling Stones at a crossroads. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards begin writing new material in April 1993, following the release of Richards’ Main Offenderand Jagger’s Wandering Spirit, and bring producer Don Was into the picture. Before reaching a studio in Dublin, the band spends time rehearsing and recording at Ronnie Wood’s home in Ireland, where the foundations of Voodoo Lounge begin taking shape. There is also a major change in the rhythm section: Darryl Jones steps into the bassist role vacated by Bill Wyman, although he does not officially become a member. Charlie Watts reportedly suggests Jones, which, as Stones decisions go, is about as sensible as it gets.
The Voodoo Lounge Sessions
The Stones move into Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin in November, continuing the work that began at Ronnie Wood’s Sandymount Studios. Don Was, whose production instincts lean toward classic rock, encourages the band to embrace a more traditional Rolling Stones sound.
It works—at least according to the critics and much of the rock-oriented audience. But Mick Jagger is not entirely convinced. In a 1995 Rolling Stone interview, he complains that Was steers the band away from groove-oriented material, African influences and other less conventional ideas. Jagger later argues that avoiding those elements is a mistake.
Was sees things differently. His position is not that grooves are bad, but that a groove needs somewhere to go. He wants songs with substance, direction and the kind of muscular rock identity he believes listeners expect from the Stones. In other words, no wandering off into the musical jungle unless someone knows where the exit is.
More about Samba
That instrumentation alone makes Samba particularly interesting. While the finished Voodoo Loungelargely follows the classic Stones blueprint, this track hints at some of the grooves and rhythmic ideas that Jagger later felt Don Was had discouraged. It is therefore more than just another unreleased song gathering dust in the Stones archive: Samba offers a tantalizing glimpse of the album that might have existed if the band had followed some of those other musical roads.
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