Bill Wyman - Stone Alone
After establishing himself the eccentric but interesting Monkey Grip, Rolling Stones
bassist Bill Wyman resumed his solo career in 1976 with Stone Alone. Sadly, this album
lacks the focus and solid songs of the previous album and ends up feeling like the typical
rock star's ego-trip side project. Stone Alone can't be faulted for ambition, though:
nearly every song tries out a different musical style ('50s-style rock, disco, and reggae)
and Wyman enlists a veritable who's who of guest musicians (everyone from Dr. John
to Al Kooper to Joe Walsh) to bring the songs to life. However, this impressive degree
of ambition is undone by the fact that Wyman treats everything as self-parodic kitsch:
he delivers the ragtime jazz exercise "No More Foolin'" in a mock-Louis Armstrong voice
that makes the song grueling to listen to and weighs down the catchy disco-pop melody of
"Peanut Butter Time" with smutty, juvenile lyrics and sugary-sweet female backing vocals.
Other tunes are undone by lackluster songwriting: "Wine and Wimmen" is an attempt to
create a Rolling Stones-style rocker, but is too halfhearted and hookless to get the
job done. Despite the overbearingly cutesy approach that dominates Stone Alone, a few
solid songs manage to shine through: "Apache Woman" is a disco/rock hybrid that blends
hypnotic dance beats with ethereal synthesizer touches and "Quarter to Three" is a
'50s-style rock rave-up whose infectious sense of swing overpowers its tongue-in-cheek
arrangement. However, highlights like these are few and far between and this problem
reduces Stone Alone to a curio that should only be sought out by Bill Wyman fans and
Rolling Stones completists. — Donald A. Guarisco