Still rockin' after all these years

HIGH NOTES

It is a well-known fact that rock'n'roll legend has as much to do with an artists' antics and lifestyle as it does music. With this in mind, The Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney are the stuff that rock'n'roll legend is made of "" no two ways about that.

However, on the release of their individual albums this month, A Bigger Bang by The Stones and McCartney's Chaos and Creation In The Backyard, Jagger's puerile escapades and McCartney's vegetarianism will conveniently be put aside, and instead the debate will pursue the meaning and creative integrity that defines both albums.

Relevant people the world over will opine, rate and berate each album. Some might even go so far as to examine them in the light of colossally successful efforts like Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club and Exile On Main Street. There is already hype around The Stones' tour in support of the album and McCartney's album (releasing September 12) is already getting heavy media coverage.

McCartney, in recent times, hasn't really done anything to write home about. His last album, 2001's Driving Rain was disappointing, and this was driven home by sluggish sales and a bad chart presence. The Stones on the other hand haven't recorded since 1997's Bridges To Babylon, a commercial and critical success. Since their last album, both acts concentrated their efforts on the live front, with a little more success. The Stones 'Forty Licks Tour' and McCartney's world tour turned out to be the highest grossing concert tours in recent times.

When you first hear A Bigger Bang, it's clear that the band that is doing their best to recapture a sound they perfected nearly 25 years ago. The truth of the matter is that A Bigger Bang was an album that needed to be made. During its creation, each original band member was going through personal turmoil "" drummer Charlie Watts was battling cancer; Jagger, as is publicly known, was learning to live life as a divorcee (again); and Keith Richards had the suicide of his ex-wife to deal with.

If there was ever a real reason for The Stones to make an album, there it collectively is. A Bigger Bang is a 16-track revolution that takes the band back through the ages, picking up melodies they left behind over the years. Lead tracks "Rough Justice" and "Back Of My Hand" say a lot about where The Stones are at this point in time and may win back every fan lost over the years. New fans will also love the album for its truthful energy. It isn't music of a rare and genius quality but it definitely is The Stones at their freshest and most soulful.

It seems that it took a few mishapen albums for McCartney to realise that something was not quite right. And it does take some courage to pick the pieces up and start rebuilding, when you can sit back and live the rest of your days basking in past glory and fat Beatles royalties. But McCartney is singular in that he decided to work with one of the most celebrated producers today - Nigel Godrich, the man behind Radiohead's OK Computer and other artistes like Beck and REM.

Songs like "Fine Line" and "Comfort Of Love" sound as if McCartney's been able to reform his musical self after all these years. Chaos and Creation In The Backyard is an album that will stand McCartney in good stead with all his detractors and prove that the break up of The Beatles was not his musical downfall.

Whatever becomes of A Bigger Bang and Chaos and Creation In The Backyard in the hands of a global audience is secondary. Paul McCartney and The Stones have proved to themselves that they still have it in them to deliver on a high note and in both albums lie traces of remarkable uniqueness and history revisited.